House that Paul built
Ardeana Hamlin’s Jan. 24 BDN column on the new Bangor arena provides interesting insight on the project, but I believe the accompanying picture by John Clarke Russ also provides insight on a new name for the arena.
Can we really expect Paul Bunyan to stand smiling in front of the arena and not have it named for him? When Bangor residents, other Mainers and visitors from away pass by, they will see Paul Bunyan standing in front of — what else? — The Paul Bunyan Arena!
Charles Horne
Bangor
More to population story
I’m more than a little mystified by Ron Stauble’s contention in his recent letter to the editor that world population growth is a myth, while at the same time he cites UN sources for population growth.
We reached seven billion people on the planet just recently, and predictions are that we will reach nine billion by 2050. It was less than three billion in 1950. That isn’t growth?
His projections for population loss are all from developed countries, where population growth has been relatively flat since 1995. However, he completely disregards the rest of the world, where populations are growing very rapidly and will account for that next increase of two billion people. In addition, those countries are developing, creating more and more demand on the finite resources of our earth.
His concern seems to be that there won’t be enough working people in developed countries to keep all us old fogies in the life to which we’ve become accustomed. Quite frankly, all of us — not just the old folks — are going to have to reassess that living standard (which takes an inordinate amount of the world’s resources while creating grave threats to the world’s environment) and figure out a new course.
Marty Weaver
Belfast
Searsport tank concerns
David Cole’s OpEd, arguing that a liquid petroleum tank in Searsport would provide energy security, never mentions the loss of jobs or the decrease to property values with increased industrialization of Searsport.
Industrialization blights neighborhoods. Mr. Cole doesn’t mention New Jersey. Companies which employ hundreds of people, such as Athena Health and Bank of America in Belfast, move to Maine because of the quality of life and do not locate to industrialized areas. Tourists do not go to industrialized areas, and tourism jobs in the Searsport area employ several hundred people. This is why many local business and homeowners are extremely opposed to the project.
Mr. Cole states that propane is an “important component” of Maine’s energy mix. The 26,000 Maine households he says use propane are 4.7 percent of Maine’s 551,125 households. Obviously, DCP Midstream has a much bigger market in mind, accessible by highway and rail to Montreal.
Mr. Cole mentions the 12-15 permanent jobs created, which require a high school diploma and pay $70,000. But according to Mr. Waldheim, president of DCP Natural Gas, DCP has only one other tank this large (he could name only three other tanks this large in the country). Does this sound odd?
And our safety? These tanks usually have a mile radius buffer zone. Many Searsport and Stockton Springs residents live and work within a mile of the proposed tank. Are we disposable?
Kathy Goldner
Stockton Springs
Bullying bill survives
I read the BDN’s article by Eric Russell on the work of the Education and Cultural Affairs Committee on anti-bullying legislation which was passed in committee Jan. 24. The legislation entailed most of a year’s work but passed unanimously in committee. It still needs to go through the full Legislature.
LD 1237 was held over for the second session not because advocacy groups were against it. It was held over by supporters at the last minute because it was not written well, could have infringed on First Amendment rights and was destined to lose if voted on.
I had no issue with any underlying agenda the reporter suggests was there. My concerns were with the First Amendment issues and the tone the sponsor set in interacting with people who questioned the bill.
I did not envision supporting this particular bill due to the sponsor’s lack of a collaborative tone, which was frustrating given the importance of the issue. However, I was pleased to see calmer heads jump in from the American Civil Liberties Union of Maine, the Maine Principals Association and Maine School Management. They did not give up, they listened to all concerns and they were collaborative and inviting.
The end result is a bill that will go forward with unanimous support of the committee. Gov. LePage and Education Commissioner Bowen have each stated that we are to begin all work with putting children first. At the end of the day, I believe we did that.
Rep. Mike McClellan
Education and Cultural Affairs Committee member
Breaking stereotypes
With Maine’s ninth annual Non-Profit Day set for Feb. 2, we should all take a moment to be thankful for the selfless and important work that is done by these organizations serving everyone from students to seniors.
