Only in Maine

[Roccus7]

@Old Mud - Sheesh Don, you never told me you lived in the "Cool Little City"!! That one went right over my head.

I'm still confused why "City of Ships" isn't good enough? Must be all them Birkenstock-wearing PFAs moving in not wanting to highlight that warship construction is the city's bread and butter.

All I know is when I'm traveling south on US-1 and passing over the Kennebec I'm always straining to see what's on the ways and drydocks at Bath Iron Works...

Bath will no longer refer to itself as ‘Maine’s Cool Little City’​

pressherald.com/2021/02/18/bath-will-no-longer-refer-to-itself-as-maines-cool-little-city/

By Kathleen O'Brien February 18, 2021


Bath’s existing logo depicts the Wyoming, the largest wooden schooner to be built in the U.S. It was built by Percy and Small shipyard, where the Maine Maritime Museum now sits. Photo courtesy of Lindsey Goudreau

BATH — Bath city officials are looking for a new city logo that better compliments the city flag and retiring its moniker as “Maine’s Cool Little City.”

Lindsey Goudreau, Bath’s marketing and communication specialist, said the new logo will be used on the city’s website, social media accounts, brochures and signs around the city, including the sign on between the northbound and southbound lanes of Leeman Highway, welcoming people to Bath.

The logo can also be used, with permission, by businesses, nonprofits and schools within the city.
The existing logo was created around 2010 by Briggs Advertising, which was based in Bath at the time. The city was also given the tagline “Maine’s Cool Little City,” but it was never widely adopted.

“Coming into 2021, the city’s Economic Development Committee felt it was time to revisit the logo, and the ‘Maine’s Cool Little City’ tagline, which, we felt, just hasn’t stuck,” said Goudreau. “We hope that the new logo compliments the city flag and has a more progressive, friendly look while still referencing the city’s iconic maritime history.”

Goudreau said the city will spend up to $5,000 to cover the cost of the design of the refreshed logo and branding elements, including colors and fonts. That money is budgeted for, funded by tax revenue from Bath Iron Work’s shipyard on Washington Street.

The $5,000 will not cover the cost of replacing signs or other media that bear the existing logo. Goudreau said she doesn’t yet know how much replacing those items will cost.

While the new logo will be widely used, it will not replace the city’s seal, which is stamped on legal documents, or the city flag.

Although a logo isn’t essential to a city’s success, a logo makes a city unique and recognizable much like a good brand logo increases a company’s brand value, said Sally Johnstone, president of the economic development group Main Street Bath.

“The brand value of Bath is wanting to live here or shop here or open a business here,” said Johnstone. “We want to clean up our logo, modernize it and make it recognizable.”

The existing oval logo features a simple blue and white color palette and depicts waves and a six-masted ship. The waves represent the Kennebec River where Bath is perched and the ship is a nod to the Wyoming, the largest wooden schooner built in the U.S., according to the Maine Maritime Museum in Bath. The Wyoming was built in 1909 at the Percy and Small shipyard, where the Maine Maritime Museum now sits on Washington Street.

The city requested the new logo use colors that match the city flag and maintain certain elements that honor Bath’s history. Much like the existing logo, the red, yellow, white and blue flag, created in 2013 by Jeremy Hammond, depicts waves and a ship.

Goudreau said the city had received eight logo submissions as of Tuesday.

Mari Esoco, former Bath councilor, was on the committee that chose the existing logo and said she thinks the existing logo looks “timeless,” but understands it’s time for it to be updated. Like Goudreau and Johnstone, Eosco said she hopes the new logo will echo the city’s shipbuilding roots, as previous logos have.

“I think we’ll forever be known as the city of ships,” she said. “That’s who we are and Bath has done a very good job of celebrating our shipbuilding heritage. That’s what we’re known for and will continue to be known for.”

Briggs Advertising did not return requests for comment Wednesday.

Proposals must be submitted by Monday, Feb. 22 at 11:59 p.m. to be considered. Submissions can be sent to Goudreau at [email protected]

 

[Roccus7]

Anyone got a spare $5 million handy?? I guess John misses Kirstie who sold her "cottage" a few years ago...John Travolta’s Islesboro home on market for $5 millionpressherald.com/2021/02/19/john-travoltas-islesboro-home-on-market-for-5-million/By Leslie Bridgers February 19, 2021

This 1999 photo shows John Travolta’s house on Islesboro. Jack Milton/Staff Photographer
John Travolta’s Islesboro home is up for sale.

Listed for $5 million by Legacy Properties Sotheby’s International Realty, the 10,830-square-foot oceanfront home has 20 bedrooms and sits on 48 acres on the island off the midcoast.

INSTAGRAM LINK

Built in 1903, the home at 299 Drexel Lane has been featured in Architectural Digest, where Travolta and his wife Kelly Preston, who died last year from breast cancer, said they bought the house as newlyweds in 1991 after visiting fellow actor Kirstie Alley on the island.

The actor, 67, became a star in the 1970s for his roles in “Saturday Night Fever,” for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for best actor, and “Grease.” He was nominated a second time for the best actor Oscar for his role in “Pulp Fiction” in 1995.

 

[jpd]

Forget it - I can't drive my Boeing 707 right up to it

 

[Old Mud]

@Old Mud - Sheesh Don, you never told me you lived in the "Cool Little City"!! That one went right over my head.

I'm still confused why "City of Ships" isn't good enough? Must be all them Birkenstock-wearing PFAs moving in not wanting to highlight that warship construction is the city's bread and butter.

