Tux sucks wind, once more.

Nothing but the revealed truth for Portland Press Herald's Tux Turkel,when it comes to the reworked plan by ex governor Angus King to plaster yet another scenic Maine mountain ridge with what will certainly be  poorly producing, subsidy-dependent  eyesores.

In his article Builder reduces impact of Highland Wind plan.   Tux swallows the King's public relations noise as glibly as a raw oyster, and pronounces it Good:
"The developer of a controversial wind farm proposed for Somerset County has redesigned the project to benefit residents and reduce visual impacts on the Appalachian Trail and the Bigelow Preserve."

Note he didn't write: "The developer of a controversial wind farm proposed for Somerset County SAYS THAT HE has redesigned the project to benefit residents and reduce visual impacts on the Appalachian Trail and the Bigelow Preserve."

Nope. If it comes from the King, it's gotta be so, in Turkel's star-struck eyes.

Lynda Clancy shows 'em how to write.

I really liked Lynda's Herald Gazette article "Warren blasts CRC health, methadone culture" 

Unlike some reportage  from that occasionally fine newspaper, here Clancy effortlessly draws together milieu, storyline, meeting participants, backstory, the conflicting sociologies and economics of this event, in which a California based company held a public meeting on its proposal to place a methadone clinic in the tiny Midcoast Maine town of Warren

The simple lines that won my heart was when she wrote:  Still another person shouted, "Let him talk! Let the man finish." 

Documenting that tempering voice in the midst of jeers and uproar revealed to readers the essential civic decency of the wrathful  townfolk, even in the midst of this highly charged event, where angry town residents in the packed gymnasium are not only rejecting the proposal, but also signing petitions calling for the ouster of town manager and code officer. 

It was like a written version of  Norman Rockwell's "Freedom of Speech" painting, something I recently had the pleasure of lingering over in its original form. 


Great work, Lynda. Something that the town ought to keep in its archive. 

(But then I'm an amateur historian, and loathe the general run of  low-information and frequently critically deficient coverage of locally important events that all too many other journalists are, alas, prone to produce.)

Village Shlep: why won't Herald Gazette reporter Auciello cover both sides of the local windpower stories?

Sometimes you just have to gnash your teeth over the  determination of local commercial media workers to avoid rocking the boat of Commerce.  Take Village Soup's Herald Gazette reporter Shlomit Auciello.

Please.  

Joking aside, Auciellot reports on windmill stories for the Herald Gazette, which covers Knox County, Maine, from coastal  Camden to Port Clyde on Penobscot Bay's shores, and inland to the town of Washington and the upper Saint George River Valley.
     
Unfortunately, as her stories reveal, she is demonstrably content to be stenographer to industry, uncritically reprinting every oneliner the industry can feed her, while brazenly editing out dissenting opinions and inconvenient truths from her windpower stories. 
     
Consider her latest story on the topic Camden Select Board reviews wind proposals... -a story which doesn't even mention the word " windmill", and scrubbed  out the fact that windfarm promoter George Baker's claim, of having already met with "a bunch of regulators" about his plans for Ragged Mountain, turns out, on questioning, to have been an informal meeting with a single former member of the Maine Public Utility Commission.    It was not newsworthy to her  that Baker had boldly knowingly lied to the people of Camden and their duly elected representatives at the meeting, which aired on community cable too. Nor of course, were the convolutions Baker went through to avoid answering the Big Question. 


All Camdenites were no doubt eager to learn how many windmills  the Island Institute and the investors squatting behind them have in mind.  But neither such fundamental information, nor even coverage of George Baker's see-no-evil antics in keeping this vague was to be found in her reportage. 
     
Or Shlomit Auciello's immortal May 12, 2010 piece: Camden Hills windplanners gain approval for on-campus turbine which can be summarized again as uncritical stenography of what one source calls  "a carpetbagging Massachusetts firm" using public relations spin on credulous journalists, to gets high school students to squeeze their parents for $500,000 dollars to buy and operate a wind turbine. Where? In the midst of a owl- and other bird-rich coastal forest area. A windmill that, both the manufacturer and  the University of Massachusetts professorial windpower shill George Baker admit, probably won't perform worth a hoot.  But for Aucello, evidently, that nature stuff,  and the admitted uselessness of the community's investment, is not news worth informing her readers of.


Those two tales follow the same wind industry uber alles line as Auciello's two windpower-related stories from  earlier this year:


March 10, 2010  Sharing the bottom: Maine Fishermen's Forum looks at wind energy
Again Shlomit  Auciello excises her Krhuschev-like magic eraser to blot out  the chief participants in this story of a presentation at this annual gathering of lobstermen, groundfishers and other commercial fishermen  of a state plan to begin leasing state waters to the wind industry.  Despite there being a furious roomful of fishfolk disputing this pronouncement, Auciello quotes only from the wind industry and its governmental supporters. 


