NEW BEDFORD re-election bid STARDOM...groups including the Buzzards Bay Coalition, New England...

Out and AboutBrowse the gallery from the Fall River District Fire Chief Gerald Nadeau memorial fundraiser, held Friday at White’s of Westport. SouthCoastToday.com/outandabout

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N E W E N G L A N D R EG I O N D I S T I N G U I S H E D N E WS PA P E R

Vol. CLXI, No. 15118 pages, 2 sections

A protester yells at police Sunday night in Ferguson, Mo.

JEFF ROBERSON/THE

ASSOCIATED PRESS

NATION & WORLD

Ferguson back on edgeState of emergency declared afterpolice shoot 18-year-old black man accused of opening fi re on offi cers. B5

STARDOMNEW BEDFORD

PATH TO

Samantha Johnson will perform live on

‘America’s Got Talent’ tonight at 8 on NBC.

A10

NEW BEDFORD

‘We are celebrating the ocean’

Youngsters enjoy marine

lessons at new Whaling Museum

program. A3

Jordan Gonsalves, 10, and other children use mirrors to simulate how a whale sees as they participate in the

Party for the Ocean program held at the New Bedford

Whaling Museum Monday. PETER PEREIRA/

THE STANDARD-TIMES

TOP ‘CATSBuddy Thomas’ 20 for 50 series continues with the best Westport

boys basketball players of the last 50 years. SPORTS, B1

N E W

$1Tuesday, August 11, 2015

SERVING THE SOUTHCOAST COMMUNITY SouthCoastTODAY.com

New Bedford Massachusetts

U.S. rowers fall ill at 2016 Olympic test eventThirteen of team’s 40 athletes come down with stomach illness as team doctor points to pollution in the lake where the competition took place. A6

Police: Attorney general to take travel caseAttorney General Maura Healey’s offi ce has agreed to head the investigation into complaints that Terry’s Travel took customers’ money and did not book their reservations, police chief says. A10

NEW BEDFORD

Mitchell likely launching re-election bid

Campaign announcement scheduled for this morning follows Facebook page that says he’s ‘running for re-election in 2015.’ A3

“I look forward to being able to continue contrasting our leadership styles.” —Maria Giesta, mayoral candidate

“I admire anyone who runs to serve. I think it’s always a good thing.”

—Scott Lang, former mayor

“I’m not surprised he’s going to run again. I’m happy he is.”—Debora Coelho, councilor at-large

CaFace

“Iabou—

SOUTHCOAST

Weekend brought spikein suburban overdosesFirst responders in Fairhaven, Acushnet and Mattapoisett dealt with multiple — and sometimes simultaneous — overdoses in a 2½-hour period Friday night. A2

The Standard-Times | SouthCoastToday.com | Tuesday, August 11, 2015 A3

IN BRIEF

SOUTHCOASTQuestions? Contact Jack Spillane, executive news editor | 508-979-4472 | [email protected] | @JackSpillaneSCT

Kids enjoy ‘Party for the Ocean’ at

Whaling Museum

By Carol [email protected]

NEW BEDFORD — Sophia Medeiros got to meet some sea creatures Monday — from a small crab to hermit crab and other crustaceans.

Or in the 9-year old’s own words, “I touched a shell with a weird thing in it. It felt really soft.”

She was among the children at the Whaling Museum on Monday, as part of “Party for the Ocean,” where kids learned about whales, some of the ocean’s animals and how to keep the ocean clean.

“I like the hands-on, the kids are learning a lot,” said Karen Souza, of the Nazarene Christian Academy, who was standing outdoors in front of the museum, where several tables on whales had been set up and managed by apprentices at the Whaling Museum.

Kids had a chance to learn how whales see, by holding small mirrors to the side of their faces, and how they keep warm by sticking one hand in a bucket of ice water, and the other hand in a bag before sticking it in the water. The bag mimicked the blubber that keep whales warm.

“We are celebrating the ocean,” Sarah Rose, curator of education said, adding this is the inaugural free event; it ran from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., in partnership with several groups including the Buzzards Bay Coalition, New England Coastal Wildlife Alliance, Lloyd Center for the Environment and the Buttonwood Park Zoo.

The event, Rose said, will “raise awareness of whales and the ocean they live in.”

Inside the museum, at one table, children were painting over seashells, and gluing on

trinkets.Lizzie Sylvia from the Buz-

zards Bay Coalition said before painting, children learned about something entirely different.

“We are trying to teach them the difference between what is recyclable and what’s not, and what can be harmful to our bay,” she said.

Over at a different table, Devin Dupont was taking a look at the seals’ coats, and many pictures of different seals.

On his first visit to the Whal-ing Museum with a group from the YMCA, he called it “pretty cool.”

