To the editor:
This November, Mainers face a serious decision about who to send to Washington D.C. to represent them in the United States Senate. As a life-long resident of Aroostook County and an avid political observer, I have some recollections about one of the candidates and how he would look out for our region if elected.
When he was governor, Angus King tried to eliminate funding for the Maine School of Science and Mathematics, the magnet school in Limestone. This school teaches our children the valuable skills of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) that are so important in today’s economy. What’s more, the Limestone school is ranked 14th in the nation for STEM education. When governor King proposed closing the school in his State of the State Address, he displayed an unbelievable level of poor judgment and lack of concern for The County.
Angus failed us at another time when we needed him. The Canadian Government was prepared in the late 1990s and spent millions of dollars in an effort to re-introduce Atlantic Salmon in the upper St. John River above Grand Falls, N.B. Canada. The plan was spearheaded by the international corporation called SALEN Inc. This would have been a major boon to the economy. As a recreational salmon fisherman myself, I was especially excited about the project. I was even appointed president of SALEN Inc. All the Canadians needed was a letter of consent from Governor King for the project to move forward.
Angus came up to a Mardi Gras event hosted by the University of Maine at Fort Kent and citizens supportive of the project. The governor went back on his word. As a result, the Canadians backed out of the project and the County lost out big time.
Angus King was born in Virginia, went to an Ivy League school in New Hampshire and has lived in southern Maine ever since. He visited us in the county occasionally as governor but only when he was campaigning or riding a motorcycle or snowmobile and showed little interest in our economic problems. With our jobs going overseas and our children leaving for greener pastures, we need to hold on to anything that will help us to insure a brighter future. The Limestone School is one of those things, and we need to make sure that we send people to Washington who know and understand our concerns, and who will defend our jobs and schools. We also need someone who will keep a promise, especially when it concerns a matter of economic importance to The County.
Charlie Summers, our current Maine Secretary of State, campaigned in The County heavily throughout the Republican Primary race this spring and won the region because he cared. He has been here a lot since, traveling as far as Fort Kent just to shake a few hands and hear our concerns. Charlie is a veteran who has been deployed in Iraq and a man of integrity, with small business experience. That is why I am voting for Charlie Summers for the U.S. Senate and I encourage you to do the same.
Phil Soucy
Fort Kent
Listen up, Ireland is calling
I was reading the latest issue of the New England Historic and Genealogical Society’s online newsletter, “The Weekly Genealogist” and was excited to read of a program called “Ireland XO – Ireland Reaches Out.” Also called the Diaspora Project, (“diaspora” is from the Greek word for “scattering”) this is Ireland’s attempt to reach out to the children of Irish emigrants all over the world, to bring them back to Ireland either virtually, or in reality.
Before Ireland XO, it was left up to the descendants of Irish emigrants to make the effort to trace their roots and attempt to establish an Irish connection. Ireland XO reverses that process. Volunteers work at the townland, village, and parish level to discover who left in the last 200 years, try to trace their descendants and actively invite them to re-connect with the homeland, either through the XO website; or by actually meeting and connecting with them in Ireland. The program already has projects in over 2,500 parishes throughout Ireland, and is looking for volunteers among Irish citizenry to continue to expand its efforts.
If you already know where your people came from in Ireland, you can register on the website. Then local volunteers will do local research for you, and will meet with you on your “return to the homeland.” For instance, my daughter-in-law Tracy has a fabulous obituary which outlines the town from which her Irish ancestors immigrated to America. Knowing this, she could go to the website and register, and volunteers from that area would do local research, which might include property records, wills, family histories, and/or photos. She would be able to join a “virtual community” from her ancestor’s homeland, and if ever lucky enough to visit Ireland, would have a living contact waiting to meet and greet her.
Not to say I’m jealous, or anything, but … at least there are message boards on the website for those not fortunate enough to already know from where in Ireland they hail. Here, as with other message boards one can post names and queries and requests, and hope that someone who knows something will find it and make contact.
The website is worth a visit either way. They have some interesting information for the visiting genealogist, beginner or otherwise. There are many links, with information on topics as diverse as traditional historic buildings, to the geology of Galway. Anyone with interested in Ireland will enjoy a visit to: http://www.irelandxo.com/
Many New England towns, including Dover; every year invite long-lost children to return and celebrate a homecoming. Often it is those who left the area who truly come to treasure a place. I know it is true for me with Ireland. It has an almost mystical presence in my mind, as the home of my ancestors. I know my grandmother and her siblings wanted to “go back to the place they were never born.” I too, long to make that pilgrimage. Perhaps one day I will receive that long-awaited invitation from Ireland XO.