"Prepare to share" Maine  marine resources Comissioner George Lapointe told the assembled.  But true to form, Herald Gazette reporter Shlomit Auciello was prepared to share only industry and government's point of view with her listeners, not that of the fishermen - whose Forum this gathering was, after all!

February 18, 2010 Monhegan islanders hear more about wind study plans

  "Approximately 25 people attended a meeting on Monhegan Island Feb. 16 to learn more about plans for a deepwater wind energy testing site to be located about 2.5 miles off the island's shore."  Were there dissenters at the meeting?  Yes. Did she cover that fact? No!  Is there a lawsuit in Maine Superior Court about the very recently approved plan being touted at the meeting? Yes!  Did Auciello know? Yes. Does she mention it in her coverage? No!  

What is one to do in the face of this sort of censorship?  Thanks to all the social media, from blogs to twitter and everything in between, one can get information directly to persons or demographics of interest.   

    

But the proud imprimatur of unbiased  professional journalism, that  has long been stamped on Maine's print media, is vanishing as Auciello and others like her reflexively use the delete button on dissenting points of view in their copy.

Maine media sellouts on Windpower: the worst and the dumbest

Top down winner has always been the Working Waterfront tabloid emanating from the Island Institute. Now that the Island Institute and some of its board members are deep into the financial trough of corporate welfare that the federal government is doling out in great dollops to the wind extraction industry, it is no longer so caring about the feisty Maine islanders that  the 'Tute has long made its bread and butter on.  Under the bus the islanders go, along with all windsprawl malcontents.

The Portland Press Herald is next. Tux Turkel  & Ethan Wilensky-Lanford  will NOT mention any opposition to ocean wind farming. Fishermen? What? Maine has fishermen? They don't want windfarms? Yawn. Sorry, Tux et al can't cover that point of view; doesn't fit the spin from corporate welfare types  that all windmilling is good windmilling  


The PPH an d its satellite Kennebeck Journal  will also stupidly persist in writing that the bill is about "nearshore" windmilling, when it is most assuredly about "offshore" windmillery.

There are many other examples of witless windhuggery among the members of Maine's 4th estate.  Someone's gotta educate the news scibblers.

Stay tuned.

Maine first state to ban ocean windfarming. Media yawns.

Sometimes reporters just don't grasp the big picture. Not surprising, as beleaguered journalists  find themselves covering ever more stories per day, and  with time enough only to assemble enough facts and a hook to fill a news hole, then off to the next. But this story seemed extraordinary. A case of not seeing  the forest for all the trees. First the backstory:

On March 24, 2010 By unanimous vote, the Maine Legislature's Utilities and Energy Committee sent a final version of LD 1810."An Act To Implement the Recommendations of the Governor's Ocean Energy Task Force", to the floor where it is expected to pass without difficulty and be signed by Governor Baldacci.

The bill  prohibits windfarming in state waters and directs would-be ocean windmill investors to join in an effort to build  floating offshore wind turbines in Maine and then tow them ten miles and further from shore for deployment in federal and EEZ waters.  

The decision to refrain from windfarming in state waters came after intense opposition from lobsterimen, groundfishermen, scallopers and shrimpers, objecting to the threatened  leasing away of their irreplaceable commercial fishing grounds  to absentee power utilities.

The bill also proposes  that the state market deep offshore wind as a special kind of "green ocean energy" that doesn't harm scenery and property values like  land-based wind farms do in Maine. 

The writer for the Kennebec Journal & Portland Press Herald, E

than Wilensky-Lanford,

 

made only the barest passing reference to the former and focused instead on the latter: the state wanting to persuade Maine business and academia to buy higher priced power that the offshore wind farm would generate  

The rather astonishing victory by fishermen, windjammers and other coastal interests in preventing  the closing of the state's marine commons is almost dismissed by

 Wilensky-Lanford's article. In hi article  Panel backs near-shore wind, tide power bill 

 he  wrote: "The bill set short-term goals of developing near-shore wind power, but now is more focused on deep-water projects.

"

Such understatement! the reader cannot tell from this article that there will be no windfarming in Maine state waters,. Can they?  

Tut tut, Ethan.

Tux sux once again - completely misses the big story

Get this: There was a legislative hearing. Unexpectedly the chair of another committee comes to the hearing and tells the committee to throw out its big bill and do it over. This is echoed by the speaker of the house. Both are impelled by a wave of angry communications from their constituents. 

Tux yawns. 

This concerns of course LD 1810, An Act To Implement the Recommendations of the Governor's Ocean Energy Task Force.   But Tux has been given his marching orders: the story will be about the heating oil industry being ticked about the wheareases that call for phasing out their polluting industry over time.

This is exciting! Tux thinks. Angry oilmen! Easy story! Tux grins. Simple work.

