Why don't we just return it to the way it was about 600 years ago and we can all go back to Europe? Fred Moore would really like that.

Don't forget sitting on the dike watching cars go by sipping on a cold one.

“I don’t think anyone should get upset yet,” state Sen. Kevin Raye, R-Washington County, said this week. “No final decisions have been made.” In other words, he wants all you home and land owners to sit back, shut up, and let your land go under water because you have no say in the matter. Politicians also said not to worry about all of these socialist ideas that were headed this way because they would never happen. They also said gay marriage would never come to Maine.

I say that all you land and home owners need to band together and fight against any federal and state agency that is trying to take your land. I also say send a message to Kevin Raye and throw the bum out when it's time for re-election or vote against him in 2010 if he runs for governor.

"I don't think anyone should get upset yet" said Kevin Raye. When should they get upset Kevin? When it is a done deal and their land goes underwater on the next high tide? I can't believe you said that! The time to be upset and proactive is in the planning stages so that you are involved in the decision!! I don't own any land anywhere near there but if I did I can guarantee you that I would be a major pain in the A** to anyone that put out an idea that would negatively affect my land and reduce its use and value!! Is your time in Augusta rotting your brain? ALL Issues are local!! Lets suppose that your mustard mill was required to stop using the grinding wheels and go to modern machinery to make that famous stone ground mustard. How loud would you scream!! Get back to being a local and not an Augusta politician!! I don't have a bone to pick in this issue but I do realize that you have to understand where people are coming from and respect it. Government has gotten too big and too disinterested in invididual rights don't you be like that too.

I have to agree w/ SammieJ and Portboy... wouldn't Kevin be upset if his mustard mill was about to go under water?

If the tide gates are removed, the area will revert to a salt marsh, with salt marsh hay. Salt marshes are far more productive and valuable than what is there now.

I think the causeway/dike/breakwater should be repaired and restored into the same form as it is now and it should be 'Grandfathered' to do so. I'm sick and tired of the State and Federal Environmental Protection Agency telling everyone to do things their way. Most of them don't have any common sense. some of the rules they pass are absolutely stupid and no benefit to anyone or the environment. Sea fish don't need to go up every little brook and river that flows into the ocean. For people to lose their land and businesses to the tides if this is done wrong would be shameful. Apparently peole had more sense 100 years ago than they do now.

I'm sure Senator Raye didn't mean for people to do nothing. He would have meant to go to the meetings and take your concerns and discuss the pros and cons there. If enough people attend they should be able to have the final say in how this evolves.

I don't live in Machias , but the dike is a wonderful place and it shouldn't be destroyed by replacing it with an ugly bridge so fish can go up the river .

Obviously DouglasWatts doesn't own any land there either. Was he around when the area was a salt marsh ? Is a salt marsh more valuable than the peoples land that will be destroyed ?

Landowners need to make sure they attend every meeting. Once the work is apporoved, Kevin Raye will say, too bad, you had you're chance to disagree. That is what I was told when I complained about the ATV trail going through my back yard. State of Maine feels they can do anything they want, landowners be damned.

"No one disputes ..." - well I for one beg to differ. 95% of the dike is stable and not going anywhere. If the flappers need repairing, and I question that too as it's certainly not obvious that they do, then fix them. And now that we've spent $100,000 making a gd trail out of the railroad, lets tear that up for repairs to the dike that are unnecessary.

Finally, if the dike configuration with 'flapper valves' has been in place for 150 years, we'll be destroying the current ecosystem attempting to go back to something nobody alive remembers. As a young boy, I caught Atlantic Salmon par in Middle River just about Rt.192 where the Margaretta was ditched. They had to get there through the flappers. Remember when they took the fish ways out of the Machias River and later all the other "Salmon" rivers? Biologists will still try to say that was a good thing for Salmo salar, but it was really the beginning of the end of Atlantic Salmon fisheries in Washington County.

If they ripe out the dike in Machias for thr fish they will have to rip out the dam at Marks lake so the fish can go up the water way! draining that lake and flooding more area down by the dike! Property owners beware of the fools in our Government!

I think everyone is missing the big picture. If we loose the Dike, where are the people of Machias going to sell all their junk? where are all the druggies going to hang out and sell their drugs? Where are all the unemployed people of Machias going to sit and watch the traffic drive by for hours at a time?

If the landowners and Town Selectmen, speak loud enough, they will be heard. In East Machias we all stood up to the State/Federal Government and stopped them from putting anything in our river. Check and find out if your towns have a Shoreland Zoning Ordinance in place and find out what it says. This is how East Machias won, because the Ordinace was approved by the Federal Government.

you tell'em Chris!

Okay, let me get this straight.....Is this the same DOT that has repaved a section of Route 1 that runs along Gardner's Lake, that did not need repaving....and did not fix or repave the section of road that begins after the bridge in East Machias on Route 1, that looks like land mines have blown up the road? Dear Property Owners in Machias & Marshfield It is the same DOT.......that says alot! Start standing in line to get to these meetings!

eastporta, this has nothing to do with FRED MOORE, get a life.

thats a good one mooseME! the state has never known how to spend money, the only thing they done smart was the atv trail at least that generates money into the local economy

I still love the advertisements for Whitneys Tool Shed....

Chris Sprague is only whinning because its his personal hunting territory. When ever he finds someone hunting there he runs then off. I say let the water run free, the way it is supposed to run. When the dike was put in place people didnt think about the enviroment. Its time for the Wooden cribwork to be removed.

Iseenow certainly doesn't know what property rights are. After all, he is living in his mom's basement so has no ambition to ever become a land owner.

can anyone tell me how much the water would rise if the gates were taken out? i wouldnt want to lose my property either. by the sounds chris sprauge is the only person with something to loose?? that cant be does he own the entire middle river basin? if i was in chris's shoes i would yell too. as long as there is no enviromental impact then why cant they re build the same design that was there. i would like to learn more about this, before commenting any further. my only wish with chris sprauge is that he would reopen his land to atv's and sleds, if property damage was the case then i dont blame him, but ive never heard either way.

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On 8/31/09 at 6:56 AM, SammieJ wrote: Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

Iseenow certainly doesn't know what property rights are. After all, he is living in his mom's basement so has no ambition to ever become a land owner.

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Speak for you self Sammy boy,speak for your self! I own my own home and I own property. Like I said Chris Spraque is whinning because its his personal hunting territory. I do beleave that the right thing to do is to to remove the wooden cribwork,and let the tide do what its supposed to do.

Maybe the state should figure out just how much it would cost to buy everyone's property who is affected at top market value and buy them out. You just can ruin a person's life and property. Rebuild what is there now.

"you have to understand where people are coming from and respect it" right on portboy. you should start a blog.