Cape Cod Year in Review: 2018

HYANNIS – The first fatal shark attack in Massachusetts since 1936, the killing of a Yarmouth police officer in the line of duty and a rapidly eroding shoreline were all stories that captured headlines in 2018.

We also followed the shooting of two Falmouth police officers, the arrival of legalized marijuana and a growing housing affordability crisis.

From January to the end of December, it was another non-stop year for big news on Cape Cod.

Here are some of the top stories you read on CapeCod.com and heard on our CCB Media radio stations, Ocean 104.7, 99.9 The Q, Cape Classical 107.5 and Cape Country 104.

 

The Killing of Sgt. Sean Gannon

The entire Cape Cod community was stunned in April by the death of Yarmouth Police Sgt. Sean Gannon, who was fatally shot in the line of duty.

Gannon was attempting to serve a warrant in Marstons Mills when he was allegedly shot and killed by career criminal Thomas Latanowich.

Gannon’s K-9, Nero, was also shot and has since recovered.

Gannon’s killing prompted a massive outpouring of support from around Cape Cod, Massachusetts and the nation and brought back into focus the issue of criminal justice reform in Massachusetts.

As columns of police officers stood in formation along Station Avenue, friends, family and the state’s top leaders gathered for funeral services at St. Pius X Church for Gannon in the days after the shooting.

Gannon’s pastor, Father Paul Caron, delivered an emotional and personal eulogy, remembering when Gannon showed up in uniform last year to welcome Caron to the parish.

He called him a “true Christian gentleman.”

“We come together and mourn his death, but we also give thanks that he lived, that we came to know him on some level,” said Father Caron.

The pastor said God was with Sean when he was fatally shot and sped him in His arms.

Governor Charlie Baker, Lt. Gov. Karen Polito, Attorney General Maura Healey and House Speaker Bob DeLeo were among dignitaries attending.

Local officials included the Yarmouth Board of Selectmen, members of the Cape’s legislative delegation, Congressman William Keating and Barnstable County Sheriff Jim Cummings.

Caron urged the congregation to not let their grief destroy them.

“That smile, that greeting, that life and love are now separated from us. And it hurts so much. But if we dwell only on that, our lives shared with Sean would devolve into some meaningless hate and hurt,” he said.

Caron cited the Gospel according to Matthew in explaining how Gannon was a true and compassionate person.

“When we see the word righteousness, it means doing the right thing because it’s the right thing to do and not expecting a reward. That is the call to sainthood. That was how Sean lived his entire life,” Caron said.

Fall River Bishop Edgar da Cunha, who co-celebrated the Mass, said that he knew no words would take away the pain, but hoped the community’s collective prayers “would bring a measure of consolation” to the family.

“May the memories of Sean’s life and all that he did to help other people, may the knowledge that he loved what he did bring you some sort of consolation and hope,” said da Cunha.

Gannon’s accused killer remains behind bars pending his trial on murder charges.

 

Fatal Cape Cod Shark Attack

The scenic beauty and serenity of a Cape Cod beach was shattered in 2018 with the first fatal shark attack in more than eight decades.

Arthur Medici, 26, of Revere was killed in an attack while he was boogie boarding in September off Newcomb Hollow Beach in Wellfleet.

It happened in the waters about 300 yards south of the main swimming area.

Medici was rushed from the scene to Cape Cod Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

“They were already carrying him on a backboard. I met them about 150 yards down (the beach). There were about 40 bystanders around him and first-responders carrying him off,” said Cape Cod National Seashore Ranger Meghan Farrell.

Witnesses indicated Medici was on a boogie board at the time of the attack. One witness said he had seen him at the beach in the past.

“Out of nowhere, this guy was engulfed in what looked like boiling water. In my opinion it was not a small shark. It looked like an eruption of whitewater about 15 feet in diameter,” said Joe Booth of Mattapoisett who was on the beach at the time.

Booth said another person surfing with Medici went back into the water to help pull him out.

He said with two shark attacks within a month, something has to be done.

“It doesn’t seem to be slowing down anytime soon,” he said.

“I don’t know really what to feel or think or do. I’m just standing here in a state of shock of my own. This is unfortunately now a modern-day Amity Island,” he said, referring to the fictional island in the movie Jaws.

Bill Weber was in the water surfing when the attack happened.

