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From the Advocate Archives
Another look back at Provincetown through the pages of the Provincetown Advocate in 1932, 1953 and 1975.
Jan. 6, 1932
Movie Men Shoot Dune Board Riders
Through the ingenuity of Marion Perry, Victor Santos and Ally Perry, a new winter sport complete with thrills, spills and fun has been devised for Provincetown, and a world always hungry for new diversions is turning its eyes to the Cape tip.
“Sand Dune-Boarding’ is the name given to this new adventure and the idea was taken from surfboarding but it is said to have even more thrills and surprises than that exciting water sport.
The riders are mounted on pieces of plywood, four feet long and 18 inches wide, and are towed along in back of a “dough-nut” tired beach wagon at the rate of 30 or 40 miles an hour.
Yesterday afternoon Marion Perry at the wheel and a daring group of Provincetown young people performed for two hours before three cameras of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer news-reel operators who were enthusiastic at the prospects of the new sport.
Just to show movie audiences through the country that the sport is not just riding the board, Ally Perry put on a few spills at the request of the movie men.
Jan. 8, 1953
Advocate Publishes
Town Manager Charter
With this issue of The Advocate begins the publication of the charter, which if adopted by the people of Provincetown, will give them the Town Manager form of town government and will concentrate the administration of their civic affairs in the hands of one person trained by education and experience to handle.
The charter is the result of two years of hard and constant work by a committee elected at the annual Town Meeting in February 1951 to investigate Provincetown’s current form of government and the town manager form.
Working without any appropriated funds members have made a number of trips to Boston to consult with various officials, and to Concord to investigate the workings of the town manager form there. They have had a considerable amount of correspondence with the town managers of Danvers, Ipswich, Saugus, Holden and Wilmington, and they have been greatly assisted in drawing up the charter by Lyman. H. Ziegler, municipal consultant for the Mass. Taxpayers Association. Prior to getting the bill before the Mass. Legislature, they called on Sen. Edward. C. Stone at his home in Oyster Harbors on the Cape. Later he filed the bill in the Legislature.
Readers are urged to read this charter. As the result of the hard work of the committee it contains measures designed to make the administration of Provincetown more efficient, less costly and a great deal more effective. Members of the committee have, in this charter, guarded against features which have been criticized in other forms of town manager charters, which have weakened them and have been the cause of dissention.
Jan. 9, 1975
Building Inspector
Appointment Process
Irritates Selectmen
Robert Wilkins was named Provincetown building inspector this week in an apparent violation of the Town’s Salary Administration Plan, which requires advertisement of new positions.
Town Manager Gardner Benson, who elevated Wilkins from his part-time status to the new full-time $10,000-a-year job, said automatic promotion of the building inspector was required by the state law, which mandated the new building code.
But several Town Hall officials and four of the five Selectmen (Marion Taves could not be reached for comment) objected to the appointment without prior advertisement and competitive interviews.
Selectman Marion Perry said he was very surprised to hear of Wilkins’ appointment. He thought it would “be only fair that the job be advertised” and that the Selectmen be consulted on the appointment.
Selectman William White said “There’s going to be some fireworks. You’re supposed to advertise for that job. He [Benson] is going to hear from me.”
Selectmen Carol Cummings and Warren Alexander maintained the job was a new one, as the Selectmen and Benson had said at the past two Town Meetings.
Asked why Wilkins had automatically been promoted to the new job, Benson said his action “wasn’t a decision … just an enactment of law.” A “grandfather” clause in the law, Chapter 541, Section 23, provides that Wilkins is “deemed to satisfy the qualifications” of the new inspector’s job because “any inspector in office before July 17, 1974 is automatically qualified for the new job.”
Benson acknowledged Wilkins was just one of many possible candidates who might qualify for the position, but said it was his opinion the “intent of the legislation was to retain the incumbent inspector.”
If the inspector’s job were advertised, Wilkins could simply claim the job automatically, Benson said.
Wilkins is now working full time and will be judged on the quality of the inspections under the new state code, Benson said. As added supervision, Benson has asked that Thomas Carr, the area’s state building inspector, oversee Wilkins’ work and file a monthly report on his effectiveness.
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Jan 6th, 2005