October 6, 2025 • 37 mins
We kicked off the program with four news stories and different guests on the stories we think you need to know about!
Last one-room schoolhouse in Massachusetts is mostly empty on Cuttyhunk Island, and it can’t be closed.
Guest: Dr. Margaret Frieswyk – school district’s superintendent and sole employee of Cuttyhunk Island
From Phones to Power Tools, Know the Risks of Lithium-Ion Batteries. It’s National Fire Prevention Week Oct. 5-11th.
Guest: Tom Lyons, Director of Communications at National Fire Protection Association
1 in 8 Women will be diagnosed with Breast Cancer in their lifetime…October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Boston-based Find The Cause Breast Cancer Foundation is unique in its mission, which is to fund scientific research on the environmental causes of breast cancer and to educate the public on prevention.
Guest: Dr. David Sher - Director of the Research Consortium at Find The Cause Breast Cancer Foundation
Is it time to move motorized vehicles out of bike lanes? Guest: Paul Basken – Writer & Journalist
Last one-room schoolhouse in Massachusetts is mostly empty on Cuttyhunk Island, and it can’t be closed.
Guest: Dr. Margaret Frieswyk – school district’s superintendent and sole employee of Cuttyhunk Island
From Phones to Power Tools, Know the Risks of Lithium-Ion Batteries. It’s National Fire Prevention Week Oct. 5-11th.
Guest: Tom Lyons, Director of Communications at National Fire Protection Association
1 in 8 Women will be diagnosed with Breast Cancer in their lifetime…October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Boston-based Find The Cause Breast Cancer Foundation is unique in its mission, which is to fund scientific research on the environmental causes of breast cancer and to educate the public on prevention.
Guest: Dr. David Sher - Director of the Research Consortium at Find The Cause Breast Cancer Foundation
Is it time to move motorized vehicles out of bike lanes? Guest: Paul Basken – Writer & Journalist
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's Nice Eyes with Dan Ray. I'm doing you easy
Bondon's News Radio Bore.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
We'll have a great one tonight, that's for sure. My
name is Dan Ray. Back after a night off, I
will talk to you more about that later. Had a
great night Friday night. We had a reunion for people
who worked at WBZ Television WBZDB Channel four as I
did during the nineteen eighties. A lot of familiar faces,
people who hadn't seen in decades, and it was just
(00:28):
like it was better than any reunion I've ever been to,
let me put it like that. We had a ball
big thanks to former news director Peter Brown and as
Simon desk leader Bob Males, who did a great job,
as well as others Pat Craig or Paula Palao did
a great job in organizing the event, and we'll give
some details on it later on. There's some pictures posted
(00:51):
at Nice Side with Dan Ray if you'd like to
see some of the folks who used to see on television,
and they remarkably have changed very little over the years.
My name is Dan Ray. I'm now the host of Nightside,
heard every Monday through Friday night from eight until midnight.
And we start off tonight. No phone calls this hour,
but we're going to start off with a really interesting
(01:12):
story that I read in the Boston Globe. It was
in early August, as a matter of fact, about the
last one room schoolhouse in Massachusetts. It's mostly empty. It's
out on Cutty Hank Island, and it just cannot be closed.
Even though I would say they have a paucity of
students right now, they actually have no students enrolled. And
(01:35):
with us as the school district superintendent and the sole
employee on Cutty Hank Island, as I understand it, doctor
Margaret Friswick, Doctor Friswick, welcome to Nightside.
Speaker 3 (01:48):
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
Did I mispronounce your name? It's Freezewick, I'm told in
my ear. Is that the correct pronunciation?
Speaker 4 (01:55):
That is correct?
Speaker 2 (01:56):
Okay, well we'll try to keep that right that I
try to pronounce people's names correctly. So how long has
this one room schoolhouse, which is such a such a
romantic concept for so many people who are educated in
one room school houses around the country. Few of these
(02:17):
days that in the past. But how long has the
school which is still it's not operating, but it's available
why don't you first all explain the sort of limbo
this structure is in.
Speaker 4 (02:33):
Sure, I'd be happy to and thank you for your
interest in our work out on Cuddy Hunk.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
I thought it was a great I used to look
out on Cuttyhunk Cutty Hunk Island. I actually know where
it is, and why did you explain this geography? It's
off the coast of Martha's Vineyard, if I'm not mistaken.
Speaker 3 (02:49):
That is correct.
Speaker 4 (02:50):
So Cutty Hunk is located. It is one of the
Elizabeth Islands, approximately small twenty small islands institutes the town
of Gosnold, the outer edge of Buzzard's Bay, north of
Martha's Vineyard and southwest from Cape Cod. So the island
(03:11):
that we're talking about with the schoolhouse is the public island,
along with Pennekeees. Cuddy Hunk and Pennekeees are the two
public islands, and the others are privately owned by the
Ford's poor family. The ones that probably are most known
to people might be Naushon, which is readily available by
(03:35):
a private ferry off the coast of Woods Hole. Nashawena
is another one of the privately owned islands. Pask So
we are that string of islands. If you look at
a map off the coast of Woods Hole on Cape Cod.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
Probably looks like the Antilles somewhere in the Caribbean, but
it's actually right off the coast of Massachusetts now County Hunk.
Are the people who still live year round on Cuttie Hunk?
Speaker 5 (04:06):
Oh?
Speaker 4 (04:06):
Yes, there's approximately twenty year round residents that are on
the island. It swells to about four hundred in the summer.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
How do the people who are there doctor? How do
they survive in the wintertime? Meaning how do they get groceries?
Or how I assume there's no grocery store on that
island with only twenty people.
Speaker 4 (04:34):
There is no grocery store, there's no restaurant. They often
will many of them own their own private boats and
go off island and shop in New Bedford. For example,
the ferry that leaves out of New Bedford in the
winter leaves on Monday and Friday, and families on the
(05:00):
island that are looking for groceries might do pea pod
and have their groceries delivered to the ferry docks and
then brought over to Cuddy Hunks.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
All right, well, let's talk about the school. The last
students who were in the school I believe graduated in
twenty nineteen. That's before COVID. If I recalled the article correctly.
Speaker 4 (05:21):
That is correct. We are there were a sister brother
team graduated in twenty eighteen and then twenty nineteen. But
during COVID the schoolhouse became quite active, and that was
between twenty twenty and twenty twenty one where we had
(05:44):
eight students representing five families who opted to declare residency
on the island. Oh okay, we were the only schoolhouse
in the Commonwealth that had face to face education one
hundred percent.
Speaker 2 (05:59):
Okay, So those students did not graduate. But now with
COVID or the concerns about COVID in some quarters having abated,
the school is without students. But you have to keep it,
as I understand the article. You have to keep the
school district in effect, open and ready to go into
(06:23):
active mode. If let us say someone moved onto the
island or someone rented one of their homes to a
family with school.
Speaker 4 (06:33):
Kids, that's accurate. We're a town where the town of
God's and old and we have to educate children when
they reside in our community. And so the schoolhouse, which
is a one room schoolhouse. I call her the Grand Dame.
She's one hundred and fifty years old. She is ready
(06:54):
to accept students should they move onto Cuddy Hunk or
any of the islands. Actually it's not just Cuddy Hunk,
it's the town of Gosnold, So we would be educating
if anyone moved to any of the other islands, it
would be a tough cutting Hunk.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
It would be a tough commute for any students who
are on the other islands. I assume to get well.
Speaker 4 (07:19):
Back's done it, and it's done by boat. If you
think about transporting children in a typical situation, you transport
them by bus. We happen to transport by boat. If
students were to reside on any of the other islands.
On Cutty Hunk, obviously children walk to school because it's
(07:42):
a relatively small island.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
So let me let me ask you this, because I'm
sure my audience is thinking this thought and that is
at its height. What were the most number of students
and in what era were the most number of students
you know, in the school being educated in any one
or two school years. I'm just was it at its
(08:05):
height during World War Two or give us an idea.
I'm sure you must have those statistics in your mind.
Speaker 4 (08:12):
It was, Yeah, it was before my time. Of course,
I started in twenty fifteen as their part time superintendent.
Speaker 3 (08:20):
Prior to that.
Speaker 4 (08:21):
My understanding is there were at times eight students that
were children obviously on the island of Cuddy Hank that attended.