“I saw and heard a bunch of commotion and I realized everyone was in. I was the last one out looking for a wave to get out of the water because I realized there was a shark. I didn’t realize there was an attack,” he said.

Other witnesses described a scene of many people jumping in to help, including some off-duty lifeguards.

Cape Cod towns stop using lifeguards after Labor Day Weekend.

In the days and weeks after the fatal attack, public safety and municipal officials came together in several public forums in an effort to make the Cape Cod beaches safer.

All acknowledged that it is impossible to guarantee there will never be another attack, but agree to find new methods and technology to aid in protection efforts.

Earlier in the summer, a New York doctor was bitten by a shark off a Truro beach and survived.

 

Falmouth Police Officers Shot

In late July, two Falmouth police officer were shot and wounded while responding to reports of a disturbance.

Officer Don DeMiranda was shot in the chest; however the bullet was stopped by his vest. A second round hit him in the shoulder area.

Officer Ryan Moore was struck in the neck area causing a grazing wound.

Both officers recovered from their injuries.

Malik Antonio Koval is accused of shooting them on Ashley Dr. just off Route 28.

Officers encountered the suspect breaking bottles in the street. As they tried to engage him he became agitated, and ran into the home at 2 Ashley Drive.

Two individuals, Marcus Maseda and Kimberly M. Koval, who are Malik Koval’s brother and mother, allegedly tried to interfere with the officer’s efforts to follow Koval.

That’s when Koval produced a gun and allegedly began shooting at the officers. It appears from ballistic evidence that the shots were fired within the house.

Police returned fire striking Koval several times. He was med-flighted to a Boston area hospital where he remains in custody, in stable condition.

Kimberly Koval and Marcus Maseda were arrested and charged with obstruction of justice; assault and battery on a police officer; and interfering with the duties of a police officer.

All three people charged in the shooting face trials in 2019.

 

Coastal Erosion on Cape Cod Intensifies

2018 delivered stronger storms and a marked increase in coastal erosion that threatened Cape Cod beaches and infrastructure.

A series of four Nor’easters in March tore away at the coast and delivered the final blow to the iconic Liam’s Restaurant at Nauset Beach.

In one storm, dozens of feet of sand were wiped out, leaving the clam shack hanging over the edge of what was left of the dune where it sat.

After a couple of controversial meetings, Orleans selectmen decided the structure had to be torn down to protect the parking lot which is now threatened.

Town officials are looking at long range plans that include moving the parking lot and administration building away from the water.

Food trucks were put in place for beachgoers during the summer.

The storms continued to also wreak havoc in Chatham, where the channels in and out of the harbor continued to see increase shoaling.

Chatham officials are considering future options that could include moving some of the fishing fleet on a regular basis to Stage Harbor.

At the Cape Cod National Seashore, many of the ocean-side beaches saw ongoing erosion.

The stairs at Marconi Beach in Wellfleet were destroyed just months after they had been rebuilt from a previous storm.

In Sandwich, the battle to save Town Neck Beach continued as town officials worked on plans to get renourishment sand from off of Scusset Beach.

During the March storms, several sections of Route 6A from Sandwich to Dennis saw massive flooding, with waves washing over the road during high tide.

In Barnstable Village, the Blish Point section experienced massive flooding in March as water came in from the marsh and flooded several homes.

Some weather experts say this may the “new norm” for Cape Cod – and it’s time for a tough conversation on how to manage the immediate coastline.

During a visit to Cape Cod in the aftermath of the storms, Governor Charlie Baker heard from the region’s legislative delegation on the issue.

Cape and Islands State Senator Julian Cyr said this is an issue that needs to be addressed.

Governor Baker said his office created an executive order a year ago to evaluate municipal vulnerability planning.

About 60 to 70 communities have been through the process so far. He expects to file legislation that will enhance their efforts in vulnerability planning.

Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs Matthew Beaton said they were going to be making an expanded commitment to get as many towns as possible involved in the Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness grant program.

The state can award money to communities they can use to begin and complete vulnerability assessments. That allows communities to become eligible for follow-up grant funding.

Baker said he wants all cities and town in the state to have a vulnerability plan that focuses around climate change.

He said it will also require some creative thinking on the part of all those involved.

Zoning will also be part of the discussion.