One nonprofit I’ve had contact with — and one of 12 that have been asked to put up exhibits on Feb. 2 in the Hall of Flags in Augusta — is Operation Breaking Stereotypes. Orono-based OBS is run by 2011 Maryann Hartman Award winner Connie Carter. Carter matches Maine high schools with schools in major urban areas such as New York and Boston for multicultural exchanges.
As a teacher at Searsport District High School, I’ve seen students from our isolated niche on the Maine coast benefit tremendously by hosting and then visiting counterparts in the big city. For six years now, OBS has organized exchanges which have plunged our kids into a multicultural immersion experience.
Dozens of Searsport students have had their eyes opened to the realities — and possibilities — of life outside our area. They have overcome their fear of people who are different from them — by finding out that they aren’t so different after all. And they have learned about the global nature of our world by meeting the families and going to classes with their “partners” in Brooklyn and Boston.
OBS and Connie Carter have done all this work for payment that barely covers bus fare. Without them, our Sister School Program would not exist.
Jeff Shula
Belfast
Kathy Goldner
If it wasn’t for the NIMBY attitudes in your neighborhood, and the preserve at all cost agenda, that tank would be on Sears Island along with a modern cargo port servicing the state of Maine.
I guess that Mack Point really isn’t big enough.
Whenever I drive through Searsport, I’m appalled at the industrialization. I can’t tell if it’s Searsport or Hoboken.
It doesn’t smell like New Jersey either…..yet……
Nice and glib as usual milo, but you won’t be able to tell the diff if this thing goes in. It amazes me the hate against tourists and clean air and safety that some old curmudgeons who have obviously never traveled outside Maine have. And the absolute allegiance and love they have for large corporations whose only concern is their bottom line, screw the opinions and lives of those poor souls who might live and work and send their children to school within the blast zone. Have you not read ANYTHING but corporation propaganda?
I’m writing from Kabinda so there’s a reasonably good chance I’ve been out of Maine. As I look at the natives milling about beneath the tree outside the office, I’m reminded of what will become of Searsport if that horrible tank is installed. A third-world industrial town with no tourist trade or clean air. Given the frequency with which such tanks explode, I can’t sleep at night worrying about the poor souls who work and send their children to school within the blast zone. Oh the humanity.
I’ve never been to Kabinda.
Is it nice this time of year?
Well, it’s no Searsport, if that’s what you mean.
DANG!
No flea markets?
You don’t get to be snarky even if you are in the Congo. LOL
I don’t hate tourists. I do hate the low paying, part time, temporary, starvation level jobs that a tourism based economy provide.
However, since it is called tourist season why can’t we get a license to “harvest” them?
Boy, are you out of touch. Do just a little research, part time and summer jobs you describe are those that our teens take and provide them with very often their first work experience. Your statement is an old and incorrect one. Starvation level jobs? Really? Ask the owners and managers of Old Orchard, or MDI businesses. Those places will continue to weather downturns in the economy when larger out of state corporations will just shut down and leave hundreds swinging in the wind.
And your last line is just too pathetic……………..oh well, off to work.
Because of all the rules and regulations added over the past 30 years teens aren’t even allowed to work many of the jobs I did growing up. You are right about the work experience. Problem is that liberals think you can base a sustainable economy on these jobs. Tell me, when you drive out or prohibit manufacturing and other jobs because it might upset the tourists just what are the parents of these teenagers supposed to do to support their families?
The owners and managers of those tourism based businesses appear to do quite well. they get to leave for the winter and live high on the hog. But most of the people living and working in those areas are not owners or managers. What are they supposed to do?
I would call a job where you make minimum wage for 6 to 8 months and then are laid off for the other 4 to 6 months while the business is closed “off season”, (and the owner and manager is off to Florida for the winter), a starvation level job.
It’s easy to tell the difference.
No flea markets in Jersey.
Back about 30 years ago when CB radio was all the rage, Milo, I remember people who sounded exactly like you who never stopped chattering silly mean-spirited nonsense but really had nothing to say. The overall tone of these forums would be more intelligent if only you would find another hobby.
