Bo was a founder and active leader in the Washington County Alliance, but is best known nationally for his own research on the "myth of the willing seller" in Federal land acquisitions. Following a 1992 Wilderness Society letter in the New York Times whitewashing Federal land acquisition as no "threat" to landowners, Bo used the Freedom of Information Act to obtain names and addresses of property owners who had recently sold to the National Park Service and the US Fish and Wildlife Service -- personally suing in court at his own expense to enforce the Freedom of Information Act against agency stonewalling. Using the names he obtained, Bo conducted a comprehensive survey and confirmed with heart-wrenching documentation that the government had brutally forced the owners out, just as it had in its previous history. His report on the National Park Service is still maintained at http://willingseller.net.

http://www.bangornews.com/a/class/obituaries/obituary.cfm?id=54380

Monday, January 2, 2006

BO W. THOTT
CUTLER - Bo Axel Christer Waldemar Thott died Dec. 23, 2005, in Machias. He was born Dec. 1, 1915, in the Royal Svea Life Guard Parish, Stockholm, Sweden, the son of Hans Axel Waldemar Thott and M?rta Anna Charlotta (Petersens) Thott. He was a graduate of the Swedish Royal Military Academy, the Swedish Army War College and the U.S. Command and Staff College. He belonged to the Royal Swedish Life Guard, trained and commanded infantry, rifle and heavy weapons units and served as battalion operations officer in the field. He was detailed to the Swedish Defense Staff and then for service as Assistant Army Attach? at the Swedish Embassy in Washington, D.C. After having resigned his Swedish commission, he received a U.S. Army Reserve commission in the infantry and later served in Civil Affairs staff units, 352nd, 354th and 450th, in the Washington, D.C., area, as a member or commander and as commander of a unit in a NATO maneuver in Europe. He served as a national director and chapter president of the Civil Affairs Association. As a civilian, he served in the Army Corps of Engineers, the Defense Intelligence Agency and the National Technical Information Service. He reconnoitered roads in the Yukon Territory in Canada and northernmost Europe. He was a member of the Committee on Documentation and Publishing, American National Standards Institute. After retiring to Cutler, he became a shepherd. He served as a school director in school administrative district 77 and as secretary of the Washington County Alliance, an organization dedicated to defending property rights. He wrote "Willing Seller, Willing Buyer" and designed the Washington County emblem. He was a registered Libertarian. He is survived by his beloved wife, Jean Huey (Robinson) Thott; two daughters from a previous marriage, Ingegerd Krogsund and Kerstin Wallace; and five grandchildren, Ann and James Krogsund and Michael, Eric and Keith Wallace; and his stepchildren, John, Charles and Susan Robinson. A memorial service will be held 2 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 7, 2006, at the East Machias Congregational Church. Arrangements are under the care of Bragdon-Kelley-Campbell Funeral Home, 6 Cooper St., Machias.