All I know is when I'm traveling south on US-1 and passing over the Kennebec I'm always straining to see what's on the ways and drydocks at Bath Iron Works...

Bath will no longer refer to itself as ‘Maine’s Cool Little City’​

pressherald.com/2021/02/18/bath-will-no-longer-refer-to-itself-as-maines-cool-little-city/

By Kathleen O'Brien February 18, 2021


Bath’s existing logo depicts the Wyoming, the largest wooden schooner to be built in the U.S. It was built by Percy and Small shipyard, where the Maine Maritime Museum now sits. Photo courtesy of Lindsey Goudreau

BATH — Bath city officials are looking for a new city logo that better compliments the city flag and retiring its moniker as “Maine’s Cool Little City.”

Lindsey Goudreau, Bath’s marketing and communication specialist, said the new logo will be used on the city’s website, social media accounts, brochures and signs around the city, including the sign on between the northbound and southbound lanes of Leeman Highway, welcoming people to Bath.

The logo can also be used, with permission, by businesses, nonprofits and schools within the city.
The existing logo was created around 2010 by Briggs Advertising, which was based in Bath at the time. The city was also given the tagline “Maine’s Cool Little City,” but it was never widely adopted.

“Coming into 2021, the city’s Economic Development Committee felt it was time to revisit the logo, and the ‘Maine’s Cool Little City’ tagline, which, we felt, just hasn’t stuck,” said Goudreau. “We hope that the new logo compliments the city flag and has a more progressive, friendly look while still referencing the city’s iconic maritime history.”

Goudreau said the city will spend up to $5,000 to cover the cost of the design of the refreshed logo and branding elements, including colors and fonts. That money is budgeted for, funded by tax revenue from Bath Iron Work’s shipyard on Washington Street.

The $5,000 will not cover the cost of replacing signs or other media that bear the existing logo. Goudreau said she doesn’t yet know how much replacing those items will cost.

While the new logo will be widely used, it will not replace the city’s seal, which is stamped on legal documents, or the city flag.

Although a logo isn’t essential to a city’s success, a logo makes a city unique and recognizable much like a good brand logo increases a company’s brand value, said Sally Johnstone, president of the economic development group Main Street Bath.

“The brand value of Bath is wanting to live here or shop here or open a business here,” said Johnstone. “We want to clean up our logo, modernize it and make it recognizable.”

The existing oval logo features a simple blue and white color palette and depicts waves and a six-masted ship. The waves represent the Kennebec River where Bath is perched and the ship is a nod to the Wyoming, the largest wooden schooner built in the U.S., according to the Maine Maritime Museum in Bath. The Wyoming was built in 1909 at the Percy and Small shipyard, where the Maine Maritime Museum now sits on Washington Street.

The city requested the new logo use colors that match the city flag and maintain certain elements that honor Bath’s history. Much like the existing logo, the red, yellow, white and blue flag, created in 2013 by Jeremy Hammond, depicts waves and a ship.

Goudreau said the city had received eight logo submissions as of Tuesday.

Mari Esoco, former Bath councilor, was on the committee that chose the existing logo and said she thinks the existing logo looks “timeless,” but understands it’s time for it to be updated. Like Goudreau and Johnstone, Eosco said she hopes the new logo will echo the city’s shipbuilding roots, as previous logos have.

“I think we’ll forever be known as the city of ships,” she said. “That’s who we are and Bath has done a very good job of celebrating our shipbuilding heritage. That’s what we’re known for and will continue to be known for.”

Briggs Advertising did not return requests for comment Wednesday.

Proposals must be submitted by Monday, Feb. 22 at 11:59 p.m. to be considered. Submissions can be sent to Goudreau at [email protected]

Well to me that sucks !!! I'm not against all change just against change for no other reason than "lets change" Bath is the city of ships, it will always be the city of ships. How we have become BOOBS that can come into a town we were not born into and dare to change it. Bath wouldn't even be here if it were not for Bath Iron Works. Maybe some of those douch bags that demostrate for us to turn our war ships into plowshares have struck a nerve with our new ministration. UGH, what next !!!! Oh yeah i live here, i thought you knew.

House for sale.

 

[wader]

Well to me that sucks !!! I'm not against all change just against change for no other reason than "lets change" Bath is the city of ships, it will always be the city of ships. How we have become BOOBS that can come into a town we were not born into and dare to change it. Bath wouldn't even be here if it were not for Bath Iron Works. Maybe some of those douch bags that demostrate for us to turn our war ships into plowshares have struck a nerve with our new ministration. UGH, what next !!!! Oh yeah i live here, i thought you knew.

House for sale.

that's it Don - don't sell - take to the streets............

 

[Old Mud]

that's it Don - don't sell - take to the streets............

Thanks larry but After seeing what happened a couple of weeks ago think ill pass on that.

 

[Chevy1]

In today’s Newspaper

 

[Roccus7]

It's good to be the King!! At least up here, it means we're not relegated to drinking Donkey Piss with our lobstahs!! It's also nice to say, "Take that Bernie!!"

Maine now has the most breweries per capita of any US state
​

In this Jan. 22, 2021, file photo, Ethan Wyman reaches for a beer the server left outside his heated, outdoor bubble at Rising Tide brewery in Portland. Credit: Troy R. Bennett / BDN

After many years of lagging behind Vermont, Maine now officially has the highest number of breweries per capita in the country.

As of 2021, Maine has one brewery for every 8,654 people. That’s 156 active breweries in total as of this year for 1,350,141 Mainers, according to the Maine Brewers Guild and the U.S. Census Bureau.