So it was during a period of time excuse me,
where the island had many more year round residents in there.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
Do you recall approximately what time, what year that was,
or what decades?
Speaker 4 (08:50):
Yeah, I don't have those dates, but I know the children,
the adults that were educated at the time, our adults
that are in their forties, early fifties.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
Well, this could have been relatively recently. Yeah, well, how
do the calculation for you? It sounds to me like
you could have been sometime in the early eighties if
they were in elementary school. That's very that's very conceivable. Boy,
that's great. And when you had eight students, you almost
had enough for a baseball team. Well you had enough
for a basketball team? Well, thanks very much. It's fascinating.
(09:31):
Is there any other school anywhere in the country that
you know of that is currently in a I don't know,
I'll call it a state of suspended animation, ready to
go at a moment's notice, but currently is not in
active operation. Or is this the only one as far
as you know?
Speaker 4 (09:50):
It's the only one as far as I know. We
have relationships with some of the island schools up the
Maine and those schools are operational with student but a
very very small enrollment.
Speaker 2 (10:03):
All right, well, doctor Freezwick, thank you very much, lovely
to talk with you, and I'm sure that you could
get that school up and operational at a moment's notice.
Thank you so much for spending some time with us tonight.
It was a fascinating conversation.
Speaker 3 (10:18):
N pleasure.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
All right. Will we get back when we talk about
a more serious issue, and that is the risks of
lithium ion batteries. Stay with us. My name is Dan
Ray and this is a Monday night edition of Nightside.
We have just begun.
Speaker 1 (10:34):
It's night Side with Dan Ray on Boston's News Radio.
Speaker 2 (10:39):
Delighted to be joined by Tom Lyons. He's director of
Communications at the National Fire Prevention Association. We're going to
talk about everything from phones cell phones to power tools
and the risk of lithium ion batteries. As I read
this material, I'm a little freaked out here, Tom, How
are you tonight?
Speaker 3 (10:58):
We don't want you to be freaked there.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
Yeah, it's National Fire Prevention Week on October from October
fifth to the eleventh, and Tom, I worked as a
television reporter and I covered a lot of really bad
fires in that role, including the Station nightclub fire and
Rhode Island that has nothing to do with you know,
lithium ion batteries, but one hundred people lost their lives there.
I covered the fire and Worcester back in ninety nine
(11:22):
that took the lives of five Worcester to firefighters. So
I'm very concerned about fires, and I'm concerned about the
laptop computers in the city, on my desk, my cell phone.
How much of a threat is this in reality?
Speaker 3 (11:38):
Well, you know, you bring up a really good point, Dan.
I mean, fire is still a problem in this country,
which a lot of people might not think about. We'd
lose on an average several thousand people a year to
fire still in this country, and it gets worse as
technology grows. Right, because this technology, especially around batteries is great.
(11:59):
You know, most of the time, they're safe, but there's
always inherent risks to new technology. And you know, this
year's fire prevention theme is charging to fire Safety, and
we're really focused on these lithium ion batteries because they're everywhere.
You know, if it's if you're recharging something, and we
all do, it's probably got a lithium ion battery in it.
(12:21):
So it's phones, tablets, everything you mentioned, cordless vacuums, e
bikes and scooters which we're seeing all over our roads
right now, power tools. The list goes on again.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
So what what could people do too? I mean I
very rarely. What, Oh, I leave my phone on overnight?
Is that a mistake? I mean, you know I have
a charge because.
Speaker 3 (12:46):
Huh yeah, it is a mistake. And I mean, so
the first thing that people should know is, you know,
here's here's when the problems arise. If there's a you know,
if you drop your phone or your computer and there's damage.
If they're overcharged or if they're improperly used, they can overheat,
(13:06):
they can catch fire, and because of this thing called
thermal runaway, which is a chemical thing that happens in
the battery, they can even explode. And so what we
tell people to keep safe with these devices that you
know are you know we love and use so much
is first, buy safe, So you want to buy a
device with a safety certification from a nationally recognized lab.
(13:31):
So a lot of people would recognize ul as stamped
on the on the on the back of the device.
So you only want to use the charger that came
with the device, and that's the one that's usually approved
by the manufacturer. Kind of expensive, so if people lose one,
they'll often get a knockoff or grab one at the
(13:54):
corner store. Those aren't ones you should use. You really
use the manufacturer charger. And you never want to charge
on a soft surface, like to have your phone in
your bed or on a couch. You want to make
sure it's a hard flat surface.
Speaker 2 (14:11):
That I do, yeah, that I do on a table,
but how much Okay, look, I'm gonna I'm gonna learn,
which is the great part of the up my job.
I learn every night. Okay, when I go to bed
at night, I turned my phone on on some mot
mute because I don't want to try to be woken up.
But at the same time I like to have it on.
(14:33):
So you're telling me, I should not have it on
at night.
Speaker 3 (14:37):
The tagest thing that you can do is once it's charged.
Once you got that thing fully charged, you know, at
one hundred percent, unpugged the charger, so you can still
have the phone on, but don't leave it plugged in overnight.
Speaker 2 (14:52):
Oh okay, what about your laptop.
Speaker 3 (14:54):
I mean, I have a laptop, same thing, you know,
the same thing. You don't want it. You know, like
a lot of these devices, as we'll tell you, they
have smart batteries that will turn off the charging. Don't
take the risk just when you have a fully charged device,
unplug it.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
So you say unplugged, it's it's not enough to just
turn it off. So when I finish with my laptop,
I use my laptop and my show here and it's
it's it's worked. It works throughout the day with me.
But I do shut my laptop off, but I don't
go and unplug it off.
Speaker 3 (15:27):
Unplug it unplugged, once it's charged, unplugged. That's the safest
way to deal with any device. The third thing that
we really want people to know, Dan is don't throw
when you've got a device that you're ready, you know,
to get rid of. You got a lithium ion battery
that you want to get rid of, Do not put
it in the trash or in your recycling bin. They
(15:50):
can start fires, and they often do when they get
into wet stream, whether in garbage trucks or in right
recycling centers. They're very tough fires to put out, so
we want to make sure that you bring them to
a recycling location in your community. And if you don't
know if one exists in your city or town, there's
a you can go to called call to recycle dot org.
(16:14):
So it's call see a l the number two recycle
dot org.
Speaker 2 (16:20):
And the same with a with a desktop computer.
Speaker 3 (16:23):
I assume, yeah, I mean there's there's lots of places
where you can. Usually cities or towns will have some
kind of a program where they'll take your e waste in.
They might schedule a day, so you really want to
look into that.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
It's well, you know, my question was on the overnight.
So for example, you know I have a desktop and
a laptop. The desktop stays plugged in. I always turn
it off, but you're saying I should unplug it as well.
Speaker 3 (16:52):
Not and if it doesn't have a lithium ion battery,
your stays so desktop, if it's got a battery in it,
if it's got a lithium battery, and those are the
ones you don't.
Speaker 2 (17:02):
Want to how do you even know? I mean, let
me ask you this. I have a Verizon phone. Am
I assuming that that has if it's a if it's
a cell phone, it's a smartphone, it's a.
Speaker 3 (17:12):
It's you know, you can assume you can safely assume
there's a lissium I AM battery.
Speaker 2 (17:17):
What about in an Apple Mac desktop?
Speaker 3 (17:21):
Well, if it's a desktop computer and it's not a
laptop that you charge, if it's a desktop computer, it
probably doesn't.
Speaker 2 (17:28):
Have a Okay, gotcha? Okay, Well Tom, this has been great.
I've learned a lot, and hopefully my audience has learned
a lot. I used to criticize my daughter, who's a
lot smarter than I am. She would have no I'm
serious when I say that. Believe me, she's smarter than
I am. And she would have her laptop charging overnight
(17:50):
on a on a living room couch, which you know,
was you know, fabric, and I would say, you gotta
get it off the couch, get it all. These are fine,
These are safe. So even though she didn't do it
in the house, did go on fire. I was actually
telling you the right thing because I just thought, hey,
you put it on a soft fabric that's in a
(18:11):
like in a couch, and you're just asking for trouble.
But she.