If it were up to you and not people like Kathy Goldner, Maine would be paved over and you could see the air you breath.
Residents of Searsport and their neighbors have every right to oppose unnecessary and wrong headed development.
There is no more need for the propane tank than there is for a cargo terminal on Sears Island.
Mack Point has a vastly underused, new, paid for by taxpayers, cargo pier. Where is the cargo? Wind turbine parts? You can’t grow a port on turbine parts.
The fact is imports just export our dollars. We are poorly placed to be an import terminal. We are just too far from major markets.
We need a high speed bulk loader at Mack Point so we can be competitive on exports.
Sustainable exports are the future for Searsport and for Maine.
I see the air I breath every morning when the ole lady forgets to fill the stove.
She’s the one wants the tank. She thinks it would be good to switch to propane.
What are we going to export? People like you are against us actually producing anything to export.
There are people up north who don’t want Roxanne Quimby’s park in their back yard. People in Frankfort who don’t want wind turbines in their back yard. People in downtown Bangor who don’t want a strip club in their back yard.
Here is comes…are you listening? I DON’T WANT DCP’S TANK IN MY BACK YARD. There. I said it.
If that makes me a tree-hugging, pot-smoking, Obama-loving, occupying, left-wing freak, so be it.
And by the way: since it was in this very location, the BDN comment section, where I first learned of my trust fund, I’m hoping my benefactor is reading: Please show up soon with the money. I’m about to lose my livelihood here in the soon-to-be Industrial Blight formerly known as Searsport.
I guess the tacky trinket jobs are going south ,eh?
For the human species, exponential growth of world population may be the biggest problem.
It’s doubled since 1960…and will continue to double at a faster rate.
The world population continues to grow, but the rate of growth has declined since the 60s. Between the 1960s and the late 90s (~40 years), the population doubled from 3 to 6 billion. But projections to 2050 have the population reaching anywhere from 9-11 billion, less than a doubling in over 60 years. Therefore, the world population is not doubling at a faster rate.
Still too many people, though…
Technology prolongs life, and has led us to grow 1 million pounds of food from just 3 acres of land:
http://wakeup-world.com/2011/07/14/how-1-million-pounds-of-organic-food-can-be-produced-on-3-acres/
As soon as I get my own land, I’m going to give this a try. Would like to know if anyone here has tried this. But, not having to buy food every year, and having extra for friends, family, strangers… Would be a good thing.
Re: Paul Bunyan Arena
Please… Naming the arena after a fictional character would be one of the dumbest things this city could do.
Besides, there is a plan to sell the naming rights anyway.
And he was not from Maine….his foot prints created the 10,000 lakes in Minnesota.
Must have been stamping out liberals to create that many lakes…
He done a pi$$poor job.
lol, damn that’s funny, no matter which political leanings a person has
No one knows where Paul was born but there’s no doubt that he started his logging career in the North Woods of Maine where he first assembled his crew and made Bangor the lumber capital of the world. After Maine was cut over he went west, logging as he went, from sea to shining sea.
There is actually a movement afoot to relocate Paul Bunyan to the waterfront. For nearly 50 years, he stood on Main Street overlooking the Penobscot River. Now, he gazes into a parking garage and in 2013 his backside will be abutted by the new Arena. At the Waterfront, he could greet visitors and locals as they navigate the Penobscot River, travel across the bridges, relax by the water, or enjoy a concert. If anyone is interesting in signing the petition to move Paul to the Waterfront, please go to the link below. FREE PAUL!
http://www.bangorbytes.com/p/free-paul.html
He should be moved to a place where people can get a better look at him for sure. I’ll never forget seeing him when I was 4 years old. living on Smith street. Wow he sure was a giant. I wonder though, if anyone is tripping at a waterfront concert, what will they do when they see a giant lumberjack coming at them? hee heee
Charles Horne, Mark Weaver. Mike McClellan, Jeff Shula: good letters.
I just read that Liberals are 10 time smarter than Conservatives now I understand.
They just think they’re smarter.
Marty: He was a right winger…is it a big surprise that he totally discounted anyone who wasn’t a WASP Tea Partier? Of course he’s saying that population is on the decline…for them it is…and to them there isn’t anyone else.
