One of five items facing voters on Nov. 6 is extending legislative term limits from eight years to 12 years. Many legislators have said they don’t support term limits at all, but doing away with the cut-off is considered too unpopular an idea for voters to pass it. Rep. Leila Percy, D-Phippsburg, said she fully
Ocean Disposal No one cares much for Penobscot Bay’s dump, but finding an alternative could be tricky
For the third time in ten years, a plan to dump dredged material into Penobscot Bay between Rockland and Vinalhaven was drastically scaled back after meeting stiff public resistance. Cianbro Corporation has dropped plans to dispose of 32,000 cubic yards of Penobscot River sediment into a disposal site some four and a half miles off
By the Bootstraps
Those of us who depend on access – public or private – to Maine’s waterfront have a big job ahead of us. For reasons extending back to colonial times, our access to most intertidal beaches and rocky shores is protected by a 17th century law known as the Colonial Ordinance, which keeps the intertidal zone
The Long View: Working Waterfronts, Potemkin Villages: What works in one port won’t work in another
The western flank of Maine’s largest bay, Penobscot, stretches from Port Clyde at the southern end to Searsport near the mouth of the Penobscot River. Along this 30-mile stretch of coastline are ten major ports and harbors and a dozen smaller anchorages where fishing vessels and recreational yachts share mooring and wharf space, sometimes comfortably,
Friendship Homes
Rockland: Custom Museum Publishing, 2007. A Whole Town, In Print On July 28 of this year Friendship celebrated its bicentennial, an occasion for which this book was created. It has neither author nor editor listed on its cover, stating simply that it was “A collaborative community effort in Friendship, Maine.” Marguerite Sylvester, over 90 and
The Zen of Fish
HarperCollins, 2007 Hardcover, $24.95 Looking Closely at the Folks in the White Coats Maine is a contributor to the world of sushi, as the source of two of the primary species that go into the cuisine. In the summer we export fantastically large and fantastically expensive bluefin tuna, and in the winter this contribution is
Norumbega NavigatorsEarly English Voyages to New England and the Story of the Popham Colony
Bath, England: Wilson Publications, 2007 Paperback, $25.00 “Rich pickings were easily acquired” To the student of English and colonial history during the turbulent 16th and 17th centuries, this book will be a delight, filled as it is with accounts, descriptions, biographies, maps and illustrations connected with the various “adventurers” who undertook explorations in the New
The Trouble With Lobsters
When lobstermen began receiving crustacean demands in writing last spring, they thought of it as a joke. In an effort not to take any of it seriously, they claimed to be unable to read the handwriting. Lobsters were impugned as bad spellers, practically illiterate. All they were asking for was more respect. Well, that and
Five new fellows head for coastal communities
This fall, five new Island Institute Fellows have joined four returning fellows to work in island and coastal communities from the Downeast region to Casco Bay. The new fellows will work on a variety of projects. The Island Fellows Program is perhaps the Island Institute’s most visible and valued program. At the request of communities,
CREST heads back to class
Following their summer institute, teachers and students at the eleven CREST-participating schools are heading back into the classroom. Once in school, the students and teachers will begin meeting as a Sustainable Learning Community (SLC). These groups, consisting of teachers and students at each participating school, were formed during the CREST trainings this past summer. Each