Pot group says ties severed with grower

Pot group says ties severed with grower

By CHRISTINE LEGERE

clegere@capecodonline.com

March 05, 2014 2:00 AM

 

SOUTH DENNIS — The president of a nonprofit organization awarded a provisional state license for a medical marijuana dispensary in Dennis said Tuesday the group cut ties with John Czarkowski, its agricultural specialist and executive team member, a month before the Boston Globe reported the man and his wife had run a failed dispensary in another state.

 

John and Diane Czarkowski lost their license for their medical marijuana cultivation center and dispensary in Boulder, Colo., in 2012, for lying to obtain a construction permit and storing medical marijuana in unauthorized areas, the Globe reported Tuesday.

 

Jane Heatley, president of the William Noyes Webster Foundation, said her nonprofit group had signed a contract with Czarkowski during the first phase of the state's medical marijuana dispensary application process. The agreement ran from last October through Jan. 31.

 

Czarkowski's removal was unrelated to the blight on his past record, Heatley said.

 

The decision was based on the foundation's concern Czarkowski would be too busy to properly fulfill his responsibilities.

 

"He was listed on so many other licenses, including two in Massachusetts and one in Connecticut," Heatley said.

 

Heatley said she told Czarkowski of the foundation's decision to part ways in an email sent Feb. 6.

 

The nonprofit organization's president called the Globe story "shocking."

 

"He had really strong references, and we had done a background check on him."

Paul Covell, chief executive officer for the William Noyes Webster Foundation, said he had been disappointed with Czarkowski's initial performance and was glad to see him removed in early February.

 

"We negotiated a general contractor for the grow facility and gave him Czarkowski's contact number," Covell said. "Czarkowski never even called him back." Czarkowski could not be reached for comment.

 

Two weeks after the agricultural specialist was let go, the foundation was tipped off about his past by another grower the group was interviewing.

 

"We made the right decision getting rid of him," Covell said.

 

The foundation is conducting background checks on five growers and expects to have a new one hired by the end of this week, Heatley said.

 

She will notify the state of the change during her scheduled interview with the Massachusetts Department of Public Health on Monday.

 

"The state procedure says you notify in person," Heatley said. "He's already off the organizational chart on the paperwork."

 

DPH spokeswoman Anne Roach confirmed Heatley's explanation of the process for change. "As part of the verification process, DPH will be reviewing each applicant's management structure," Roach said in an email.

 

The DPH will meet with each of the provisional medical marijuana dispensary licensees this month to check on their progress, verify documents and approve changes to management teams, according to its website.

 

Meanwhile, Heatley said local contractors have already been hired to renovate a grow facility at 226 Great Western Road and dispensary at 17 American Way.

 

The foundation already has its required special permit from the Dennis Planning Board.

 

 

 

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Since you mentioned it....

Cape Cod Online offered the following article which I thought was pretty interesting --

Bat nursed to health in time for Halloween

Wild Care in Eastham is rehabilitating a small brown bat that was found on the ground malnourished and with tears in its wings.Cape Cod Times/Steve Heaslip
By Jason Kolnos
October 16, 2010
EASTHAM — He won't turn into Nosferatu. He prefers a simple insect repast to a bloodbath. And he likely won't dive-bomb into your hair.

A little brown bat is getting the royal rehab treatment at Wild Care in Eastham, and that's a bit of good news for a species that has been decimated across the region.

This plucky fanged fella was brought to the wild animal hospital two weeks ago with multiple puncture wounds and damage to his wing's webbing.

A cat had gotten at the bat, hypothesized Lela Larned, executive director of Wild Care.

After daily doses of electrolyte-infused fluids and tasty mealworms, the bat more than doubled his weight.

"When he first came in, he was emaciated, sluggish and unresponsive," Larned said. "Now, he's self-feeding, taking short flights and much more aggressive."

Folks at Wild Care are treating this little brown bat as a member of an endangered species, even though it isn't yet listed as one in Massachusetts.

Bats are dying in the state's caves and mines — where they hibernate during winter months — at alarmingly high levels, according to the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife (MassWildlife). Biologists attribute the cause to white-nose syndrome, a crusting fungus that attacks their muzzles and other body parts. Mortality rates may be as high as 95 to 100 percent.

An unpleasant example comes from the state's largest hibernaculum (winter bat quarters) in Chester, where a normal winter population was 8,000 to 10,000 bats. But during recent winters, all those bats have apparently died, according to MassWildlife.

"With all the declines that bats have suffered, we wanted to go to every length to make sure this one survives," Larned said.

And if you're sick of scratching bug bites, it behooves you to befriend a bat, too. These winged spelunkers are serial killers of mosquitoes and other insects.

Larned encourages folks to consider installing bat boxes that can host hundreds of them, including females and baby bats.

"A single bat can eat thousands of insects a night, so if you have one of these, you won't have mosquitoes," Larned said.


Coincidentally, thedailygreen offered 7 Surprising Facts About Bats that offers some great pictures and narrative.

Both of those forced me the re-visit Wednesday, August 4, 2010 STATE SPRAYING TO TARGET DISEASE-CARRYING MOSQUITOES.

All of which makes me ponder our arrogance and stupidity as a species.

Allow me -- when the public matter of mosquitoes arose, we were baffled!

For just about 30 years, a few bats have nested under our rake boards. They raise their families and grow and do their thing in the evenings. We have a nodding and appreciative neighborly relationship. Their numbers periodically increase as the harvest increases.

They've been pretty tolerant and forgiving like the time the house was power washed before painting.

A trip outside, into the garden invited the abundance of dragon flies to dive bomb maybe in search of prey that was becoming scarce.

On the evening we were forced to endure aerial spraying, it was misting - not quite a rain. Our bats had been circumnavigating the house, doing their job, sadly oblivious to the poison falling from the skies.

That poison, promoted as benign, destroyed the bats and the dragonflies, allowing the mosquito population to rebound and flourish.

Yesterday, October 17, was the first day a dragonfly was seen.

Years ago, a friend recommended Farnam's Nature's Defense® Water-based Fly Repellent Spray and Concentrate that we've used successfully that includes this product description --

Water-based formula combines citronella with other botanicals
Repels horn, stable, house, horse and deer flies, plus mosquitoes and gnats
Contains no preservatives, additives or artificial colors
Alcohol-free – will not irritate sensitive skin
For use on horses, ponies and foals
Available in ready-to-use formula with trigger sprayer or concentrate (dilutes 4:1)

It's herbs, folks! Harmless stuff the Big Chemical Companies don't promote, instead of poisoning the environment.

Instead of blindly accepting the hysteria, insisting on our superiority as a species, we might consider that the bats are warm blooded, just like humans. What are we doing to ourselves?

How stupid are we as a species?