By contrast, Vermont has 72 active breweries, and a population of 623,347, for a total of one brewery for every 8,657 people — meaning the Pine Tree State has just edged out the Green Mountain State.

Just behind Maine and Vermont are states like Montana, Colorado and Oregon, the latter two of which have long-standing craft beer scenes that date back into the 1980s.

Maine’s numbers are unsurprising, given the explosive growth of the state’s craft beer industry in the past decade. In 2013, Maine had 35 registered breweries. Eight years later, that number is still growing. An economic impact study released in 2019 found that the beer industry and related activities contribute $2 billion to Maine’s economy each year and nearly 16,000 jobs.

“Maine’s position as the state with the most breweries per capita isn’t just a statistic – it’s representative of hundreds of Mainers who have pursued an entrepreneurial dream and shared their knowledge and expertise with their competitors that have followed,” said Sean Sullivan, executive director of the Maine Brewers Guild.

It is further indication that Maine has emerged as one of North America’s leading beer-making regions, attracting beer-lovers from all over the country and the world. Beer tourism in Maine has gone from a cottage industry to a major part of Maine’s overall tourism economy, with entire vacation packages designed around traveling to visit Maine’s breweries, which are scattered all over the state.

 

[Old Mud]

I knew you would find that one That's a good thing !! Now when the next Right whale is bowled over by a ship and they shut down the lobstermen we'll all have something to do.

 

[Matts]

I can remember as a kid, there was Narraganset and not much else, until the Molson and Moosehead started coming in.

 

[Roccus7]

So late yesterday afternoon, the Admiral and I were sitting by the firepit, hearing NOTHING with the exception of seagulls, robins and an occasional loon. Suddenly from the southwest there was one hell of a racket, and we couldn't figure out what it was. Turned on the evening news at 6:00 and we were edumacated, as the shipyard is 3.5 nmi as the eagle flies from Chez Roccus...

Spectacular launch starts career of new, Maine-built state ferry​

The new Maine State Ferry Service boat, Captain Richard G. Spear, set sail in East Boothbay on Friday.

BOOTHBAY, Maine — There may have been a lot of nervous moments Friday for the president of the Washburn and Doughty Shipyard.

“A launch is nerve-wracking and tense on a good day, and then you add a little drama (and) its nerve-wracking,” said Katie Doughty Maddox.

She was breathing easier by then, after the new Maine State Ferry Service boat, Captain Richard G. Spear finally slid down the ways and into the Damariscotta River.

For about 15 minutes, Maddox and some others must have wondered if the 154-foot ferry would move at all, as the big steel ferry seemed reluctant to leave the space where it was built. Finally, with intense work by the launch crew and steady pulling from a tugboat in the river, the Captain Spear slowly edged out until gravity and grease on the ways took over. Then, with horns in the harbor blasting, she slid into the sunlight for the first time and the saltwater rose along her hull.

It was a big moment for the shipyard and the Maine DOT, which hasn’t built a new ferry in Maine since 1993.

“Obviously we have an obligation to go out to bid and get value for the taxpayers,” said DOT Commissioner Bruce Van Note, “but I can tell you when it comes to a Maine firm right here in East Boothbay…it's really fantastic to know Maine people built this Maine vessel to serve Maine people.”

The new ferry is named for Maine Maritime Academy graduate Richard Spear, who was the first person hired by the Maine State Ferry Service and was its manager for 30 years.

Washburn and Doughty is nationally known as a builder of tugboats that work all over the world, but Maddox said building the new ferry was a privilege.

“It means everything, it's wonderful to build these boats in Maine, with Maine craftsmen. It’s a real sense of pride for builders to see our boats on the water in Maine.”

The new ferry needs some final work, followed by sea trials, and is then expected to start work on Penobscot Bay, making the daily runs between Rockland and Vinalhaven. Those are the same water the vessel’s namesake sailed for decades, piloting earlier ferries.

The MDOT said the Captain Richard Spear is designed to carry up to 23 cars and 250 passengers and cost about $10.9 million. Ferries have a 30-year lifespan, said Van Note, and the DOT is already planning to go out for bid on another vessel this summer, at about the same time the new one begins its long work life.

 

[Roccus7]

When you go "clamming" in Maine, it means you're digging soft shells (steamahs). Digging clams here is one of the trio of "Ass Higher Than Head" jobs in Maine, Clamming, Digging Seaworms for Bait, and Raking Wild Blueberries.

Now IF ONLY the warming Gulf of Maine waters would encourage a migration of tog up here!! When my granddaughters are out, we routinely throw a crab trap off the dock and fill up a bucket with Green Crabs in maybe 15 minutes. Nothing like an unlimited bait supply...

Clammers digging through pandemic, but shellfish are fewer​

pressherald.com/2021/04/17/clammers-digging-through-pandemic-but-shellfish-are-fewer/

By PATRICK WHITTLE April 17, 2021

Mike Soule hauls bags of clams on a sled across a mudflat in Freeport on Thursday. In recent years, Maine diggers have harvested about 1.5 million pounds of clams, significantly less than in decades past. Associated Press/Robert F. Bukaty

PORTLAND, Maine — Chad Coffin has spent the coronavirus pandemic much as he has the previous several decades: on the mudflats of Maine, digging for the clams that draw tourists to seafood shacks around New England.

But he’s running into a problem: few clams.

“There just isn’t the clams that there used to be,” Coffin said. “I don’t want to be negative, I’m just trying to be realistic.”

It’s a familiar problem experienced by New England’s clamdiggers. More New Englanders have dug in the tidal mudflats during the last year, but the clams aren’t cooperating.

