AUGUSTA, Maine — To all Maine lobsters: You’re almost the state’s official crustacean, but don’t tell the Labrador retrievers.
It didn’t take long for more than 90 students from Brewer Community School to convince lawmakers that Maine needs a state crustacean and that it should be the American lobster. With so many young constituents literally staring them in the face, members of the Legislature’s State and Local Government Committee moved straight to a vote after a quick public hearing.
The vote was unanimous.
“It’s important because people come from all over the world to eat our lobsters,” said young Natalie Francis, one of four students who testified Wednesday.
“And they make a lot of money for our state,” said classmate Reese Smith.
Wednesday wasn’t a typical day at the State House because the House and Senate were trying to rush through bills on tax conformity and education funding. As a result, the committee hearing started a couple of hours late, which meant a lot of waiting time for the students.
“I am so proud of them,” said teacher Cherrie MacInnes, who said the effort sprouted from a science lesson. “We did so well. We went through the metal detector, up four flights of stairs, turned around, came back and had lunch. They’ve done so well, but they’re very tired right now.”
MacInnes said she is hopeful that the students can stream video of Gov. Paul LePage signing the bill into law if it makes it through the Legislature. LePage is likely to support the bill, since he proposed it.
The state crustacean bill met far less resistance than a failed attempt last year to name the Labrador retriever the Maine state dog.
So how did the Brewer students fare better than Lab lovers last year?
“I think our students’ power of persuasion was really good,” said MacInnes. “Kids know how to talk their parents into giving them what they want. They took their knowledge of what they learned about lobsters, the process of a bill becoming a law and they put them together.”
