Credit for farmers
On Christmas Eve I happened to be in Whitefield for dinner with old friends. Among the guests were a hardworking young couple who make their living processing poultry and rabbits. Yes, there is a market for the latter.
Ryan and Gina have developed partnerships with a number of farmers in their area to harvest poultry in high quality and sustainable ways. Working from dawn and into the dark and constantly on the road, this committed couple operates on a shoestring. What limits their enterprise is the availability of affordable credit.
The arguments for developing credit unions for small farmers are strong ones. Given Maine’s aging population and the lack of jobs for this generation, a growing group of eager young agricultural workers is a real plus for our state. Moreover, their operations are environmentally friendly, their product free from the contamination that all too often finds its way into produce and meat manufactured by large agro-businesses and shipped around the country. These young farmers make “buying local” possible. If affordable credit were available to these entrepreneurs, there would be no limit to what they could accomplish.
Anne Sigmund
Deer Isle
Fracking consequences
I have been reading about this new process to obtain oil and gas from the Earth along with some of the problems with the process. Most of these problems are involved with our water supplies and the leakage of methane. I have never read any reactions from geologists in the local press.
The process is messing with the relative thin mantle of the Earth’s crust upon which we live. We know the mantle is made up of movable tectonic plates that are in relative equalized pressures on each other that is preventing them from moving. We also know that we experience earthquakes when the pressures become unequal and movement happens upon the fracture lines.
I would like to know what influence the fracking process has upon the equalization of the tectonic pressures and therefore the possibility that we are inadvertently causing a weakening of these pressures that may cause earthquakes. Certainly the results would have greater danger to our helpless population than what I have read about.
John C. Ferriday
Sedgwick
National park not solution
Much has been written of late in favor of a new National park in Maine. Most (like Jym St. Pierre in his Dec. 21 OpEd) compare this new park idea to Acadia National Park in popularity. That’s a mistake.
Acadia is one of the nation’s most visited national parks, providing a much-needed boost to the Maine economy. At the same time, both Isle Royale National Park in Michigan and North Cascades National Park in Washington state, each more than 500,000 acres, don’t get as many visits per year as some of Maine’s 36 state parks that are less than a hundred acres.
The big problem with a national park is, if it doesn’t work like we expect, there is no turning back. That land is locked up forever. Even if it doesn’t create one extra job.
If the Maine economy is going to provide the full-time jobs, we need to support families, we can’t afford to put all our eggs in the tourism basket. Diversity is critical.
We need to explore development opportunities like cloth from wood fiber that’s just getting started. Energy from wood is renewable, clean and a natural fit for Maine. Thousands of products are made from the things that grow on Maine land. Let’s look at them all. The opportunities are endless, and most of those uses of our land will co-exist with tourism like it always has.
Jimmy Busque
Millinocket
Cod decline a warning sign
The Dec. 28 article by The Daily News of Newburyport regarding regulatory effects on recreational fishing in the Gulf of Maine was interesting from the perspective of the charter boats and the sport fishermen. I would be interested in reading about the perspectives of the varying voices of the other interested parties such as the commercial fishermen, the regulators, and the scientists who monitor the waters of the Gulf of Maine.
I am guessing that the reason for the emergency closures has to do with a decline in cod fish numbers and is not an arbitrary decision from the regulators. They must have based the decision on factual information. It would be helpful to understand how that information was gathered, etc. If the fish are declining to such a degree that an emergency ban is needed, perhaps we should be taking a lesson from the Canadian experience several years back. Their cod fish industry collapsed because they were not paying attention. I’m sure the recreational fishermen, charter boat owners, and commercial fishermen would like to avert that tragedy.
It’s a complicated issue and one of great economic importance to the whole New England coastline. Perhaps the media could run some informative articles that would help the various factions come to a meaningful compromise based on long-term sustainability of the fish stocks in the Gulf of Maine. In the end, no one will win if there are no cod, or other ground fish, in the waters. I don’t see that running a one-sided article can be helpful to the process.
Fran Bodell
Milbridge
Transgender disrespect
I am a woman, that just so happens, to be transgender. I go by the name of Piper, which is what most people know me as. It’s a nickname, but I want to change it from Thomas to Olivia.
On Dec. 24, I plead guilty to theft by unauthorized taking or transfer. Of a bicycle. While I was told my rights, I was not told of the options available to me, such as plea bargains. Why wasn’t I made aware of this option? Not by the judge, the prosecutor, nor the “rent a lawyer” who represented me.
On top of that is the insensitivity of the Newport District Court in dealings with transgender people. Why wasn’t I asked about proper pronouns and suffixes? You see a woman that is transgender your first reaction is to spit out male? Why wasn’t I given simple respect? Could I have a least have been allowed my dignity? Something needs to change.
Thomas McPherson
Garland