The coronavirus pandemic has inspired more people in the Northeastern states, particularly Maine and Massachusetts, to dig for soft-shell clams, which are also called “steamers” and have been used to make chowder and fried clams for generations. The era of social distancing during the coronavirus pandemic is conducive to the often solitary work, said Coffin, the president of the Maine Clammers Association, which represents commercial clammers.

But the U.S. haul of clams has dipped in recent years as the industry has contended with clam-eating predators and warming waters, and 2020 and early 2021 have been especially difficult, industry members said.

In Maine, the largest clam producing state, fishermen produced their lowest haul in more than 90 years at a little more than 1.3 million pounds in 2020. Nationwide totals aren’t compiled yet, but Maine’s haul typically accounts for more than half the U.S. total, and hauls in other clamming states such as Massachusetts, Rhode Island and New York have been trending downward in recent years.

The lack of clams has contributed to higher prices to consumers, said Coffin. It has also sparked fears that future generations of clams will be even smaller in number, he said.

“A few of the guys who are clamming are making good money now, but they’re basically selling their future,” Coffin said. “The resource keeps diminishing.”

The clamming industry has had to contend with more marine predators of clams such as green crabs and milky ribbon worm in recent years. Scientists have said the predators have been encouraged by the warming waters of key habitats such as the Gulf of Maine, which is one of the fastest-warming bodies of water in the world.

The clam shortfall has coincided with a time of high demand for clams, and that has served to increase prices. Soft-shell clams are often selling for about $7 per pound at retail, which is about 40% more than normal and a surprisingly high number for spring, Coffin said. Demand for clams is usually highest in summer.

Soft-shell clams were the second-most valuable species, after lobsters, in Maine last year, state records show. The clams were worth about $15.7 million at the docks, a competitive total with recent years, and $2.39 per pound, which was the second-highest figure in recorded history.

The prices are rising due to factors such as interest in local food during the pandemic and a limited supply of the clams on the market, said Brian Beal, a professor of marine ecology at the University of Maine at Machias whose research focuses on shellfish. The bump in price is nice in the short term for clam harvesters, but the long-term problems are a major threat to the fishery, he said.

“It’s interesting that the demand is still there for soft-shell clams, and that demand is driving that price, and that is driving people to go collect clams,” Beal said. “We still have to look at the historic trends. One way of looking at it is they were the lowest in a long time.”

The lack of clams has been a problem for commercial and recreational clammers alike. The predator crabs, which originated in Europe, are also a problem for hobby clammers on Cape Cod, said John Townes, president of the Barnstable Association for Recreational Shellfishing.

“They’re a horribly invasive species,” he said. “They’re big predators.”

 

[Roccus7]

With the huge population explosion of mice and chipmunks over this past winter, I love seeing foxes around. That being said, when you're taking a walk and see a fox that doesn't bolt the second he sees you, it does give you some pause, forcing you to look for a stick to whack it with if it starts after you...

Fox terrorizes Topsham neighborhood​

pressherald.com/2021/04/17/fox-terrorizes-topsham-neighborhood/

By Darcie Moore April 17, 2021

A fox tried to attack at least three people in the dense Topsham Heights neighborhood Saturday before a Middle Street resident shot the animal after it chased him into his home.

The fox had porcupine quills in its face, which Topsham Police Sgt. Mark Gilliam said is a telltale sign that the animal was likely rabid, as healthy animals normally would not attack porcupines.

The police got their first complaint about the fox hiding under a porch on Cameron Way off Winter Street at 10:17 a.m.

About 45 minutes later police and a Maine game warden were called to Western Avenue after the gray fox attacked a dog and a 69-year-old man.

Police said the man’s skin wasn’t punctured — according to the CDC, rabies can be transmitted through the broken skin of the victim that comes in contact with saliva from an infected animal.

By 11:18 a.m. police were called to Bauer Lane where the fox attacked a dog and a 57-year-old woman. Although the animal attack didn’t appear to break the skin, Gilliam said the woman went to the hospital to be evaluated as a precaution.

The fox continued through the neighborhood, scratching at the back door of a home on A Street.
Gilliam said the fox then chased a man into his home on Middle Street, who got a gun and shot the fox after it charged him. That was at around 1 p.m.

The fox was taken to the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention in Augusta to be tested for rabies.

Rabies is a viral disease transmitted primarily through bites and exposure to saliva or spinal fluid from an infected animal. It infects the nervous system of mammals, making the infected animal unusually aggressive. Vaccines are completely effective in humans, but rabies is fatal if left untreated.

A rabid fox also attacked a Mallett Drive resident in Topsham on April 4. It was the fourth fox attack in Topsham in two weeks. Police investigated a fox attack on a person on March 22 at the Topsham Fairgrounds. That fox was killed by police, but not tested because the person involved was not injured.

There were other fox attacks on dogs around Winter and Summer streets later that same week. Police were unable to locate that fox.

Topsham residents were asked to contact police at (207) 725-4337 if they or their pets come into contact with a wild animal acting strangely and to make sure they keep their animals’ rabies vaccinations up to date.

Gilliam said Saturday that residents should be diligent when on walks and keep their pets leashed.
Gilliam also cautioned residents about shooting at wild animals within neighborhoods due to safety concerns.

The southern Midcoast region saw its first rabid fox encounter of 2021 in January when a fox tried to bite two children in their West Point Road backyard in Phippsburg before it was killed.

Incidents of rabid animals attacking people and pets in the region rose sharply in 2018, when there were nine attacks in Brunswick.

