Newport This Week - April 7, 2011

Page 1

NATURE PAGE 19

BORN FREE

THURSDAY, April 7, 2011

Vol. 39, No. 14

Temporary NFD Staffing Compromise

What’s Inside

By Tom Shevlin

MAINSHEET Page 11

Table of Contents CALENDAR 17 CLASSIFIEDS 22 COMMUNITY BRIEFS 4 CROSSWORD 21 EDITORIAL 6 MAINSHEET 11 NAVY NEWS 10 POLICE LOG 5 REALTY TRANSACTIONS 7 RECENT DEATHS 22 RESTAURANTS 14-18 SPORTS 18 www.Newport-Now.com Twitter.com/newportnow Facebook.com/newportnow

Swinging Into Spring High school girls fast pitch softball got underway for local schools yesterday and, in a match up of Aquidneck Island rivals, the Middletown High School girls romped over Rogers in a Division II-South opener. The final score was 11-1. In the photo above, the Viking’s team captain, Maryellen “Mel” Settle, takes a big swing at an Islander pitch, called for by Middletown’s catcher, Glenn Murphy. The Islander’s play, next, at Barrington High School on April 9th, while Rogers will swing for their first win on April 11 at East Greenwich. Photo by Rob Thorn

Soilless Growing Takes Root at SRU

See FIRE CUTS on page 3

Group Aims for Cyclist’s Paradise

By Meg O’Neil Walking through a basement corridor of Salve Regina University, a figurehead appears – almost visibly excited – in an otherwise dreary cellar room of the Hunt & Reefe residence hall. Sister Leona Misto, Vice President for Mission Integration and Planning, is welcoming a small group to the bare expanse of a room. The space is monastic; with concrete floors, an exposed dropped ceiling, and dated wooden wall panels, lit only by the yellowish glow of fluorescent lighting. It’s hard to imagine that, soon, this room is not only expected to turn into a lab for the new Environmental Studies program at the university, but also projected to produce a plethora of plants, vegetables, and fruits in the coming months. Using hydroponic gardening methods, which allow growing to occur with only mineral and nutrient rich water, the new lab has taken root in the basement at SRU. It’s hard to picture at first; the suspended ceiling, with the paneling taken out, leaves only a tic-tactoe-like matrix of aluminum beams left in place as a means of hanging various lighting systems that will be used to grow plants in a controlled climate. But, as Assistant Professor Dr. Jameson Chace explains, it’s the very lack of windows and climate controlled capability that make the location perfect. According to Misto, the lab equipment will be installed by the end of April, and growing plants by June.

The city’s firefighter union scored a quick victory on Friday, temporarily staying a plan by the city administration to cut the department’s minimum staffing levels. According to David Hanos, president of Newport Firefighter Local 1080 IAFF, both sides have agreed to a temporary restraining order that will keep the city staffed at 19 firefighters until a full hearing on the city’s plan can be held. The agreement was reached on the same day that the city had planned on reducing the minimum staffing level from 20 men per shift to 17, in what administration officials say is part of a impending citywide restructuring program. Operating without a formal contract since June 30, 2005, the union had filed a request for an injunction on Friday, April 1 in Superior Court claiming that reducing the force down to 17 man shifts was unsafe

By Tom Shevlin

While the basement room doesn’t look like much right now, SRU’s Sister Leona Misto points out details to Irving Backman and Eric Milner, in what will become a state-of-the-art hydroponics lab by the end of April. (Photo by Meg O’Neil) If the new lab performs as anticipated, it could help transform how we look at local agriculture. The project is the result of a collaborative effort between SRU, Boston College, and Massachusetts philanthropist, Irving Backman. The two campuses are working closely together in an effort to become the leading hydroponics education program on the East Coast. Backman, who donated the lab equipment to both SRU and BC, sees the opportunity for hydroponics as a way to both reinvent the way the world produces food and solve the world’s food shortage. “It isn’t rocket science,” he says. “But, in a sense, it is. We’re re-

producing what nature has done, and creating crops without soil. If we can eliminate soil, we’re ultimately eliminating pesticides.” Brought together by Providence-based social venture program, Betaspring, together, this team of agricultural innovators is hoping to parlay their “Growhouse” concept into a commercially viable business model. They’ve dubbed the project GrowhouseRI. According to hydroponics experts, the growing time for hydroponic plants is faster than it is with traditional outdoor planting methods. Planting outdoors poses two major limitations: limited outdoor

months in which to grow, and limited light due to weather conditions and the darkness of night. In a hydroponics lab, a variety of different indoor lighting systems double the growth period, shortening the amount of time it takes for a plant to reach maturity. By doubling growth time, twice as much food can be produced. Not only is food production increased, but proponents say that the yield can be even healthier than organic standards, as the water used in organic growing may not be as clean as that used in a hydroponic system.

See SALVE on page 2

LOCAL NEWS MATTERS PLEASE SUPPORT OUR ADVERTISERS

Bari George isn’t a competitive cyclist. She doesn’t own an ultralight road bike, you won’t find her in spandex, and she’s not interested in breaking any speed records on her jaunts around Ocean Drive. But George does live in Historic Hill, and when the weather breaks, chances are you’ll find her car in the driveway and her bike on the road. Frankly, it makes sense for her to pedal rather than drive; gas prices are on the rise, parking is at a premium, and she lives in the heart of the city, just a stone’s throw from a wealth of shopping, restaurants, and the recreation points. However, as anyone who navigates the mash of cars and pedestrians that clog the city’s streets during the summer months can tell you, biking in Newport can be tricky. In an almost unspoken traffic hierarchy, cars rule our roadways. Pedestrians and scooters fill in a space just below. Bicycles, though a critical form of transportation for many in our community, rank somewhere lower still. Consider this: We have dedicated walking trails like the Cliff Walk and Harbor Walk; we even have a blue trail designed for kayaks and other small craft in the inner harbor. But

See CYCLISTS on page 7


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Newport This Week - April 7, 2011 by Tom Shevlin - Issuu