September 30

THE TWO SIDES OF CATHOLICISM

Lynne Williams is running for Maine governor as a Green Independent

Lynne Williams, Mt Desert Islander - I was raised in an Irish Catholic family in New York City, and spent twelve years in Catholic schools. I had my son baptized, and he also received his sacrament of Holy Communion. I even taught Sunday school to little kids. I've attended luncheons for Catholic lawyers and even gone to some Red Masses in Portland, where the Catholic bar and judiciary gather. I took five years of Latin and participated in the Latin mass prior to Vatican II in 1960.

I was always drawn to the social justice elements of Catholicism, at the same time as I was repelled by its rabid anti-choice rhetoric, which was grounded in hypocrisy. To this day I greatly respect the internal moral consistency of conservative Justice John Noonan, of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, who challenged the bishop of San Francisco to require his priests to spend as much time speaking against capital punishment as they spend speaking against choice. At the same time, that same diocese was welcoming and supporting of gay and lesbian congregants, and provided a lifeline for many of those congregants who were living with AIDS.

However, the schizoid nature of the church is becoming overwhelmingly apparent in Maine as we move along towards a November vote on Proposition One, the repeal of marriage equality. On one hand is the social justice work that many parishes engage in, including food banks, support of the homeless and literacy programs. On the other hand is the mean-spirited resistance to marriage equality. . . . However, a closer look at the church's support suggests a much more sinister motive, a motive focused on shoring up the reputation of an institution that has been hit hard in recent years, particularly by the priest abuse scandals, which the Diocese of Portland was late to acknowledge.

Yet the diocese is risking a lot of good will in underwriting the Yes on One campaign. First, while it is passing the collection basket at Sunday masses throughout the state, asking for contributions for the "Yes on One" campaign, the diocese is simultaneously closing parishes that have for generations of Mainers been a religious home. More troubling than such closures, however, is the fact that the church is putting its non-profit status at risk by not only politicizing the pulpit but also deploying congregants' donations for political purposes.

In the early 1500s, German priest Martin Luther mounted a campaign against the Catholic Church's secular practices, most notably the selling of indulgences, by which Catholics could "buy" a better post-death situation. Pope Leo responded by stating, "whoever says that the Church of Rome may not do what it is actually doing in the manner of indulgences is a heretic." Luther stood up to this threat, as well as to subsequent threats from Rome - hence the birth of the Reformation.

The Diocese of Portland would be well advised to review Martin Luther's successful resistance to being told what to do by the Rome. Rather than supporting Rome's order to Luther that he "cease and desist," Germans overwhelmingly supported the priest's challenges to Rome's practices. Pope Leo died without muzzling Luther, due to the German people's embrace of Luther's call for reform.

Pope Leo never responded to Luther by citing scripture - there was no scripture to cite in support of the selling of indulgences. Rather, Luther argued - successfully - that the Church, on the matter of indulgences, was a political power not a spiritual one and, like any other political campaign, the Church was engaging in spurious arguments, fear mongering and lies. In the end, the German people rejected the Church's arguments and sided with Luther.

I call on the good voters of Maine to do likewise - reject the unfounded arguments of the Catholic Church against marriage equality. The 16th century German people rejected the arguments of the Catholic Church and embraced Luther, the truth teller. We must do likewise, by rejecting the lies and embracing the truth - that support of marriage equality is the moral position.

I could end this by passing along the following Latin phrase to the Diocese of Portland – "Equalitas pro omnibus," which translates as "Equality for all." However, I feel the more appropriate phrase is the title of a song written by my friend Ethan Miller – "Wait 'til Jesus gets his hands on you."

POLITICS MEETS FAMILY ON WESTPORT ISLAND

Wiscasset Newspaper - Westport Island First Selectman George Richardson - often criticized by residents - but repeatedly elected for 15 years – was criticized Monday by his relatives. The criticism was leveled against him by his niece, Teresa Dunlop, who spoke on behalf of her mother, Deirdre Dunlop, Richardson's sister, who did not attend the weekly meeting. Richardson and his two sons, Gary and Chuck, were accused of abuse of power. Teresa Dunlop, representing her mother, asked that her uncle, Selectman Richardson, recuse himself from [not take part in] the discussion and leave the building before making her presentation.

Richardson asked why. She indicated that her mother was issuing a complaint against the town for failing to enforce the Shoreland Zoning Ordinance, and that she would be addressing the other two selectmen, Ross Norton, and Gerry Bodmer. Norton and Bodmer agreed that Richardson should not have to leave the building or recuse himself unless a vote was to be taken.

Teresa Dunlop read the six page letter her mother sent to the Department of Environmental Protection outlining what she considered significant irregularities, that included difficulty she said she had in obtaining information. The letter indicated that the CEO was given false or incorrect and misleading information in order to obtain a permit. . .

After the letter was read, George Richardson asked his son, Chuck, if he had anything to say about it.

"I am here as an observer only," he said.

"I perhaps shouldn't say this, George Richardson said. "If my mother was alive, she would be upset with all of you, and I mean all of you."

The selectmen took no action on the letter, nor did they respond to any of Dunlop's concerns. . .

"This sounds more like a family issue. I am not sure it is a matter for the selectmen," Bodmer said.

THE MAINE STREAM

According to the Grand Forks Herald, Maine has the second largest moose population in the U.S. Here are the top states for moose:

Alaska: 150,0000
Maine: 60,000
Idaho: 15,000
Wyoming: 7700
Minnesota: 7600
New Hampshire: 4600
Vermont: 4000
Michigan: 1000

Morning Sentinel - Maine had the nation's second-highest percentage of households receiving food stamp benefits during 2008, according to data released today by the U.S. Census Bureau. Across the state, 14 percent of households received benefits, according to the 2008 American Community Survey. Nationally, the figure was 9 percent. Both rates were up from 2007, when the percentage was 12 percent in Maine and 8 nationally.

A new poll finds the attempt to repeal the state's gay marriage law going down 50-41.

WHAT'S HAPPENING

The Maine Women's Lobby and Planned Parenthood of Northern New England will join with other women in opposition to TABOR II at a press conference in Portland's Monument Square on Thursday, October 1, at 10:30 am. Speakers include Sarah Standiford, Kristi Hargrove, and others.

September 28

GAY MARRIAGE

The Maine View - No On 1 has received several more endorsements. The Maine Children's Alliance, Maine Psychological Association, National Association of Social Workers Maine Chapter, Community Counseling Center and Kids First center all came out in support of maintaining same-sex marriage in Maine.

The American Psychological Association, after carefully reviewing years of research on parenting and child outcomes, concludes that "there is no scientific evidence that parenting effectiveness is related to parental sexual orientation." In summation, the Association found "that adjustment, development and psychological well-being of children is unrelated to parental sexual orientation and that the children of lesbian and gay parents are as likely as those of heterosexual parents to flourish."

According to Dr. David Lilly, president-elect of the Maine Psychological Association, social scientists have long understood that marriage as a cultural institution can have a profound effect on the lives of married people, connecting them socially and ordering their lives. "Allowing same-sex couples to join in marriage can enhance their legal and emotional security, and can benefit the children being raised by gay and lesbian couples," said Dr. Lilly. "Children benefit not only from strong emotional bonds with both parents, but also from the stability and assurance stable legal bonds provide."

Catherine Stakeman, Executive Director of the National Association of Social Workers Maine Chapter reiterated these findings saying, "The vast experiences of social work, and the scholarship of our discipline, tell us that children thrive when raised by families who are loving and caring, regardless of the structure of that family unit."

Catholics for Marriage Equality has urged Catholics and all Mainers to vote no on Question 1 on the November 3rd ballot, despite an appeal from Bishop Joseph Malone in opposition to marriage equality presented via DVD in parishes statewide. C4ME said that it is speaking out because it wants "the diocese to know that it is not speaking for all faithful Catholics."

"The informed consciences of many Catholics compel them to reject the bishop's political opinion about same-sex marriage," said Anne Underwood, a founding member of C4ME. "Marriage in the Catholic Church is a sacrament reserved to the Church to define and administer. Civil marriage is a right of the state to define and with it comes over 300 state benefits to better the lives of our families and children. No church can morally deprive families and children of state recognition."

SCHOOL CONSOLIDATION

Maine Public Broadcasting - Proponents of Gov. John Baldacci's school consolidation law maintain that now is no time to repeal the two-year-old law. But opponents claim the law's failure to lower education expenses in some instances, while actually raising costs in others, is evidence that the state mandate is simply unworkable for a large segment of Maine communities.

For a little more than two years, former Stonington legislator Skip Greenlaw has been leading the charge against the state's mandatory school consolidation law that continues to be ignored by more than 100 Maine school districts. Greenlaw says it's bad enough that the state asked communities to hold public votes on a plan they didn't want. Now, he says, those that didn't capitulate to the state's wishes will eventually have to pay a price. "The state wants to go out and penalize people for using their judgment to the tune of $6.9 million. . . . I think it's absolute blackmail."

More than 80 percent of Maine students are enrolled in districts that comply with the consolidation law, but Greenlaw says that's largely because they live in more populated regions of the state. . .

Proponents had originally hoped to reduced the state's 290 school districts down to 90. But after two years, 218 still remain. Greenlaw says the law's fine for those towns that want it, but those that don't should be able to opt out without paying a penalty.