No animals have tested positive for rabies in Brunswick this year according to the Maine CDC, which hasn’t updated rabies data since March 31. However, a woman in Brunswick was attacked by a fox on March 26 before the animal was killed with the help of neighbors. That fox was not tested.

Bath saw a rabies surge in 2019 and early 2020, with 18 people and pets attacked by rabid animals.

 

[Roccus7]

Although it would not have had any impact on "Head of Tide", I had hoped that they would have taken down the dam on "my river" to help the migratory fish like alewives, eels and, dare I say, salmon, but no, the "locals" insisted on keeping it in for ye olde swimming hole. Regardless this new fish ladder sure beats the old one, which was often supplemented by a bucket brigade of folks transporting alewives from below to above the dam...

Bristol Mills fish ladder opens​

The fish ladder is designed to help alewives and other species travel upriver to spawn in lakes and ponds

BRISTOL, Maine — After ten years of meetings, plans, fundraising, and finally, construction, people in Bristol had something to cheer about on Sunday.

With the gate opened, the Pemaquid River began to flow through the town’s new fish ladder, designed to help alewives and other species get more easily upriver to spawn in lakes and ponds.

Chad Hanna, the town first selectman was ready to get the water flowing.

"Just going to say this has been, to this point a great community effort. Just too many people to thank, too much hard work this afternoon. So, we're going to get right to it," Hanna said.

Biologists say they believe the new ladder will allow a lot more fish to get past the dam, and eventually, there may be enough to allow some to be harvested for lobster bait.

The first phase of the project cost about $500,000, all of it from donations and town taxpayers.

Credit: NCM

The second phase will start this fall when the exposed parts of the ladder will be capped with stone, and a footbridge built to safely cross over the dam.

The town is planning to build a park around the fish ladder once the stonework is complete.

Here's a video: Bristol Mills Fish Ladder

 

[Old Mud]

I like it but i was only joking when i said "i will probably be an Old man when they get it finished".

 

[wader]

Although it would not have had any impact on "Head of Tide", I had hoped that they would have taken down the dam on "my river" to help the migratory fish like alewives, eels and, dare I say, salmon, but no, the "locals" insisted on keeping it in for ye olde swimming hole. Regardless this new fish ladder sure beats the old one, which was often supplemented by a bucket brigade of folks transporting alewives from below to above the dam...

Bristol Mills fish ladder opens​

The fish ladder is designed to help alewives and other species travel upriver to spawn in lakes and ponds

BRISTOL, Maine — After ten years of meetings, plans, fundraising, and finally, construction, people in Bristol had something to cheer about on Sunday.

With the gate opened, the Pemaquid River began to flow through the town’s new fish ladder, designed to help alewives and other species get more easily upriver to spawn in lakes and ponds.

Chad Hanna, the town first selectman was ready to get the water flowing.

"Just going to say this has been, to this point a great community effort. Just too many people to thank, too much hard work this afternoon. So, we're going to get right to it," Hanna said.

Biologists say they believe the new ladder will allow a lot more fish to get past the dam, and eventually, there may be enough to allow some to be harvested for lobster bait.

The first phase of the project cost about $500,000, all of it from donations and town taxpayers.

Credit: NCM

The second phase will start this fall when the exposed parts of the ladder will be capped with stone, and a footbridge built to safely cross over the dam.

The town is planning to build a park around the fish ladder once the stonework is complete.

Here's a video: Bristol Mills Fish Ladder

nice looking job

 

[Roccus7]

There goes the traffic, will have to schedule extra time to get through Wiscasset?

What do you think @Old Mud ?? Could it possibly be because that their CANADIAN lobster supplier hasn't opened their processing plant yet???

Red’s Eats opens for 2021 season, with lobster temporarily off the menu​

pressherald.com/2021/04/19/reds-eats-opens-for-2021-season-with-lobster-temporarily-off-the-menu/

By Kathleen O'Brien April 19, 2021

Red’s Eats, a popular seafood shack in downtown Wiscasset opened for the season on April 19. Kathleen O’Brien / The Times Record

Red’s Eats, a popular seafood shack in downtown Wiscasset, opened for the summer season on Monday, but lobster rolls, arguably the eatery’s best-known menu item, won’t be available until next month.
In an April 13 Facebook post the business wrote it wouldn’t be offering lobster rolls until May 15 because “we are unable to get enough of our fresh lobster meat at this point in time.”

Owner Debbie Gagnon said the delay in offering lobster is “very typical at this time of year.”

“Until the waters warm up and lobsters migrate, it’s always tough,” she wrote in an email to The Times Record. “My family are also lobstermen and they are not harvesting much at all right now. I refuse to compromise the integrity of my lobster roll and will only use the ‘top shelf,’ perfectly cooked meat for Red’s Eats.”


Cindy Bailey and her daughter, Izzy, 5, ordered a crabmeat roll and a whoopie pie. Kathleen O’Brien / The Times Record

Maine Coast Fishermen’s Association Executive Director Ben Martens said he’s not surprised Gagnon isn’t yet able to source the lobster she needs because recent poor weather has prevented lobstermen from catching many lobsters.

“We don’t often have as bad a stretch of weather as we have had recently, but this is not outside the bounds of normal,” he said. “It’s windy and gusty out on the water and if people aren’t catching many lobsters in the first place, it’s hard to justify the risk with the reward.”

He said spring is usually a slow time for lobstermen because lobsters are migrating, and limited stock can then drive up prices for consumers.

“The hope is that we’ll start to have nicer weather soon and see more lobsters coming across the docks,” said Martens.

