Tobey Homestead Trust - Facing a huge corporation such as Southcoast Health Systems and their well-paid attorneys would intimidate most folks. But the Trust, which has no actual assets, refuses to give up its fight to prevent the homestead from being paved into a parking lot. We always root for the little guys, especially when their lead attorney passes away and they’re still determined to fight for a just cause. Bravo.

    Jim Potter - Yes, the District Attorney made the selectmen apologize for their open meeting law violation (an apologize was certainly in order), but Potter handled the moment with a lot of class and dignity. He offered no excuses. He didn’t threaten to do it again (Hello, Renee). He simply apologized and said the mistake would not be repeated. He handled a difficult moment as well as could be expected.

    Forestview Nursing Home - The 175-bed Wareham facility recently earned the 2008 American Health Care Association Step I Quality Award for its commitment toward improvement. That’s pretty impressive.

    Management unions - Oh, we can hardly contain ourselves with this one. Let’s just go ahead and put this in the Jeers Hall of Shame right now. Apparently some of the department heads around town are so miffed by a proposed 6.5 percent cut in their salaries they are considering forming a union. Yes, a management union. Those poor, persecuted executives making more than $80,000 per year believe the lower paid employees should bear the brunt of the current budget crisis. There has never been a more crystal clear example of what’s wrong with Wareham than this. With the town struggling financially and people faced with losing their jobs, the highest paid tier on the town payroll wants to form a union to protect their salaries (which are already grossly out of whack with surrounding communities). Unions were formed to protect the working class from exploitation by management. They weren’t created to protect management from economic downturns. We have the perfect solution to all this: Let them form a union and go on strike. Then the town can lock their sorry butts out until they realize that working for the town actually means working for the town.

     John McCain - If a president is elected primarily on judgment, the presumptive Republican candidate just threw the political equivalent of a Hail Mary pass into triple coverage with plenty of time left on the clock. His decision to choose Sarah Palin as a running mate is an act of pure desperation. This has nothing to do with Palin being a woman. Although women in positions of authority are somewhat slim in the Grand Old Party, there were still far better choices than this (Kay Bailey Hutchinson, anyone?). Instead, McCain chose a woman who was the mayor of a small town in Alaska less than two years ago to be a heartbeat away from the presidency. Also, if McCain expects to siphon away the disenchanted Hillary supporters by offering one of the most conservative choices he could have made, he doesn’t have much respect for the intelligence of women. This choice was made purely to curtail Barack Obama’s momentum by dropping a political bombshell. It’s all style and no substance. We will rejoice when a woman serves as president of the United States of America. We would only hope such a woman would be qualified to lead the most powerful nation on earth. Sarah Palin has served less than two years as governor of one of the most sparsely populated states in the country. If this is the kind of judgment we can expect from a John McCain presidency, count us out.

     Animal Control - Apparently Wareham’s Animal Control Officer has made it his mission to exterminate every stray cat he can find. It’s the typical re-active rather than pro-active approach all too familiar in Wareham. These cats will procreate far more quickly than they can be killed. The real problem here is a lack of education among the general public of the importance of spaying and neutering animals. Also, too often people simply leave their pets behind when they move. That kind of irresponsibility has added to this problem. A Helping Paw on Cranberry Highway tries to rescue as many of these animals as possible in the hope of finding them a loving owner. Instead of playing Rambo, perhaps the Animal Control Officer could work co-operatively with A Helping Paw and other organizations like it. Perhaps if Animal Control took as much interest in educating as it does in killing, some headway may finally be made in helping these innocent animals.