"I guess there were three things in this law we want," he says. "We want to get away from the mandatory consolidation requirement; we want to get away from the penalties; and we want those units that have consolidated, that have found out -- like Pownal found out after they consolidated that there was a 25 percent increase in their taxes -- we want them to have an opportunity to get out of the arrangement."

CRYPTOZOO MUSEUM TO OPEN IN DOWNTOWN PORTLAND

Wikipedia - Cryptozoology refers to the search for animals which are considered to be legendary or otherwise nonexistent by mainstream biology. This includes looking for living examples of animals which are extinct, such as dinosaurs; animals whose existence lacks physical support but which appear in myths, legends, or are reported, such as Bigfoot and el Chupacabra; and wild animals dramatically outside of their normal geographic ranges, such as phantom cats

Cryptomundo - It's taken six years, but as of November 1, the International Cryptozoology Museum will publicly open in a permanent space in downtown Portland . . . The museum has found a public home at 661 Congress Street, in the Arts District, just down the street from the world-famous Portland Museum of Art, the Children's Museum, and the State Theater, next to a local landmark, Joe's Smoke Shop. Also, it will sit right across from The Fun Box Monster Emporium. One great stimulation to this public opening occurred thanks to the exhibition, "Cryptozoology: Out of Time Place Scale," at the Bates College Museum of Art in 2006. The centerpiece of the collection is the once elusive eight feet tall, 400-pound "Crookston Bigfoot," created by Wisconsin artist Curtis Christensen. .

THE MAINE STREAM

The Maine Campus describes this year's Common Ground Fair in Unity. . . The fair is the oldest of its type in the county and receives thousands of visitors from all across the United States

Sun Journal - In its heyday of the 1960s, Rumford's largest employer, the paper mill, employed over 3,000 people. . . They were high-paying jobs, the kind that gave workers enough money to buy homes, shop local businesses and comfortably raise families. Just over 10,000 people lived in Rumford then. The town got millions in tax revenue from the mill. The whole rural region was buoyed by its success. Today, after waves of layoffs, the mill is down to about 700 employees. The latest blow was announced two weeks ago: another 100 jobs gone with the shutdown of another paper machine, leaving two in operation. With equipment being sold off, the mill's valuation is expected to drop by a third; the town is slated to lose nearly $1 million in taxes annually because of it. Rumford's population now hovers somewhere below 6,500.

Sun Journal - The retaining wall running along Main Street in New Auburn is scheduled for a face lift next year as part of the city's beautification project. Eager young people from Franklin Alternative High School are getting a lesson in community organizing as they collect 700 surveys aimed at gathering public opinion about the project and its direction. . . Instead of repainting the surface, the city will repair the deteriorating concrete and install panels featuring the work of area students, who will be helped by local artists. . . The survey asks what type of theme people would like to see depicted on the wall - historical, social (portraits of town founders or celebrations) or an environmental theme featuring the town's natural resources. The survey also asks who should produce the art - local artists, professional artists, students or community volunteers.

Maine Public Broadcasting - Opponents of the TABOR 2 tax cap unleashed a firestorm of criticism against the 2009 Maine Piglet Book that has been released by the Maine Heritage Policy Center. The conservative think tank maintains its book contains more than $2 billion dollars in wasteful government spending over the last five years. But opponents say there are numerous examples that were never funded by state taxpayers, and in other instances, never funded at all. . .

Boston Globe - Even though wet weather has stunted the growth of many pumpkins, the biggest-pumpkin winner at the annual Maine State Giant Pumpkin and Squash Contest did pretty well. Al Berard of Sanford was pleased with his pale, 896.5-pound entry at the Cumberland County Fair. Berard, who is vice president of the Maine Pumpkin Growers Organization, later explained that a high elevation 4 or 5 feet and good drainage seemed to be key this year. The Portland Press Herald reports the world record is held by Joe Jutrus of Rhode Island, who grew a 1,689-pound pumpkin two years ago. John Powers of Harpswell, who grew a 1,130-pound entry in 2006, is the record-holder for both Maine and the Cumberland County Fair event.

September 26

THE MAINE STREAM

Kennebec Journal - The agency that administers heating assistance programs in the region has already received 4,000 applications for help, and expects to break last year's record before the heating season is over. . . Last year, KVCAP processed 11,800 applications, about 2,000 more than ever before. People in need of heating assistance may schedule an appointment by calling 1(800) 542-8227.

WCSH - Another Maine school department is considering offering contraceptives to students, this time at Noble High school in North Berwick. . . Under the proposal, the center would offer pregnancy tests, screening for sexually transmitted diseases, mental health counseling and contraceptives including the morning after pill. Two years ago in a controversial move, the Portland School Committee approved offering birth control perscriptions to students enrolled in King Middle School health center. . . Students must have their parents permission to be enrolled in the school's health center and parents can disenroll their child at any time.

Maine Public Broadcasting - Census figures [say] the Pine Tree State, for the fourth year running, has the second highest percentage of households receiving welfare . . . 4.8% of Maine households last year received some form of cash public assistance . . . Only Alaska had a higher number, with six percent of households receiving welfare. . . Families in Maine also earn less than any other New England state, with a median household income of less than $47,000 a year.

Boston Globe - Hundreds of people attended a 10,000-pound food giveaway in Biddeford organized by a Christian ministry. The food was donated to the mission by the Good Shepherd Food Bank. The food bank received a grant of food to use in communities, like Biddeford, that have experienced mill closings and layoffs. WCSH-TV reports Thursday's giveaway was supposed to happen on Tuesday, but the truck carrying all the food was sent to the wrong town sending people home empty handed.

September 24

THE MAINE STREAM

Waldo Village Soup - After a 31-year ban on coffee that left many fairgoers scratching their heads or fighting withdrawal, the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association has invited two coffee vendors to participate in the 2009 Common Ground Fair. The longtime prohibition goes back to the first Common Ground Fair in 1977 when, according to MOFGA's Web site, there were no reliable sources of organically grown and processed coffee. The equatorial crop didn't jibe with the fair's focus on Maine-made foods either. Over the past decade, the visibility of organic and fair trade coffees has increased dramatically, with most grocery stores offering at least one variety, and some as many as a dozen. Today MOFGA has a working relationship with the coffee-farming families of the Ereguán Coffee Collective in El Salvador, producers of Cafe Juan Chacón coffee.

Sun Journal - Statewide, [community college] enrollment grew by 12 percent over the past year. A total of 16,555 students - the most ever - are now attending Maine's seven community colleges. Since state lawmakers changed Maine's technical colleges to the Maine Community College System seven years ago, enrollment has grown by 84 percent. The idea of creating community colleges was to encourage more Mainers to go to college, beginning with two-year programs and transferring to four-year colleges or universities.

September 23

Maine Politics - Michael Heath, the fiery anti-gay crusader who has led the far-right Maine Christian Civic League for fifteen years, has resigned. Notice of his departure comes just 45 days away from the statewide referendum on same-sex marriage, the right Heath has most doggedly opposed. An announcement posted on the League's website says that Heath will now be working as a "private consultant." Heath has told the press that he plans to spend time "teaching solar cooking to needy Africans." While Heath's resignation and exile has provoked jubilation from the blogosphere and the twitterverse, MPBN reporter Anne Ravana has a historical warning: "This is the third time Heath has offered or announced his resignation from the organization. In 1998, after the League faced a severe drop in donations and an internal dispute over financial records, Heath announced he'd be departing for a job in Washington D.C., which never panned out. In 2005 Heath wrote that he sensed the Catholic Bishop of Portland felt his leadership was hurting the fight against the gay rights movement. Heath offered to resign, but ended up staying on board." That's right, much like the legions of the undead, Heath has risen again and again from what seem like career-killing blows. So watch out. He may yet be back to devour your brains and/or civil rights.

The Phoenix - We do, however, realize that with this bold stroke, gay-rights advocates have lost a strong ally. No one (at least no one in Maine) could be counted on to be more vitriolic, more out-there-loony-fringe, more intolerant than Mike Heath when it came to acknowledging that gay people are people too. Of course the timing couldn't be worse - now all those election-season campaign ads from the No On 1 campaign won't be able to show video of Mike Heath spouting off and say to viewers, "You're not like him, are you? Vote No On 1."

Portland gets a new 70-seat theater on Temple Street.

The Portland city hall tower clock, restored in 2007, is running ten minutes fast. Says one city hall worker, "Those of us who work in City Hall are very aware of the chimes, and it was discussed. I sit in my office and I listen to those chimes and it tells me when I'm late for my meeting. But since it's off, I'm early."

The Phoenix - The Camden International Film Festival is celebrating its fifth aniversityu with movies on poverty, overfishing, peak oil, and the plight (and/or) ambition of children who grow up too quickly.

Maine's court system has won a federal grant of nearly half a million dollars to boost the state's so-called Family Drug Court Program. . . The drug courts focus on substance abuse problems that surface when adults enter the court system because of child abuse and neglect issues, the two say. The approach is a collaborative effort that includes judges, state prosecutors, law enforcement representatives, treatment providers and others. . . The state's drug courts have successfully graduated 39 parents, reunited 42 children with their families and seen 20 babies born to drug free mothers enrolled in the program.