Editor’s note: Columnist Nina Brawn of Dover-Foxcroft, who has been doing genealogy for over 30 years, is a freelance genealogy researcher, speaker and teacher. Reader e-mails are welcome at ninabrawn@gmail.com. The Aroostook County Genealogical Society meets the fourth Monday of the month except in July and December at the Cary Medical Center’s Chan Education Center, 163 Van Buren Road, Caribou, at 6:30 p.m. Guests and prospective members are always welcome. FMI contact Edwin “J” Bullard at 492-5501.
Family Searcher by Nina Brawn
More of Lesson 23: Never miss the opportunity to share a good story!
I have always liked Halloween. Chocolate candy, silky costumes, lavish wigs, flashy makeup and an abundance of tiny princesses and super heroes who knock at our doors and tug at our hearts. Trick-or-treating was much more prevalent when I was a child. It was common to see the streets flooded with costumed children and cautious parents. My own dad and I were avid Halloween trick-or-treaters. We would walk together, one of my hands safely buried in his while the other hand clutched a lighted pumpkin.
It was 1976 and I was “tooling around” in my father’s injured Ford Ranchero, accompanied by my dear friend, Cindy. Of course we were too old to trick-or-treat but we were still young enough to be totally enthralled with the energy of the night. We had just turned onto York Street, when a gaggle of tiny characters crossed in front of us. I stopped the car, more than happy to watch the parade, when he stepped forward. He was the classic Grim Reaper: tall, hooded, and ominous. His cape was electric blue velvet and in his left hand he held onto a sharp, gleaming scythe. Behind him, ghosts and mini witches continued to cross; apparently oblivious to the horrifying figure before us.
He walked over to the driver’s side of the car, where I sat crumbling behind the wheel. With one easy movement, he crouched down, tapping the driver’s side window with that gnarled, distorted finger while I sat there mesmerized. Slowly, my mouth agape, I rolled the window down. With one flip of his head, the shocking blue hood fell to his shoulders, exposing a baseball cap and a grin. “You girls can go on, now. I am just out here to watch over these kids and make sure nobody gets hit by a car. Have a great night, ladies. Happy Halloween!” And with that, he rose to his feet, pulled the hood back up over his head and stepped out of the way, one hand tapping the side of the car while the other hand clutched what I now know to be a rubber scythe.
A ballerina in a hot pink tutu shot out of nowhere and tugged on the Reaper’s robe. “Hurry up, Dad!” Her little girl’s voice was a soothing reality check. “The big white house is handing out treat bags with chocolate bars.” The reaper straightened out his robe and took a deep breath, looking back at me and Cindy with a wink. “Will this night ever end?” he asked. He slipped away from us then, his slick, dark cape lost in a sea of vivid colors, high pitched squeals and the magic of youth. That terrifying Grim Reaper was a young father, watching over his children on a dark and busy street.
I still love to “tool around” York Street on Halloween evening. These days, I am a passenger in a much nicer vehicle than that old beloved Ford Ranchero. My husband drives slowly and cautiously amid the new generation of little goblins and my fingers are entwined in the soft, curly hair of a Goldendoodle. Just beyond the edge of that dimly lit street, a flash of brilliant blue weaves in and out of the shadows and I shiver ever so slightly; lost in the memory of that night.
Editor’s Note: Belinda Wilcox Ouellette lives Connor TWP with her husband Dale and their Goldendoodle Barney. They are currently working on building a home in Caribou. You may contact Belinda online at: dbwouellette@maine.rr.com.
Northern Yarns by Belinda Ouellette
October skies: The balance of 2012
By Lary Berz
Each season opens new vistas for you and I, the skyward society of Aroostook County.
For example, Autumn sees the magnificent “Great Square” of Pegasus rising triumphantly while the ever-present “Big Dipper” slinks temporarily along the northern horizon, almost inconsequential. Winter’s blast bowls us over. Orion ascends unmistakably glorious. Yet the familiar “Summer Triangle” descends toward obscurity, trailed by the tail of Cygnus’ stars and the “northern cross.” In the Spring, the big boys bow out as Gemini sinks toward the resurgent Sun, while gentler Virgo guides milder mythology to our attention. Finally, the Summer fires of the Milky Way burn along with our campfires, but Leo drowsily vanishes like a kitten beneath the horizon.
So it was, so it is, so it shall be. The cycle of the stars, ever dependable, reminds us of the basic, common links — our celestial heritage. Whether we prefer one constellation to another really, in the final analysis, makes little difference. Each picture offers its own unique flavor balanced with the personal certainty that, given enough time, the favored and familiar shall ever return.