Baker questioned how high we should build seawalls to keep the ocean back – and that maybe there’s a point when you just can’t keep repairing existing structures.

 

Rough Seas for the Steamship Authority

It was a difficult start to 2019 for the Steamship Authority as they experienced dozens of mechanical breakdowns that lead to hundreds of trip cancellations between the Cape and Islands.

It prompted the authority to commission a private study of their operations that was released in December.

The review criticized the agency for exhibiting “frugality” that hinders its ability to function properly and a tolerance of underperformance.

Last spring, the boat line experienced three blackouts, a grounding, and a number of critical IT system outages.

“The resulting trip delays and cancellations, coupled with breakdowns in communication to the public, resulted in a public relations crisis and a call to action by the SSA’s governing Board on behalf of their constituents,” said the consultants in their executive summary.

Among several recommendations, the report called for better communication with the public, a realignment of operations and less reliance on “penny pinching.”

John Sainsbury, one of the authors of the study did say the SSA is a safe boat line, but called on them to adopt a “safety management system.”

He said the changes that are needed to overhaul the entire organization will not be easy and will upset many who have been working at the boat line for many years.

The review focused on five subject areas: fleet maintenance, vessel operations, management structure, public communications, and IT systems.

The boat line was criticized for exhibiting a level of frugality, or “penny pinching,” that hinders its ability to implement best practices and function properly.

“SSA’s frugality is based on admirable goals, but its overemphasis on cost reductions has been penny wise and pound foolish.”

 “This has directly and indirectly contributed to vessel incidents. These incidents end up costing SSA due to unplanned maintenance and lost revenue,” the report found.

Steamship Authority General Manager Bob Davis said with the report released, it’s now up to management to make improvements.

“Some of the suggestions are easier to implement than others, which may carry significant costs in terms of dollars and logistics,” he said in a statement.

 

Cape Cod’s Affordable Housing Crisis Continues

With real estate values continuing to increase, the already unaffordable Cape Cod housing market became even more difficult for entry-level homebuyers.

Median prices for single family homes hovered around $340,000, far out of reach for the average income of a Cape Cod family.

A comprehensive report from the Housing Assistance Corporation painted a realistic and sobering picture of the situation.

HAC’s white paper, “Housing on Cape Cod: The High Cost of Doing Nothing,” identified causes of the regional housing shortage, its impact on the economy and recommended solutions.

“In the past five years we have lost 3,000 year-round units and we have gained 6,000 seasonal homes,” said Alisa Galazzi, HAC’s CEO.

“That put’s an artificial pressure on the housing market and impacts our competitiveness of the region and mainly for our employers and their ability to retain and attract workforce.”

HAC’s research shows that the housing instability for year-round renters due to more seasonal units is a trend.

“We’ve heard about it anecdotally, but our research is proving, for sure, this is something, as a region, we should be paying attention to,” Galazzi said.

Owners of second homes are turning to seasonal units as new technology and online services have made it easier to handle rentals.

Zoning restrictions are also adding to the lack of year-round housing as they do not allow for appropriate and denser development.

“We kind of have an artificial barrier in our region as it is because of our zoning and then that combination with what is happening in the market place makes it a unique situation,” Galazzi said.

Galazzi said the Cape is at a crisis point.

“We should really be stopping as a region and making sure that we are purposeful and intentionally addressing the change that is inevitable and the change that is happening so that we maintain and preserve the Cape Cod that we all love and know,” she said.

Galazzi said there are short- and long-term fixes.

“There are things that we can actually do today with ADU’s (accessory dwelling unit) and with converting some of these seasonal homes to year-round leases – we can add inventory quickly,” she said. “And then long-term change some zoning so that we can start adding development and building more houses.”

HAC also announced the launch of a new pilot program, Rent 365, which aims to incentivize owners of second homes to rent year-round.

“We have 60,000 seasonal homes in the region,” Galazzi said. “Can we get any of those home owners to convert to a year-round lease?”

 

Unemployment Rates Remain Near Historic Lows

While the cost of housing continued to rise in 2017, the Cape’s unemployment rate hovered at near historic lows.

It was good news for the overall economy, which remains strong, but it it put extreme pressure on employers who are having difficulty finding workers to fill available jobs.

The unemployment rate for Barnstable County was 3.1 percent late in 2017.