Maine Public Broadcasting - Cold River Vodka, based in Freeport says its Cold River Classic Vodka and Blueberry Vodka is now available in 19 states, as well as western Canada and London. . . Cold River Vodka was founded in 2005. Its Blueberry Vodka was named to Wine Enthusiast's "Top 50 Spirits" list earlier this year, and Cold River Classic Vodka won a Double Gold Medal at the 2008 World Spirits Competition held in San Francisco.

Boston Globe - Maine business regulators report a modest increase in home foreclosures in the state during the second quarter of 2009.

Press Herald - Roxanne Quimby, the philanthropist known for buying huge tracts of northern woodlands, has purchased a vacant building on Congress Street to house an artist residency program. Quimby plans gallery space and four to six studios in the three-story building at 660 Congress St. She wants to offer high-achieving artists free studio space, stipends and daily meals with other artists.

Sanford News - A bear was spotted passing behind Sanford Junior High School on Main Street on Tuesday afternoon. Animal Control Officer Lauren Masellas described the bear as more than 100 pounds and approximating the size of a "good huskie-looking Saint Bernard."
She added that the bear was probably just exploring and trying to establish its territory. As a young animal, it probably had not figured out yet how to stay away from humans. "Thankfully, they do figure that out quickly," she added.

Press Herald - Tired of being regulated by the city, Portlands cab drivers are looking to start a union. . . Many drivers are at odds with the city over a proposed change at the Portland Jetport. Currently, the Jetport allows 51 taxis to wait in a designated lot to pick up fares. The changes would drop that number to just 25. Drivers say that would send those taxis into the city, where there are too many as it is, and there just wouldn't be enough work to go around.

September 21

Huffington Post - Speechwriter Matt Latimer's new book trains its gaze on the lunacy of the late-era Bush White House. And there was plenty of material. Latimer, who first wrote speeches and congressional testimony for Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, was one of Bush's top speechwriters at the end of his administration. He has written a tell-all that has some former administration officials furious at his disloyalty and others chuckling at the foibles he's made public. . . Maine Republican Sen. Susan Collins is fond of sending angry, middle-of-the-night e-mails to staffers because she's frustrated that her colleague and rival Olympia Snowe gets more and better press. As a result, reports Latimer, she rips through press secretaries like 30-packs at a beer-pong tournament. (A Collins press secretary didn't respond to a request for comment.)

Morning Sentinel - The leader of a group hoping to expand the state's medical-marijuana law says while he's prepared for a campaign on Question 5, he doesn't anticipate much opposition. Jonathan Leavitt, who leads Maine Citizens for Patients Rights, said a U.S. Supreme Court ruling and a new administration in Washington have made medical marijuana -- and dispensaries created to distribute it -- less controversial. "Our polling indicates this is not a controversial issue anymore," he said. . . Roy McKinney, head of the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency, said as a public official he could not get involved in the campaign. But he restated his belief, originally shared with state lawmakers, that dispensaries would lead to misuse and could increase crimes such as robberies and loitering. . . Maine is one of 13 states to allow the use of medical marijuana. If Question 5 passes, Maine would be the fifth state to permit dispensaries.

Press Herald, Belfast - The farmhouse-style house rising in an old field here will likely become the state's most energy-frugal home, its builders say, using 90 percent less fuel than a typical new home. This structure is so airtight and heavily insulated, and so well oriented to the sun, that the builders are leaving out any real heating system. And thanks to solar panels on the roof, the owner won't pay anything for heat or hot water. Not ever. But what makes this project even more noteworthy is that the three-bedroom, 1,500-square-foot house is expected to cost roughly $225,000, minus land. That's on par with typical custom-built homes in Maine. And costs could drop, the builders say, if the techniques being used here are adopted in mass production.

Tom Bell, Press Herald - The Federal Emergency Management Agency is delaying implementation of new flood insurance maps that would effectively make it impossible to build on piers and wharves in Portland Harbor. The agency has suspended the 90-day appeal period, which began a month ago, and will restart the process in four or five weeks. In a letter sent to the city Friday, Acting Regional Administrator Paul Ford said the agency plans to review the entire record of its study of Portland Harbor and will continue to collaborate with city officials to assure that the "best science" is used to identify flood hazards. . . City officials and the state's congressional delegation in Washington, D.C., have been aggressively challenging FEMA's proposal. In its proposed map, the agency had reclassified Portland Harbor as a high-risk zone, effectively prohibiting new construction on all of the city's private and public piers. The map also would have raised insurance rates for many property owners on both sides of the harbor. . . Pier owners in Portland Harbor have made insurance claims, although not significant ones. Since 1978, there have been four claims. Three were paid out for a total of $36,000, according to FEMA. . .

Waldo Village Soup - The city of Belfast will be facing a $359,000 deficit in the coming year if the Excise Tax Initiative passes this Nov. 3, City Manager Joe Slocum told the City Council . . . "We'll be in crisis mode after the first of the year if this passes, because that money won't be there," he said. "It just sounds great, but then you realize that this tax is collected here and spent here to fix these roads."

Boston Globe - Crews used ropes, a boat and front loader to move a 20-foot minke whale into the water in Ogunquit. . . Another boat was expected to tow the whale at least 10 miles out to sea. The whale appeared to have been dead for several weeks, but the cause of death is unknown.

Maine Public Broadcasting - Former [Green] gubernatorial candidate Pat LaMarche supports a November ballot measure that would reduce excise taxes on new vehicles and shave off three years of excise taxes on the most fuel-efficient cars. . . such as hybrids. A Green Independent candidate for governor, Lynne Williams, says losing this revenue would devastate towns. The two campaigns on opposite sides of Question 2 have seized on the Greens' conflicting positions, and thrust them into the spotlight. Chris Cinquemani , who is campaigning for the excise tax reduction says the conservative Maine Heritage Policy Center, which penned the legislation, contacted Pat LaMarche two years ago. "We reached out to her when we were crafting the legislation, and presented to her what we were working on, what the legislation would do," Cinquemani says. . . LaMarche was featured at at a Westbrook car dealership promoting the More Green Now campaign. In response, the opposing campaign quickly issued a statement from another Green Independent, Lynne Williams. "We wanted to make sure, and reiterate the fact, and set the record straight that environmentalists are not for this issue," says Lizzy Reinholt, a spokesperson for the NO on 2 campaign. Reinholt counters that the referendum would cut revenues by $85 million-- money that most towns and cities use to pay for repairs of roads and bridges.

Brunswick Times-Record - Seeds of Independence, a Freeport-based nonprofit organization designed to match mentors with at-risk youth, celebrated participants and graduates of the organization's programs during an outdoor benefit on Church Road in South Freeport. . . Programs like Jumpstart, which brings first-time juvenile offenders together with mentors to work on decision-making skills, and Rebound, for repeat offenders, benefit kids who "either through some choice of their own, or a group of circumstances they had no control over . . . have become disenfranchised," said Seeds of Independence board president Tom Wright of Freeport, who founded the organization with his wife, Willo Wright. "We're trying to get them back.". . . About 50 mentors currently volunteer with Seeds of Independence, but Tom Wright encouraged others gathered under the tent on Thursday to sign up to work with the kids. Wright was quick to point out that mentoring with the organization is not the same as with, for example, Big Brothers/Big Sisters. "It may be as simple as me asking you to call a kid every morning at 7 to make sure he got out of bed," Wright said.

September 18

Maine Public Broadcasting - A proposed merger between a credit union and a bank in Augusta is causing a rift between some members of the KV Federal Credit Union who are fighting to preserve their small community lending institution. A vote on whether to authorize the credit union's acquisition by the Kennebec Savings Bank is expected next week. . . A little more than a year ago, Lucille Cloutier began to hear rumors that top officers at the Kennebec Valley Federal Credit Union, where she has done business for years, were talking about merging with the Kennebec Savings Bank. Soon the rumor was confirmed, but Cloutier says many of the credit union's 6,000 members never had a chance to weigh in. "Even if they had just a "How do you feel about this?" I don't think it every would have gone this far". . . At the state Bureau of Financial Institutions, the process is being watched with some curiousity. . . Donald Groves, the deputy superintendant at the bureau, says a credit union seeking to join with a bank has never happened before in Maine, and it's extremely rare nationally. "There's been no compelling reason to do so. Usually credit unions, if there's a merger necessary will merge with other credit unions, and banks with other banks and so forth. But as the number of banks and credit unions dwindle, the possiblilty that a bank/credit union merge may make sense increases."

Casco Bay Boaters - Bath residents are keeping their eyes peeled for mountain lions after multiple late summer sightings were reported in the city, hundreds of miles away from the rare cats' closest known breeding grounds. Bath Police Lt. Stan Cielinski said one report came from a man who drives as a courier between the dialysis center on Congress Avenue in Bath and Mid-Coast Hospital in Brunswick. "He was saying that as he pulled out of the dialysis center, he saw something crossing the road with a long tail, maybe around 60 pounds," Cielinski said. "He thought it was a cougar or a mountain lion."

Maine Public Broadcasting - Maine's capital city has been named one of the nation's top "water wise" communities by a national environmental organization. American Rivers says Augusta was chosen for the distinction by what the organization says is the improvement of the health of the Kennebec River following the removal of the Edward's Dam ten years ago.

