Opinion & Comment
August 16, 2012, The Bridgton News, Page D
Medicare nugget
Views from Augusta by Paul LePage Governor of Maine
Price crash of lobsters
By Stan Cohen Medicare Volunteer Counselor The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recently issued a proposed rule that would increase payments to family physicians by approximately 7% and other practitioners providing primary care services between 3 and 5%. “Helping primary care doctors will help improve patient care and lower health care costs long term,” said CMS Acting Administrator, Marilyn B. Tavenner. The Affordable Care Act (ACA) also has a feature called the “Value Modifier.” The Value Modifier adjusts payments to individual phySCENIC MOMENT — Dianna Spurrell of Marlborough snapped this scenic photo of the “sunset sicians or groups of physithrough the dam” at Woods Pond on July 19. MEDICARE, Page D
Maine lobster is known to be the best of the best throughout our country and the world. But, what’s happening right now with our lobster industry is having a major impact on Maine fishermen, and it’s not doing them or our economy any good. The price of the crustacean has plummeted because of a highly unusual season that has fishermen catching record numbers of lobster. The highest average price in 2005 was $4.63 per pound and this year we’ve hit rock bottom prices as low as $1.30 to $1.50 per pound. This brings us to why Canadians are protesting. It’s all about money. See, Maine delivers 70% of our catch across the border and we are dependent on Canadian processors to take our product. Processors are paying only a fraction of the true cost due to the abundance of lobster and lack of processing capacity here in Maine. There are 40 lobster-processing plants in Canada. Maine has only three, which cannot process the volume being harvested by Maine fishermen. So, why don’t we have more processors? It’s a question my administration has explored and we’ve known the answer for quite some time; high costs of doing business in Maine. The Canadian government has a strong relationship with the fishing industry. Their plants are subsidized and their energy by S. Peter Lewis prices are much lower than here in Maine. Getting our lobsters delivered and processed in Canada helps News Columnist in the short-term, but Maine needs a permanent solution. We need more processing capacity. After all, the Maine lobster is world renown. We must be in a position to add value to our product Last Saturday was just an ordinary day. My instead of Canada gaining all the added value. daughter Amanda, a college junior, needed a car My administration has urged the Legislature to help us make and she thought she’d found the perfect fit Maine more business-friendly. We have been working hard in in an Uncle Henry’s ad: a 2002 VW Beetle, Maine to create an atmosphere and culture that encourages ecoloaded, with a five-speed transmission and nomic growth, but still we are losing opportunities. low mileage. If you know Amanda, you’d Maine’s energy prices are 12th highest in the nation. Recently, agree, “Yup, that girl needs a Bug.” New England governors met in Vermont to discuss the need to The only problem was the car was two hours away in lower electricity prices for our region. Vermont has passed a Waterville and no one had answered the phone when we called on law that declares that large-scale hydropower is a “renewable” Friday evening. “Hey, let’s just get up early and drive over there. LOBSTER, Page D It will be an adventure,” I said. “Sure!” she said. Then, instead of
Gone on a wild bug chase Views from the Uppermost House
Definition of sexual violence Stopping the Abuse
by Lake Region Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence All too often, we define violence only when there is an injury due to physical force. We define violence only by its extreme. Violence involves any injury to someone — harm is done, a wrong is done or suffered. Certainly, when sexual abuse or sexual assault is experienced, harm is done — emotional and psychological harm, spiritual harm and perhaps physical harm. Sexual violence occurs in many forms:
Incest involves sexual behavior between family members. Often, incest involves sexual behavior between siblings, where one child is older, or a child forces another child. Incest is also often between an adult — a family member or perceived family member — and a child. Most frequently the adult is a parent, stepparent, grandfather, uncle, or a person seen as “part of the family.” Child Sexual Abuse is sex-
ual behaviors between non-family members, where one or both of the individuals involved is a child. This often involves an adult a child loves, trusts, respects, or an adult a child fears. Adults who engage in child sexual abuse may be anyone — a “friend” of the family, Scout leader, clergy, teacher, coach or babysitter. The sexual abuse may involve no direct physical contact — photographing children or exposing children to sexual behaviors. Sexual Assault occurs between individuals when one of the parties does not freely consent to the sexual behavior. The behavior can include sexual touching, sexual contact or sexual acts. Sexual assault can occur within a marriage — being
married does not mean a person gives up their right to consent. In addition, when someone is under the influence of alcohol, or other drugs, they cannot freely consent. Sexual Harassment is any unwanted behaviors of a sexual nature that make the “target” (person who is experiencing sexual harassment) or “bystander” (person who is observing the sexual harassment) uncomfortable. Sexual harassment includes behaviors such as sexual namecalling, obscene/sexual gestures, offensive jokes, stares/leers, touching in a sexual manner, sexual text in e-mails/cell phones and use of sexual words/images that are offensive to others. VIOLENCE, Page D
77 years ago: The Bridgton of 1935 Back in the Day by Lega Medcalf Bridgton Historical Society
News Item Excerpt: The shoe shop proposition, which has kept the town on tenter hooks now for some time, moved up several notches toward realization over the weekend, when a series of formal and informal meetings were held to discuss an entirely new offer which had come during the last week from Massachusetts parties now engaged in the selling end and who were looking for a place to start a factory to manufacture shoes, which they would sell direct. For obvious reasons it is not polite at this time to go into the matter of names and locations. This proposed company would expect abatement of taxes as was voted at a recent special town meeting and free rent. The machinery that the company would
Letters Naming the sameness
To The Editor: City, county, state, federal and cross-border planning are very much in vogue. We have educated a whole generation of people whose vocation and avocation is to save the planet