Speaker 3 (18:16):
I've had the same conversations with my kids, and what
I would tell you and your your listeners. If you
want a sense of what these fires that that are
where batteries are implicated, just google something litium ion battery fire.
They're really intense. Oh, they're much more intense than than
any other kind of fire. It's very difficult to put out.
(18:38):
So you just want to take these preventives.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
Tom. If folks want to get some more information, do
you have a website we can direct people too in
this in this area.
Speaker 3 (18:45):
Generally absolutely go to www dot FPW dot org. That's
for Fire Prevention Week. It's our super bowl. We love
to prevent any kind of home fires.
Speaker 2 (18:58):
So go to FPW right and by the way, you
no longer need that www. Stuff. Just FPW dot org.
Fire Prevention Week October fifth to the eleventh. Tom Lyons,
thank you very much for your information today. It's helping me,
and if it's helping me. It's helping a lot of
my listeners. Thank you so much.
Speaker 3 (19:16):
Great good talk to your.
Speaker 2 (19:18):
Got the news at the bottom of the hour a
couple of minutes later that we'll come back and talk
about breast cancer and women. One in eight women will
during their lifetime be diagnosed with breast cancer, and this
is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Very important to talk about
that issue. Going to talk with doctor David Cher, He's
the director of the research Consortium at Find the Cause
(19:39):
Breast Cancer Foundation. Coming back right after the news at
the bottom of the hour Night Side.
Speaker 1 (19:46):
With Dan Ray. I'MBZ Boston's News Radio.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
All right, we're going to talk about a tough cancer
and that's a cancer that affects men and women, but
pri merrily women. One in eight women will be diagnosed
with breast cancer in their lifetime. With us as doctor
David Shirp, he's director of the research Consortium and Find
the Cause of Breast Cancer Foundation. Doctor Scherer, welcome to
(20:13):
Night's Side. This is Breast cancer Awareness Month. Everyone should
be aware of this cancer. I was surprised to learn
that not only obviously are the women primarily affected, but
there are some men and one in women will be
diagnosed in their lifetime. And there are over forty thousand
(20:37):
estimated annual deaths that Phil's Fenway Park every year. That's
a frightening number.
Speaker 5 (20:44):
Yeah, all those numbers are absolutely correct, and then it
should be Friday. In addition to the forty thousand of
so they got to die every year, there's three hundred
and seventeen thousand or so they're diagnosed, which means that
one day they come home from the doctors to tell
their family of guess what I have breast can answer,
and then that completely completely changes their lives.
Speaker 2 (21:04):
Okay, so let's let's talk about the chances of Let's
let's look at the positives. I assume that the survival
rates of breast cancer are becoming bigger, are better over time.
That's an assumption on my part.
Speaker 5 (21:21):
I sure, hope, I'm right, Yeah, that's absolutely correct. On
the other side of it, the incidence of cancer breast
cancer has been increasing about one percent per year over
the last ten years or so, and in women, younger
women around age fifty or so at numbers one point
five percent increasing. In those diagnoses of breast cancers in
(21:43):
the younger women tend to be even more aggressive than
the ones diagnosed to some of the older women. So
something something's clearly going on here.
Speaker 2 (21:51):
So is that foods were ingesting? Is it? What did
they attribute to? Chemicals were being exposed to what? There
must be a couple of theories at.
Speaker 5 (22:02):
Least, Yeah, there were theories. I mean, there's been several
computational analyzes and generally the consensus is that about eighty
five percent of cancers are caused by extrinsic factors. So
not bad luck, not some inherited gene, but something that
you've been exposed to the environment. Now, if you know,
when I ask people how many chemicals do you think,
(22:24):
let's say the EPA has registered in their database over
many years, then they'll guess a few hundred, couple ten pounds.
Speaker 2 (22:34):
I'm guessing a lot more than that.
Speaker 5 (22:37):
Yep. It's eighty six thousand man made chemicals are being
used in various industries, eighty six thousand, and those of those,
only two and a half percent has been tested to
see if they are carcinogenic, in other words, if they
can cause cancer. That leaves an awful lot of unknowns,
a lot of chemicals that were exposed to them. Each
(22:57):
of us carried many of these things in our blood.
Speaker 2 (23:02):
One other figure that was interesting was that, according to
the website Find the Cause of those diagnosed with women
diagnosed with breast cancer do not have a family history,
Which is good news to people who do have a
family history because it would say to them, well, that
doesn't necessarily mean you're destined to have breast cancer. But
(23:26):
it's not good news to people who might take some
comfort in the fact that there isn't a history of
breast cancer within their family.
Speaker 5 (23:36):
Yeah, exactly. Every pretty much everybody's at risk, especially if
you're exposed to many of the chemicals that are listed.
If people want to know about what those chemicals are,
they can go to the Find the Cause of Breast
Cancer Foundation website and they'll see how many chemicals that
you're exposed to in your everyday life they could be
contributing to this increase in cancer.
Speaker 2 (23:56):
Okay, so let me ask you. Let me ask you
a couple of simple questions. What can women do? I
realized that if there is some chemical out there that
is really to be found out to be a cause
of breast cancer five or ten years from now, we
(24:17):
don't know that. But what can women do to diminish
the chances of having a diagnosis of breast cancer. And
for that matter, what can men do, because there are
some men who are diagnosed with breast cancer.
Speaker 5 (24:31):
Yeah, there's a very famous case of Marines who went
through Camp Lea June and some very large percentage of
them without breast cancer. And that was because of contaminists
that we're in their drinking water. But pretty much every
person is it supposed to be during the day. So
women can avoid certain of buying certain products that have
(24:54):
flame retardants in them. Those are called tvdes, they're brominated,
it doesn't matter what call them, but they're known to
be to act a little bit like estrogen to the
hyperactivated growth receptor in breast cells, and those are very common.
There are many forms of storage for cooking food, like plastics.
(25:17):
They can take dispental salates, all kinds of other things.
And pretty much everybody's heard about the forever chemicals in
the water. The peace as in the water. I would
say that what you can do, the easiest thing to
do is actually go to the rest of the can
breast find the cause Breast Cancer Foundation, and you'll look
at their educational components and You'll see a whole bunch
of personal care products, cleaning products, paper products, things like
(25:41):
that that you that you can avoid, and it isn't
It's not like you can just that you just three
hands up and go, well, there's so much of the
stuff around. What am I going to do? There's actually
actions people can take to minimize their exposure to these chemicals.
Speaker 2 (25:56):
Okay, here's my last question. A lot of these chemicals
have been developed, you know, like various chemical companies. Everybody
knows the name of the chemical, and I remember better
living through chemicals for some of the ads that I
remember as a younger person by some of these companies. Okay,
(26:17):
has the incidence of breast cancer in women? And I
realized there may have been a time one hundred years
ago when the diagnoses were not made as effectively. Has
there been a substantial increase in the percentage of women
in America who are being diagnosed with cancer in the
twenty first century compared to let's say the mid twentieth
(26:40):
or the early twentieth century, And do such statistics even exist?
Speaker 5 (26:45):
Absolutely short answer is yes, And the longer answer would
be yes, that not only has the incidents increased, but
there are many, many studies that show an association between
exposure to particular environmental chem okay and the increased risk
of breast cancer.
Speaker 2 (27:03):
Okay. I assume that is the answer, because when you
say that there are eighty six chemicals out there, and
again I can remember ads on television. You're probably not
as old as I am, but the I remember the
the the ad interne intoning better, living better, living through
through chemicals, and it was quite the quite the opposite
(27:26):
of that. I do appreciate your time, Dr David Share.
Is there a website? I know it's fine, the Cause
of Breast Cancer Foundation. You want to give us the
website real quickly.
Speaker 5 (27:38):
Sure, find the cause all one word with the BCF,
which stands for Breast Cancer Foundation. So find the Cause
BCS one word dot org and you'll see what the
researchers are doing, and you'll see what the educational effort
has been, and you'll see that there are many opportunities
to contribute here to help prevent breast cancer.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
Thank you so much. A lot of great information tonight,
and I hope my audience will take some of it
to heart and may change may save some people from
being diagnosed. Thank you, so much, doctor David. Sure, thank you,
appreciate it so much, doctor, Thank you. When we get back,
we're going to talk with a writer who wrote a
piece in the Boston Globe last weekend. It was an
off ed piece in whether it's time to move motorized
(28:22):
vehicles out of bike lanes. We're going to talk with
Paul Paskin. Of course, my view is it's time to
move bike lanes out of Boston. But we'll still have
a very pleasant conversation with Paul Baskin coming up on Nightside.