The Crossroads Landfill. . . will generate enough electricity from methane gas produced at the landfill to supply the equivalent energy needs of nearly 3,500 homes for two decades. The Norridgewock plant's been on line since March. The site is owned by Houston-based Waste Management, which operates 114 landfill gas projects. Maine's other landfill gas-to-energy plant is located at the Pine Tree Landfill in Hampden. Maine has several other potential landfill gas energy sites.

Maine Public Broadcasting - As the grayest state in the nation, Maine relies on its 22,000 direct care workers to provide all forms of assistance to older residents who may require home care or who are living in nursing homes, assisted living facilities or hospice centers. But at an average of nine dollars an hour, the wages don't always measure up to the work. . .
Helen Hanson, a direct care worker who also advocates for those in her industry, says the wages pose a particular hardship for single women trying to support their families. "The salary is really low. Folks working in homecare settings may be between eight and nine dollars an hour, so what happens is to make more money they leave a job they love and if there's no benefits and if you've got a family, you gotta leave a job you love because you've also gotta support your family."

Maine Public Broadcasting - A new survey of more than 500 Maine residents finds that high energy costs and interest in conservation are driving many people to purchase compact flourescent lights. But despite a ban on the disposal of CFLs, the availability of free recycling and concern about mercury entering the waste stream, recycling rates remain very low. Susan Sharon reports. . . Nearly half of all respondents have ten or more CFLs in use in their homes. . . But when it comes to recycling. only 23 percent said they did. About 30 percent said they threw the lightbulbs out, even though most people acknolwedged that CFLs contain small amounts of harmful mercury and even though Maine law prohibits their disposal. Another big problem: More than 60 percent of respondents said they did not know where to take the burned out bulbs.

Press Herald - At Evangeline, Erik Desjarlais has been taking a lot of calls from customers who fear they soon will be unable to get a reservation at his restaurant in Longfellow Square. Desjarlais was one of several chefs who were featured in a long article about the Portland food scene in the dining section of The New York . . . No, crowds of hungry diners have not appeared on Evangeline's doorstep overnight. But Desjarlais does expect an increase in reservations a few weeks down the road. . . In its October issue, Bon Appetit magazine named Portland the "Foodiest Small Town in America." This second course of national attention was the talk of Twitter on Wednesday. . . By Thursday, the story about Portland had become the most e-mailed story on The New York Times' Web site, surpassing columns by Thomas Friedman and Maureen Dowd, and even Mary Travers' obituary.

Morning Sentinel - A Waldo County Sheriff's deputy was patrolling the [Unity] area Wednesday night when he received a call about suspicious activity on School Street. . . The deputy wound up arresting Jeffrey Cookson, 38, of Killdeer Drive on a charge of operating under the influence -- on a lawnmower. Chief Deputy Robert Keating said Thursday that he can recall only a few such charges in his 40-year career in law enforcement.
"We charged a woman in Searsport not too long ago," Keating said. "She was on her way to a store to buy more beer." Cookson also faces charges of operating after suspension, and violation of probation. His probation conditions, Keating said, stipulated that he not drink alcohol. Keating said that, following a charge of operating after suspension, people are not supposed to operate motorized vehicles on a roadway.

Morning Sentinel - A new poll released today puts the people's veto campaign to overturn Maine's new same-sex marriage law in a statistical dead heat. According to the Research 2000/Daily Kos poll, 48 percent of those polled said they'd vote to overturn the law, and 46 percent would vote not to. The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.
Mainers will vote on the question on Nov. 3. The release called the demographics breakdown around the question "a mixed bag." "… Men oppose gay marriage, but women support it. Democrats are obviously a strong (demographic) for supporters of gay marriage, and with 9 percent of the undecided coming from their ranks, that could prove a factor. Independents narrowly support gay marriage, but not enough to help offset that massive wave of opposition coming from Republicans," the release said. POLL RESULTS

Kennebec Journal - Maine's 175-day school year could become even shorter under measures lawmakers are considering as they search for ways to bridge a $66 million budget gap this year. . . A single school shutdown day could save the state and local school districts $7 million statewide, Education Commissioner Susan Gendron said. Maine school superintendents were the first to suggest school shutdown days when they brought up the idea at a budget strategy session at the end of August. State government has begun a series of 20 shutdown days this fiscal year and next as part of a shrunken, $5.8 billion, two-year budget. Budget writers expect $13.8 million in savings from the move. On the municipal level, the city of Augusta began shutting down most city services for eight days this fiscal year in an effort to save $130,000.

Maine's teacher of the year

September 16

THE MAINE STREAM

Maine Public Broadcasting - A Portland-based tidal power company has received a little over one point six million dollars from the U.S. Department of Energy to develop a mooring system for its commercial ocean current generation. . . and to study the impact of tidal generators on Beluga whales. The company plans to deploy its first commercial tidal generation units in Maine in 2011.

Times Record - Don Hudson, executive director of the Chewonki Foundation in Wiscasset, announced plans to retire from that position next year. . . Hudson's first impression of the Wiscasset location came in 1959, when he visited his brother, who was attending the summer camp there. . . . When Hudson officially steps down from the position next summer, Chewonki will welcome only its fourth top official in 95 years of operation.

Times Record - Bowdoin College's endowment lost 17 percent during the last fiscal year, the college announced.

WCSH - Twenty-nine fishermen have banded together to try to market their own lobsters. The fishermen come from Chebeague and Cliff Islands, as well as from Freeport, Yarmouth and Portland. They've formed a business, called Calendar Islands Lobster Company, which will market their catch to stores and restaurants. That's a big change from the way most of the lobster industry works. Typically, fishermen sell their catch to co-ops or to lobster dealers. Those buyers then turn around and sell the lobsters to wholesalers or processing plants.. . . The project is being helped by the Island Institute, which has raised $43,000 to hire a full-time staff person to work on marketing and other needs.

September 12

THE MAINE STREAM

Maine Campus - University of Maine, Orono and Old Town police reported charging more than 50 people - many of them students - with offenses related to alcohol and drug abuse during the extended Labor Day weekend on and off campus.

Maine Business - Executives from Fair Point Communications Inc. told utility regulators from three states that it will be another two months before the company has a clear plan to resolve its customer service, billing and other problems. . . FairPoint CEO David Hauser, who was hired two months ago, said the company has begun shifting from a "work around" mentality to a "fix-it and improve it" mentality. Calls to the company's customer service center are now answered in 20 seconds or less more than 89 percent of the time, he said, though problems remain, particularly with the accuracy of billing for business and wholesale customers. And about 22 percent of orders for new service or changes to existing services are late, he said.

Boston Globe - The Coast Guard signed off on its first tidal power project with plans for a small underwater turbine to augment electricity generated at its station in the nation's northeastern corner, which is home to some of largest tidal variations in North America. The $100,000 project in Eastport will be used evaluate tidal power technology that the Coast Guard hopes to use to provide electricity to isolated stations in Alaska.

Maine Public Broadcasting - In a written statement, Republican Senator Olympia Snowe says she appreciates the details shared in the President's plan. But at the same time, Snowe says she's opposed to the inclusion of a public option in any package. "I would have preferred that the issue were taken off the table," Snowe says, "given that any bill with a public option will not pass the Senate." . . . Republican Senator Susan Collins. . . issued a statement saying any reforms must take into account the exploding national debt. . . "The nonpartisan Congressional budget Office has estimated that these plans could cost $1.6 trillion over the next decade." . . . For Democratic Congressman Mike Michaud, the cost of the plan could be a deal-breaker. "I think what we have to do is once we have a final package that we're actually going to be voting on, then the Congressional Budget Office will score it and that will be the score that I'll be looking at as far as whether the bill is too costly or not. I think we have to rein in the cost of health care and there are several different ways that we can do that."
Michaud says he remains concerned about proposed cuts to Medicare as one way to pay for health care reform. Specifically, he's uncomfortable with a 9.5 percent cut to Maine nursing homes and home health services. "When I met with a home health agency last Friday they told me that 86 percent of the home health care agencies will be going in the red, and when you look at the cuts to Medicare and you look at where the biggest spending in the legislation comes from, the biggest spending in the bill actually is funding Medicaid," he says. . .

Among the state laws passed this season that you may have missed is one that allows brew pubs to sell half-gallon jugs known as growlers, requires employers to provide clean private space for nursing mothers, and outlaws the use of the word "squaw" in naming places in Maine.

Boston Globe - Projections by the Maine Department of Education says a decline in the number of students at the state's public schools is expected to continue for another three or four years. State figures show that Maine has lost public school students every year since at least 1996. Between 1998 and 2007, Maine pre-kindergarten through grade 12 enrollments declined by 10 percent to about 190,000.. . . Data that will be formally released later this month is expected to show Maine schools lost another 2,500 students in the last year.

Ethan Andrews Republican Journal - On June 18, 2002, a Belfast City Council meeting was filmed for the first time and broadcast to every cable subscriber within the city limits. Then-Mayor Mike Hurley appeared in a black tie and yellow boutonniere. . . Seven years later, there is no hard data on how many people watch the meetings from home. As to how the broadcasts have affected the way city government operates, it depends who you ask. . . Anecdotal evidence is abundant, but as both government officials and station directors have found, hard data is harder to find. "I like to say we have literally dozens of viewers," said Ned Lightner of BCTV Channel 2, the city's community station. . . . Diane Wood of Bel-TV - the station that broadcasts city meetings - said she has tried to conduct surveys in the past but the results have never been conclusive. "I haven't got a clue," she said. . . Hurley said he was once recognized by a young man who seemed befuddled that the "show" Hurley appeared on was so boring. Other officials spoke of similar brushes with celebrity. . .