Each character touches or repulses or perhaps even earns our indifference. No matter. One sky. One pair of eyes. We are the end of the story.
And so goes our political process during the current election climate for the Presidency. Whether one trusts the slow recovery and confident assurances of Mr. Obama or one demands the new urgent angles of our businessman-turned-President Mr. Romney, I possess enough common sense to recognize that we, as one American people, will endure and persevere and recover to enjoy new frontiers. Remember, we exist pluralistically securing a marvelous balance between contending casts of mind and policy. I believe both candidates share an honest, hardworking commitment to our nation’s welfare.
In reality, neither man, as President, will magically offer instant solutions. We are too complex, and too uniquely endowed to grant such quick solutions. Elections demand rhetoric and promises. Each candidate must acknowledge and serve not only as Commander-in-Chief, but also as a political party leader furthering the interests of partisanship.
But ultimately, it is you and I, common folks living out our own lives and destinies that really matter. The empowerment here must rest in believing that each voice, each heart, each mind, each American serves as a free citizen of a nation collectively dedicated to certain propositions which are worth both our living and our dying.
To me, both Mr. Obama and Mr. Romney will offer some of the answers. Choose for yourselves. But neither can ever offer the Answer. Towards that goal, we, great and small, must all look up!
Larry Berz of Caribou is director of Easton’s Francis Malcolm Planetarium and astronomy instructor at the Maine School of Science and Mathematics.
We can’t afford four more years of the same
To the editor:
Now we’re really down to the wire. Voting is upon us and we make the crucial decisions about who is best to lead us in local, state and federal governments. We hope that they can correct this maze of events that has caused us heartburn over the last four years.
No it was not George Bush who got us into this mess, it was us, the American people, who allowed a boob to be voted into the Oval Office who did everything he could to bring this country to its knees only to tell us that he’s on the right track and he can solve all our problems if we hand him the presidency for four more years. Are you kidding me President Obama, you are the problem.
The only way we can fix this disastrous situation is to get rid of the one responsible for the problem. This lays at the feet of our present day president. We can’t afford four more years of this Administration. He’d be a better comedian than a president and he missed his calling when he didn’t enter the bizarre world of Bill Maher.
Mitt Romney may not be a rocket scientist or a brain surgeon but he is a great businessman, industrialist, and, having done business around the world, knows a lot about foreign policy. His vice presidential pick is also no slouch when it comes to the demographics of the world stage and he’s also an economic genius relative to the financial problems we face and how we can solve them. This doesn’t mean it’s going to be easy. Rich, middle class and poor alike, will be affected by the means to solve the problem of debt this nation has. Paul Ryan may be the only saving grace we have to overcome this.
One only has to remember that Obama had no economic experience but to know how to line his pockets with government handouts, and no foreign policy expertise whatsoever. It isn’t hard to be a senator and vote present on everything because you have no knowledge of the issues at hand and collect a check from the hard working private sector workers coffers without respect of not being ashamed. He’s been doing the same for the last four years.
Obama is even brazen enough to give large loans to companies that were going bankrupt knowing full well large donation from these companies would feed the coffers of his election campaign. This man should be in jail, not the White House. Isn’t it becoming clear now that this man is not a true American. And this man wants a second chance to perpetrate these scams the second time around? Let’s hope this never happens because it will be the death knell of the United States of America. Corruption, starvation and uncontrollable events will envelope the nation.
A great government runs like a well-oiled machine with truth and transparency. If the oil gets too dirty there is a good chance it will break down. This is what is happening in the good old USA and we need a change. I believe our Creator has given us his blessing to make this a better world but at this point in time if we just come up with a better America it will be a start toward prosperity and greatness and that alone could change the dynamics of world events that haunt us today.
Now on to the state political arena. Too much government spending leads to catastrophic events such as uncontrolled spending, unfunded mandates and loss of trust in state government. Mark Goughan will truly be a great statesman, conservative intellectual, and very transparent individual. If elected he will serve you well with dignity. He is also a great problem-solver. These are attributes lacking in Augusta right now.
Goughan is running a non-confrontational campaign and is well respected in his community and surrounding towns. When voting, consider that his opponents have always worked in education (this is not meant to cast dispersions on educators, it is a very noble profession) and they’ve always had a guaranteed salary with very liberal benefits that they fought so hard for and were glad to get without thought of the burden they created on the private sector. Now who do you, as a citizen, think is a liberal.
A vote for Mark Goughan is a vote for common sense government and ideas and again you can take that to the bank.
Wilfred Martin
Caribou
