Walkabout: PI
It’s done. Election 2016 is behind us. No matter your feeling on the various outcomes, the process itself tells the tale of a nation.
The Election Day excitement draws me in. It’s unifying; no matter who we are or where we come from, regardless of our beliefs, as citizens we all can take part. And I can’t resist the adrenaline rush of election night, with precincts reporting by the minute and new results being tallied constantly.
It sparks my fascination with what the Founding Fathers intended as they formed a new government. Having lived in freedom from monarchy, they devised the three branches to work in concert, with rules preventing one branch from gaining unfair footing over another. Two hundred and fifty years later, it is still our map.
I admit, though, that I am stymied by the Electoral College process. Historically meant as a path to the fairest selection of a president, the concept has been scrutinized and amended over the years.
William Kimberling, a former deputy director of the Federal Election Commission’s National Clearinghouse on Election Administration, is quoted on uselectionatlas.com: “The function of the College of Electors in choosing the president can be likened to that in the Roman Catholic Church of the College of Cardinals selecting the pope. The original idea was for the most knowledgeable and informed individuals from each state to select the president based solely on merit and without regard to state of origin or political party.”
Kimberling added, “The Electoral College’s structure reflects the Centurial Assembly system of the Roman Republic. … The similarities between the Electoral College and classical institutions are not accidental. Many of the Founding Fathers were well schooled in ancient history and its lessons.”
Based on the total congressional representatives and senators from the 50 states and the District of Columbia, the college now consists of 538 electors. Maine and Nebraska are the only two states that split their electoral votes proportionally.
Today, with so many ways for citizens to be informed about the issues and the process, is the Electoral College outmoded? Would we be better off if all states could split their electoral votes, or if we abolished the college altogether? I suspect those questions will be revisited.
The Great Blue
It’s that time of year — whether we like it or not. Leaves have blown away, geese have flown, a few stalwart robins are plucking the last bits of food from the ground and off the trees.
Then there are the herons.
My father says it’s their time to sit around at the water’s edge, searching for food, before they begin their journey south. You see them right along the Presque Isle Stream; I saw one just recently down near the State Street Bridge. They are arresting: bluish-grey and tall, perched on long stick legs, sitting so still you can be past one before you realize it’s a living thing.
The great blue heron is one of the largest birds in Maine, according to “Maine: An Encyclopedia”, and its wingspan can reach 5-6 feet.
So interesting are they, in fact, that the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife has launched a new heron tracking program, writes Maine wildlife biologist Danielle D’Auria in an article for “Inside Inland Fisheries and Wildlife”, a department blog.
According to D’Auria, department personnel tagged five adult herons with solar-powered GPS transmitter “backpacks,” purchased with a grant from the Maine Outdoor Heritage Fund.
The herons were tagged in June with the help of students and teachers from Maine schools, after a lengthy process of baiting and setting humane traps, then careful work by biologists to attach the transmitters. The birds were “adopted” by different schools and were given names: males Snark and Sedgey and females Cornelia, Mellow and Nokomis.
Data has indicated how far some of the birds have traveled. Sedgey found his way to Florida and Cornelia flew to North Carolina, while Nokomis had reached Haiti.
D’Auria indicated the MDIFW would like to get more students from more areas in Maine involved in following the birds online, using data generated by the transmitters. Visit the department’s website at www.maine.gov/ifw, and check out the blogs “Inside Inland Fisheries and Wildlife” or “Maine Heron” for more information.
I saw another heron a couple of weeks ago. I was on the Park Street Bridge, stopped at a red light, and I saw it fly overhead, huge wings spread.
Then there was this strange plopping, pattering sound — the heron had found my car. And it had eaten very well…