Sun Journal - Bishop Richard Malone, of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland, asked parishes to pass a second collection plate during services this weekend to help raise funds for the group seeking to repeal the recently passed marriage law that . . . allows the state to recognize same-sex civil marriages. Local Catholics have voiced their opposition to the move in letters to the editor recently printed in the Sun Journal, and a group called Catholics for Marriage Equality announced Friday it is encouraging Catholics to place notes in opposition of the repeal effort into the plate as it is passed. . . Sen. Margaret Craven, D-Lewiston, a Catholic who voted in support of the law, said it's time for Catholics to speak up. . . Craven said she struggled with the decision of how to cast her vote this spring and lost the support of some constituents because of it.

Issues on the November ballot

Waldo Village Soup - Seven statewide articles will be on the Nov. 3 . . .

The first question on the state ballot asks, "Do you want to reject the new law that lets same-sex couples marry and allows individuals and religious groups to refuse to perform these marriages?". . .

The second question is also from a citizen-initiated petition. The questions asks, "Do you want to cut the rate of the municipal excise tax by an average of 55 percent on motor vehicles less than six years old and exempt hybrid and other alternative-energy and highly fuel-efficient motor vehicles from sales tax and three years of excise tax?"

The third question is also on the ballot because of a citizen-initiated petition. The question asks, "Do you want to repeal the 2007 law on school district consolidation and restore the laws previously in effect?"

A fourth citizen-initiated question asks, "Do you want to change the existing formulas that limit state and local government spending and require voter approval by referendum for spending over those limits and for increases in state taxes?" This is the second time in three years that voters have acted on a spending cap for state, county, school and municipal governments. A Taxpayers Bill of Rights, also known as TABOR, was rejected by Maine voters in November 2006. . . .

And the fifth question also originated from a petition drive. The question asks, "Do you want to change the medical marijuana laws to allow treatment of more medical conditions and to create a regulated system of distribution?" Voters approved a medical marijuana referendum in November 1999.

The sixth ballot question is a proposal sent to voters by the Legislature asking citizens to authorize the state to borrow money. The question asks, "Do you favor a $71,250,000 bond issue for improvements to highways and bridges, airports, public transit facilities, ferry and port facilities, including port and harbor structures, as well as funds for the LifeFlight Foundation that will make the state eligible for over $148,000,000 in federal and other matching funds?"

And the seventh and final article on the ballot asks, "Do you favor amending the Constitution of Maine to increase the amount of time that local officials have to certify the signatures on direct initiative petitions?"

Wednesday September 9

Casco Bay Boaters - The government's Cash for Clunkers program is over but Greg Surdyke of Surdyke Yamaha is trying to revive the idea. Surdyke is holding a "Cash for Clunkers" for boats promotion. Anyone with an old boat, going back to 1975, can drop it off for a $4,000 credit off a new more fuel-efficient one. . . . ." The old junk boats won't be sold for scrap. Surdyke says he'll fix them up and sell them next summer.

Strange Maine - This portrait is one I found at a flea market earlier this summer. As everyone goes back to school, there is a certain funny poignancy about the tragic expression on the face of young Harlan, setting off on his first voyage into the land of the classroom back in 1905.

Al Diamon, Down East - Bon Appetit magazine has named Portland "America's Foodiest Small Town 2009." As a Portland native, I'm not sure how to take that. If being foodier-than-thou is a good thing, does it follow that Maine's coast should be honored if it was named seagulliest? Would the state's North Woods be pleased to accept the accolade as America's black-flyiest? Is Lewiston ready to assume the mantle of strip-malliest? I suppose I shouldn't get hung up on the trendy wording. I should just accept the fact that this is a public-relations bonanza for Portland. Culinary weirdos from all over the globe will soon be flocking here to sample our beer, bread, and seafood, not to mention what Bon Appetit writer Andrew Knowlton called "the best breakfasts in the country." The locals won't be able to get a seat at diners like Marcie's or Becky's, let alone a table at upscale joints like Hugo's or Fore Street.

Casco Bay Boaters - Right now workers at Portland Shellfish process some 40-50 thousand pounds of lobster every day. According to the Maine Lobstermen's Association, half of all the lobster caught in Maine is processed in Canada. New plants like this one in Portland, allow the product to stay local.

Sun Journal - A 14-year-old Arabian mare appeared to be doing well after a nearly two-hour ordeal to get her dislodged from a wooden bridge off Hall Hill Road. It began when her owner, Leanne Shields of Dixfield, went for a ride around 2 p.m. . . Minutes into the ride, as the light-gray horse, Aquila, was crossing a small wooden bridge that spans a tiny creek, the mare broke through two boards and became stuck. Aquila's hind legs were wedged between two 4- by 4-inch beams. Shields, who was not thrown from the horse, tried to keep her horse calm. About a dozen members of the Dixfield Fire Co. and the Canton Fire Department responded to the call. Ninety minutes later, they finally got Aquila's legs free.

Kennebec Journal: Eleven Thomas College students are scheduled to appear in court this fall on underage drinking-related charges filed after police broke up a party Sunday night on North Street. The incident occurred less than a week after five other Thomas students were charged at a similar off-campus party on Collette Street. . .

Denying 18-20 years olds the right to drink is unconstitutional and ineffective. More on this

About Maine wines

Winslow Homer's Maine

Portland airport wants taxi monopoly

Tom Bell, Portland Press Herald - Officials at the Portland International Jetport want to offer a single taxi company an exclusive five-year contract to serve the airport and replace a system in which independent cabs provide service. The officials say the new system would save the airport more than $100,000 a year and improve service. They also say it would be easier to manage taxis if they could make just one call to complain about poor service -- such as overcharging -- rather than figuring out which one of more than four dozen drivers has caused a problem. But the taxi drivers who work at the airport, all of whom are immigrants, say it would be better to reform the current system than abandon it. . . Today, 51 taxis have permits to offer non-reserved service at the airport. Each permit costs $800 a year.

The Portland airport plan is in a long tradition of taxicab monopolization in urban America. The effect won't just be at the airport. If a certain group of cab drivers can't get the airport business they'll have a hard time staying in business at all and the benefits will accrue to one or two large companies as elsewhere. Below are excerpts from an article your editor wrote before leaving Washington for Maine

Sam Smith, Washington History - The recent shift from taxi zones to taxi meters was not just a matter of how fares would be collected: it was a cultural shift as well. Washington's zone system encouraged a large number of drivers to rent or own their own cabs and, in a city heavily weighted towards professional employment, offered an unusual opportunity for lower income residents and immigrants.

A major reason, not often noted, was that under the zone system it was virtually impossible for large corporations to take over the industry. They would have no way of knowing how much an individual driver was truly making. Thus they avoided the city.

A Department of Justice study in the 1990s found that 87 percent of some 100 cities with taxi service restricted entry in some way. Around the same time, Chip Mellor of the Institute for Justice noted that Denver had routinely turned down every application for a new taxicab company from 1947 on. Chicago and LA were closed. Boston’s permit cost $60,000 and New York’s $140,000.

Without such restrictions or medallions, DC's industry flourished, reaching 8,000 cabs by 1994, more cabs than any other city in America. If all of DC’s cabs had been owned by one company, the firm would have been the city’s largest private employer. A study I did at that time found that if DC had as few cabs per capita as Paris or London, our fleet would drop more than 90%. While DC had one cab for every 75 citizens, New York City had only one for every 600. There is almost an iron law of non-competition in the taxi industry. It dates back at least to 1636, when the owners of Thames water taxis got King Charles I to restrict the number of horse-drawn hacks to 50 in order to cut down on the land-borne competition.

My wife, local historian Kathryn Schneider Smith, found in studying the estate records of DC free blacks in the early 19th century that typically the most successful trade was that of a hack driver. Among the reasons: ownership of one’s means of livelihood, a business relationship with the white community, and relief from some of the black codes -- the city’s apartheid-type rules that among other things set a curfew on blacks.

When blacks moved into the city in large numbers in the 1950s, it became common to find cabs providing a first or second job for new arrivals trying to gain a foothold on the economic ladder. The cab in front of a newly black-owned home was a symbol of the taxi’s importance in giving economic substance to the promise of civil rights. Later, one could similarly follow the immigrant trend just by riding enough cabs.

There are no signs whether the city plans further changes in the system such as encouraging its takeover by a few corporations, But according to Michael Neibauer in the DC Examiner, the taxi commission "has not licensed any new cab operators since 2005, when the driver's test was abruptly withdrawn after the answers were released to the streets. Roughly 2,000 people have since taken the $375, 60-hour training course at the University of the District of Columbia, but have been unable to get a taxicab license."

Though we still have more cabs per capita than most places, the number of cabs is down almost 20% from the mid 1990s. And we do know that a unique opening for upward mobility is no longer quite as wide as it once was.

The Complexities of Localism

Jay Youngdahl, East Bay Express - As localism grows, attacks on it are mounting from the corporatists. An article in Forbes magazine last month accused localism of having no intellectual heft. While the Forbes article conceded that the "feel-good aesthetic of localism is a real consumer demand," it accused localists of a selfish individualism by eschewing a global viewpoint in place of a local one. Localists, according to this argument, are engaging in a "parochialism that only seeks prosperity for those in my immediate midst." . . .