The 10-year old said he was learning a lot including “that some seals live where we live.”— Follow Carol Kozma on Twit-ter @CarolKozmaSCT

NEW BEDFORD

Gavin Skaar, 9 months, pleads with his mother, Kristen Skaar, to let him touch a sea star as he and fellow children participate in the Party for the Ocean program at the New Bedford Whaling Museum Monday. PETER PEREIRA/THE STANDARD-TIMES

Hector Vega, 9, takes a closer look at a spider crab on display by the Lloyd Center for the Environ-ment. PETER

PEREIRA/THE

STANDARD-TIMES

By Kathleen [email protected]

NEW BEDFORD — Reaction to Mayor Jon Mitchell’s possible announcement of a re-election bid was mixed Monday with can-didate Maria Giesta welcoming him to the race and former Mayor Scott Lang continuing to be non-committal about his own plans.

Giesta said she anticipates fur-ther debate on numerous issues she has raised since announcing her bid in February.

“I look forward to being able to continue contrasting our leader-ship styles,” said Giesta, a New Bedford native and former chief of staff for former Cong. Barney Frank. “He continues to push outdated policy ideas. People are welcoming and looking for change.”

Many city leaders and politi-cians remained mum Monday about the prospect of Mitchell’s third campaign, citing his pend-ing campaign announcement Tuesday. Mitchell’s campaign announced a 10 a.m. event Tues-day in the North End, at Joseph Abboud Manufacturing Corp. at Belleville Avenue and Hatch Street, indicating the incum-bent’s formal entry into the 2015 mayoral race.

Giesta has been the most active contender so far. Maple Street resident Ronald Perry also has pulled papers in City Hall for a potential run, as has Belleville Avenue resident Brian Marshall.

Lang, who launched an issues blog this year and has been visible around the city for months, has acknowledged only that he might run for mayor again at some unnamed point in the future.

He spoke broadly Monday about this year’s mayoral race.

“I admire anyone who runs to serve,” Lang said. “I think it’s always a good thing.”

Lang said he thinks the cam-paign will be based on issues including neighborhood revital-ization, education, public safety

and economic development. Mitchell “has a record he can

run on or defend,” Lang said. “Ithink it would be good for the cityto debate. You need dialogue toget better.”

Lang insisted his love for NewBedford motivates him to discusslocal issues, whether he’s in a raceor not.

“I’ll continue to talk aboutissues that face the city and drivesome of the solutions,” he said.

Many city councilors havefrequently challenged Mitchell,particularly on spending issuesduring budget debates in recentmonths. But the two-termincumbent does have some sup-port from council chambers.

Both Ward 1 Councilor JamesOliveira and Councilor-at-largeDebora Coelho said they sup-ported his re-election bid.

“For any city to accomplish itsagenda, it’s important to havea continuity of leadership tokeep the city moving forward,”Oliveira said. “He presents him-self well with state and federalofficials. He takes time to weighissues, despite the fact that thecouncil at times can be impatientwith him.”

“I’m not surprised he’s goingto run again. I’m happy he is,”Coelho said. “Overall, he hasshown he’s made progress in theCity of New Bedford.”

Other city leaders declinedto comment specifically onthe mayoral race or pick a sideMonday.

“It’s not my place to havea position,” said Ward 3 CityCouncilor Henry Bousquet. “Iwouldn’t support any candidateat this stage of the game. I’mrunning myself. I have my owncampaign to think about.”

Marlene Pollock, a SchoolCommittee member not seek-ing re-election, said a contestedmayor’s race is good for the city.

“It’s always good for the city tohave choices,” she said.—Follow Kathleen McKiernan on Twitter @KatMcKiernanSCT

City leaders weigh in on Mitchell’s likely re-election bid

By Mike [email protected]

NEW BEDFORD — Mayor Jon Mitchell will make a cam-paign announcement at 10 a.m. today, a notice issued just before noon Monday said, indi-cating a formal entry into the 2015 mayoral race for the two-term incumbent.

The Tuesday announcement will take place at the corner of Belleville Avenue and Hatch Street, at Joseph Abboud Man-ufacturing Corp.

The North End location indi-cates a campaign that could focus on economic develop-ment and job growth. The mayor has emphasized those topics in recent weeks, during events such as the dedication of a solar power facility in the New Bedford Business Park and a ribbon-cutting at UpMarket Stitchers on Purchase Street. Mitchell is scheduled to speak Wednesday at the grand opening of heating equipment manufacturer HTP, Inc., also in the business park.

T u e s d a y ’ s c a m p a i g n announcement also will be near local businesses including True Bounce Backboards, Mother Freedom, Precix and others.

“I think the mayor wants to talk about job growth, and that even without a casino, good things are happening,” Anthony R. Sapienza, board president for the New Bedford Economic Development Coun-cil and CEO of Joseph Abboud Manufacturing, said Monday.

Sapienza said July 24 in City Hall that Joseph Abboud had added 276 jobs in New Bed-ford over the past two years.

His comments were part of a press conference Mitchell held two days after developer KG Urban Enterprises abandoned its proposal for a $650 million casino, hotel and conference center development on the city’s waterfront, because of financial challenges.

“This city will not be a victim,” Mitchell said that day. “We will not wallow in self-pity.”

The mayor has since empha-sized his message of a “singles and doubles” approach to eco-nomic development, rather than home runs. He’s praised Joseph Abboud several times.