Last year Gagnon opened Red’s Eats on May 30, a month later than previous years, and offered lobster rolls on opening day. In 2019, the takeout seafood spot opened on April 15, and lobster rolls were on the menu.

Gagnon declined to say how much lobster she usually sells in the first month of the season and whether she expects to see a dip in revenue from not offering lobster for a month.

Gagnon said her decision to open regardless of whether lobster will be on the menu is to retain staff members and maximize business during the limited season.

“It’s very tough to hire employees right now due to COVID-19 and how it has changed our world,” she wrote. “I am very lucky that I have employees who have been with us for years, as well as new employees that I’ve just hired. If I do not open, they will not have any work. I need to keep my employees and if I am closed, they will not make a paycheck and will go elsewhere for work.”


Nancy Dunphy, left, and Deb Clark, right, ordered crabmeat rolls because lobster rolls weren’t available on opening day. Kathleen O’Brien / The Times Record

The lack of lobster rolls didn’t deter local and visiting patrons.

Cindy Bailey of Wiscasset waited in line for roughly 30 minutes with her daughter, Izzy, 5, who ordered a whoopie pie. Cindy Bailey said she wasn’t bothered by Red’s Eats not offering lobster rolls and instead decided to order a crabmeat roll.

“They have a huge menu so there’s plenty to choose from,” she said.

David Jirkovski of Longwood, Florida, said he was “a little surprised” to hear lobster rolls weren’t available, but he said he was more excited to see Red’s Eats open for business, given the toll COVID-19 has taken on small businesses across the country.

Nancy Dunphy and Deb Clark of Gray were visiting in southern Midcoast and decided to try Red’s Eats for the first time.

“We wanted to try their famous lobster roll because we know this is a foodie hotspot,” Dunphy said. “We ordered crabmeat rolls, and we’ll just have to come back for a lobster roll.”

 

[Roccus7]

By virtue of an olde (sic), English Patent, like the Dongan Patent of Southampton, NY, Maine is one of the few states where saltwater property owners own the "Intertidal Zone", the part of the beach between Mean High Water and Mean Low Water, although owners cannot interfere with "Fishing (including shellfishing), Fowling (duck hunting), and Navigation".

Most of the Maine coast is rock ledge, with very few sandy beaches, mostly in Southern Maine, so this law has always been a bone of contention with the beach access folks, but continues to upheld by the courts. Since I own waterfront, I guess I have a dog in this fight, but my "beach" is good, old estuary mud and rocks, not prime sunbathing quality. I do see the occasional clam digger in back, which is legal under current law and not at all disconcerting to me...

Mainers’ lawsuit will challenge 30-year-old legal standard for public access to private beaches​

pressherald.com/2021/04/21/lawsuit-will-challenge-legal-standard-for-private-beach-access/

By Megan GrayApril 22, 2021

A man walks along Parsons Beach in Kennebunk on Wednesday. Parsons Beach is privately owned but allows public access with some restrictions. A group of 23 homeowners has filed suit to overturn a 30-year-old Maine Supreme Court ruling and establish a public right to the intertidal zone along Maine’s coast. Gregory Rec/Staff Photographer

A group of 23 Mainers plans to file a lawsuit challenging a 30-year-old legal ruling that said the public does not have recreation rights on private tidelands.

The case could change the course of recurring legal battles over coastal access, especially around sandy beaches in southern Maine. Benjamin Ford, a Portland attorney who is representing the plaintiffs, said Wednesday that the lawsuit is meant to correct a “historical mistake.”

“Thirty years ago the people of Maine were told that they must live under a law that passed a century before the birth of Thomas Jefferson, and that locked away thousands of miles of the Maine coast,” Ford said. “The Maine Supreme Court’s decision in the so-called Moody Beach cases has led to nothing but confusion, conflict, and ridiculous litigation over whether seaweed is more like a worm or a tree. This mess was created by lawyers and judges and it needs to be fixed by lawyers and judges.”


A weathered sign on a homeowner’s concrete retaining wall along a public pathway to Moody Beach in Wells notifies visitors that the beach is private. Gregory Rec/Staff Photographer

Attorneys for the plaintiffs will make a formal announcement Thursday on Moody Beach in Wells, the same beach that was the focus of two landmark rulings by the Maine Supreme Judicial Court in the 1980s. In those opinions, the court found that beachfront property owners own all the way to the low tide line. That approach differs from most coastal states, where the state owns the area between low and high tide.

“Although contemporary public needs for recreation are clearly much broader, the courts and the legislature cannot simply alter these long-established property rights to accommodate new recreational needs; constitutional prohibitions on the taking of private property without compensation must be considered,” the 1989 opinion said.

The group would not provide a copy of the complaint until it is filed in court Thursday. A news release did not name the plaintiffs, but a spokesperson said they are Maine residents and business owners, as well as a couple of out-of-state residents who also own property in Maine. It also did not name the expected defendants, but the lawsuit will be aimed at 10 beachfront property owners “who have been demonstrably complicit in actions causing Maine citizens to be threatened, harassed and chased off land that belongs to them.”

Attorney Sidney Thaxter represented landowners on Moody Beach and has been involved in litigation over beach rights for years. He said Wednesday that the court has not overturned its ruling despite multiple appeals in the decades since, and he does not believe it would do so now because such a change would be unconstitutional.

“They can’t change property owner rights of people without compensating them,” Thaxter said.
Maine has 3,500 miles of tidal coastline. But only 30 miles, or less than one percent, is publicly owned sand beach.