And consider this: Recently, local locavore hero Michael Pollan publicly denounced the boycott of Whole Foods, whose CEO, John Mackey, has injected himself into the health-care debate on the side of the health-care conglomerates. In opposing the backlash against this large corporation, which has put many small local organic groceries out of business, Pollan claims that if Whole Foods "were to disappear, the cause of improving Americans' health by building an alternative food system, based on more fresh food, pastured and humanely raised meats, and sustainable agriculture, would suffer." . . .

An excellent place to consider these questions is with a new book, Localist Movements in a Global Economy: Sustainability, Justice, and Urban Development in the United States. The author, David Hess, has marshaled the intellectual arguments for localism using history, present success stories, and economic arguments. It is precisely in answering questions from friends and enemies that Hess' book is important. Hess, an advocate and academic, believes that the practice of localism can support and maintain a rich and healthy community. Hess analyzes the myriad social and financial ways that patronage of locally owned businesses strengthens social bonds and the financial health of a local community. Many of his arguments are familiar to those who try to buy local. Hess found that buying local results in more business profits staying in the community, more taxes paid locally, more sourcing of goods and services from other local vendors, and more donations to local nonprofits.

Local consumption is not a new idea, he notes. In the 1920s, small retail businesses banded together against the birth of the first chain stores, like the A&P food company. Small farmers have often preached a localist gospel and connected with other forces opposing corporatism. But localism and the history of small business movements is decidedly mixed. In the South when I grew up, local chambers of commerce and white-owned small businesses were nearly always on the side of segregation. One of the most important tools in the civil rights movement was consumer boycotts of these white-owned small businesses and the encouragement to buy at black-owned establishments. Today, however, localism is often able to bridge this type of divide by defining arguments in different and less "partisan" ways, Hess believes. . .

Localism cannot be just knee-jerk promotion of small business or the defense of local workers at the expense of those in other states or countries. Today, many who claim to speak for small business are at the forefront of the movement to stymie health-care reform, joining Mackey of Whole Foods. The National Federation of Independent Business, often credited with helping to deep-six the Clinton health-care plan, is now lobbying against both the public option for health care and any requirement that employers provide health care for their employees. No public care and no employer care; how does that build community? But as Hess notes, small businesses with a more progressive agenda are forming powerful groups, such as the active Business Alliance for Local Living Economies.

For localism to realize its potential, Hess argues, progressive localists have work to do in the area of social equality. . . . Hess' general answer is that local businesses must be reframed as "community stewards." That is, if local consumers are going to see shopping locally as a progressive act, businesses must act correspondingly by doing things that build a tangible sense of community in the physical community. . .

Tuesday September 8

FAIR POINT

Concord Monitor, NH - The Office of the Consumer Advocate and some wholesale customers of FairPoint Communications want state regulators to stop checking on the company's status and start taking action, including penalizing the company for its continued poor service. It has been seven months since Fair Point took over the landline network for New Hampshire, Maine and Vermont, which it purchased from Verizon for $2.4 billion last year. The company continues to be plagued with operational problems and has said it could declare bankruptcy. . . Consumer Advocate Meredith Hatfield said the commission has not pushed the company enough - if at all. She said the commission needs to set guidelines and deadlines and carry out its authority to fine both the utility and individual agents or directors of the utility as needed. "Why should FairPoint comply with anything?" Hatfield said in an interview. "They know now - look at the way the commissioners are treating them - they know they don't have to do it. There are no consequences."

THE MAINE STREAM

Morning Sentinel - The latest data, supplied by the state Department of Public Safety, show that last year, police arrested 1,067 women for domestic assault. That's up nearly 300 from 2003, representing an 8 percent increase. . . . . . Ann Jordan, commissioner of the Department of Public Safety, said that today, police are trained to arrest "the predominant aggressor," and "dig into the facts" before making a charge. . . "Ten years ago," she said, "many men would not come forward because of the stigma involved. And there's an increase in the use of drugs and alcohol, on both sides. People who wouldn't normally assault do so when they're under the influence." While more men than women are arrested for assault involving firearms, 21 women were arrested in the state last year for using a knife or cutting instrument during an assault, compared to 20 men.

Bangor Daily News - When fourth-generation Knox County lobsterman Ryan Post leaves Maine, he finds that his profession is a real conversation starter with people from away. . . Now, Post hopes to capitalize on that curiosity with his new video, "Maine Buggin' - A Year in the Life of a Lobsterman," which aims to show viewers the trap-to-plate journey made by the state's favorite crustacean. He talks about bait, traps, close calls, lobster boat races and the way lobstermen practice aquaculture as they go about their work catching lobsters, or "bugs."

Sun Journal - Tim Stretton, 18, a college freshman at the University of Southern Maine in Portland, has shaved thousands of dollars off the cost of his college education. He's putting himself through college with loans and by working full time at Burger King. While a Lewiston High School student, Stretton took part in Early College, which allows juniors and seniors to take college classes for free while in high school. Stretton took eight college courses in high school, racking up 24 college credits, enough to make him a sophomore and allow him to graduate in three years instead of four. The Early College program pays for one college class for high school juniors and seniors per semester, or four during the two years.

Morning Sentinel - The Colby College Museum of Art is prospering in the face of, and perhaps because of, the economic downturn. While many art museums around the country have closed or reported declines in donations and walk-ins, the Colby museum, which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year, has seen a steady climb in attendance. And despite a 25 percent drop in Colby College's endowment and, therefore, an equivalent cut to the museum's endowment, the museum has maintained its programming, Director Sharon Corwin said. This year, 22,869 people visited the Colby museum, up nearly 7 percent from last year. Attendance is up 26 percent from two years ago. . .

Beth Brogan, Times Record - Forty years ago next week, in the fall of 1969, a group of teachers and volunteers built a small, wooden structure just over the Freeport-Pownal line. In that rustic setting, they opened Collins Brook School, a "free," alternative private school on 110 acres. For seven years, students from age 5 to 18 attended the school, which was based on the philosophy that "within our reasonable guidelines for health and safety, children can and do know what is best for themselves," a school brochure from the early 1970s states. Part of a national free school network, Collins Brook School operated without grades, and students could decide what they wanted to take for classes - or even if they wanted to go to class. They kept animals, tended gardens and learned modern dance, carpentry and weaving - as well as reading, math, science and other basic subjects. . . "I have memories of running around outside most of the day, playing, swimming in the muddy pond, laughing," alumna Liz Rensenbrink wrote in an e-mail to The Times Record. . . "There were not many practical things I learned at Collins Brook. What I took away with me was not tangible, but invaluable and enduring nonetheless.". . . According to the Collins Brook brochure, graduates attended colleges including the University of Maine, Goddard College, and California College of the Visual Arts and the State University of New York.

FURTHERMORE. . .

Maine Public Broadcasting - A Lewiston bicyclist is in the hospital after colliding with a deer in Poland. Dave Story is recovering from surgery on a broken leg at Central Maine Medical Center after colliding with a deer Wednesday while biking with friends along Tiger Hill Road, according to the Lewiston Sun Journal. Friends say the deer "just plowed into" Story as he and other members of the Maine Cycling Club were speeding "wheel to wheel" along the road at about 28 miles an hour.

Hurricane FEMA

Note: The Review, with headquarters overlooking and somewhat high above Casco Bay a few miles east of Portland, ME, may be affected by this policy. Having gone through a number of hurricanes at this location, we find FEMA's approach a bit hysterical and suspiciously like a post-Katrina CYA operation and/or the real estate version of Obama healthcare, where the public loses its option and the insurance companies end up the big winners. The Portland Press Herald has been a bit less polite about it, noting editorially that the FEMA plan would "clearly be an unconscionable abuse of power."

It is interesting to speculate how FEMA's policy would have affected the outcome of World War II, as Portland was then the kickoff harbor for much of the North Atlantic fleet. Would FEMA have prevented the Navy from effectively using the harbor?

As the Press Herald rightly argued, "FEMA is attempting to limit the government's exposure to claims by essentially shutting down improvements to an entire port. If it can do this to Portland, it can do it to Boston, New York, Baltimore, Jacksonville or hundreds of other port cities, large and small."

Portland Press Herald - The cities of Portland and South Portland are cooperating in an effort to challenge the Federal Emergency Management Agency proposal for new flood insurance maps for Portland Harbor. The maps reclassify the harbor as a high-risk zone and effectively prohibit new construction on all of the city's private and public piers. They would also raise insurance rates for property owners on both sides of the harbor.

The two cities are urging FEMA to re-examine its data and methodology and have hired a consultant to develop additional analysis. . .

In its proposed map, the agency reclassifies Portland Harbor from an "A-zone" to a "V-zone." In an "A-zone," the bottom floor must be raised a foot above a 100-year flood: a flood with a 1 percent chance of occurring or being exceeded in a given year. Velocity flood zones, or "V-zones," are areas where FEMA believes waves or high velocity water could cause structural damage in a 100-year flood.

In a V-zone, new structures cannot be built on piers and wharfs that are over water. In addition, an existing structure on a pier or wharf could not be substantially rebuilt if it were damaged or destroyed. . .

