MILLINOCKET, Maine — A Town Council majority reaffirmed an environmentalist group’s free-speech rights Thursday by dismissing a proposed ordinance amendment that would have banned a Northern Forest Center tractor-trailer from a private landowner’s empty downtown lot.
The council rejected the ordinance amendment without a motion. Its action comes three weeks after Councilors Jimmy Busque and David Cyr said that the trailer should not be allowed in town because they believe that environmental preservationists such as the Northern Forest Center are at least partially responsible for the town’s loss of 500 forest industry jobs.
In seeking the amendment, which subsequently was written by Councilor Michael Madore, Cyr wanted to make it a fineable offense to advertise any form of preservation groups within town limits, according to minutes of the Jan. 22 council meeting.
Councilor James Mingo expressed considerable frustration that the ordinance was even suggested.
“This is not needed in any way, shape or manner. It’s a joke,” Mingo said.
Mingo called it a waste of the council’s time to infringe upon landowner Bob Benjamin’s rights as a landowner to try to control what he puts on his property. It also is an abuse of the Northern Forest group’s free-speech rights, he said.
“I cannot in any way support language that infringes on somebody’s right to speak their mind,” Mingo said. “That trailer is not an eyesore … There might be people there whose opinions we don’t like, but make no mistake, they have as much right to their opinions” as anyone.
The proposed ordinance perpetuates the idea that Millinocket is an unfriendly community, particularly to business, Mingo said. “Everybody should be welcome here,” he said.
Madore said the ordinance prohibits only the placement of trailers in downtown lots. Northern Forest has a display inside the former Miller’s Department Store, he said, that the ordinance does not prohibit.
“It has nothing to do with the message on the trailer. Never has,” Madore said. “It has everything to do with what you want for order in your downtown.”
Called Ways of the Woods: People and the Land in the Northern Forest, the Northern Forest Center’s mobile museum features a colorful mural displaying people fishing, hiking and workers logging trees. It was on display downtown over the Christmas holiday and has been in Benjamin’s Penobscot Avenue lot since.
Madore’s draft proposal would limit static displays or mobile exhibits on public or private property to 24 hours before and after public events, with written approval of the town code enforcement officer before the display opens to the public. Events would not exceed nine consecutive calendar days without the officer’s written permission. Changing locations would not start a new event period.
The vehicle’s owner or operator would be fined $100 to $1,000 for violating the ordinance, it states.
The ordinance “adds a little bit of order to what you can put outside,” Madore said. “This is an exhibit. Once it is done, it should move along. … I don’t want this [trailer] to be left there for five, six or seven months.
Council Chairman Wallace Paul and Councilors Scott Gonya and John Raymond agreed with Mingo. Gonya said he didn’t see the need, or any public outcry, for an ordinance regarding trailer placement.
“I can’t see telling these people no because we don’t like what’s painted on the side of their trailer,” Paul said.