Speaker 1 (28:35):
You're on Nightside with Dan Ray on Boston's News Radio.
Speaker 2 (28:41):
Delighted to be joined by Paul Baskin. He is a
writer who wrote a piece in the Boston Globe. I
believe it was on Friday. Am I correct on that, Paul.
Speaker 3 (28:51):
I think it was about a week and a half ago.
Speaker 2 (28:53):
Okay, well, I was at least I had the right
Well maybe it didn't even have the right month now
that I think about it. For some reason, I thought
it was recent than that. And he basically the piece
was time to move motorized vehicles out of bike lanes.
In the spirit of full disclosure, I'm in favor of
moving bike lanes out of Boston, Paul, just so you know,
(29:15):
but obviously you've got a conflict here and pretty clear
to me that you're an advocate of bike lanes, but
you want the bike lanes to be restricted just to
human powered bicycles. So what do we do with the
little mopeads and the scooters and the e bikes, all
(29:39):
of these little vehicles that have proliferated. I know where
you want to put him, and as a motorist, I
don't want any of them either. Go right ahead, you
can make your case.
Speaker 3 (29:51):
Well, it's a really complicated subject. And yes, I mean
a lot of people are sort of in trouble understanding
and maybe my fault a little bit, but any even,
but it's complicated. Yeah, I think the think, the really
answer is that we need to write size up based
on what people really want. And what we have in
this country right now is domination by cars. Because the
government funds funds the roads and funds them entirely for cars.
(30:13):
And because we have that environment, people aren't actually able
to freely choose the way of getting around them. That's
why this looks so complicated, because people look at it
from could I just interrupt it?
Speaker 2 (30:24):
Could I just just interrupt it for one second. I've
driven a car all my life, and most of my
listeners have driven cars. We pay gas taxes when we
buy the fuel. As a matter of fact, in some
states should pay more for gas taxes than other states,
But in massachues I think it's eighteen cents a gallon
when I last checked. We pay excise taxes. We use
(30:45):
our cars to get to work because many of us
live quite a distance from where we work. Some live closer,
so whatever, So those cars have become a necessity in
our life. There was a period of time about one
hundred and fifty years ago, well we didn't have to
worry about cars. Was horse and buggies. So I just
want to defend the automobile drivers at this point who
(31:07):
really feel and I think I can speak for them
because I've done a number of shows on this, they
really feel pretty bedraggled. Right now, we stop at red lights.
A lot of the bicyclists blow through the red light
and police I've never seen him, very very very very few.
(31:27):
I almost killed a guy and I talked about this
last spring. I was on a street in Brighton and
I was at a red light, and I happened to
catch an older gentleman on a bike coming down and
he was moving pretty good. And when the light turned,
I made sure that I looked. If I had not looked,
(31:49):
he never stopped. He blew through the red light, and
he either would have crashed into the side of my car.
So again, if drive around with me and you'll see
drive in Harvard Square, see how many bicyclists go through
red lights compared to motorists. Motorists don't go through right
it's in Ard Square, So go ahead. I just wanted
to the table.
Speaker 3 (32:06):
The difference when a motorist goes to the red light
is it's endangering other people, and a bicycles does it,
it's endangering themselves. Another thing to keep it.
Speaker 2 (32:12):
To be endangering a pedestrians. Come on, Paul, could be
endangering a pedestrian, could be endangering a mother with a
baby carriage. Sure, I know people who have been hit
by bicycles. There have been people who have been killed
by people who've been hit by bicycles. I'll admit not
nearly as many die who die in car accidents. We
lose sadly. You know what if it is thirty five
thousand people here in automobile accidents. But go ahead, I
(32:36):
don't mean to drop that. I want to hear you.
Speaker 3 (32:38):
Well, that's the point, is what you're saying is that
the numbers are vastly out of whack, that the danger
is far more posed by the car driver misbehaving than
it is a bicycles. The bicycles is generally endangering themselves.
And go back to your comment about gas tacks and
excise taxes. Yes, those those seats are paid, but they
don't come anywhere near the cost of building roads and
maintaining them. There was a study by Harvard University Research
(33:00):
a little while ago that found that the average family
in Massachusetts pays fourteen thousand dollars a year, fourteen thousand
dollars a year to subsidize car use, whether they even
use when or not.
Speaker 2 (33:10):
So let me ask you this. Let me ask you
how you I assume you don't drive a car, right,
or you don't have a car. You do? Good? Okay,
So you're you're in the group that you're indicting here
on my show, which is fine. But for people, let's
say who live in downtown. Let's say we have some
people who live in downtown Boston who live in you know,
the multimillion dollar condominiums. They're doctors, lawyers or whatever. And
(33:33):
they don't have cars. And when they need a car,
they rent a car or they take an uber. Okay,
how do you think the groceries and the and the
oil gets to the to where they live. I mean,
you know this whole idea of trying to guilt trip
the drivers that we and we should do longer an
(33:54):
hour in this ball. And I'd be happy to do
it with you. By the way, the idea of guilt
tripping people who are driving cars. Roads are important. You
want to get rid of roads in this country. You
want to go back to diurnals in this country.
Speaker 3 (34:05):
There no intent to guilt trip anybody at all. But
so simply point out the simple fact that the motors
don't pay for the roads.
Speaker 2 (34:12):
Well, yes we do, Yes, we do pay for the roads.
The bike drivers do they pay gas? The bicyclists do
they pay gas taxes to drive their bikes?
Speaker 3 (34:21):
No, they pay general taxation, general motoration, which cover which
covers the roads. The roads are paid for. The roads
are paid for primarily by general taxation, not by not
by not by car car drivers, not by the gas taxes,
not by their exercise taxes. The roads are paid for
by general taxation. So yes, bicyclists pay for the roads
very much.
Speaker 2 (34:39):
They pay, they pay, they pay. They pay less for
the roads because they're using the Whatever people make in
terms of their income taxes, their state income taxes, and
the federal income taxes, they go to the transportation system.
Everybody pays that, Okay, But what I'm saying is if
they're going to take a third of Beacon Street or
a third of Commonwealth Avenue and dedicated to people, uh
(35:00):
who are And by the way, it's like twelve bicyclists.
People call me all the time and they tell me
they're looking at traffic which is backed up for blocks
and there's four bicycles that go by, you know, you're
bison and.
Speaker 5 (35:11):
How many good, yep, good?
Speaker 3 (35:15):
How much? How how many people would use car roads
if you only gave them a half of a lane
everywhere too? I mean you're asking it from a from
a perspective in which the car drivers.
Speaker 2 (35:22):
Think, I would think that your bicyclist would fill that,
and that if you had that many bicyclists who were
using the bike lanes, you then would be arguing, well,
the bike lanes are so crowded, it just shows there's
a greater need. But there's no great need for bicycles.
First of all, you can't really ride bikes in Massachusetts
if this is not Phoenix, Arizona, December January, February March.
(35:43):
I mean you're talking about you.
Speaker 3 (35:44):
You also can't drive cars that you can't afford one,
or if you're too young for them, if you have
no other reasons too. So the argument that not everybody
can ride a bike in all circumstances also applies to
cars too.
Speaker 2 (35:53):
Why does it apply to cars? Cars?
Speaker 3 (35:56):
You can't drive one if you're under eight, under sixteen,
and you can't drive one if you're too old to
drive one, and you can't drive one for it's.
Speaker 2 (36:03):
A small percentage of people who opt out at the
and they opt out either by being opt out out
or opt out. Let's do this ball. I come on
back and let me set up an hour. Come on
back for an hour some night. We'll take phone calls.
You can line up all the bike riders. I've done
this this story many, many, many times. And uh, the
(36:24):
problem is that this the bike lanes are there, I say,
leave everything, leave leave the roads to the cars, and
give the bike lanes. We're never gonna we're never gonna
get rid of the bike lanes, unfortunately, but we'll we'll
we'll have an hour and we'll take some phone calls,
and we won't try to crunch it into a relatively
(36:44):
brief period of time. The piece which was in the
globe is time to move motorized vehicles out of bike lanes.
