Weekly FACT
Pertaining to the 975 house lots proposed in the Plan:

All of the shore land lots will be grouped in clusters, with commonly-held open space between. Lot owners will be required to join a homeowners association responsible for road maintenance, conservation of the common land, and private, shared boat launch areas where appropriate.

The shore land lots are planned for 15 lakes and ponds (14 which already have development on them).

An average of less than 30 percent of all the shoreline is proposed for development and open space. The balance of the shoreline – over 70 percent – will be placed in permanent easements.

40 percent of the lots will be on backland, clustered on 5 acre parcels.

Restrictive deed covenants will set building, buffer, screening, and outdoor lighting requirements on all shore land and back lots.

No further subdivision will be allowed on any lot.

The lots will be sold over a 10-15 year period. The sales will be phased in, controlling the area growth.

This 10-15 year phase in plan creates less development than has actually occurred in the Moosehead region the past 20 years (1,550 lots developed).

Vandalism Distracts from Public Debate
COLUMN: Terrorists Among Us
Kennebec Journal September 7, 2005

A weekly column written by George Smith of Mount Vernon, who is the executive director of the Sportsman's Alliance of Maine.

Eco-tourism has turned into eco-terrorism in Maine.

The vandalism and violence aimed at Plum Creek Timber Co. by those who oppose the company's lake concept plan for western Maine is outrageous and marks a very sad time in Maine's history.

Plum Creek has presented Maine's Land Use Regulation Commission with a comprehensive concept plan covering 426,000 acres in the Moosehead Lake region. Although LURC encourages large landowners to present these long-range plans, balanced between development and conservation, Plum Creek's plan drew criticism from the first day it was announced.

Sadly, that opposition has even been violent and nasty.

Months ago, I wrote a column favorable to the plan. But the organization for which I work, the Sportsman's Alliance of Maine, has yet to take a position. Earlier this week, SAM's board of directors heard presentations from both proponents and opponents. Also, my sister Edie, who heads the Eaton Peabody Consulting Group in Augusta, was retained not long ago to work on the project for Plum Creek.

What you get today in this column is neither the opinion of SAM nor of my sister nor of anyone else. This is pure George, as always. Do not blame anyone else for my opinion. Here it is, with both barrels:

I am ashamed that any Maine resident would resort to violence and vandalism to express a point of view. Those who do so are cowards and unworthy of taking part in this debate. I wish they could be apprehended and put in a stockade in Augusta's Memorial Circle.

For the record, here is what I know from reading the newspaper:

On the day Plum Creek announced its plan, an individual or group arrived at the company's Fairfield office under cover of darkness and vandalized it, painting slogans on the sides of the building and trashing the place.

Two hours after discovering the vandalism, Plum Creek employees looked outside to see a group of college students and others protesting on their front lawn. The protesters claimed that the vandalism was coincidental to their protest, something in which they had not participated. Hardly a credible statement, I think.

In bucolic Greenville, Plum Creek's office was broken into and computers and other equipment stolen. Some of the equipment was found in a field behind the building, but the rest remains missing.

At LURC's scoping session in Hallowell recently, Plum Creek's top staff person had a car tire slashed and the words "Leave Maine" deeply scratched into the side of one door.

The same week, a Plum Creek logging contractor had his equipment vandalized -- for the second time.

Piscataquis County Sheriff John Goggin said, "We don't know if this is an environmental group doing this or another group that would just like to see the environmentalists get the blame for it."

Let's set this sorry record straight: No environmental group did this. Nor did any proponent of Plum Creek's proposal. Those who resort to this kind of vandalism and violence are terrorist organizations -- so identified by none other than the FBI.

A few years ago, one such group, the Animal Liberation Front, known as ALF, vandalized three Maine fish and game clubs. One got hit twice. In Phippsburg, the club's propane system was set up to explode. Only the quick thinking of a local fireman and club member, the first on the scene, resulted in the system being dismantled. Someone might have died otherwise.

Even though ALF claimed credit for these violent acts on its international Web site, the FBI never made an arrest in these cases.

Nor has anyone been arrested in all the vandalism and violence suffered by Plum Creek.

I am wondering: Where is the outrage? Why aren't Maine's political leaders jumping up and down to denounce these acts of violence? Why aren't the police agencies going all out to find and stop these people?

Where are the editorials denouncing this violence? Why aren't Maine's environmental groups speaking out against these violent criminals?

Is this the message our leaders want to send to Maine's business community and to businesses across the country?

Come to Maine and get trashed and abused. Present your plans -- and burn, baby, burn.

Actually, these terrorists have burned buildings in other states -- including laboratories where vital medical research is being conducted and multimillion dollar condominiums in Western ski villages. These people are dangerous.

I seem to recall that they also destroyed a crop of corn at the University of Maine a few years ago, wiping out years of research. It had something to do with their unhappiness that this corn was being improved genetically. No one was arrested.

Will anyone be caught this time? Does anyone care?

It is time for all of us -- political leaders, law-enforcement agencies and ourselves -- to send a clear message that violence in the name of environmentalism is intolerable and not the Maine way.

Let's figure out who did this so they can check out the environment inside a jail.

Thank you for taking the time to read our newsletter. Please forward this to your family, friends, neighbors, co-workers and organizations you belong to and help us spread the word. Any questions or comments may be directed to Edie Leary eleary@eatonpeabody.com or Will Gardiner wgardiner@eatonpeabody.com or by calling The Coalition Information Center at 1-888-702-7466 or (207) 695-2264.