The cities of Portland and South Portland have hired Bob Gerber, an environmental engineer with Sebago Technics of Westbrook, to further analyze the FEMA data. "Some of the FEMA data is pretty good," Gerber said. "Some of it is pretty far-fetched. It's kind of a mixed bag."

Portland Press Herald - Portland officials are shocked that restrictions would likely prohibit any development of the Maine State Pier and block improvements to other waterfront buildings. They correctly say there is a considerable difference between construction in environmentally pristine areas and developing or repairing structures in a harbor that has hosted commercial and recreational activity for centuries.

NY Times - The inhabitants of the bungalows and wood-frame homes along the gently lapping waters of Raritan Bay are, in the words of one of them, Cathy Vashey, "hard-working, week-to-week kind of people." Buying flood insurance would pinch their blue-collar budgets, and most have never had to - until now.

What has prompted the shift is a five-year, $1 billion project by the Federal Emergency Management Agency to draw new maps pinpointing places that are vulnerable to the kind of flood that occurs once a century - meaning the flood has a 1 percent chance of occurring in any year. Every county in the New York region has been remapped, and in Monmouth County in New Jersey, across Raritan Bay from Staten Island, 4,300 properties in four towns have been newly branded as flood-prone. Starting Sept. 25, those property owners - in Middleton, Keansburg, Hazlet and Union Beach - will be required to carry flood insurance; in Ms. Vashey's case, the cost could be $1,700 a year.

"I think we're paying for Katrina," said Ms. Vashey, 50, a nurse's aide who has lived with her husband, a truck driver, and two children in a $180,000 clapboard house here for 18 years. "I think FEMA needs the money and they want us to pay for all the money they spent for the other emergency.". . .

Monmouth County is suing the agency in federal court to block the flood-zone designations. The lawsuit contends that the agency declared a two-mile 1970s-era dike along Pews Creek and the dunes along Raritan Bay to be adequate flood protection for bayside residents as recently as January 2008 - then, five months later, switched positions. . .

Behind the debate lies the complex half-century-old saga of flood insurance. Because floods can wreak wide and catastrophic destruction, few carriers provided insurance until 1968, when Congress created the National Flood Insurance Program. Under the program, homeowners in certain zones are required to buy policies from insurance companies - about 90 provide it - and the government pays for flood damage with federal funds collected largely from homeowner premiums.

To enable homeowners to know their risks, FEMA was charged with mapping areas with a 1 percent or more chance of catastrophic flooding in any given year. Banks almost always require customers in these zones to purchase flood insurance to get or maintain their mortgages. . .

Residents can view the agency's maps online, or visit their local town halls to check whether their properties are deemed flood-prone. Property owners who object to the agency's classification of their buildings can commission land surveys (at a cost of several hundred dollars) and then ask FEMA for a "letter of map amendment" to show to their banks. . .

Bruce Steneck, 68, a retired power lineman from nearby Hazlet who has lived on the Jersey Shore his entire life, said that the worst storm he could remember was in the 1960s, and that bay water moved only a couple of blocks inland. He lives 11 blocks away, yet is in the new flood zone.

"A tsunami would have to hit Raritan Bay to push the water as far as Highway 36, and that, in my opinion, would never happen," he said, referring to the major road that runs parallel to the shoreline. "They are forcing a lot of people to take flood insurance that it would never affect."

Thursday September 3

THE COAST

QSR Magazine - Most people consider lobster a delicacy reserved for fine-dining restaurants. But because of a supply glut that is bringing wholesale prices down, the tasty crustacean is showing up on more than just white tablecloths. Uno Chicago Grill, for example, offered lobster sliders, a lobster wrap, a lobster roll, and lobster and shrimp scampi on its Best of Summer menu, and D'Angelo Grilled Sandwiches continues to promote its Lobster Nation Lineup. The slogan for Boston-based Uno's promotion, "Way deeper than pizza," highlights lobster's ability to add pizzazz to a menu, says Dane Somers, executive director of the Maine Lobster Council. . . In the long term, such bargain-basement prices pose a grave threat to the salt of the lobster industry. But in the short term, the lobstermen's pain is the restaurant operator's gain. "This is the best year I've seen in a long time to try to capitalize on adding lobster to your menu, at least as a special," says Steve Kingston, owner of Kennebunkport, Maine, quick-serve The Clam Shack.

ECONOMY

Construction Digital - States have obligated 70 percent of highway stimulus funds for 6,929 projects as of August 31, according to the Federal Highway Administration. However, only 5 percent of funds had been expended. . . . Among the states, Wyoming had obligated the most, 99 percent, followed by Maine and New Hampshire, 95 percent each. . . Maine led in funds expended (40 percent), followed by Iowa and South Dakota (24 percent each).

INDICATORS

Maine Public Broadcasting - As Labor Day weekend approaches, state public safety officials say 100 people have been killed on Maine highways this year, the lowest number of highway deaths at this point in the year in at least 16 years.

GOVERNMENT

Maine Biz - Lawmakers were put on notice that the Department of Health and Human Services has no further areas to trim, and that lawmakers searching for an additional $30 million should prepare to cut services. "At this point there are no grand opportunities ... that represent $30 million or even a significant portion of it," Commissioner Brenda Harvey told members of the appropriations committee, reported the Bangor Daily News. . . . Among the options brought before the committee were early prisoner release, streamlining the Maine-Rx program and teacher furlough days, reported the Sun Journal. Education Commissioner Susan Gendron testified that $7 million in state and local funds would be saved per shutdown day for teachers, with about $3 million of that coming from the General Fund, reported the Sun Journal.

FAIR POINT

Maine Biz - The Maine Attorney General's office will drop its investigation into allegations that Fair Point Communications faked readiness to take over Verizon's landline telephone service in Maine. Maine Attorney General Janet Mills said no credible evidence has arisen following an anonymous email tip that charged Fair Point with presenting phony information to consultants hired by three state regulatory agencies to assess whether the company was ready to take over operations from Verizon, the Bangor Daily News reported. In a subsequent email, the writer clarified that he had no firsthand knowledge of the testing process. The Public Advocate's Office, which received the emails, still wants an independent investigation into the matter, but Mills said further inquiry is not warranted, according to the paper.

GAY MARRIAGE

Gay marriage on the ballot after religious extremists get nearly 100,000 signatures.

SENIORS

Boston Globe - A Maine-based nonprofit organization that provides door-to-door rides for senior citizens with no access to vehicles says it has delivered its 250,000th ride. ITN America said it gave the milestone ride to an 87-year-old woman from Bloomfield, Conn., who was delivered to a cathedral where her late husband had been a minister. The organization was founded in Maine in 1995 as the Independent Transportation Network. There are now 13 affiliates in 10 states.

EDUCATION

WGME - Portland's School Committee voted six to three, to approve a $1.3 million plan to buy laptop computers for high school students in the city. Along with that plan, the School Committee also voted to buy older laptops, previously used by 7th and 8th grade students, and give them to 6th grade students in the city. This would mean all middle school students attending Portland Public Schools would have access to laptop computers. The proposal will now go to the Portland City Council for final approval on the funding.

POLICE BLOTTER

Kennebec Journal - The FBI is investigating recent posts on Craigslist that offered to sell "Maine Indian scalps" to "white people only," according to court documents and the leader of the Penobscot Indian Nation, who reported the situation to state and federal officials. The person who posted the items claimed to have six scalps and related artifacts that were obtained by bounty hunters in the 1700s and came into his possession through a private family collection. . . It is unclear whether the scalps exist, or whether the person who posted the ad was trying to carry out an elaborate hoax. But based on dates and other details in the posts, federal investigators and Penobscot leaders have proceeded under the assumption that they are legitimate.

DRUG BUSTS

Maine Public Broadcasting - Maine will receive nearly $1.5 million as part of a record-setting $2.3 billion civil and criminal settlement with Pfizer, Inc. the world's largest manufacturer of pharmaceuticals. The agreement settles allegations that Pfizer and its subsidiaries paid kickbacks and marketed drugs for off-label uses. In a separate agreement with Pfizer over similar allegations involving different drugs, Maine will receive nearly $500,000. Maine Attorney General Janet Mills says the first $2.3 billion agreement settles allegations that Pfizer marketed the anti-inflammatory drug Bextra and other pharmaceuticals for conditions and dosages other than those for which they were approved. Pfizer is also alleged to have paid doctors cash, and provided them with entertainment, meals and travel to induce them to promote and prescribe Bextra and other drugs. Bextra was pulled from the market in 2005.

Wednesday September 2

THE MAINE STREAM

THE COAST

E Science - Fish in U.S. waters from Cape Hatteras to the Canadian border have moved away from their traditional, long-time habitats over the past four decades because of fundamental changes in the regional ecosystem, according to a new report by NOAA researchers. . . The ecosystem spans approximately 100,000 square miles and supports some of the highest revenue-generating fisheries in the nation. During the past 40 years, the ecosystem has experienced extensive fishing by domestic and foreign fleets, changes in ocean water temperatures due to climate change, and pressures from increasing human populations along the coast.. . . Warming of coastal and shelf waters has led to northward shifts in distribution of some fish species and changes to a warmer-water fish community. . . Species-selective harvesting patterns have also contributed to shifts in the composition of the ecosystem, which is now dominated by small pelagic fishes such as herring and mackerel, shellfish species, and elasmobranchs (skates and small sharks) of relatively low economic value. . . . The Northeast U.S. Continental Shelf is classified as experiencing ecosystem overfishing, although marked improvement has occurred in the condition of a number of harvested species. Exploitation rates, or the rate at which fish are removed from the ocean, have been significantly reduced in many fish stocks during the last decade, indicating that management measures put in place to reduce overfishing are beginning to show dividends.

