Bangor Daily News

Emmc Seeks New Leader As Former Ceo Focuses Energies Behind the Scenes

BANGOR - The search is under way for a new chief executive officer at Maine's second-largest hospital, Eastern Maine Medical Center. Former CEO Norman Ledwin said in a recent interview that it will be "an optimistic and energetic search, with all hands on board to interview the candidates." The goal is to name a new hospital CEO by the end of June.

Bangor Hydro Seeks to Cut Up to 40 Jobs Computers to Replace Meter Readers

BANGOR - Human eyes will soon no longer be reading the meters of Bangor Hydro-Electric Co.'s 100,000-plus customers. Under a plan that will eliminate up to 40 union jobs, humans will be replaced with $15 million worth of computerized meter-monitoring equipment.

Eastern Buy Hinges On Loan Negotiations

BANGOR - An unidentified group's offer to purchase abandoned Eastern Pulp and Paper Corp. is worth "tens of millions of dollars" although a significant amount of that is not cash but new loans, including a request for $4 million from the state-supported Finance Authority of Maine. The company's offer is being circulated among negotiators, creditors and other interested parties under a confidentiality agreement. A source close to the loan negotiations who asked not to be identified said the de...

Aid Available for Workers Affected by Eastern Closure

BREWER - Workers who were indirectly affected by the Jan. 16 closure of Eastern Pulp and Paper mills in Brewer and Lincoln are now eligible for National Emergency Grant funds. Indirectly affected workers are those who work for businesses that are not directly associated with the mills but whose business will be harmed by the shutdown. The Maine Department of Labor notified Maine's congressional delegates Tuesday about the grant funds. Representatives from the offices of U.S. Sens. Olympia Sno...

Log Home Builders Roll in to Visit Maine Peers

KENDUSKEAG - More than 100 representatives from major log home companies around the country gathered Tuesday at Northeastern Log Homes as part of the annual Log Homes Council President's Tour. New council President Rich Horn, an associate at Northeastern Log Homes, was responsible for bringing the tour to central Maine, kicking it off Monday with stops at Moosehead Cedar Log Homes in Greenville and the University of Maine's Wood Composite Center.

Bread Dealer to Close in P.I.

PRESQUE ISLE - Interstate Brands Companies is closing down its Aroostook County distribution center on April 3. Company officials, however, would not discuss the move Tuesday. The announcement was made in a letter to Aroostook County customers on the weekend. Customers were told the move was being done because of rising health care, labor and transportation costs.

Calais Car Dealer Pleads Guilty to Odometer Charge Da Povich Says False Mileage Reading Might Have Added Up to $17,000 On '01 Corvette's Resale Value

ELLSWORTH - A Calais car dealership pleaded guilty Tuesday to a misdemeanor charge in 5th District Court for putting wrong information on a car's certificate of title. Pratt Chevrolet was fined $5,000 for listing an inaccurate odometer reading for a 2000 Corvette that it sold to a Whiting couple in 2001, District Attorney Michael Povich said Tuesday.

Big Steel Users Bitten by Surcharges

A Michigan court case last week revealed rising steel prices have hit even the largest U.S. companies, with General Motors submitting to surcharges levied by two suppliers, a rare capitulation by one of the most powerful steel buyers in the world. GM filed in Michigan state court to attempt to hold Indiana- based Steel Dynamics Inc. and a unit of Textron Inc. to prices agreed upon in a 2003 supply contract. The suppliers later tacked on the surcharges as an attempt to compensate for price inc...

P.I. Intermodal Facility Reopens

PRESQUE ISLE - Trucks, trains and box trailers are moving in and out of Skyway Industrial Park after two inactive years. Last week's renewal of traffic stems from a local customer's decision to move goods through Presque Isle Intermodal, the city- owned terminal leased to a company affiliated with the Montreal, Maine and Atlantic Railway.

Begetting Violence

It is too early to know the effect of Israel's killing Monday of the leader of the terrorist group Hamas. Chances are excellent that they will not be good. Just as the Bush administration has found with the capture of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, capturing or killing someone who is thought to direct suicide bombings, air raids and other acts of violence does not mean those attacks will stop. If Ariel Sharon's government believed that attacks on Israelis would be lessened by killing Hamas fo...

Money for Laptops

The debate over the Maine Learning Technology Initiative - laptops in schools - began several years ago with widespread doubt about the value of the technology, proceeded to limited acceptance of the technology but doubts about the specific Maine initiative, thence to a reworking of the plan and a doubling back to doubts about the value of the computers before finally arriving at acceptance, even admiration, of the value of the technology. This occurred just as lawmakers discovered they no lo...

Wrong Priorities

Right on Linda Scott (BDN March 22) and I quote "why can't the laptops be returned? Where is the $18 million the DHS lost, (which appears to be more like $171 million)? What is important, the wildlife population or the mentally challenged and handicapped population?" I wonder what this world has come to. I have a residential care facility in my home where two 50-year- old gentlemen live who spent 20 years in Maine's infamous institute. The majority of their problems stem from the state's inad...

Commercialism Slide

Springtime arrives, and so does Maine Public Radio fundraising time. Once again, I will not be sending dues to this great station. I am protesting pubic radio's continued slide into commercialism. The advertising spots now include Wal-Mart and Microsoft. Both of them are mega-corporations that have violated laws and mistreated workers, squelched competition and degraded the environment. But the bigger point is that advertising doesn't belong on publicly funded radio. These days, public radio ...

Taxing Opportunities

Former Rep. Jim Wilfong's proposal to tax bottled water at 20 cents a gallon opens up all kinds of exciting new taxing opportunities. According to the March 18 BDN, Wilfong's rationale is that "this is a public resource, a public asset, and citizens have worked to protect it." Based on the price of bottled water at the local "big box," about 60 cents a gallon, Wilfong's tax is a modest 33 percent of the current retail price. Think how much we could send to Augusta if we applied the same 33 pe...

Not Profiting From Iraq

In his rush to restate a tired and predictable thesis on how companies are "profiting from the war in Iraq," Jim Valette in his self-righteous March 20 column made several false and absurd assertions about Secretary Bill Cohen and our consulting company, The Cohen Group. The Cohen Group did not "land a Coalition Provisional Authority contract for Nour USA", nor did Secretary Cohen have any direct or indirect discussions with any CPA or U.S. military authorities at any time regarding a contrac...

Abortion Consequences

The Senate's final vote on the Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act was 64 to 33. It is disappointing that our own Maine senators voted in favor this procedure. As a Christian man, I cannot be indifferent to how this impacts women. We must all defend God's commandment: "Thou shall not kill." We have an obligation to act, by writing to our senators and congressmen to show our opposition.