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Bruce Fremont Leavitt of Millinocket is a lifetime Member Fin & Feather Club of Maine.
Several weeks ago Lucas St. Clair, president of the Ellitosville Foundation wrote a column “Millinocket shows we’re not as divided as we think.” I pondered the column over several times because there are areas in it I found far afield.
I have lived in Millinocket all my life so far and have seen immense changes over my 68 years. There have been some great ones and some not so good. In the country of ours, which I think is wonderful, politics can be very divisive.
St. Clair’s column centers on the Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument, just northwest of Millinocket, though it is slowly encroaching on Millinocket.
One of the biggest problems in my eyes and many others is that this land becomes federal land. We do not want to become like Utah where over 63 percent is owned by the federal government. Federal land ownership for Maine is 1.5 percent, and Nevada is about 80 percent. I really do not think St. Clair or others have an understanding of this. By allowing the Department of Interior to take control we have little or no say over the land.
Enticed by the thought of gaining snow sled, ATV and other access some came into the national monument fold. But remember, this is the federal government. Maine has no say over it, we lose it. We have the most wonderful park I think in Baxter State Park and slowly others are buying land around it, choking it off. I always found it interesting that Gov. Percival Baxter did not want the federal government involved.
What does this have to do with Millinocket? In June, the Millinocket Town Council voted 4-3 not to send a letter in support of Sen. Angus King’s bill to expand the park’s boundary to potentially include road access from Millinocket. Then began what I view as a travesty. In the next few weeks, councilors were inundated with phone calls of disapproval of their vote. I wonder how many actual residents were in those calls.
In an August meeting, the issue was brought up again. Usually at a meeting there may be half a dozen citizens there. This time though it was packed with people (citizens and non-citizens). Non-residents were allowed to speak, which I believe is a violation of the town charter. One councilor was excused and the vote comes up and it is 6-0 to send the letter to Sen. King in support of his legislation.
Yes, Millinocket wants to build a better future, yet I believe Millinocket was and is not divided on this. I think St. Clair mistook differences as division.
The monument slowly is buying Maine lands and spreading. The Wabanaki own land near the monument and so do others willing to sell the soul of the land, perhaps not knowing this could lead to a federal park. The loss of this land to a national park is staggering to me, though I doubt I will see it in my time. I think Gov. Baxter would be ashamed at what is going on with the federal government gaining a hold on our diamond in the wilderness. Yet, they have built a Taj Mahal in the woods where we once trekked in God’s great beauty. Now the Stacyville Road may become a traffic mess. We have lost more than you realize with the monument and the other building on the Grindstone Road.
I think those that attended the August Millinocket town council meeting need to concentrate where it matters. What comes to mind is Main Street and businesses and local roads that the federal government is not helping to maintain. Where are all these people at budget time or other council meetings? From my perspective, St. Clair is wrong in a lot of his assumptions.