And I want my listeners to find the Globe and
reread that piece and come on back, and I think
we're gonna have a spirited discussion start to us.
Speaker 3 (37:00):
Thank you, thank you, thanks very much.
Speaker 2 (37:01):
Paul, appreciate your kindness. We'll be back right after the
nine o'clock news. I tried this thing. I feel very
strongly about ladies and gentlemen. So anyway, when we come
back right after the nine o'clock news, we're going to
talk about the subjects of the evening. And the first
one up on the other side is going to be
what happened in the South End over the weekend, Chaos
(37:24):
in the streets, a police car destroyed, and I don't
know that anyone's going to pay for that at all.
And we're going to talk with Larry called Around, the
president of the Boston Police Patrolman's Association, and we'll have
some spirited discussion on that issue as well, back on
Nights Out after this
It's Nice Eyes with Dan Ray. I'm doing you easy
Bondon's News Radio Bore.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
We'll have a great one tonight, that's for sure. My
name is Dan Ray. Back after a night off, I
will talk to you more about that later. Had a
great night Friday night. We had a reunion for people
who worked at WBZ Television WBZDB Channel four as I
did during the nineteen eighties. A lot of familiar faces,
people who hadn't seen in decades, and it was just
(00:28):
like it was better than any reunion I've ever been to,
let me put it like that. We had a ball
big thanks to former news director Peter Brown and as
Simon desk leader Bob Males, who did a great job,
as well as others Pat Craig or Paula Palao did
a great job in organizing the event, and we'll give
some details on it later on. There's some pictures posted
(00:51):
at Nice Side with Dan Ray if you'd like to
see some of the folks who used to see on television,
and they remarkably have changed very little over the years.
My name is Dan Ray. I'm now the host of Nightside,
heard every Monday through Friday night from eight until midnight.
And we start off tonight. No phone calls this hour,
but we're going to start off with a really interesting
(01:12):
story that I read in the Boston Globe. It was
in early August, as a matter of fact, about the
last one room schoolhouse in Massachusetts. It's mostly empty. It's
out on Cutty Hank Island, and it just cannot be closed.
Even though I would say they have a paucity of
students right now, they actually have no students enrolled. And
(01:35):
with us as the school district superintendent and the sole
employee on Cutty Hank Island, as I understand it, doctor
Margaret Friswick, Doctor Friswick, welcome to Nightside.
Speaker 3 (01:48):
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
Did I mispronounce your name? It's Freezewick, I'm told in
my ear. Is that the correct pronunciation?
Speaker 4 (01:55):
That is correct?
Speaker 2 (01:56):
Okay, well we'll try to keep that right that I
try to pronounce people's names correctly. So how long has
this one room schoolhouse, which is such a such a
romantic concept for so many people who are educated in
one room school houses around the country. Few of these
(02:17):
days that in the past. But how long has the
school which is still it's not operating, but it's available
why don't you first all explain the sort of limbo
this structure is in.
Speaker 4 (02:33):
Sure, I'd be happy to and thank you for your
interest in our work out on Cuddy Hunk.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
I thought it was a great I used to look
out on Cuttyhunk Cutty Hunk Island. I actually know where
it is, and why did you explain this geography? It's
off the coast of Martha's Vineyard, if I'm not mistaken.
Speaker 3 (02:49):
That is correct.
Speaker 4 (02:50):
So Cutty Hunk is located. It is one of the
Elizabeth Islands, approximately small twenty small islands institutes the town
of Gosnold, the outer edge of Buzzard's Bay, north of
Martha's Vineyard and southwest from Cape Cod. So the island
(03:11):
that we're talking about with the schoolhouse is the public island,
along with Pennekeees. Cuddy Hunk and Pennekeees are the two
public islands, and the others are privately owned by the
Ford's poor family. The ones that probably are most known
to people might be Naushon, which is readily available by
(03:35):
a private ferry off the coast of Woods Hole. Nashawena
is another one of the privately owned islands. Pask So
we are that string of islands. If you look at
a map off the coast of Woods Hole on Cape Cod.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
Probably looks like the Antilles somewhere in the Caribbean, but
it's actually right off the coast of Massachusetts now County Hunk.
Are the people who still live year round on Cuttie Hunk?
Speaker 5 (04:06):
Oh?
Speaker 4 (04:06):
Yes, there's approximately twenty year round residents that are on
the island. It swells to about four hundred in the summer.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
How do the people who are there doctor? How do
they survive in the wintertime? Meaning how do they get groceries?
Or how I assume there's no grocery store on that
island with only twenty people.
Speaker 4 (04:34):
There is no grocery store, there's no restaurant. They often
will many of them own their own private boats and
go off island and shop in New Bedford. For example,
the ferry that leaves out of New Bedford in the
winter leaves on Monday and Friday, and families on the
(05:00):
island that are looking for groceries might do pea pod
and have their groceries delivered to the ferry docks and
then brought over to Cuddy Hunks.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
All right, well, let's talk about the school. The last
students who were in the school I believe graduated in
twenty nineteen. That's before COVID. If I recalled the article correctly.
Speaker 4 (05:21):
That is correct. We are there were a sister brother
team graduated in twenty eighteen and then twenty nineteen. But
during COVID the schoolhouse became quite active, and that was
between twenty twenty and twenty twenty one where we had
(05:44):
eight students representing five families who opted to declare residency
on the island. Oh okay, we were the only schoolhouse
in the Commonwealth that had face to face education one
hundred percent.
Speaker 2 (05:59):
Okay, So those students did not graduate. But now with
COVID or the concerns about COVID in some quarters having abated,
the school is without students. But you have to keep it,
as I understand the article. You have to keep the
school district in effect, open and ready to go into
(06:23):
active mode. If let us say someone moved onto the
island or someone rented one of their homes to a
family with school.
Speaker 4 (06:33):
Kids, that's accurate. We're a town where the town of
God's and old and we have to educate children when
they reside in our community. And so the schoolhouse, which
is a one room schoolhouse. I call her the Grand Dame.
She's one hundred and fifty years old. She is ready
(06:54):
to accept students should they move onto Cuddy Hunk or
any of the islands. Actually it's not just Cuddy Hunk,
it's the town of Gosnold, So we would be educating
if anyone moved to any of the other islands, it
would be a tough cutting Hunk.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
It would be a tough commute for any students who
are on the other islands. I assume to get well.
Speaker 4 (07:19):
Back's done it, and it's done by boat. If you
think about transporting children in a typical situation, you transport
them by bus. We happen to transport by boat. If
students were to reside on any of the other islands.
On Cutty Hunk, obviously children walk to school because it's
(07:42):
a relatively small island.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
So let me let me ask you this, because I'm
sure my audience is thinking this thought and that is
at its height. What were the most number of students
and in what era were the most number of students
you know, in the school being educated in any one
or two school years. I'm just was it at its
(08:05):
height during World War Two or give us an idea.
I'm sure you must have those statistics in your mind.
Speaker 4 (08:12):
It was, Yeah, it was before my time. Of course,
I started in twenty fifteen as their part time superintendent.
Speaker 3 (08:20):
Prior to that.
Speaker 4 (08:21):
My understanding is there were at times eight students that
were children obviously on the island of Cuddy Hank that attended.
So it was during a period of time excuse me,
where the island had many more year round residents in there.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
Do you recall approximately what time, what year that was,
or what decades?
Speaker 4 (08:50):
Yeah, I don't have those dates, but I know the children,
the adults that were educated at the time, our adults
that are in their forties, early fifties.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
Well, this could have been relatively recently. Yeah, well, how
do the calculation for you? It sounds to me like
you could have been sometime in the early eighties if
they were in elementary school. That's very that's very conceivable. Boy,
that's great. And when you had eight students, you almost
had enough for a baseball team. Well you had enough
for a basketball team? Well, thanks very much. It's fascinating.
(09:31):
Is there any other school anywhere in the country that
you know of that is currently in a I don't know,
I'll call it a state of suspended animation, ready to
go at a moment's notice, but currently is not in
active operation. Or is this the only one as far
as you know?
