To the editor: How delightful to read Rusty Warren’s article “In the Beginning” in the latest edition of the Working Waterfront. I have missed her regular articles from the `Fisherman’s Wife.’ Thank you for publishing her again and I hope to see more, especially the continuation of this story. She is a grand story teller!
Basin Preserve protects habitat and public access
Bob Cummings, one of the founders of Phippsburg’s Land Trust, observes that Phippsburg recently acquired a status that is rare, possibly unique among Maine’s coastal towns. It can now boast of having 27 percent of the town’s property in protected status: about 900 acres at Popham Beach State Park, 300 to 400 acres owned by
Breaking the Silence – Child abuse shocks Downeast communities; parents form a support group
It happens. Child abuse happens whether we want to admit it or not. For centuries, children who told adults they had been touched, raped or molested were punished. They still are. No one wants to believe them. Surely Daddy, Uncle Tom, Grandpa or Father John from church wouldn’t do such a thing. The child must
When Hollywood Came to Vinalhaven
In the summer of 1947 Henry King, one of Hollywood’s top directors, flew his plane over 1,000 miles along the Maine coastline, searching for just the right spot for his next film. An experienced pilot, King first observed Vinalhaven through a break in the clouds. Sixty years ago Henry King was considered by many to
The Methadone Debate – Downeast communities struggle with drug addiction, treatment
Judging from reactions in Ellsworth and Surry, methadone may be as unwelcome Downeast as heroin. This spring, Ellsworth city councilors approved a six-month moratorium on any new clinic offering methadone treatment, with an option to extend the moratorium an additional six months. Shortly thereafter, Surry residents voted to enact a similar measure. And recently, Cherryfield
Bar Harbor approves Mount Desert’s first skate park
Bar Harbor police Officer Soren Sundberg often deals with skateboarding teenagers on the town’s village green. Skateboarding isn’t legal there and it can be especially hazardous during tourist season. “There isn’t space for all the foot traffic and the skateboarders,” Sundberg said. But he said he never has a good answer when skaters ask where
The Long View: Houston, We have a problem
The New England Fisheries Management Council is meeting in Portland this month to vote on whether to consider a different approach to managing cod and haddock fishing in the Gulf of Maine. The management of these species has been a disaster since at least 1991 when the first lawsuit was filed to halt overfishing. The
Cod to Lobster, Market to Pound – A veteran fish dealer finds “magic” in lobsters
Three years ago Stonington, Connecticut fish market owner Michael Pugliese, then 49, bought a house on the water in Steuben, Maine, that came with a tidal lobster pound. At the time, he considered the property a summer place for his family. In the past three years, though, as he continued to see the waters of
Canadian sealers get stuck in the ice
The last seal-hunting vessel was freed from the ice a bit earlier than anticipated in the waters off Newfoundland after the end of a particularly unusual sealing season affected more by weather and a shortage of seals than by the many protests against the hunt. Around 120 longline vessels were trapped in April when a
Cape Wind: Money, Celebrity, Class, Politics, and the Battle for Our Energy Future on Nantucket Sound
Public Affairs/Perseus Books May 2007 Not In My Backyard! It’s a surprise when a book on environmental politics reads like a good whodunit or an exposé. Cape Wind, the first offshore wind farm proposed in the U.S., is the “big idea” of alternative energy developer Jim Gordon, who wants to place 130 wind turbines in