“I’m almost at a loss to understand why we would be so low in October, but that’s what the numbers say,” said David Augustinho, the MassHire Cape & Islands Workforce Board Executive Director.

“It can’t keep going on. This is crazy.”

The numbers are based on a survey and not numbers reported by employers.

“The economy seems to be holding its own, certainly when you judge by employment numbers, and gosh, who knows when the ride will stop,” Augustinho said.

The low unemployment continues to cause issues for employers, specifically in the trade fields.

“It’s partly our fault as a society as we have been telling people for 50 years to get out of manufacturing and the trades and all that stuff and to go to college,” Augustinho said.

“But it is a real hardship for the employers who cannot find personnel to fill their positions.”

Augustinho said MassHire is constantly trying to engage youth people who have just graduated from high school and are remaining in the region or who may have dropped out.

“We provide a wide range of services to these individuals, including training, but it is a very difficult population to engage,” he said. “But we do have some success with them when we can get them into our career center and start to provide services to them.”

 

The Fight to Save Herring

After years of fighting to protect the dwindling herring fishery, regulators took action in 2018 to push back the large trawlers scooping up the fish away from the immediate coast.

The New England Fishery Management Council in September voted to push midwater herring trawlers between 12 and 20 nautical miles away from the coast on a year-round basis.

The committee, which met in Plymouth, also approved a reduction in total herring catch over the next two years in an effort to protect the struggling fishery.

Local fishermen and the Cape Cod Commercial Fishermen’s Alliance supported pushing the midwater trawlers back 50 miles to avoid localized depletion.

That concept is defined as a reduction of fish population, independent of the overall status of the stock, over a relatively small area as a result of intensive overfishing.

Deirdre Boelke, the New England Fishery Management Council staff member who presented data on the fishery, said the new buffer zone was estimated to reduce midwater trawler revenue by about 30 percent.

It would have been 40 percent if the fleet was sent offshore by 50 nautical miles.

Cape Cod Commercial Fishermen’s Alliance CEO John Pappalardo offered an amendment to the initial 12 mile buffer option that added block closures that essentially extended the buffer zone to 20 miles in some areas off Cape Cod and Nantucket.

Supporters of the pushback said it was needed to save the fishery which has been collapsing and was needed to protect herring as a forage fish.

“I’m so very happy the council took the testimony to heart and went through a thorough deliberation to consider all the impacts to not only the midwater fishery but to all the other commercial and recreational fishermen,” said Pappalardo after the vote.

Members of the midwater trawling fleet said moving them further off the coast would put their industry in jeopardy.

Late in the year, supporters of the push back asked the public to keep the pressure on regulators as final approval was still pending in Washington D.C.

The midwater trawlers, which usually work in tandem, use large nets to scoop up entire schools of herring, which local fishermen have said negatively impact the local fishing industry and related economies.

 

Legalized Marijuana Arrives

Two years after Massachusetts legalized recreational marijuana, sales of both medicinal and recreational forms of the drug arrived in the region.

A company called Triple M opened up for medical sales in Mashpee and Plymouth to strong demand.

They were forced to temporarily close both locations when it was determined pesticides had been used early in the growing process. The Mashpee location re-opened in late December.

Brewster became the hot spot for debate as voters at a special town meeting in the fall passed an article that would ban all recreational sales.

Earlier in the year, town meeting had voted not to ban the drug. Officials with a company looking to open a pot shot in Brewster have indicated they may sue the town.

The sale of legalized recreational adult marijuana began across the state in 2017, at arrived in Wareham in December.

The store saw a large turnout, though it was lighter than anticipated.

Customers were allowed into the store to make purchases at 10:00 a.m. on opening day.

Verilife staff and Executive Director Shelley Stormo prepared for the opening inside the store during the hours leading up to beginning of sales.

Once inside the store, customers are presented a variety of options from flower product to edibles to vaping. Stormo says that pricing for recreational products will be comparable to medical prices.

“Our limit for purchase today is seven grams of flour. That could be seven one gram pre-rolls, that could be an eighth (1/8 Oz.) and three pro-rolls, whatever combination people want,” Stormo explained.

“They’re also allowed three additional items, whether that be an edible, a concentrate, a vape cartridge, or a Pax-Pod – which is a new vaporizer. If a customer doesn’t want flower they can get four total items.”