Speaker 4 (09:50):
It's the only one as far as I know. We
have relationships with some of the island schools up the
Maine and those schools are operational with student but a
very very small enrollment.
Speaker 2 (10:03):
All right, well, doctor Freezwick, thank you very much, lovely
to talk with you, and I'm sure that you could
get that school up and operational at a moment's notice.
Thank you so much for spending some time with us tonight.
It was a fascinating conversation.
Speaker 3 (10:18):
N pleasure.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
All right. Will we get back when we talk about
a more serious issue, and that is the risks of
lithium ion batteries. Stay with us. My name is Dan
Ray and this is a Monday night edition of Nightside.
We have just begun.
Speaker 1 (10:34):
It's night Side with Dan Ray on Boston's News Radio.
Speaker 2 (10:39):
Delighted to be joined by Tom Lyons. He's director of
Communications at the National Fire Prevention Association. We're going to
talk about everything from phones cell phones to power tools
and the risk of lithium ion batteries. As I read
this material, I'm a little freaked out here, Tom, How
are you tonight?
Speaker 3 (10:58):
We don't want you to be freaked there.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
Yeah, it's National Fire Prevention Week on October from October
fifth to the eleventh, and Tom, I worked as a
television reporter and I covered a lot of really bad
fires in that role, including the Station nightclub fire and
Rhode Island that has nothing to do with you know,
lithium ion batteries, but one hundred people lost their lives there.
I covered the fire and Worcester back in ninety nine
(11:22):
that took the lives of five Worcester to firefighters. So
I'm very concerned about fires, and I'm concerned about the
laptop computers in the city, on my desk, my cell phone.
How much of a threat is this in reality?
Speaker 3 (11:38):
Well, you know, you bring up a really good point, Dan.
I mean, fire is still a problem in this country,
which a lot of people might not think about. We'd
lose on an average several thousand people a year to
fire still in this country, and it gets worse as
technology grows. Right, because this technology, especially around batteries is great.
(11:59):
You know, most of the time, they're safe, but there's
always inherent risks to new technology. And you know, this
year's fire prevention theme is charging to fire Safety, and
we're really focused on these lithium ion batteries because they're everywhere.
You know, if it's if you're recharging something, and we
all do, it's probably got a lithium ion battery in it.
(12:21):
So it's phones, tablets, everything you mentioned, cordless vacuums, e
bikes and scooters which we're seeing all over our roads
right now, power tools. The list goes on again.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
So what what could people do too? I mean I
very rarely. What, Oh, I leave my phone on overnight?
Is that a mistake? I mean, you know I have
a charge because.
Speaker 3 (12:46):
Huh yeah, it is a mistake. And I mean, so
the first thing that people should know is, you know,
here's here's when the problems arise. If there's a you know,
if you drop your phone or your computer and there's damage.
If they're overcharged or if they're improperly used, they can overheat,
(13:06):
they can catch fire, and because of this thing called
thermal runaway, which is a chemical thing that happens in
the battery, they can even explode. And so what we
tell people to keep safe with these devices that you
know are you know we love and use so much
is first, buy safe, So you want to buy a
device with a safety certification from a nationally recognized lab.
(13:31):
So a lot of people would recognize ul as stamped
on the on the on the back of the device.
So you only want to use the charger that came
with the device, and that's the one that's usually approved
by the manufacturer. Kind of expensive, so if people lose one,
they'll often get a knockoff or grab one at the
(13:54):
corner store. Those aren't ones you should use. You really
use the manufacturer charger. And you never want to charge
on a soft surface, like to have your phone in
your bed or on a couch. You want to make
sure it's a hard flat surface.
Speaker 2 (14:11):
That I do, yeah, that I do on a table,
but how much Okay, look, I'm gonna I'm gonna learn,
which is the great part of the up my job.
I learn every night. Okay, when I go to bed
at night, I turned my phone on on some mot
mute because I don't want to try to be woken up.
But at the same time I like to have it on.
(14:33):
So you're telling me, I should not have it on
at night.
Speaker 3 (14:37):
The tagest thing that you can do is once it's charged.
Once you got that thing fully charged, you know, at
one hundred percent, unpugged the charger, so you can still
have the phone on, but don't leave it plugged in overnight.
Speaker 2 (14:52):
Oh okay, what about your laptop.
Speaker 3 (14:54):
I mean, I have a laptop, same thing, you know,
the same thing. You don't want it. You know, like
a lot of these devices, as we'll tell you, they
have smart batteries that will turn off the charging. Don't
take the risk just when you have a fully charged device,
unplug it.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
So you say unplugged, it's it's not enough to just
turn it off. So when I finish with my laptop,
I use my laptop and my show here and it's
it's it's worked. It works throughout the day with me.
But I do shut my laptop off, but I don't
go and unplug it off.
Speaker 3 (15:27):
Unplug it unplugged, once it's charged, unplugged. That's the safest
way to deal with any device. The third thing that
we really want people to know, Dan is don't throw
when you've got a device that you're ready, you know,
to get rid of. You got a lithium ion battery
that you want to get rid of, Do not put
it in the trash or in your recycling bin. They
(15:50):
can start fires, and they often do when they get
into wet stream, whether in garbage trucks or in right
recycling centers. They're very tough fires to put out, so
we want to make sure that you bring them to
a recycling location in your community. And if you don't
know if one exists in your city or town, there's
a you can go to called call to recycle dot org.
(16:14):
So it's call see a l the number two recycle
dot org.
Speaker 2 (16:20):
And the same with a with a desktop computer.
Speaker 3 (16:23):
I assume, yeah, I mean there's there's lots of places
where you can. Usually cities or towns will have some
kind of a program where they'll take your e waste in.
They might schedule a day, so you really want to
look into that.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
It's well, you know, my question was on the overnight.
So for example, you know I have a desktop and
a laptop. The desktop stays plugged in. I always turn
it off, but you're saying I should unplug it as well.
Speaker 3 (16:52):
Not and if it doesn't have a lithium ion battery,
your stays so desktop, if it's got a battery in it,
if it's got a lithium battery, and those are the
ones you don't.
Speaker 2 (17:02):
Want to how do you even know? I mean, let
me ask you this. I have a Verizon phone. Am
I assuming that that has if it's a if it's
a cell phone, it's a smartphone, it's a.
Speaker 3 (17:12):
It's you know, you can assume you can safely assume
there's a lissium I AM battery.
Speaker 2 (17:17):
What about in an Apple Mac desktop?
Speaker 3 (17:21):
Well, if it's a desktop computer and it's not a
laptop that you charge, if it's a desktop computer, it
probably doesn't.
Speaker 2 (17:28):
Have a Okay, gotcha? Okay, Well Tom, this has been great.
I've learned a lot, and hopefully my audience has learned
a lot. I used to criticize my daughter, who's a
lot smarter than I am. She would have no I'm
serious when I say that. Believe me, she's smarter than
I am. And she would have her laptop charging overnight
(17:50):
on a on a living room couch, which you know,
was you know, fabric, and I would say, you gotta
get it off the couch, get it all. These are fine,
These are safe. So even though she didn't do it
in the house, did go on fire. I was actually
telling you the right thing because I just thought, hey,
you put it on a soft fabric that's in a
(18:11):
like in a couch, and you're just asking for trouble.
But she.
Speaker 3 (18:16):
I've had the same conversations with my kids, and what
I would tell you and your your listeners. If you
want a sense of what these fires that that are
where batteries are implicated, just google something litium ion battery fire.
They're really intense. Oh, they're much more intense than than
any other kind of fire. It's very difficult to put out.
(18:38):
So you just want to take these preventives.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
Tom. If folks want to get some more information, do
you have a website we can direct people too in
this in this area.
Speaker 3 (18:45):
Generally absolutely go to www dot FPW dot org. That's
for Fire Prevention Week. It's our super bowl. We love
to prevent any kind of home fires.
Speaker 2 (18:58):
So go to FPW right and by the way, you
no longer need that www. Stuff. Just FPW dot org.
Fire Prevention Week October fifth to the eleventh. Tom Lyons,
thank you very much for your information today. It's helping me,
and if it's helping me. It's helping a lot of
my listeners. Thank you so much.
Speaker 3 (19:16):
Great good talk to your.