In the Moody Beach case, the Supreme Judicial Court did also find the public has limited rights to use private lands in the intertidal zone for “fishing, fowling and navigation.” That language dates to an ordinance from the 1640s, two centuries before Maine became a state, and its meaning has long been disputed.
This case could be destined for the top court yet again. The Moody Beach case predates the current justices, but the court has issued multiple opinions about beach access and ownership in the years since that ruling.

The plaintiffs pointed to a 2000 case in which the court said the public could recreate on Wells Beach. That ruling did not go so far as to overturn the earlier one in the Moody Beach case, but the then-chief justice wrote a separate opinion saying the court should have done so, saying that precedent had created “uncertainty and unworkable restrictions.”

“Pursuant to our holding in Bell, a citizen of the state may walk along a beach carrying a fishing rod or a gun, but may not walk along that same beach empty-handed or carrying a surfboard,” Leigh Saufley, who is no longer on the court and now serves as dean of the University of Maine School of Law, wrote at the time. “This interpretation of the public trust doctrine is clearly flawed.”

In 2011, the court re-examined the case to determine whether the public had the right to walk across intertidal zones to reach the ocean for scuba diving. The justices decided that use was allowed, although they were divided as to why.

In 2019, the court ruled against a Canadian company that had been removing rockweed from the Maine coast for decades, saying the plant is on private property and can no longer be harvested without permission from the landowners. A central question in that lawsuit was whether the harvest should be considered fishing under the law, and the justices decided no.

That same year, the court ended a decade-long legal battle by deciding the town of Kennebunkport owns Goose Rocks Beach. But that case had more to do with ancient deeds than it did public beach access.

Despite legal disputes over the years, Thaxter said, most beachfront owners do not mind when the public uses the intertidal zone, but they want to protect their property from commercial uses.

 

[Roccus7]

This one is pretty funny in that it allows for 3 Recreational Mamajuana stores over a stint of less than 0.75 miles!!! With the one store mentioned now opened, tourists coming from Portland will have easy access to pick up a Doobie to puff on while waiting on line at Red's Eats for their Canadian Lobstah Roll...

Woolwich approves town’s first recreational marijuana store​

pressherald.com/2021/04/21/woolwich-approves-first-recreational-marijuana-store/

By Kathleen O'Brien April 21, 2021

Woolwich officials approved the town’s first recreational marijuana store on 4/20 — an unofficial holiday for cannabis users.

Farley’s Cannabis Farm, a medical marijuana store on Route 1 in Woolwich, was granted a local license to sell recreational marijuana.

The store needed local approval to get an active state license.

Sayra Small, co-owner of Farley’s Cannabis Farm, said Wednesday she isn’t sure whether the store would transition to offering only recreational marijuana or sell both recreational and medical marijuana. Small said she’s also not sure when the business will begin offering recreational marijuana if she choses to do so.

Select Board Chair David King Sr. said he’s confident Farley’s Farm will “run a good, clean operation” based on how they’ve run their medical marijuana store.

“Whether you think (marijuana) should be legal or not is your personal opinion,” said King. “I think they’re going to do a good job with it and they’ll be responsible.”

Small said she wanted to secure both a medical and recreational retail license in case the stage changes the requirements or process businesses must go through to gain a retail license.

Woolwich also only allows three recreational marijuana stores in the town, “and we want to make sure we’re holding one of them,” said Small.

Only one resident spoke in opposition of the store Tuesday.

“We live in a stoner generation,” resident Greg Doak said. “Smoking dope, like drinking, is not a family virtue. I just think it’s crazy and it’s going to be the ruination of our culture.”

King said it is the board’s duty to act based on the wishes of the town.

“Regardless of what our personal feelings are on the board, we work for the townspeople,” King said. “They approved it, we approved it.”

Residents voted 136-51 to allow recreational marijuana retail stores in town last August. However, a maximum of three recreational retail shops can open on Route 1 between the Taste of Maine restaurant and the Sagadahoc Bridge that connects Woolwich and Bath.

In February, the select board unanimously approved Seagrass, the town’s first recreational marijuana cultivation enterprise. Founders Stephen Elie and Edward Ney said they plan to open a 7,000-square-foot facility on a 4.2-acre plot at 46 Sam Moore Road.

After Mainers voted to legalize recreational marijuana in 2016, the state required each municipality to draft and approve their own regulations for recreational marijuana use and business.

Neighboring Bath, Brunswick and Bowdoinham opted in, permitting any recreational cannabis businesses. In Topsham and Georgetown, recreational marijuana growing, manufacturing and testing are permitted, but retail stores aren’t allowed.

Nearby West Bath, Phippsburg and Wiscasset haven’t given any recreational marijuana businesses the green light. However, Phippsburg voters may opt into allowing one or more types of recreational marijuana businesses at the annual town meeting in June.

The Maine Officer of Marijuana Policy has received 257 recreational marijuana retail applications from across the state. Of those, 25 have received an active license, according to David Heidrich, director of engagement and community outreach for the Office of Marijuana Policy.

 

[Old Mud]

By virtue of an olde (sic), English Patent, like the Dongan Patent of Southampton, NY, Maine is one of the few states where saltwater property owners own the "Intertidal Zone", the part of the beach between Mean High Water and Mean Low Water, although owners cannot interfere with "Fishing (including shellfishing), Fowling (duck hunting), and Navigation".

Most of the Maine coast is rock ledge, with very few sandy beaches, mostly in Southern Maine, so this law has always been a bone of contention with the beach access folks, but continues to upheld by the courts. Since I own waterfront, I guess I have a dog in this fight, but my "beach" is good, old estuary mud and rocks, not prime sunbathing quality. I do see the occasional clam digger in back, which is legal under current law and not at all disconcerting to me...