According to the Verilife menu listed inside the store, a total of eight different flower products are selling at an average of $50 for 1/8 of an ounce and $95 for 1/4 of an ounce. Some varieties of flower are offered at $15 per gram.

It’s expected to recreational sales will come to other Cape Cod and area towns in 2019 that have not previously banned it at town meeting.

 

Five Year Shark Study Ends

Shark researchers tagged the last shark of a five-year white shark population study off the coast of Cape Cod in 2018.

The last trip out on the water for the season took place in October. State Division of Marine Fisheries shark researcher Dr. Greg Skomal, working with the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy, tagged the 150^th great white.

Despite the five-year study coming to a close, Skomal says researchers will continue to take research trips out on the water.

“There’s this perception that we are not going to be tagging anymore and that is not the case,” Skomal said.

“We’ll be tagging for years to come as we try to learn more and more about the fine-scale behavior of these sharks.”

Researchers will spend the winter analyzing data. Skomal said the process is highly labor intensive.

“We’ll be looking at everything from regional and local abundance, to actual population size numbers,” Skomal said.

“We have literally tens of thousands of data points to go over, which is a great position to be in. It’s just going to take a little bit of time.”

Skomal said he has been surprised by the number of sharks that have been spotted off the coast of Cape Cod over the last several years.

“It seems to be increasing,” Skomal said. “Of course we’ll be able to answer that question definitively with real numbers.”

Moving forward researchers are going to take a hard look into the relationship between great whites and the local seals and get a sense of the where, when and how the sharks are killing and eating the prey.

Researchers, marine officials and community leaders have been continually discussing public safety since the two attacks late this summer.

In August, a New York man was attacked off Truro and is recovering.

A Revere man was fatally attacked in September off Newcomb Hollow Beach in Wellfleet.

 

Other Notable Stories:

Several other stories caught the attention of Cape Codders in 2017.

 

Vineyard Wind announced in 2018 that it had entered into a Host Community Agreement with the Town of Barnstable. The agreement, which has been filed with the Massachusetts Energy Facilities Siting Board, represents another milestone for the United States’ first large-scale offshore wind farm as it advances through the permitting process to the onset of construction in 2019 and operations by 2021. Vineyard Wind won the first lease issued by the state to build a wind farm south of Martha’s Vineyard.

The Pilgrim Nuclear Power Plant moved closer to a permanent shut down, with its parent company Entergy announcing plans to sell the Plymouth plant spent fuel, land and decommissioning trust fund to an energy technology company after the upcoming shutdown next year. Pending federal approval, Pilgrim will be sold to Holtec International for what’s described as an “accelerated decommissioning.”

A Mashpee man and former U.S. Marine was killed in July in a head-on crash in Cotuit. Kevin P. Quinn, 32, was heading home from Cape Cod Hospital after visiting his wife and their newborn daughter, when his vehicle collided with another car. The operator of that car, Mickey Rivera, 22, of Fall River, also died, as did his passenger, Jocelyn Goyette, 24, of New Bedford. Quinn’s funeral took place at Christ the King Parish, followed by a burial at the Massachusetts National Cemetery in Bourne.

The U.S. Department of the Interior ruled in 2018 that it cannot hold land in trust for a Cape Cod tribe, reversing a decision it made under former President Barack Obama and throwing into doubt the tribe’s plans for a $1 billion casino. The agency, in its 28-page ruling, said the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe does not qualify for having land placed into trust because it wasn’t under federal jurisdiction when the Indian Reorganization Act passed in 1934. The tribe continues to seek federal legislation that would get their land back into trust.

Cape Codders returned nearly all of their incumbent lawmakers during the 2018 elections. Incumbent state representatives Tim Whelan (R-Brewster), Will Crocker (R-Centerville, and Randy Hunt (R-Sandwich) all defeated Democratic challengers. Democratic Cape and Islands State Senator Julian Cyr and Republican Plymouth/Barnstable State Senator Vinny deMacedo were also reelected. State representatives Sarah Peake (D-Provincetown, Dylan Fernandes (D-Woods Hole) and David Vieira (R-Falmouth) were unopposed. Republican Barnstable County Commissioner Leo Cakounes was defeated by Democrat Ron Bergstrom.