Speaker 2 (19:18):
Got the news at the bottom of the hour a
couple of minutes later that we'll come back and talk
about breast cancer and women. One in eight women will
during their lifetime be diagnosed with breast cancer, and this
is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Very important to talk about
that issue. Going to talk with doctor David Cher, He's
the director of the research Consortium at Find the Cause
(19:39):
Breast Cancer Foundation. Coming back right after the news at
the bottom of the hour Night Side.
Speaker 1 (19:46):
With Dan Ray. I'MBZ Boston's News Radio.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
All right, we're going to talk about a tough cancer
and that's a cancer that affects men and women, but
pri merrily women. One in eight women will be diagnosed
with breast cancer in their lifetime. With us as doctor
David Shirp, he's director of the research Consortium and Find
the Cause of Breast Cancer Foundation. Doctor Scherer, welcome to
(20:13):
Night's Side. This is Breast cancer Awareness Month. Everyone should
be aware of this cancer. I was surprised to learn
that not only obviously are the women primarily affected, but
there are some men and one in women will be
diagnosed in their lifetime. And there are over forty thousand
(20:37):
estimated annual deaths that Phil's Fenway Park every year. That's
a frightening number.
Speaker 5 (20:44):
Yeah, all those numbers are absolutely correct, and then it
should be Friday. In addition to the forty thousand of
so they got to die every year, there's three hundred
and seventeen thousand or so they're diagnosed, which means that
one day they come home from the doctors to tell
their family of guess what I have breast can answer,
and then that completely completely changes their lives.
Speaker 2 (21:04):
Okay, so let's let's talk about the chances of Let's
let's look at the positives. I assume that the survival
rates of breast cancer are becoming bigger, are better over time.
That's an assumption on my part.
Speaker 5 (21:21):
I sure, hope, I'm right, Yeah, that's absolutely correct. On
the other side of it, the incidence of cancer breast
cancer has been increasing about one percent per year over
the last ten years or so, and in women, younger
women around age fifty or so at numbers one point
five percent increasing. In those diagnoses of breast cancers in
(21:43):
the younger women tend to be even more aggressive than
the ones diagnosed to some of the older women. So
something something's clearly going on here.
Speaker 2 (21:51):
So is that foods were ingesting? Is it? What did
they attribute to? Chemicals were being exposed to what? There
must be a couple of theories at.
Speaker 5 (22:02):
Least, Yeah, there were theories. I mean, there's been several
computational analyzes and generally the consensus is that about eighty
five percent of cancers are caused by extrinsic factors. So
not bad luck, not some inherited gene, but something that
you've been exposed to the environment. Now, if you know,
when I ask people how many chemicals do you think,
(22:24):
let's say the EPA has registered in their database over
many years, then they'll guess a few hundred, couple ten pounds.
Speaker 2 (22:34):
I'm guessing a lot more than that.
Speaker 5 (22:37):
Yep. It's eighty six thousand man made chemicals are being
used in various industries, eighty six thousand, and those of those,
only two and a half percent has been tested to
see if they are carcinogenic, in other words, if they
can cause cancer. That leaves an awful lot of unknowns,
a lot of chemicals that were exposed to them. Each
(22:57):
of us carried many of these things in our blood.
Speaker 2 (23:02):
One other figure that was interesting was that, according to
the website Find the Cause of those diagnosed with women
diagnosed with breast cancer do not have a family history,
Which is good news to people who do have a
family history because it would say to them, well, that
doesn't necessarily mean you're destined to have breast cancer. But
(23:26):
it's not good news to people who might take some
comfort in the fact that there isn't a history of
breast cancer within their family.
Speaker 5 (23:36):
Yeah, exactly. Every pretty much everybody's at risk, especially if
you're exposed to many of the chemicals that are listed.
If people want to know about what those chemicals are,
they can go to the Find the Cause of Breast
Cancer Foundation website and they'll see how many chemicals that
you're exposed to in your everyday life they could be
contributing to this increase in cancer.
Speaker 2 (23:56):
Okay, so let me ask you. Let me ask you
a couple of simple questions. What can women do? I
realized that if there is some chemical out there that
is really to be found out to be a cause
of breast cancer five or ten years from now, we
(24:17):
don't know that. But what can women do to diminish
the chances of having a diagnosis of breast cancer. And
for that matter, what can men do, because there are
some men who are diagnosed with breast cancer.
Speaker 5 (24:31):
Yeah, there's a very famous case of Marines who went
through Camp Lea June and some very large percentage of
them without breast cancer. And that was because of contaminists
that we're in their drinking water. But pretty much every
person is it supposed to be during the day. So
women can avoid certain of buying certain products that have
(24:54):
flame retardants in them. Those are called tvdes, they're brominated,
it doesn't matter what call them, but they're known to
be to act a little bit like estrogen to the
hyperactivated growth receptor in breast cells, and those are very common.
There are many forms of storage for cooking food, like plastics.
(25:17):
They can take dispental salates, all kinds of other things.
And pretty much everybody's heard about the forever chemicals in
the water. The peace as in the water. I would
say that what you can do, the easiest thing to
do is actually go to the rest of the can
breast find the cause Breast Cancer Foundation, and you'll look
at their educational components and You'll see a whole bunch
of personal care products, cleaning products, paper products, things like
(25:41):
that that you that you can avoid, and it isn't
It's not like you can just that you just three
hands up and go, well, there's so much of the
stuff around. What am I going to do? There's actually
actions people can take to minimize their exposure to these chemicals.
Speaker 2 (25:56):
Okay, here's my last question. A lot of these chemicals
have been developed, you know, like various chemical companies. Everybody
knows the name of the chemical, and I remember better
living through chemicals for some of the ads that I
remember as a younger person by some of these companies. Okay,
(26:17):
has the incidence of breast cancer in women? And I
realized there may have been a time one hundred years
ago when the diagnoses were not made as effectively. Has
there been a substantial increase in the percentage of women
in America who are being diagnosed with cancer in the
twenty first century compared to let's say the mid twentieth
(26:40):
or the early twentieth century, And do such statistics even exist?
Speaker 5 (26:45):
Absolutely short answer is yes, And the longer answer would
be yes, that not only has the incidents increased, but
there are many, many studies that show an association between
exposure to particular environmental chem okay and the increased risk
of breast cancer.
Speaker 2 (27:03):
Okay. I assume that is the answer, because when you
say that there are eighty six chemicals out there, and
again I can remember ads on television. You're probably not
as old as I am, but the I remember the
the the ad interne intoning better, living better, living through
through chemicals, and it was quite the quite the opposite
(27:26):
of that. I do appreciate your time, Dr David Share.
Is there a website? I know it's fine, the Cause
of Breast Cancer Foundation. You want to give us the
website real quickly.
Speaker 5 (27:38):
Sure, find the cause all one word with the BCF,
which stands for Breast Cancer Foundation. So find the Cause
BCS one word dot org and you'll see what the
researchers are doing, and you'll see what the educational effort
has been, and you'll see that there are many opportunities
to contribute here to help prevent breast cancer.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
Thank you so much. A lot of great information tonight,
and I hope my audience will take some of it
to heart and may change may save some people from
being diagnosed. Thank you, so much, doctor David. Sure, thank you,
appreciate it so much, doctor, Thank you. When we get back,
we're going to talk with a writer who wrote a
piece in the Boston Globe last weekend. It was an
off ed piece in whether it's time to move motorized
(28:22):
vehicles out of bike lanes. We're going to talk with
Paul Paskin. Of course, my view is it's time to
move bike lanes out of Boston. But we'll still have
a very pleasant conversation with Paul Baskin coming up on Nightside.
Speaker 1 (28:35):
You're on Nightside with Dan Ray on Boston's News Radio.
Speaker 2 (28:41):
Delighted to be joined by Paul Baskin. He is a
writer who wrote a piece in the Boston Globe. I
believe it was on Friday. Am I correct on that, Paul.
Speaker 3 (28:51):
I think it was about a week and a half ago.
Speaker 2 (28:53):
Okay, well, I was at least I had the right
Well maybe it didn't even have the right month now
that I think about it. For some reason, I thought
it was recent than that. And he basically the piece
was time to move motorized vehicles out of bike lanes.
