SMITHFIELD

Pickup date set for used cooking oil

SMITHFIELD — The town is interested in some of your Thanksgiving leftovers. You can keep the drumsticks and the wings, though. They want the cooking oil.

Town Recycling Coordinator Gina Barbeau said she was looking to go beyond the blue and green bin approach and see if there other things residents were willing to recycle. Cooking oil can be converted into a supplement for diesel or home heating oil. She said with the holidays coming and some families probably planning to fry their holiday birds, it seemed like an opportunity.

There will be a wait to make the drop-off, however. Barbeau said the oil recycler, Newport Biodiesel, will be at the public works garage at 3 Spragueville Rd., behind Dave’s Towing Service, on Saturday, Jan. 16, 2010, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. to collect the used cooking oil. She said the oil cannot be dropped before that day. The Jan. 16 date would also allow for collection of used oil through December, she said.

John Hill

PROVIDENCE

Sarcophagus’ move hung up by paperwork

The 2,000-year-old sarcophagus did not move Wednesday as planned. It seems some paperwork delayed the event, according to Matt Montgomery, a spokesman for the Rhode Island School of Design’s Museum of Art.

The 3,000-pound coffin, which dates back to the second or third century, has been given to the RISD Museum by the Museum of Natural History at Roger Williams Park. The coffin will be moved in the near future, Montgomery said.

Linda Borg

Bus line, union reach tentative accord

Peter Pan Bus Lines and the union representing its Providence division reached a tentative contract agreement this week that ensures no disruption in bus service this holiday weekend, says a company representative.

There had been some reports that the union’s 102 members were planning a strike vote if some contract accord wasn’t reached, said Meaghan Wims, a spokeswoman with Duffy & Shanley Inc., a public relations firm representing the bus line.

Wims would not disclose details of the tentative agreement but said the company and the union released a joint statement ensuring that there would be no interruption in service.

The union represents 70 bus drivers and at least two dozen baggage handlers, tickets sales representatives and other workers.

Tom Mooney

EAST GREENWICH

Town weighs options to cover state revenue loss

EAST GREENWICH — Will the looming loss of $330,000 in state revenue force the town to go to a pay-as-you-throw trash-collection system?

That was one of the options discussed Monday night as Town Manager William Sequino briefed the Town Council on some of the things that might be needed to balance this year’s budget if the state budget deficit prompts the General Assembly to cut the fourth quarter motor-vehicle excise-tax payments that usually go to cities and towns.

Under the pay-as-you-throw system — common in Massachusetts towns like Seekonk, Swansea and Somerset — residents can only use town-sponsored bags for their trash. The price residents pay for the bags underwrites some or all of the disposal costs.

Among the other options: eliminate the school resource officer.

But School Committee Chairwoman Jean Ann W. Guliano said that might not be a wise idea because having the presence of an officer on school grounds makes students think twice about causing problems.

C. Eugene Emery