Hard Process Ask two lawyers about Maine’s secession law, and you’ll get two different views

The parties involved in the Peaks Island secession process disagree on several major issues, raising questions about the effectiveness of the state’s secession law. But it’s a seldom-used law that is subject to differing interpretations. Two lawyers who are not involved in this dispute, who have worked on past secession efforts, reached differing conclusions about

Continue reading...


“Gray Zone” questions persist

The Grand Manan Fishermen’s Association (GMFA) has produced a new fishery management plan for the “Gray Zone,” the disputed triangular area between Grand Manan and the Maine coast. “We’d really like it to be a joint management plan with Maine fishermen,” says GMFA project manager Melanie Sonnenberg. But that’s not likely to happen anytime soon.

Continue reading...


Through Many Neighborhoods

To the editor: In response to “Risks of LNG” by Robert Godfrey [letters, WWF Sept. 06]… This pipeline is over 30″ (think hula-hoop size) and is an export line with 1440-psi pressure. Robert Godfrey wrote it is being built “east of Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada.” [This pipeline will pass through] many neighborhoods, many schools,

Continue reading...


Pay Phones

Speaking of trends, it’s been a while since most of us fished dimes and quarters out of our pockets to make a call on a pay phone. In fact, look around you: seen a pay phone lately, with or without a booth around it? There aren’t many of them left, and on islands the number

Continue reading...


Dine Early and Often

As part of a new “Giving Back to the Community” program to raise visibility and funds and build membership for Midcoast Maine nonprofit organizations, McMahon’s Rockport Grille in Rockport will donate a portion of its gross receipts for the month of September to the Island Institute. The restaurant is located one mile south of the

Continue reading...


“We do hurricanes”

The Great Deluge — Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans and the Gulf Coast By Douglas Brinkley New York: William Morrow/Harper Collins, 2006 716 pp., $29.95. Breach of Faith — Hurricane Katrina and the Near Death of a Great American City By Jed Horne New York: Random House, 2006 412 pp. $25.95. The Storm — What Went

Continue reading...


A Moose on the Loose Writes Home

“Two days ago a moose was seen on the island. It swam towards Greens Island when last seen!” — The Wind, Vinalhaven, July 20, 2006 Dear Mother, Forgive my tardiness in writing. You have been in my thoughts often, though you understandably might not think that the case. All you knew was that I suddenly

Continue reading...