"Maine tribe seeks casino ballot question
AUGUSTA, Maine --A Maine tribal governor said Tuesday he is aiming to get a referendum on the November statewide ballot asking voters to allow a tribal casino in eastern Maine.
Keep those crooks out of your state.
William Nicholas, governor of Passmaquoddy Tribe's Indian Township reservation, said tribal legislative representatives are working on details that would allow a referendum to move forward without the tribes having to collect more than 50,000 signatures to get on the ballot.
Why? Why should they be able to skirt the rules?
If state lawmakers put the measure on the ballot, it would compete against another question seeking approval for a casino proposal in western Maine. Voters would also have the option of rejecting both proposals.
I suggest you take that option, Maine voters.
Mainers in 2003 and again in 2007 rejected referendums from the Penobscot and Passamaquoddy tribes seeking approval for a tribal casino. The tribes aren't giving up, Nicholas said....
Gee, what part of democracy do they not understand?
Oh, when it is an approved piece of the agenda it is okay to keep coming back and back and back, huh?
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I'm not the only one seeing red:
"2 charged in assaults on census workers
AUGUSTA - Campers headed to Maine from other states wouldn’t be allowed to bring their own firewood under a proposed law headed toward passage in the state Legislature.
Lawmakers want to protect Maine from destructive bugs that have wiped out huge swaths of trees in central Massachusetts and in other states.
The insects can enter the state through infested firewood. Legislators and other state officials fear widespread infestations could harm production of lumber and maple sugar, affecting as many as 25,000 workers in Maine, while leaving ecological and visual scars on the woodlands of the nation’s most heavily forested state.
I don't blame them for being worried at all.
They are particularly concerned about Asian longhorned beetles, which tunnel and lay eggs in maple and other hardwood trees, and emerald ash borers, which burrow into ash trees.
Related: Battling the Asian Beetle in New England
Bees, Beetles, and Bears, Oh My!
State and Stimulus Sitting in a Tree
Representative Jeff McCabe said his bill directs state forestry officials to draft rules that close Maine’s border to firewood brought in by campers and sets up a mechanism to collect firewood brought into the state near the border.
Really, how are they going to patrol and enforce that against the whole border?
The law would likely cover commercial importation of firewood. It exempts wood that’s kiln-dried, or treated to prevent pests.
Out-of-state firewood represents a huge volume of what’s carried into Maine campgrounds. There are 20,000 campsites in the state, and on a given night 40-50 percent of the campers are nonresidents, Abare said.
Although there’s no official estimate on the volume of imported firewood, Maine state entomologist Dave Struble believes “it could easily be tons.’’
Legislators in other states have taken similar action; New Hampshire and Vermont have approved less stringent measures.
Such a law should not come as a shock to many Maine campers, said Rick Abare, executive director of the Maine Campground Owners Association.
Abare said his 210-member group has been working with state officials for three years to pass the legislation, and has been educating campers in the meantime about the need for the restriction. Campground owners, whose properties generally include woods, understand the threat of a serious bug invasion, he said.
“This is the Legislature ratifying what’s already known by the business community and the public,’’ Abare said.
How come they are always behind us with half-measures?
McCabe envisions a strong educational effort to get the word to out-of-state campers that they must leave their firewood at home.
Good luck.
With nearly 18 million acres of forests, Maine has the highest percentage of wooded land - 90 percent - of any state, according to the state Forest Service.
Struble said Asian longhorned beetles don’t kill trees immediately, but weaken and degrade their wood over several years. Over time, that affects lumber quality, maple sugar production and tourism, just a few industries that would be harmed, he said.
Damage from emerald ash borers is more immediate, Struble said. They attack ash trees, valued by furniture makers, boat builders, and people who enjoy their shade along city streets and in parks.
Importation bans like the one Maine is considering are aimed at halting the movement of the bugs, which have struck with a vengeance in Massachusetts.
“They will not move in nearly as rapidly as they can do it in the back of a car going 65 miles per hour,’’ Struble said.
New Hampshire prohibits out-of-state firewood in state parks and campgrounds and the White Mountain National Forest. Vermont bans out-of-state firewood in the Green Mountain National Forest, and does not allow wood from more than 50 miles away into its state parks and campgrounds.I guess you have rangers for that, huh? But how many?