Provincetown announced major plans to mark the 400^th anniversary in 2020 of the arrival of the Pilgrims. One of the highlights will include the arrival of the Mayflower II, a replica of the ship that docked first in Provincetown Harbor after arriving from England. Several events will take place across Provincetown during the year. Similar events will also take place in Plymouth.

Voters in the Dennis-Yarmouth School District narrowly approved a nearly $117 million ballot question to build a new school that would house grades 4-through-7. The vote was 1,955 to 1,502 against in Yarmouth and 1,361 to 876 in favor in Dennis. The margin of victory when combining the two town’s totals was 32 votes. The plan calls for closing the Mattacheese Middle School in Yarmouth and Wixon School in Dennis. A recount was set to take place in January because of the slim margin of victory.

The short-term rental tax bill passed in 2018 by the Massachusetts Legislature will help to fund water quality improvement projects on Cape Cod and the Islands. The bill, which extends the 5.7 percent hotel tax to short-term rentals through online services like AirBnB and allows municipalities to collect up to an additional 9 percent, created the Cape Cod and Islands Water Protection Fund. The fund will be supported by a 2.75 percent excise tax on all Cape and Islands rentals.

More than 700 cold-stunned sea turtles washed up on Cape Cod Bay beaches from Dennis to Provincetown by mid-December. Volunteers and staff of Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary have recovered the stranded animals – 406 which were found alive, 329 already diseased. “This is our second busiest season on record,” explained Maureen Duffy, the Sanctuary’s Turtle Team Leader. “So far the biggest being in 2014 when we had over 1000 turtles strand.Several Cape Cod towns completed or began major building projects in 2018. In Hyannis, a new fire station was completed that replaced an aging and outdated facility on High School Rd. Ext. Work began in Bourne on a new middle school and new police station. In Sandwich, work was underway on a new combined public safety facility that will be located off Quaker Meeting House Road. Harwich opened a new harbor master’s office at Saquatucket Harbor.

 A MassDOT working group presented recommendations for the Cape Cod Canal region in 2018 – which include replacing the Bourne and Sagamore Bridges. The Cape Cod Canal Transportation Study Working Group also recommended several major road improvements throughout the canal region. 5^th Barnstable State Rep Randy Hunt says the final decision on whether or not to replace the bridges will be made by the Army Corps of Engineers. “The fact that the bridges had a lifespan of 50 years and now they are 85 years old, and because of the fact that they are the only ways to get on and off Cape Cod for automotive traffic, I’m pretty confident that we are going to have a report from them that says we should replace the bridges,” Hunt said.

Cape Codders don’t have to travel very far to attend one of the Top 25 Best Colleges in the U.S., according to Money magazine in 2018. Massachusetts Maritime Academy in Buzzards Bay made the magazine’s annual list at No. 21. The magazine ranks schools by the quality of education, affordability and outcomes. Massachusetts Maritime President Admiral Francis McDonald said the recognition is exciting but not surprising. “When you look at some of the rankings that have come out over the last few years, whether it is Pay Scale Magazine or SmartAsset.com or folks that are spending some energy looking at return on investment, we’ve been recognized as providing a very valuable product,” McDonald said.

The Town of Barnstable chose a proposal in 2018 to redevelop the Cape Town Plaza, also known as the Kmart Plaza, on Route 132 in Hyannis. WS Development’s proposal for the 26-acre parcel, which is under the control of the Barnstable Municipal Airport, was recommended by an RFP Evaluation Committee as the best use of the land. The 49-year lease would bring the airport a total of $131 million. The other proposal from Wilder was for $22 million over the life of the lease.

Passengers on a whale watching trip on Cape Cod Bay got a close-up look of a great white shark feasting on a dead fin whale in 2018. Joanne Jarzobski, a marine biologist on the board the Hyannis Whale Watcher, captured the dramatic image. She said they were about 7 miles north-northwest of Barnstable Harbor at the time.

 

The Cape Cod Year in Review was compiled and written by CapeCod.com News Director Matt Pitta, with contributions from Brian Merchant, Rob Woodard, Tim Dunn, David Beatty, John Bondarek, Justin Saunders, Mike DeFina, Matt McCarthy and Jay Rogers. Additional assistance was provided by Director of Digital Strategy Brian Barth and the digital department’s James Bone. Photographic assistance from Spencer Kenard