Mainers’ lawsuit will challenge 30-year-old legal standard for public access to private beaches​

pressherald.com/2021/04/21/lawsuit-will-challenge-legal-standard-for-private-beach-access/

By Megan GrayApril 22, 2021

A man walks along Parsons Beach in Kennebunk on Wednesday. Parsons Beach is privately owned but allows public access with some restrictions. A group of 23 homeowners has filed suit to overturn a 30-year-old Maine Supreme Court ruling and establish a public right to the intertidal zone along Maine’s coast. Gregory Rec/Staff Photographer

A group of 23 Mainers plans to file a lawsuit challenging a 30-year-old legal ruling that said the public does not have recreation rights on private tidelands.

The case could change the course of recurring legal battles over coastal access, especially around sandy beaches in southern Maine. Benjamin Ford, a Portland attorney who is representing the plaintiffs, said Wednesday that the lawsuit is meant to correct a “historical mistake.”

“Thirty years ago the people of Maine were told that they must live under a law that passed a century before the birth of Thomas Jefferson, and that locked away thousands of miles of the Maine coast,” Ford said. “The Maine Supreme Court’s decision in the so-called Moody Beach cases has led to nothing but confusion, conflict, and ridiculous litigation over whether seaweed is more like a worm or a tree. This mess was created by lawyers and judges and it needs to be fixed by lawyers and judges.”


A weathered sign on a homeowner’s concrete retaining wall along a public pathway to Moody Beach in Wells notifies visitors that the beach is private. Gregory Rec/Staff Photographer

Attorneys for the plaintiffs will make a formal announcement Thursday on Moody Beach in Wells, the same beach that was the focus of two landmark rulings by the Maine Supreme Judicial Court in the 1980s. In those opinions, the court found that beachfront property owners own all the way to the low tide line. That approach differs from most coastal states, where the state owns the area between low and high tide.

“Although contemporary public needs for recreation are clearly much broader, the courts and the legislature cannot simply alter these long-established property rights to accommodate new recreational needs; constitutional prohibitions on the taking of private property without compensation must be considered,” the 1989 opinion said.

The group would not provide a copy of the complaint until it is filed in court Thursday. A news release did not name the plaintiffs, but a spokesperson said they are Maine residents and business owners, as well as a couple of out-of-state residents who also own property in Maine. It also did not name the expected defendants, but the lawsuit will be aimed at 10 beachfront property owners “who have been demonstrably complicit in actions causing Maine citizens to be threatened, harassed and chased off land that belongs to them.”

Attorney Sidney Thaxter represented landowners on Moody Beach and has been involved in litigation over beach rights for years. He said Wednesday that the court has not overturned its ruling despite multiple appeals in the decades since, and he does not believe it would do so now because such a change would be unconstitutional.

“They can’t change property owner rights of people without compensating them,” Thaxter said.
Maine has 3,500 miles of tidal coastline. But only 30 miles, or less than one percent, is publicly owned sand beach.

In the Moody Beach case, the Supreme Judicial Court did also find the public has limited rights to use private lands in the intertidal zone for “fishing, fowling and navigation.” That language dates to an ordinance from the 1640s, two centuries before Maine became a state, and its meaning has long been disputed.
This case could be destined for the top court yet again. The Moody Beach case predates the current justices, but the court has issued multiple opinions about beach access and ownership in the years since that ruling.

The plaintiffs pointed to a 2000 case in which the court said the public could recreate on Wells Beach. That ruling did not go so far as to overturn the earlier one in the Moody Beach case, but the then-chief justice wrote a separate opinion saying the court should have done so, saying that precedent had created “uncertainty and unworkable restrictions.”

“Pursuant to our holding in Bell, a citizen of the state may walk along a beach carrying a fishing rod or a gun, but may not walk along that same beach empty-handed or carrying a surfboard,” Leigh Saufley, who is no longer on the court and now serves as dean of the University of Maine School of Law, wrote at the time. “This interpretation of the public trust doctrine is clearly flawed.”

In 2011, the court re-examined the case to determine whether the public had the right to walk across intertidal zones to reach the ocean for scuba diving. The justices decided that use was allowed, although they were divided as to why.

In 2019, the court ruled against a Canadian company that had been removing rockweed from the Maine coast for decades, saying the plant is on private property and can no longer be harvested without permission from the landowners. A central question in that lawsuit was whether the harvest should be considered fishing under the law, and the justices decided no.

That same year, the court ended a decade-long legal battle by deciding the town of Kennebunkport owns Goose Rocks Beach. But that case had more to do with ancient deeds than it did public beach access.

Despite legal disputes over the years, Thaxter said, most beachfront owners do not mind when the public uses the intertidal zone, but they want to protect their property from commercial uses.

Yeah that's kind of a weird one. For permitting use /floats piers and ramps you have to follow guide lines as to not encroach on another 'land/water rights". Permitting has to be with the Town, State, 3 Indian groups and The Corps of Engineers. The Corps has charts with said land with property lines extended out as far as the channels.

Some time ago i lost a lengthy argument with a lawyer, An Association group and an officer from the Corps. The Lawyer, Association group and I all lost to the Corps. In Brigham's cove "the landowner owns all the way to the channel." With appropriate lines following his or her lot lines out. Needless to say even though he won there were quite a few questions i had that he couldn't/ didn't have to answer.

Anyway yeah it sucks that some people think they own the Cove and the land at the bottom.