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More boiling (of the brain):
AUGUSTA, Maine - A legislative committee rejected a proposal yesterday that would require health warnings on cellphones in Maine, meaning the proposal is all but doomed for this year.
Related: Brief Cell-Phone Use Can Cause Cancer-Related Brain Changes
One $uspect$ other factor$ were in play here, huh?
Guess you are going to need that crap-care health tax, 'er, plan, Americans.
None of the 13 voting members of the Health and Human Services Committee supported Sanford Democratic Representative Andrea Boland’s proposal, which would require manufacturers to put labels on phones and packaging warning of the potential for brain cancer associated with electromagnetic radiation.
Also see: AmeriKa's Cancer-Causing Hospitals
Can't get away from the stuff, can you, Americans?
You are slowly being fried to a crisp.
The warnings would recommend that users, especially children and pregnant women, keep the devices away from their head and body.
But drink up!
But committee members were cool to the idea of warnings, reasoning that studies are inconclusive.
And the campaign contribution$ would $top.
“I’m so concerned about raising fear in people,’’ said one member, Representative Patricia Jones, Democrat of Mount Vernon....
Yeah, on this one they are worried about the fear factor.
Never mind the war lies.
Governor John Baldacci’s spokesman David Farmer said, “At this time, he is reluctant to put new regulations or new requirements on businesses because [of] the recession and national economy, and particularly when the science at best is still unclear’’ and health risks are undocumented....
E$pecially when dollar $igns are attached.
At a hearing last week, researchers told the Health and Human Services Committee that studies in Europe show electromagnetic radiation from cellphones poses risks of cancer.
Yeah, but the government is looking out for you and your health, yup.
CLEARLAKE, Calif. - Authorities are looking into whether a California marijuana grower is linked to the deaths of a Maine couple whose bodies were found down an embankment.
Robby Alan Beasley, 29, is a “person of interest’’ in the deaths of his two employees, according to Lake County Sheriff’s Captain James Bauman. Frank Maddox, 32, and his wife, Yvette Maddox, 40, disappeared in January after agreeing to give Beasley a ride to the Sacramento airport.
The couple recently had moved to Lake County from Maine to help Beasley with his growing operation. Detectives found 96 marijuana plants growing at a home in Lower Lake where Beasley lived part-time, Bauman said.
Related: Marijuana: From Maine to Mexico
Just LEGALIZE the stuff already!
Also see: Why Pot is No Longer a Problem
Oh, I love the double standards (now piss in this cup, please).
Two motorists spotted the bodies at the bottom of a 20-foot embankment when they stopped on the side of the road last week. Authorities said the bodies appeared to have been there for several weeks. Autopsies were scheduled for today.
Beasley was arrested Saturday on a no-bail fugitive warrant from Maine for a probation violation.--more--"
Haven't heard back yet.
I need something to cool me off.
PORTLAND, Maine — Sean Mahoney, an attorney with the Conservation Law Foundation, said, “Our argument was that the state has a legitimate interest in developing renewable energy resources in order to address economic issues, as far as cost of heating and the cost of electricity, and address environmental issues, primarily climate change issues.’’ he said.
Oh, I agree with renewable energy; however, I don't agree with using a lie to promote it in an agenda-pushing paper.
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Related: "They do not have the money for said project but like other ones they built, they will get Renewable (carbon) Credits before it is constructed and operating." -- Wake the Flock Up
Pffffft!
Yeah, something sure does stink!
And that didn't cool me down, either.
Maybe I need to take a swim:
"Two acquitted in shooting of lobsterman
A Maine lobsterman and his daughter were acquitted yesterday of all counts stemming from the shooting of a lobsterman in a dispute over fishing territory off the coast of Maine. Vance Bunker, 68, was charged with elevated aggravated assault in the shooting of Christopher Young, 44, in the neck on a wharf on Matinicus Island in July. Young survived the shooting. Bunker’s daughter, Janan Miller, was charged with reckless conduct in the incident. Jurors deliberated for 1 1/2 days before acquitting both in a trial that gave outsiders a rare view into the unofficial rules followed by Maine’s lobster fishermen (AP)."
Wrong choice.
Related: Island lobstering fight plays out in Maine court
Deliverance, Maine-style?
Also see: Around New England: Keeping an Eye on Maine
