The effects of record-high oil prices have reverberated throughout coastal Maine. This past year, the average price for a gallon of gasoline in Maine rose from $1.98 a gallon to $2.40, with a summertime spike to over $3. Heating oil similarly rose 53 cents per gallon, a thirty-five percent increase from the year before. Declining
Insurance Feedback
To the editor: Thank you for writing a very important article on homeowner’s insurance on islands [WWF Feb. 06]. It needed to be written and something needs to be done. You asked for feedback from islanders regarding their experiences. Here are mine. My husband and I purchased a home by the water on Cliff Island
Clearing Land: Legacies of the American Farm
New York: North Point Press, 2004 208 pages, $20.00 Grieving a Way of Life Loss. Transition. If they’re difficult experiences to write about, they’re also not easy reading. This book reflects on the author’s experience grieving a way of life once vital, now ended. Loved and lost. For Jane Brox, a writer living in Wiscasset,
East Boothbay yard builds Navy prototype
Hodgdon Yachts in East Boothbay, along with the help of Steve Von Vogt, president of Maine Marine Manufacturing in Portland, and researchers at the University of Maine, is building a Navy medium-range craft called the Mark V.1. While the Maine boatbuilding industry is a leader in the recreational boat market, it has not constructed small
Intelligent Wife
To the editor: Your excellent publication has been a benefit to me for many years. Since 9/3/94, however, I am that bane of the writers and publishers — a knowitall. Therefore, I am obliged, by the rules of my cult, to correct you. The largest corporation in the world is not headquartered in Arkansas but
The Wal-Mart Effect – How the Wold’s Most Powerful Company Really Works and How It’s Transforming the American Economy
Penguin Press, 2006, 304 pages, $25.95 Shopping Ourselves Out of Our Jobs At the recent Island Small Business Forum, I listened to an interesting discussion among three small island business owners about how difficult it is for them to compete against big chains on the mainland. One could argue that there is nothing different in
Phippsburg nixes moratorium, debates future growth
At a special Town Meeting Jan. 25, about 360 residents of Phippsburg voted down a proposed 180-day moratorium on housing subdivision approvals. Although they rejected this solution by an approximately 60/40 vote, townspeople are concerned about escalating growth in the town. Many people voted against the proposed moratorium because they felt it was unfair that
Island Coalition discusses health care and other matters
On Feb. 3 the Maine Islands Coalition held its quarterly meeting at the Island Institute and discussed island health care. Finding affordable, quality health care is complicated by ferry schedules, coastal weather and a lack of on-island services. The ferry or mailboat in February is the last place somebody who is sick with the flu
The Scottish Islands
Edinburgh: Canongate Books Ltd., 1998 Hardcover, 518 pages A Clear-Eyed View of Islands Imagine there was a book — a not-too-imposing but thorough book on your favorite group of islands. Imagine that this book belonged to an artist, a geologist, a historian and a sailor before it came to you. And that somewhere along the
Cod fishery advocate is new Canadian fisheries minister
A longtime critic of the Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) is now himself in charge of the department, as a result of the Jan. 23 federal election that brought the Conservative Party to power after 13 years. A Member of Parliament from St. John’s South-Mount Pearl, Newfoundland, Loyola Hearn was named to his