Lobstering is dangerous work!
Posted in Environment, Food and Drink, Maine, Outdoors
Tagged “The Lobster Gangs of Maine”, criminal threatening, elevated aggravated assault, Knox County Superior Court, lobster fishing, lobstermen, Matinicus Island, reckless conduct with a dangerous weapon, shooting, Tenants Harbor, territory dispute
Posted in Disaster, Environment, Maine, Outdoors
Tagged aid, earthquake, Haiti, Haitian, Port-au-Prince, recycling, relief, sailors, sails, shelter, tents
“Thank heavens Lisa was there.” – Charanay Pok of North Waterboro
Charanay Pok was desperately trying to unbuckle her two screaming children from their seats as icy water filled her car when an “angel” appeared to help.
Moments earlier, Pok’s 2009 Toyota Camry, with her two young children in the back seat, had crashed through a guardrail, flipped several times and plunged into the Little Ossipee River in Limerick.
Pok, 24, reached into knee-high water to retrieve her cell phone near her feet and call for help, but the phone was dead. She turned to try to unbuckle her son from his car seat, but it was stuck.
Suddenly, a woman appeared next to her car, knocking on the window to help.
“We found out later it was Lisa,” Pok said Friday.
Investigators for the York County Sheriff’s Department say that without the help of Lisa Boisvert of North Waterboro, Pok, her daughter Kisani, 3, and her son Tayven, 6 months, may not have escaped from the crash Thursday on New Dam Road in Limerick.
Click on the link for the rest of this story by Beth Quimby of the Portland Press Herald.
Fishing, economic issues
highlighted as 12 hopefuls
speak at the industry forum
ROCKPORT – A dozen candidates for governor stressed the importance of Maine’s fishing heritage at a forum on Friday, but differed on how best to help one of the state’s oldest and most important industries.
The three-day Maine Fishermen’s Forum at the Samoset Resort is designed to draw attention to the issues facing the state’s commercial fishermen.
This year, the group invited some of the candidates for governor to a forum. Four Democrats, six Republicans, a Green Independent and an independent candidate got a chance to address about 100 people and to answer questions.
Candidates were asked what they would have done to prevent next month’s closing of the sardine cannery in Prospect Harbor, how strongly they would advocate for Maine fishermen and what can be done to attract seafood processing plants to Maine.
Click on the link for the rest of the story by Susan Cover of the Portland Press Herald.
LES CAYES, Haiti – Not once in the four weeks and five days since he left Portland Harbor had Dave St. Cyr, a deckhand aboard the Maine relief ship Sea Hunter, uttered such an exclamation.
A United Nations Police patrol boat arrives at Sea Hunter’s anchorage Friday morning to provide security during the offloading operations off the coast of Les Cayes, Haiti.
“What chaos!” said St. Cyr, 54, of Portland as he came to the ship’s bridge for a breather late Friday afternoon. “It’s unbelievable down there!”
And long overdue.
Sea Hunter’s mission of mercy to earthquake-ravaged Haiti, delayed by raging winter storms and enough red tape to stop the 220-foot treasure-hunting ship dead in the water for days on end, is at last coming to an end.
Just after noon Friday, a Haitian customs official gave the long-awaited permission to begin offloading Sea Hunter’s estimated 200 tons of relief supplies.
Minutes later, the water around the ship exploded into a scrum of landing vessels and a cacophony of bullhorns, security sirens and, above all, shouting Haitian workers.
“This is it,” said Sea Hunter’s owner, Greg Brooks. “This is what we started out in Portland for. And it’s finally come to fruition today.”
Click on the link to read the rest of this story by Bill Nemitz of the Portland Press Herald.
Letters From Away 