Sapienza acknowledged that Joseph Abboud’s job growth could be attributed to “a com-bination of things,” inside or outside of the city — clothing giant Men’s Wearhouse bought Joseph Abboud’s parent com-pany for $97.5 million in July 2013 — but said Mitchell has “cleaned up” the permitting process and provided business owners with “open access” to his office and city staff.

“I think that the mayor has been very supportive of eco-nomic development, and in spite of the fact that we don’t have a casino and we don’t have the (Marine Commerce) Termi-nal operating yet at the kind of capacity that we think eventu-ally it will, there have been a lot of strong companies that have grown during the past two to three years of his administra-tion,” Sapienza said.

Mitchell first won election in 2011. He was unopposed in 2013. Monday’s notice of a campaign announcement fol-lowed the recent creation of a

Facebook page that says Mitch-ell is “running for reelection in 2015.” The page had attracted more than 130 “likes,” or expressions of interest, as of Monday afternoon.

The mayor couldn’t be reached Monday to confirm or deny the page’s authentic-ity, or comment on the nature of Tuesday’s announcement, but all evidence points to a re-election bid.

The contact on the announce-m e n t n o t i c e w a s P a u l a Montgomery. Mitchell’s cam-paign fund paid someone by that name $1,500 on July 8, according to the Massachusetts Office of Campaign and Political Finance.

Mitchell’s campaign raised only $2,000 from February through June, but in July, took in nearly $12,000 in contribu-tions and spent about $9,000. The July expenditures included the Montgomery payment, website domain registrations, receptions and more. Mitchell’s campaign fund had a balance of $106,480 as of Aug. 5.

The Facebook page can be found by searching “Jon Mitch-ell” and “New Bedford” on the social media site. The only post as of Monday afternoon was a link to a July 31 interview the mayor gave New England Cable News.

A website posted on the page, www.votejonmitchell.com, was not yet active Monday after-noon, suggesting the Facebook page may have drawn attention before campaign staff intended.

Sapienza said his under-standing was that Mitchell will announce a re-election bid Tuesday.

“That’s what I heard,” Sapi-enza said.—Follow Mike Lawrence on Twitter @MikeLawrenceSCT

NEW BEDFORD

Mitchell to make campaign announcementNews follows posting of Facebook page that says incumbent ‘running for re-election in 2015’

WHALE OF A LESSON

Acushnet offi cials to take LNG tour ThursdayACUSHNET — Four town offi -cials on Thursday will head to Waterbury, Conn., to visit to Eversource’s liquefi ed natural gas storage facility.They are Selectmen Chair-man David E. Wojnar, Town Administrator Alan Coutinho, Fire Chief Kevin Gallagher and Police Chief Michael Alves.Wojnar said Monday afternoon the “information gathering” visit will include a review of the city’s mutual-aid packages and efforts to learn about any impacts the LNG facility presents.Offi cials also want to get a look at the tanks which were installed in 2007. Wojnar said the more information offi cials get, “the better the town will be as well as all the stakehold-ers in the Acushnet project.”Eversource plans a $500 million project to install two additional LNG tanks off Peckham Road near the New Bedford line. The existing Acushnet tanks date to 1971, and both selectmen and Eversource said there has never been an incident involving the facility, which is periodically inspected by the town fi re department.Wojnar also said that as of late Monday the New Bedford mayor’s offi ce had not replied to an invitation to visit Acush-net and discuss all aspects of the proposed LNG tanks.“We’re committed to be open and transparent about the review process,” Wojnar said. “That was my message to the mayor.”— Paul Gately

Hernandez lawyers: Informant ‘furiously backpedaling’ from storyFALL RIVER — The woman who tipped off defense lawyers that a juror in the Aaron Her-nandez trial may have been compromised is now “furi-ously backpedaling” from her story, defense lawyers say in newly fi led court documents. Hernandez’s lawyers said they have tried in good faith to obtain an affi davit from the informant, but they say she is now uncooperative and claiming that she cannot recall exactly what she told them during several telephone calls in April after Hernandez, 25, the former New England Patriots star, was convicted of fi rst-degree murder. “I believe she is feigning a lack of memory in an effort to avoid being questioned under oath,” defense attorney James Sultan said in an affi davit fi led Friday in Superior Court. On Aug. 3, Judge E. Susan Garsh denied a defense motion to question the infor-mant under oath, calling that request “premature.” Garsh instructed the defense team to fi rst obtain an affi da-vit from the informant before the court considers whether to bring her in for questioning. However, Sultan said the informant, a Massachusetts woman, has refused to coop-erate with efforts to obtain more information and an affi davit from her.— The Herald News

Researchers spot more than dozen great whites off Cape CodCHATHAM — Researchers say they spotted more than a dozen great white sharks off the coast of Cape Cod last week. Atlantic White Shark Con-servancy president Cynthia Wigren says 17 great white sharks congregated off Mono-moy National Wildlife Refuge in Chatham on Thursday. That’s nearly double the number researchers typically see during a trip at this time of the year.Scientists say more sharks have been coming to Cape Cod because of growing num-bers of prey such as seals.

NEW BEDFORD re-election bid STARDOM...groups including the Buzzards Bay Coalition, New England...

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