Time to cross over from where we are to where we are going.
On the 10th of the first month, Nissan, Joshua led the Jewish people across the Jordan River
Posted on April 13, 2011 by Editor
By STEVE FELDMAN and ROBERT SKLAROFFPHILADELPHIA (JTA)–One of the most significant dates in Jewish history and Israeli history is here, but again will pass by with hardly any attention and no fanfare. The Book of Joshua states that on the 10th of the first month, Nissan, Joshua led the Jewish people across the Jordan River, which God had parted so the crossing could be made, and into the Land of Israel (Ch. 3: 14-17). This year the date corresponds with tonight, the evening of April 14 to sundown April 15.
http://jewishworldnews.org/2011/04/13/on-the-10th-of-the-first-month-nissan-joshua-led-the-jewish-people-across-the-jordan-river/
Interestingly enough, Mitt Romney won the New Hampshire primary on the 10th day of our first month.
So, how do you run a campaign? Timing is not based on the physical circumstances. The river was at flood stage. To be sure, there must be a sense of inevitability – a chosen people of the powerful God. “Israel is the rod of his inheritance” (Jeremiah 10:16). Though Abraham and Jacob gave tithes, the Jews still require a sign.
God stopped the waters. The ark passed before the people and the priests stood in the dry river bed until the people passed over. After placing 12 stones, they moved out and the river returned.
Greeks seek after wisdom. However, even witnesses cannot agree. Reagan would hold news conferences and press conferences as the Time magazine was going to press. He would release information that would make the magazine look outdated and less than accurate.
“Let your children know” (Joshua 4:22). Put stones on the dry riverbed. “On that day the Lord magnified Joshua” (Joshua 4:14).
God parted the Red Sea for the Israelites. God parted the River Jordan for the Israelites. God stopped the floods and parked the Ark.
So you’re saying that God has some sort of agreement with hydraulic engineers???? Fun facts from the old testament.
And after Joshua crossed the Jordan, he slaughtered every inhabitant of the town of Jericho.
You should be thanking Joshua, keeping the world population within reason!
God knows water. He created water. In fact, the dry earth was separated from the water. “Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear” (Genesis 1:9). People lived over 900 years old before the flood. After the flood, they do not live much more than 100 years, probably because the protective firmament above the earth collapsed. The rainbow in the clouds is God’s promise to never do that again.
The surface of the earth was created to control this resource. A pattern can be seen in Google earth showing water flowing south – not from 1000’s of years ago, but as recently as the 1700’s. In southern Idaho, the water used to flow underground through the porous Sawtooth Mountains and feed wells throughout the southwest. Salt Lake was much higher and the Grand Canyon was a collection basin. In southern Washington, the Columbia used to flow into a lake which overflowed into Oregon.
People who want waterways for travel have dug canals and changed river direction. The Erie Canal was built in the early 1800’s. There was a rush to create a Northwest Passage. The French backwoodsmen and fur traders knew the land. Napoleon, at war with Spain, gave the Louisiana Territory to Thomas Jefferson. His obvious intent was to cut off water from the predominant Spanish southwest. After the Louis and Clark expeditions, the northern water supplies feeding the southern wells dried up. Ghost towns appeared all across the west in the early 1800’s.
The Snake River was redirected to flow west out of Idaho leaving the Peruvian lake bed to be used to grow potatoes. Hell’s Canyon was dug/blown up to allow the water to flow west to the Columbia. The Columbia River Gorge was dug to allow all that water to flow west. Today, an unnatural amount of water flows past Portland, Oregon, and crashes into the Pacific Ocean. All sea captains and navigational officials there confirm this.
People from downstream have gone upstream and drained lakes.
Simple dams in the Grand Canyon and Yosemite Valley could once again supply water to the vast areas of the southwest. We do not need a waterway across the United States. Let the water from the north go south and not west through man-made canals.
Yes, God understands water and created his earth to flourish with it. Today, the American southwest waits for that water to be restored.
Is this a joke?
No letters today?