A couple things about Maine

[Rich VanValkenburg]

We're just back from vacation, and I'm still amazed by you folks from Maine.

Everybody seemed happy as heck to be there, and just as happy that we were there, whether we spent anything or not.
Finally met a couple that own Sonja's sistership near Castine. Absolutely terrific people that seemed sincerely excited to see us.
No reckless drivers, save one girl in a pickup truck in one big hurry. Big contrast from Michigan.
Lots of quiet places away from the real tourists. I say that because we didn't feel like tourists. We were able to do things and talk to folks away from all that. We felt comfortable.
HUGHMAN- we stopped at the museum, but you were off that day.
Stopped at WoodenBoat on Sunday because that was the only day we had open. Nobody there but a student and harbormaster. Lots of changes since last there in '83.
We survived the Verona bridge four times, but even the repair workers appear afraid. Scary bridge.
Lots of angst over the Wendy's and orange store near Rockland. I don't blame them. It ruins the flavor of that area.
I couldn't get used to this thing you have about having to stop for pedestrians. I'd grab my wife and run across the road and the drivers would just laugh. I've got to warn you about Michigan. Don't try that here, or it'll be Wait, Walk, Wake(your funeral). No patience anywhere here, such a contrast.

Folks from Maine, thanks for treating us like family. What a great place, with a great attitude.

Rich

[Doug Wood]

Glad to hear your visit to Maine was a good one, and that you survived the Verona bridge, but all of us would appreciate it if you kept it down a bit...don't want EVERYONE to know about our little piece of heaven :D

[Concordia..41]

The Verona Bridge, was that the one held up by 5/16" rigging with pieces falling off and the highway patrol weighing every truck before it was allowed over???!! :eek: :eek: I'd blocked that bit out of the memory bank.

Seriously seconding the warm reception and great folks in Maine!

[Hughman]

Rich,
Sorry I missed you. Try again! smile.gif

[Popeye]

Maine, good memories of maine visit, Acadia Nat'l Park, South Port, Free Port, Kennebunkport, beautiful beaches, fried clams, lobsta rolls and real ale. i bought some pahts for my cah there. :> nice people.

One lady who ran a B&B where we stayed, gave me a big hug as we were leaving.

i got to go back some day.

[ishmael]

You're welcome Rich. I'm 'from away' as they say, but have lived here, off and on, much of my adult life. There are pockets of the taciturn Yankee(God love 'em, long may they survive), and there are pockets of problems, such as drugs and the violence which accompany them, and poverty if you go downeast or to Washington County, but all in all it's a damned good place to live.

I've driven, several times, to Southern New England in the last week, and was always glad to be back. Now if we can keep the Boston liberals, with their high and mighty ideas, from migrating and buying up all the waterfront, chasing out families who've live there for centuries, raising the taxes even more, we'll be all set.

When I first moved to Bangor I was amazed at how polite and attentive most of the the waiters and counter people were. It's sumpthin' in the water. :D

[ 09-12-2003, 09:28 AM: Message edited by: ishmael ]

[Willin']

I agree with you Rich, regarding the pedestrian right of way issue. It annoyed me when I first moved to California in the 70's too. Seems as soon as they know they have the right of way pedestrians put it in low gear and crawl across the crosswalk like they're on display. I still scurry across to avoid holding up traffic, but it's more a habit born of the survival instinct from my youth.

You may not be so fond of the slow driving pace if you were stuck daily behind an idiot going 10 MPH below the speed limit and proud as punch to be at the head of the parade! Talk about frustrating! I believe a large percentage of what passes for road rage up here would be alleviated if people would just drive the speed limit, stay in the right lane when not passing, and be courteous. If someone wants to go faster, let'em by!

You call it charming, I call it rude.

Sorry to rant, it's my one pet peeve with Maine.

[Popeye]

you be right. i got places to see, things to go, people to do. and it is very annoying when ma and pa kettle aint burn'n rubber. crank up some 'white stripes' and let er ride...

[ahp]

Maine is a nice place. I have been there many times. But, there is the other side of Maine that the tourists don't see. Read Caroline Shute's book, "The Beans of Egypt Maine". Grinding poverty does not improve the mind, spirit or body. There is a lot of that there.

[Hughman]

Originally posted by ahp:
Read Caroline Shute's book, "The Beans of Egypt Maine". She deserves a thread all her own. Anybody wanna throw the first pitch?

[Hughman]

Found this on Google:

Carolyn Shute interviews herself (http://newdemocracyworld.org/chute.htm)

[Willin']

Interesting non-interview. Seems to be saying 'I may be poor, but at least I got a brain.' I wish she kept a higher profile. Her bid for Governor hardly made a ripple.

I also bet the budget crisis in Maine would have gone away by now had she been elected.

I wonder what her take is on the casino initiative?

[ishmael]

I wonder what her take is on the casino initiative?
I'm agin it, on some gut level I don't want southern Maine to become a mini-Las Vegas. It's gut, intuitive, I've not really followed the economic arguments much. I just don't like it.

[ahp]

Legal gambling, and the tax the State collects from it seems like free money. It isn't. Studies have shown that for every dollar that the state or city collects on gambling taxes, they spend three dollars for increased social services, courts, police, welfare, jails, etc. Gambling is socially destructive.