by planning for “sustainable growth” nationally and internationally. What “sustainable development” provides theoretically is an ordered society with equality for all. In reality, “sustainable development” produces mindnumbing sameness. The same size house, family, clothes, jobs, parks, square footage of beach on the same vacation, bicycles, sneakers, hoodies, contraception and urns to hold our ashes when we die. Most
have to pick up would have to be moved to Bridgton and installed without charge to the new company and it would like to establish a line of credit at the local bank or some other bank, the amount to be determined upon later, but before any definite agreement is entered into. The company which it is proposed to organize, should the Bridgton mill be made available, would agree to employ local labor insofar as possible and would also agree to keep the shop running at least 10 months in the year as far as humanly possible. News Item Excerpt: Town officials and others, who have looked into the matter, are firm in the belief that more snow removal equipment is sorely needed for the Town of Bridgton, if satisfactory service is to be given, but not all of them are of one mind as to just what kind of equipment if would be advisable for the town to buy. Road Commissioner Maurice Chadbourne believes that what the town really needs is a larger tractor and a larger plow to go with it, to supplement the work now being done by the small tractor and plow. These are matters, of course which should be taken up at the annual town meeting, when a greater number of voters is present, but unfortunately, at that time the need of snow equipment is practically over and the minds of the voters do not 1935, Page D
important of all is the Godless, spiritless sameness of life. No accomplishments, no excellence, no dreams, no risks and no rewards. No worries, no joy, just always the same. It is interesting that human nature pushes the planners to design utopian systems that require the rest of us to suppress that very nature and drive that motivates the planners. The consistent flaw in central planning is the conceit that a few planners can devise a
system of living that produces equal success for all regardless of how much effort an individual puts into the system and this conceit requires that the majority lose the God infused human spirit that has driven mankind from the depths of darkness to the shining city on the hill. Planners are by nature utopians. They have grand ideas about how society should be structured. The fly in these utopian schemes is the planners’
being sensible and going straight to bed, we stayed up way past midnight. The alarm blared just after dawn on Saturday morning and, surprisingly, I found my normally nocturnal daughter, who rarely rises before lunch (“Um, no, I don’t do a.m.”), all lit up and ready to go — bugs do that to her, I guess. After stopping for designer coffee, we drove north in a steady gray rain, chattering away about her upcoming college courses, identifying road kill and quizzing each other on famous movie lines: “You’re gonna need a bigger boat,” “Think you used enough dynamite there, Butch?” “No more rhyming, I mean it!” etc. Nearing the tollbooth, we had to scrape the floor mats for loose change because we hadn’t really thought that far ahead. Once we left the turnpike, we got lost. It took a bit of hunting and pecking to find the address for the much-anticipated Bug. When we finally arrived, there was no VW in sight and the door to the building was locked. I tried calling again, but got nothing. A scruffy guy pulled up in a stove-in pick-up with a bad muffler and a smiling toddler on the seat next to him. No, he didn’t work there, but he thought he could help anyway, so I stood out in the BUG, Page D
On the Water by Ron Terciak, JN Past Commander U.S. Power Squadrons Long Lake Marine Patrol
What is a small craft warning?
It may surprise you to know that small-craft warnings have nothing to do with the size of your boat. It is simply a description of weather conditions in coastal and near-shore waters that may result in high winds and severe sea/wave conditions for a sustained period of time. It may further surprise you to know that the conditions calling for a small-craft warning are not universal, but are different for six separate geographical areas. In northern areas, these warnings may be issued on a totally calm day as an advisory of sea or lake ice. I live in the Southern Region, where a small-craft advisory is defined as “sustained winds of 20 to 30 knots, and or forecast seas seven feet or greater that are expected to sustain for more than two hours.” When a boater hears a television or NOAA broadcast with this warning, he should immediately tune to NOAA or an Internet site to obtain additional data on the impending conditions. Since there is no legal definition of a “small craft,” it is up to the captain to decide on the degree of hazard that exists and takes into consideration his experience and the type and size of his boat. When these warnings occur, it is a good idea to stay off the water. Not only do wind and wave conditions present a potential danger, they are also a factor that could turn a simple situation on a calm day into something dangerous. Engine problems, loss of power steering, out of gas, medical emergencies and many other everyday issues become much more serious when one is battling 20 knot winds and three-foot waves on local waters, or seven-foot waves off shore. Further, in the presence of fronts, more severe weather conditions may ratchet up rather quickly. So you need to be alert and listen to all advisories and be ready to take precautionary action. Check the weather forecast before leaving shore, always monitor NOAA and keep your eyes on the skies when out on the water. Remember that it is always best to err on the safe side. So when small-craft warnings are issued, do not over-estimate perception of human nature. They think that man’s desire to better himself has to be controlled lest the less ambitious or gifted are left with less than others. What the planners don’t understand is that when people better themselves they take others with them as they go forward. This is a voluntary impulse that is not by any means perfect, but cannot be compelled and the positive results of this voluntary
impulse far exceed the negative results achieved by compulsory orders. Life is not a zero sum game; when one person works and earns a dollar, he didn’t steal that dollar, he earned it. When the government takes a dollar from an American who has earned it and spends it on a redistribution scheme, the government has stolen that dollar giving nothing in return. In doing so, the government has LETTERS, Page D