SALEM — Say it ain't so, John.
Our cracked research team has turned up a disturbing fact. John Tierney, our own beloved congressman, the captain of Collins Cove, the darling of Derby Street, voted in favor of House Resolution 893.
Do you remember HR 893?
It was short and bittersweet: congratulating the 2009 Major League Baseball World Series Champions, the New York Yankees.
There were 386 votes in favor, 17 no votes and 19 abstentions.
Massachusetts Congressman William Delahunt voted against it. Congressman Jim McGovern of Worcester had the good sense to abstain.
But not John "Big Apple" Tierney — and, to be fair here, most of the state delegation.
This vote may be harder to swallow than the defections of Babe Ruth, Sparky Lyle, Johnny Damon and Suzyn Waldman. (You know Suzyn — the Newton girl who does color for Yankee radio broadcasts.) This is as bad as turning on your TV and seeing Johnny Pesky — a Swampscott resident and Tierney constituent — sitting in the Steinbrenner sky box eating a Coney Island hot dog.
We called the congressman's office in Washington, D.C., to see what they had to say.
"Congressman Tierney is a lifelong Red Sox fan and a good sport," said his spokeswoman, Catherine Ribeiro. "As it is the House tradition of recognizing professional and collegiate sports champions, former Red Sox World Champions Johnny Damon and Eric Hinske together with their Yankees teammates earned the right to be congratulated on their victory.
"With the 'Hot Stove' rumors starting to warm up, Congressman Tierney joins all fans in looking forward to congratulating the Red Sox next year when they bring another World Series title back to Boston."
Selling Hawthorne
OK, you Hawthorne lovers, open up those wallets.
Two Nathaniel Hawthorne treasures are up for sale this weekend.
Well, maybe they're more oddities than treasures, but Skinner's is auctioning a book bag and book from Hawthorne's days at Bowdoin College. What's interesting, and what may give them more value, is that the name on the items is "Hathorne," not "Hawthorne."
Hawthorne added the "w" to his family name after college, apparently to avoid being associated with an infamous ancestor, John Hathorne, who was a judge during the Witchcraft Trials .
Skinner's acquired these items by a bit of serendipity.
"A very, very sweet older woman came in with them in a plastic bag and said, 'Let me tell you a story,'" said Stuart Whitehurst, a vice president and book specialist at Skinner's.
She was a Hawthorne descendant who had had the college bag and books for years. The items, by the way, are expected to sell for up to $3,000.
The auction is Sunday at 11 a.m. at Skinner's 63 Park Plaza gallery. The Hawthorne material is Lot 363, so it may take awhile to get to them.
If you go, you might also be interested in picking up signed letters by Martin Luther, Charles Darwin and Albert Einstein — no, they weren't writing to each other — and the charred City of Boston license issued to the Cocoanut Grove nightclub, where 492 people died in a fire in 1942.
Mea culpa
Boy, do we owe a big apology to the folks who live in the neighborhood around the former St. Mary's Italian Church.
We suggested — OK, we said it outright — that somebody over there put up fake "Resident Only" parking signs on Endicott and surrounding streets to keep the hordes from parking there over the Halloween weekend.
Those signs are supposed to go only in neighborhoods that the city officially designates "Resident Only" parking for the entire month of October. In those neighborhoods, like the ones near Salem Common, residents get placards that they hang inside their cars to let police know they are parking legally.
Well, it turns out the city, out of the goodness of its municipal heart, put up "Resident Only" signs in a few places just on Halloween weekend, and the Endicott Street area was one of them.
"This was not a rogue project," said Jeff Cox, co-chairman of the Greater Endicott Street Neighborhood Association. "This was put up by the city."
New owner
Cafe Kushco is changing hands.
Derya Stafford, owner of the popular downtown sandwich spot, went before the Licensing Board Monday night to announce that she is selling the restaurant.
The move is understandable for the hardworking mother of a 3-year-old son and 15-month-old daughter.
"I'm going to be a housewife, I guess," she said with a grin.
The new owner, Dinc (pronounced "Dinch") Kelesoglu, sat by her side at the meeting. He arrived from Turkey at the age of 15 and lived with relatives in Maine, helping them with their hot dog and ice cream stands.
Now 21, he came down here to attend Salem State and discovered this great little restaurant that he decided to buy with the help of his family.
"He was my customer," said Stafford, who is also from Turkey.
Kelesoglu, a college junior, said he plans to work at Cafe Kushco full time while taking morning and online classes. When will he do his homework?
"I'll find time," he said.
Rainbow fine
An asbestos abatement company has been fined for failing to pay the prevailing wage to 17 employees who worked on the Rainbow Terrace renovations in Salem.
In a settlement with Attorney General Martha Coakley's office, Nealco Environmental Services of Dorchester and its owner, Neal Cass, agreed to pay more than $37,500 in restitution to its workers.
The fines have nothing to with the Salem Housing Authority, which oversees Rainbow Terrace and the recently completed, multimillion-dollar renovations. The SHA held a ribbon-cutting a few days ago to celebrate the "reopening."
No word on whether Nealco was invited.
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