Stuff about me
My name is Keith Michaud and this is “Letters From Away,” a blog written by a Mainer living outside the comfortable and sane confines of New England. The blog is intended for Mainers, whether they live in the Pine Tree State or beyond, and for anyone who has loved ’em, been baffled by ’em or both. Ayuh, I am “from away.” Worse still, I live on the Left Coast – in California. Enjoy! Or not. Your choice.
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Daily Archives: February 25, 2010
Wind ban wrong | Bangor Daily News
Posted in Economy, Energy, Environment, Outdoors
Tagged Mars Hill, moratorium, noice complaints, turbines, wind energy, wind power, windfarms
Local missionaries heading to Haiti to help children
PERU, Maine – Marilee Colpitts and Jamie Dennett had planned a missionary trip to Haiti long before the devastating earthquake on that island nation in January.
Their trip now will include their original goals, as well as helping some of the many children who have fled the capital of Port-au-Prince for Terrier Rouge, a city in the northwestern section of the country.
“We want to bring money for food and other things for the people who are fleeing Port-au-Prince,” said Dennett, who is making her fourth trip to Haiti. “Here, in this country, people go to the state. There, they go to the pastors.”
She and Colpitts, who is making her second trip, are among 14 people, mostly from Maine, who are representing His Hands for Haiti, a nonprofit Christian group based in New Vineyard that finds sponsors for some of the thousands of children who do not have enough food or cannot go to school.
Click on the link to the rest of today’s story by Eileen M. Adams of the Lewiston Sun Journal.
Tagged aid, Chrisitan group, donations, earthquake, food, Haiti, Haitians, Hands for Haiti, Lewiston, missionary, New Vinyard, nonprofit, Peru, Port-au-Prince, relief, school, Terrier Rouge
Hannibal Hamlin in Paris … South Paris, that is
I went to the University of Southern Maine with a guy named Dean Lachance. That has nothing to do with the DownEast.com trivia question today, except that he came from South Paris. Or, at least he came from one of the towns with Paris in the name.
Either way, it did not help me in answering the trivia question. Here it is:
Who is South Paris famous for?
Answer:
The western Maine town was the birthplace and early residence of the Honorable Hannibal Hamlin, governor of Maine, United States senator, and vice president under Abraham Lincoln.
Mainers protest Anthem rate hike| Bangor Daily News
BANGOR, Maine — From Presque Isle, Deer Isle, Camden and Mapleton, Mainers traveled to Bangor Wednesday afternoon to protest the latest health insurance cost increase requested by Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Maine.
“The hogs have come to the trough to feed again at the expense of those who use the coverage the least,” said lobsterman Leroy Bridges of Deer Isle, who purchases individual coverage for himself and his wife, with a $15,000 annual deductible each. “If they’re allowed a rate increase even close to what they’re asking, we’ll have to let it go; we got no choice.”
Bridges did not say how much his high-deductible coverage costs, but others at the meeting said similar policies cost close to $500 a month.
Anthem says the 23 percent average increase in the cost of its HealthChoice and Lumenos plans — for people who purchase health coverage individually instead of through an employer or other group — is needed to offset the growing cost and use of health care services and the unique challenges of the insurance market in Maine.
About 11,000 Anthem policyholders would be affected by the increase, which would take effect July 1 if approved.
Click on the link for the rest of today’s story by Meg Haskell in the Bangor Daily News.
Blooming on the horizon?: Early signs point to an algae threat that could rival the ’05 season | The Portland Press Herald / Maine Sunday Telegram
Posted in Economy, Environment, Maine, Outdoors
Tagged Alexandrium fundyense, algae, bloom, blooming, clams, coastal states, Gov. John Baldacci, Gulf of Maine, Kennebec River, Maine, Maine Clammers Association, Maine Department of Marine Resources, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, New England, red tide, red tide algae, shellfish, shortnose sturgeon, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute
Letters From Away 