Mainers weigh in on proposed national monument at packed forums in Orono, East Millinocket
Source: Bangor Daily News
ORONO, Maine — A near capacity crowd of 1,400 people attended a forum on a proposed North Woods national monument on Monday at the University of Maine during which pro and con arguments followed one another in quick succession.
After a tense forum involving Katahdin region leaders in East Millinocket earlier in the day, where speakers were almost universally opposed to the proposal, the public meeting at UMaine’s Collins Center for the Arts showed the stark differences of opinion on the subject held by people around the state.
Fans of the monument proposed by the family of entrepreneur Roxanne Quimby, some of whom rode buses from Portland sponsored by environmentalist groups, praised it as a tonic that would put lovely woods on an international stage, draw thousands of tourists and create more jobs in a Katahdin region that needs them. Opponents, including forest-products workers, decried it as an oversold boondoggle that would impose an unwanted and unresponsive federal control on the area.
The UMaine forum was the second attended by National Park Service Director Jonathan Jarvis and U.S. Sen. Angus King, I-Maine. The first, at an East Millinocket higher education center, drew about 75 people.
<more>
Read more: http://bangordailynews.com/2016/05/16/news/state/maine-people-weigh-in-on-proposed-national-monument-at-packed-forums-in-orono-east-millinocket/
Park Yes
yup
= new reply since forum marked as read