[Willin']

I suspect lots of people can come up with lots of purported statistics to support their point of view. Lately it's begun to get ugly in the media, lots of invective and accusations. In the end it's just your opinion against the next guy's.

Why not let the town where it's proposed to be built decide?

My opinion? If we didn't have it here, people would go somewhere else to do it. The people who are at risk are at risk whether they gamble at home or away. And all those social support services are jobs too. I just wish it would be located further north, say Lewiston. Why should wealthy York County get all the action?

The biggest chuckle I've gotten so far is a statement I heard from Angus and repeated by Gov. Baldacci that 'all these new, high paying casino jobs would unfairly decrease the labor pool for shop owners offering low paying jobs and no benefits.'

Good to know our governors have the right priority in a state where so many low income people are losing their ancestral lands because they can't afford to pay their property taxes!

[ishmael]

I'll say it out right. I don't think casinos, the way they are set up, are good for the morals of the state. I think this wouldn't be a money maker, and I think it would turn southern Maine into a worse attraction than it already is.

It's bad economics, it's bad morallity, let's nix it.

[Paul Reagan]

I hate to post anything non boat related, but here's some food for thought on casinos. The proponents are constantly advertising that this would be good for Maine because it would bring "a hundred million dollars into the state" and it would create ten thousand jobs".
If you do the math that comes out to $10,000 per job. Will that really help us? Don't we already have too many jobs like that?

[ishmael]

We Mainers who don't want this should get active, and defeat it.

[huisjen]

If we didn't have it here, people would go somewhere else to do it. Fine. Let them do it somehere else.

Dan

[Mrleft8]

Originally posted by ishmael:
It's sumpthin' in the water. :D Yeah.... It's called VODKA!! :D
Just kidding! Maine really is a nice place. It's a lot like Vermont, but with a coastline. Come to think of it, it's a lot like Connecticut used to be, before all the Noo Yawkahs moved in...

[ishmael]

Fine. Let them do it somehere else.
Hoo, hoo. Let's get active Dan, and defeat this! Do you have a web-site?

Here's the main anti group.

http://www.casinosno.org/Default.aspx?tabid=20

Only our apathy will allow this.

[ 09-13-2003, 10:55 AM: Message edited by: ishmael ]

[Ken Hall]

I have very fond memories of Rockland and Bath. If I can't get SWMBO interested in the schooner cruise (Isaac H. Evans or summat). I'm going to take one or both of my sons in a few years.

[rbgarr]

I love Maine- especially at this time of year when the tourist crush has slacked off some. I walk a lot so the pedestrian rule is a good one as far as I'm concerned, though you have to be reasonable about it: use crosswalks, don't step out into racing traffic, and don't wander obliviously down the middle of the street looking at sights as I see some bus-tourists doing. It makes me wonder if they do that where they live?

I've been having trouble with my car lately and have gotten good honest service from the couple of shops I've used. The folks have, in each case, described and looked for the simplest cause and cheapest solutions to my problems before working on the car, versus the "make an appointment and we'll get to it then" attitude elsewhere.

I wonder whether the Deer Isle Bridge (same era as the Bucksport one) is also in need of replacement. That would not be easy, because there's no alternate route likw there is in Bucksport.

One of the lesser known effects of having easily available casino gambling, as opposed to lotteries, is an increase in embezzling from employers, which can have its own effect on currrent employment (companies being bankrupted in extreme cases) and corporate health (growth).

My source is the auditing chief at the company I worked at which has facilities in a number of different states- some with lotteries only, some with casinos and some with no gambling. There's employee theft at all of them, but embezzling is worst in casino states, and in those cases where they have identified and caught embezzlers (and they haven't identified all) casino-gambling plays a part in more cases than he would have predicted.

His observation was that 'hands-on' gambling is more addictive and 'enticing' than gas-station lottery ticket purchases. Your next hand or roll will always be 'the one', there are so many social inducements (freebies, others watching, urging you on), and the money can get big. Add this mix to the already high level of frustration, stress, and sense of entitlement some people feel at work which leads them to steal from their employer, and he says it's asking for troubles that the state legislators are not aware of, and don't feel a responsibility to deal with.

[ 09-15-2003, 08:11 PM: Message edited by: rbgarr ]

[Alan D. Hyde]

I think you're right, rbgarr.

If a man wants money, the thing for him to do is to EARN IT by doing something useful for his fellow men.

The further away we get from this, the more trouble we seem to get into.

Alan

[Hughman]

people will not prosper for long if they do so by putting other people at a disadvantage.

[Rich VanValkenburg]

They argued long and hard against casinos in Detroit, but lost of course. Only a handful of people will make any money, and unless you're a politician or building contractor, it won't be you.

Deb and I ventured down there at the invitation of her brothers and sisters who decided a family outing at the casino was a good idea. I lost my allowance in an hour and it wasn't even fun.

Keep that in mind, it isn't going to be any fun.

Rich

[dan-marques]

Originally posted by Rich VanValkenburg:
I lost my allowance in an hour and it wasn't even fun.As I see it, no point wasting my money gambling when I can waste it on a boat.