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Team LaMarche Heads North
Bangor, Maine — On Thursday October 12th, Jimmy, Paul, Abu and Betsy — four members of the LaMarche for Governor campaign team — loaded up their van and headed for parts north and east. First stop was a look at the Old Town Mill and staking out a LaMarche for Governor sign right in front. Next, they headed to Lincoln. The plan was to visit several towns and walk through the business district talking to small business owners and dropping off Pat2006 literature.
Team LaMarche got the same warm reception in Fort Fairfield (or "the fort," as it is known). People up north are very enthusiastic about Pat's campaign and those who have not made up their minds about who to vote for are very open to hearing about what a LaMarche administration in Augusta would look like. |
In Lincoln, they met the owner of a video store who was very interested in the Universal Healthcare Plan. They discussed how it would help spark a resurgence of entrepreneur spirit.
Then, they were off to Millinocket and a stroll down the main street meeting small business owners and workers. They also stopped into the small town newspaper offices and contacted the editorial and political staff in each town. After a short side trip to Benedicta to look at some resource protected
land, they headed for Houlton.
They found a nice inexpensive place to sleep and went out to Governor's Restaurant for dinner (they thought the name was appropriate). Some were up for Karaoke in the downstairs lounge but Jim put the kibosh on that. Since he was holding the van keys, the others acquiesced and made it an early night.
Bright and early the next morning, Friday, they continued up into "The County." On the way up to Mars Hill, Fort Fairfield and Presque Isle, they sighted the famous "Planets." This project represents the kind of creativity and energy for which Maine is famous. A professor at UMPI and folks from the Northern Maine Museum of Science decided to make a "to scale" solar system and put it up along Route One in "the county." They only managed to spot three of the planets, but got a picture of each of them.
Their next objective was to see the windmills on Mars Hill. They got there early enough in the day that the mountain was still fogged in. They drove up onto the access road and met the gentleman who is the security guard for the project. As they stood and talked to him, a couple from a neighboring house came up the road. They had originally been very skeptical about the project but had converted to big fans (pun intended).
The first windmill blades were supposed to go up later that day, so the LaMarche Team decided to head north and return later in the day.
Next, they went on to Presque Isle, where the small business folks on the main street were very receptive to their message. Green activists Lenny Sharon and Hilton Hafford joined us for lunch.
Team LaMarche got the same warm reception in Fort Fairfield (or "the fort," as it is known). People up north are very enthusiastic about Pat's campaign and those who have not made up their minds about who to vote for are very open to hearing about what a LaMarche administration in Augusta would look like.
Then the Team LaMarche members came back down to Mars Hill in time to see the final stages of placing the first blades on the windmills that will generate power enough for 45,000 average Maine homes.
Next they made a beeline for Calais with only a brief stop to watch the sunset over Mt Katadin. They had a breakfast date the next morning in Baileyville to talk about the bridge from Canada that will funnel large amounts of truck traffic thru the Moosehorn National Wildlife Reserve.
The next morning, Saturday, October 14th, the Team met with the local group that is trying to get the bridge moved from its present planned location further north to a location that makes more sense and would not force a four lane highway through a protected wildlife reserve. Lilly Desjardins and Bill Szerbeck are very dedicated to stopping the bridge, but the group is pretty discouraged at this point. The Army Corp of Engineers has approved the site and they were expecting the groundbreaking ceremony any day. LaMarche team members promised to stay in touch and help to avert yet another DOT disaster.
The rest of the day was spent meandering along the Coast of Washington County putting up campaign signs and dropping off literature, signs and bumper stickers to supporters downeast. There was, of course, the requisite visit to Helen’s in Machias for blueberry pie.
Finally, back in Bangor, the team members dispersed back to their homes, content that they had brought the message about Maine's next governor to the far reaches of northern and eastern Maine.
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NOTE: This is just one of many reports being filed by the LaMarche for Governor Field Team as they campaign all over the state. To join them, sign up on the Volunteer page.