In the spirit of full disclosure, I'm in favor of
moving bike lanes out of Boston, Paul, just so you know,
(29:15):
but obviously you've got a conflict here and pretty clear
to me that you're an advocate of bike lanes, but
you want the bike lanes to be restricted just to
human powered bicycles. So what do we do with the
little mopeads and the scooters and the e bikes, all
(29:39):
of these little vehicles that have proliferated. I know where
you want to put him, and as a motorist, I
don't want any of them either. Go right ahead, you
can make your case.
Speaker 3 (29:51):
Well, it's a really complicated subject. And yes, I mean
a lot of people are sort of in trouble understanding
and maybe my fault a little bit, but any even,
but it's complicated. Yeah, I think the think, the really
answer is that we need to write size up based
on what people really want. And what we have in
this country right now is domination by cars. Because the
government funds funds the roads and funds them entirely for cars.
(30:13):
And because we have that environment, people aren't actually able
to freely choose the way of getting around them. That's
why this looks so complicated, because people look at it
from could I just interrupt it?
Speaker 2 (30:24):
Could I just just interrupt it for one second. I've
driven a car all my life, and most of my
listeners have driven cars. We pay gas taxes when we
buy the fuel. As a matter of fact, in some
states should pay more for gas taxes than other states,
But in massachues I think it's eighteen cents a gallon
when I last checked. We pay excise taxes. We use
(30:45):
our cars to get to work because many of us
live quite a distance from where we work. Some live closer,
so whatever, So those cars have become a necessity in
our life. There was a period of time about one
hundred and fifty years ago, well we didn't have to
worry about cars. Was horse and buggies. So I just
want to defend the automobile drivers at this point who
(31:07):
really feel and I think I can speak for them
because I've done a number of shows on this, they
really feel pretty bedraggled. Right now, we stop at red lights.
A lot of the bicyclists blow through the red light
and police I've never seen him, very very very very few.
(31:27):
I almost killed a guy and I talked about this
last spring. I was on a street in Brighton and
I was at a red light, and I happened to
catch an older gentleman on a bike coming down and
he was moving pretty good. And when the light turned,
I made sure that I looked. If I had not looked,
(31:49):
he never stopped. He blew through the red light, and
he either would have crashed into the side of my car.
So again, if drive around with me and you'll see
drive in Harvard Square, see how many bicyclists go through
red lights compared to motorists. Motorists don't go through right
it's in Ard Square, So go ahead. I just wanted
to the table.
Speaker 3 (32:06):
The difference when a motorist goes to the red light
is it's endangering other people, and a bicycles does it,
it's endangering themselves. Another thing to keep it.
Speaker 2 (32:12):
To be endangering a pedestrians. Come on, Paul, could be
endangering a pedestrian, could be endangering a mother with a
baby carriage. Sure, I know people who have been hit
by bicycles. There have been people who have been killed
by people who've been hit by bicycles. I'll admit not
nearly as many die who die in car accidents. We
lose sadly. You know what if it is thirty five
thousand people here in automobile accidents. But go ahead, I
(32:36):
don't mean to drop that. I want to hear you.
Speaker 3 (32:38):
Well, that's the point, is what you're saying is that
the numbers are vastly out of whack, that the danger
is far more posed by the car driver misbehaving than
it is a bicycles. The bicycles is generally endangering themselves.
And go back to your comment about gas tacks and
excise taxes. Yes, those those seats are paid, but they
don't come anywhere near the cost of building roads and
maintaining them. There was a study by Harvard University Research
(33:00):
a little while ago that found that the average family
in Massachusetts pays fourteen thousand dollars a year, fourteen thousand
dollars a year to subsidize car use, whether they even
use when or not.
Speaker 2 (33:10):
So let me ask you this. Let me ask you
how you I assume you don't drive a car, right,
or you don't have a car. You do? Good? Okay,
So you're you're in the group that you're indicting here
on my show, which is fine. But for people, let's
say who live in downtown. Let's say we have some
people who live in downtown Boston who live in you know,
the multimillion dollar condominiums. They're doctors, lawyers or whatever. And
(33:33):
they don't have cars. And when they need a car,
they rent a car or they take an uber. Okay,
how do you think the groceries and the and the
oil gets to the to where they live. I mean,
you know this whole idea of trying to guilt trip
the drivers that we and we should do longer an
(33:54):
hour in this ball. And I'd be happy to do
it with you. By the way, the idea of guilt
tripping people who are driving cars. Roads are important. You
want to get rid of roads in this country. You
want to go back to diurnals in this country.
Speaker 3 (34:05):
There no intent to guilt trip anybody at all. But
so simply point out the simple fact that the motors
don't pay for the roads.
Speaker 2 (34:12):
Well, yes we do, Yes, we do pay for the roads.
The bike drivers do they pay gas? The bicyclists do
they pay gas taxes to drive their bikes?
Speaker 3 (34:21):
No, they pay general taxation, general motoration, which cover which
covers the roads. The roads are paid for. The roads
are paid for primarily by general taxation, not by not
by not by car car drivers, not by the gas taxes,
not by their exercise taxes. The roads are paid for
by general taxation. So yes, bicyclists pay for the roads
very much.
Speaker 2 (34:39):
They pay, they pay, they pay. They pay less for
the roads because they're using the Whatever people make in
terms of their income taxes, their state income taxes, and
the federal income taxes, they go to the transportation system.
Everybody pays that, Okay, But what I'm saying is if
they're going to take a third of Beacon Street or
a third of Commonwealth Avenue and dedicated to people, uh
(35:00):
who are And by the way, it's like twelve bicyclists.
People call me all the time and they tell me
they're looking at traffic which is backed up for blocks
and there's four bicycles that go by, you know, you're
bison and.
Speaker 5 (35:11):
How many good, yep, good?
Speaker 3 (35:15):
How much? How how many people would use car roads
if you only gave them a half of a lane
everywhere too? I mean you're asking it from a from
a perspective in which the car drivers.
Speaker 2 (35:22):
Think, I would think that your bicyclist would fill that,
and that if you had that many bicyclists who were
using the bike lanes, you then would be arguing, well,
the bike lanes are so crowded, it just shows there's
a greater need. But there's no great need for bicycles.
First of all, you can't really ride bikes in Massachusetts
if this is not Phoenix, Arizona, December January, February March.
(35:43):
I mean you're talking about you.
Speaker 3 (35:44):
You also can't drive cars that you can't afford one,
or if you're too young for them, if you have
no other reasons too. So the argument that not everybody
can ride a bike in all circumstances also applies to
cars too.
Speaker 2 (35:53):
Why does it apply to cars? Cars?
Speaker 3 (35:56):
You can't drive one if you're under eight, under sixteen,
and you can't drive one if you're too old to
drive one, and you can't drive one for it's.
Speaker 2 (36:03):
A small percentage of people who opt out at the
and they opt out either by being opt out out
or opt out. Let's do this ball. I come on
back and let me set up an hour. Come on
back for an hour some night. We'll take phone calls.
You can line up all the bike riders. I've done
this this story many, many, many times. And uh, the
(36:24):
problem is that this the bike lanes are there, I say,
leave everything, leave leave the roads to the cars, and
give the bike lanes. We're never gonna we're never gonna
get rid of the bike lanes, unfortunately, but we'll we'll
we'll have an hour and we'll take some phone calls,
and we won't try to crunch it into a relatively
(36:44):
brief period of time. The piece which was in the
globe is time to move motorized vehicles out of bike lanes.
And I want my listeners to find the Globe and
reread that piece and come on back, and I think
we're gonna have a spirited discussion start to us.
Speaker 3 (37:00):
Thank you, thank you, thanks very much.
Speaker 2 (37:01):
Paul, appreciate your kindness. We'll be back right after the
nine o'clock news. I tried this thing. I feel very
strongly about ladies and gentlemen. So anyway, when we come
back right after the nine o'clock news, we're going to
talk about the subjects of the evening. And the first
one up on the other side is going to be
what happened in the South End over the weekend, Chaos
(37:24):
in the streets, a police car destroyed, and I don't
know that anyone's going to pay for that at all.
And we're going to talk with Larry called Around, the
president of the Boston Police Patrolman's Association, and we'll have
some spirited discussion on that issue as well, back on
Nights Out after this
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