Colin Woodard, Working Waterfront - Last year, readers of this column learned that the numbers city officials and cruise ship advocates had been bandying around for years-that each passenger spends $103 a day in port-were based on erroneous assumptions. . . Now we have a concrete answer, thanks to Todd Gabe and James McConnon of the University of Maine School of Economics, who surveyed passengers at the gangway last summer. Their conclusions: the average Portland passenger spends $80.52 ashore, 22 percent less than previously assumed. Almost $7 of that is spent in Freeport (where many are bussed) and an unknown amount in the Kennebunks and the White Mountains of New Hampshire (two other popular bus tours.)

Maine Today - The Maine Lighthouse Museum [reports that] donations have allowed the museum to continue to pay its back bills. . . Many in-kind donations have also been made, such as computers that will allow for smoother operations. Local businesses and artists have stepped forward with donations of items for raffles and auctions as well as concerts to benefit the museum. . . New volunteers have come forward to act as docents, conduct workshops, and help with fund raising and marketing. A new video kiosk in the museum lobby will not only raise funds but will provide visitors with information about Rockland attractions and businesses.

Working Waterfront - For members of a lobster co-operative in eastern Maine to decide to build a refrigerated tank house in the midst of a worldwide recession takes tremendous courage. But that is precisely what the 32 members of the Winter Harbor Lobster Co-operative, Inc. did. Their system will be able to hold 23,000 pounds of lobster for either short or long-term. It will also keep lobster from molting, thus providing the customer with consistent hard shell product year round. . . Th co-op members found themselves shocked by all the different prices being offered by dealers. . . . The result: the decision to sell only top-quality hard shell product for which they would be able to demand top dollar. They should be able to do this, stated Nova Scotia lobster dealer Ronald O'Connell, of West Bay Fisheries, in Clark's Harbor, Nova Scotia, who has such a system, because lobster, when kept at a temperature of 36 degrees Fahrenheit, won't go into the shed process.

"Tackle Box" Billy Kelley, Bollard on the Maine State Pier - Only two legal places to sit on a wharf and spend a nice afternoon with a fishing pole and they want one of 'em. . . I don't really know how much revenue is involved, but is it worth it? . . . I don't really know the background of these city planners, but I'd venture to say, and I'm willing to put money on the bet, that they don't go fishing down the pier. They wouldn't be acting so irrationally if they did. Don't they realize the history and heritage of that pier? How many dads have taught their kids to fish there over the ages?. . . I invite all these planners for a day spent on the waterfront. And I'll dare you to catch sight of a youngster catching his or her first fish and manage not to smile at the sheer joy of the moment.

ECONOMY

Bangor Daily News suggests its city may soon be holding an empty building festival: At least seven "big box" type buildings in the city are vacant and some have been for some time. Rod McKay, the city's economic development director, said the economy has been partly to blame but he also said the phenomenon is cyclical. . . Case in point, Lowe's Home Improvement is planning to take over the old Wal-Mart store on Springer Drive. . . Even with eventual turnover, though, there are some buildings that have been vacant for some time with no sign of being filled. At a recent meeting in Bangor, a market analyst reported that Bangor's vacancy rate, based on available square footage as of July 1, was 12.3 percent, much higher than the national average of 7.5 percent.

EDUCATION

Husson University has made a second request of the Maine Supreme Court, asking permission to open the state's second law school. Enrollment would be around 30-50 students.

HEALTH

WBUR - Hannaford employees who complete a health risk appraisal and participate in health improvement programs can save $1,000 on their annual premiums. . . Hannaford reports that its health insurance costs declined 11% over a three-year period. For employees, the results have been just as impressive. In the first year of the program, 26% of Hannaford workers were at risk of high cholesterol. In year two, that number was cut in half. The percentage of employees who smoke was reduced from 20% in year one to 10% in year two.

FARMING

Maine Public Broadcasting - Maine's blueberry crop is healthy, despite this summer's heavy rain. Maine Wild Blueberry Commission Executive Director David Bell says the crop isn't record-breaking, but the berries are "high quality." Bell says it's too early to tell how many pounds of berries will be harvested, but he says the season was a solid one.

Maine Biz - Potato growers expect a harvest as good as or better than last year, even though late blight appeared in parts of Aroostook County and had to be staved off by emergency aerial applications of fungicide in July. Tim Hobbs, of the Maine Potato Board, told the Bangor Daily News that farmers planted 56,000 acres of potatoes, the same amount as last year, and expect a high yield once they start picking mid-September, bringing in about $125 million in sales.

GAY MARRIAGE

Ben & Jerry`s, celebrates the beginning of the freedom to marry for gay and lesbian couples in Vermont with the symbolic renaming of its well-known ice cream flavor "Chubby Hubby" to "Hubby Hubby." In partnership with Freedom to Marry, Ben & Jerry`s aims to raise awareness of the importance of marriage equality and, to show its support, will serve "Hubby Hubby" sundaes in Vermont Scoop Shops throughout the month of September.

POLICE BLOTTER

Boing Boing - Portland's Gary Moody has been caught -- for a second time -- hiding inside a pit latrine at a campsite. The first time he claimed he'd dropped his wedding ring (authorities sieved the biomass and found no ring); this time he claimed he'd dropped his shirt. In an affidavit, he describes himself as having an "outhouse problem." In October of 2005, Moody pleaded no contest to trespass. The judge imposed a 30-day jail sentence but suspended all of it in exchange for two years of probation. Moody was ordered to pay a $1,000 fine and $700 restitution to the Forest Service for the cost of pumping out the toilet tank and screening the contents. He also was sentenced to 30 days in jail in Maine for violating conditions of his probation by leaving the state without permission.

Union Leader, NH - A 13-page affidavit filed in U.S. District Court in Portland, Maine, last week details the investigation that began Memorial Day weekend, after U.S. Forest Service investigators looked into reports that "a man was inside in the waste vault" at Hastings Campground in Gilead, Maine, a few miles from the New Hampshire border at Shelburne.
Two campers were interviewed. One said her teenage niece "made a comment that there was something going on at the toilet." The second said her 9-year-old son had been waiting outside the toilet and when she went to check on him, she peered inside and saw the toilet had been pulled off the floor and human waste was on the floor. "At that point, a man popped up out of the hole leading to the waste vault," according to court papers, and she then "observed a man come out of the restroom completely wet. The man (said), 'Sorry about that, I was getting my shirt.'"

PORTLAND

Bon Appetit - In our second annual report on the nation's top food towns, Portland, Maine, takes the prize thanks to its fresh seafood, local beers, artisanal bakeries, and the best breakfasts in country. You may be wondering how we made our decision: We ate our way there. My scouting (aka eating) trips to Portland, Maine resulted in some of the best meals of my life. And after much deliberation with the Bon Appetit staff, we decided that Portland was the choice for this year's honor. . . Recipes from America's Foodiest Small Town . . . Cod with mussels, chorizo, fried croutons, and saffron mayonnaise from Hugo's. . . . Corned beef hash from Hot Suppa! . . . Mascarpone polenta with wild mushrooms and smoked ricotta from Bresca . . . Pan roasted scallops with roasted sweet potatoes from Caiola's . . . Pumpkin whoopie pies with maple marshmallow cream filling from Two Fat Cats Bakery

SPORTS

411 Mania - Mal Leary of the Capitol News Service reports that Maine's Governor, John Baldacci, had a ceremonial bill signing in his office, a new legislative bill opens the path for mixed martial arts competition in the state. Baldacci said, "When I first learned of the legislation, I was a little skepticalI have not followed mixed martial arts as it developed into one of the most popular and fast-growing sports, but I have begun to watch it and appreciate it more for the training that people go through." The new law set up the Mixed Martial Arts Authority of Maine. The MMA Authority of Maine will define mixed martial arts as a combative for compensation sport featuring a mix of karate, jiujitsu, Muay Thai, tae kwon do, boxing, kickboxing, wrestling, judo, and striking and grappling techniques.

Examiner - Once a Class C misdemeanor in Tennessee, MMA is now the fastest-growing sport in the United States. . . Unlike the "no holds barred" fighting or "Toughman" contests of old, where combatants used no protective gear and fought without restrictions or rules, MMA fighters use a combination of martial arts and other fighting systems, such as boxing and kickboxing, to compete against each other. Depending on the promoter, the fights usually occur in a ring, just like in boxing, or in what is called "The Octagon", which is an 8-sided fighting ring used by the most well-known MMA promotional company, the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

FAIR POINT

Biz Journals - Fair Point Communications Inc. says it can find no evidence to support an anonymous claim that it faked regulatory tests before converting New England customers to its network in February.
The Charlotte-based telecom responded to the allegations in a letter to regulators in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont. Fair Point says it hired two law firms to look into the allegations outlined in an anonymous e-mail sent to regulators Aug. 14. The company says it may wish to continue its internal investigation. But it says to date the law firms "discovered no evidence to support the allegations of fraudulent or fabricated testing process."

FURTHERMORE. . .

Headline of the Day - Wiscasset tax rate could go up or down

An interview with Lynn Williams