But in the intersest of illuminating what Tux clouded with his witless prose...Here's what happened:

In the 36 hours before the hearing on LD 1810, members, of the Utility and Energy Committee said, they had heard loud and clear from Maine fishermen about their extreme displeasure with the notion of this bill opening up Maine state waters to nearshore commercial windfarms, pushing scallopers shrimpers & groundfishermen out.  

Then  Representative Leila Percy, co-chair of the Marine Resources Committee, lets the Untily and Energy Committee know both that the bill  threatened Maine fishermen and was not acceptable, and that she spoke for Speaker of the House Hannah Pingree (who couldn't be there)  on this as well.

As the TV cameras rolled, and energy lobbyists reeled in dismay,  the Utility and Energy  committee switched from unqualified support for LD 1810, to considering two alternatives: either 

(1) turning LD 1810 into a Resolve, and shipping it round  to other legislative committees and commercial fishing communities next year before taking any action, or 

(2)  removing from the bill all wording related to anything that would facilitate  commercial windfarm operations in Maine state waters.


Uh...Tux?  


Nope. The Tuxter didn't find that newsworthy.   Fishermen are so...old economy.  So passe'.  Turkel instead gapes at the twinkle and shine of the windmills, whose lobbyists glitter with wealth and political connection.  Fishermen be damned.

Under option 2 the bill would continue with sections that give the wind industry tax breaks and immunizes it from a variety of conservation and environmental laws, also known as  "streamlining"  the laws.  "Streamlining? More like amputating the law," one conservation  activist grumped to the committee,  and the room filled with uneasy laughter.

Also remaining in the altered LD 1810  would be a controversial "Welfare Wind" section, This part of the bill forces Mainers to subsidize the wind industry by requiring electricity utilities to purchase wind-generated power for triple what they pay Bangor Hydro and other  electricity providers,  but then allows the utilities  to pass  the increased cost on to Maine consumers.

The oil heating industry also showed up in opposition to LD 1810  In particular, they opposed a section that calls for phasing their industry out of the home and commercial heating business and requiring Maine consumers to use electricity for heating.  

While oil and lobsters don't mix well in nature, in Augusta they may together push LD 1810, and the energy industry behind it, far away from its original goals.  


But for Tux, this would interfere with the official marching orders to glorify the wind industry at all costs.

Village Soup: blowing the wind story. Again.

 In Sharing the bottom: Maine Fishermen's Forum looks at wind energy, Rockland Herald Gazette/VillageSoup reporter Shlomit Auciello has again indulged in her Khruschev-like excision from the picture of some of the chief participants in the story:  This time covering a meeting on a plan to fill state nearshore waters with windmills. The reporter quotes only from the wind industry and its governmental supporters. Where are the fishermen in the story?  There was a furious roomful, I was there, Auciello was there. the fishhermen and their leaders were there. Last time she ignored the chief litigant in the offshore wind plan of the state in her story on University of Maine's offshore wind plan. Lawsuit? What lawsuit?

Why were none of them in her "coverage"?  Apparently the editorial policy of the Herald Gazette and its Village Soup owners is to censor out any dissenters to uncontrolled land-rush windfarm expansion into Maines nearshore and offshore waters.  Existing users be damned, no matter how many centuries they've fished and sailed here. And the fishermen are furious, as Auciello would know by contacting the commercially fishing  members of her local community. She instead, threw the fishing industry under the bus

She giave her readers a false impression of what happened at this imnportant event, what it means for people living on the coast  and who wins and loses with upcoming legislation that would open entire Maine coast to windfarms.

Just another surgical strike on truth, by the Rockland Herald gazette

Too FEW cooks spoil the broth, too

Imagine you are a reporter for a weekly midcoast Maine newspaper, and you are tipped to a secret mission of wind industry R&D representatives heading to Monhegan to do a dog and pony show to the winter natives of the island. You learn that an opponent of that very wind R&D project is going there too, and  has bones to pick with the R&D-ers.

Imagine that the opponent records the presentation and the question and answer period following and lets the reporter hear the discontent of the Monhegan Islanders over the vagueness of the would be wind R&Ders promises to "monitor". Let's the reporter hear the wind reps promise to withdraw if there are serious repercussions to birds, or to the view or to the quality of life of Monheganers.  Let her hear proof there is a bill sneaking about the back halls of the Maine legislature to open up all of Maine's coastal waters to wind farming.

Let the reporter know that the opponent - shooting photographs for the reporter - got caught in encroaching darkness and sleet and snow on  a slick cliff trail at a remote corner of the island, and sought and received a helping guide back to his lodging (joining the "100,000 club" of people who've gotten turned around in the island's eastern wildlands and brought back to civilization by patient  islanders.)  Give the reporter some of those those hard-attained photos, and of the meeting of Monhegan's citizenry with the wind industry R&Ds.

Imagine the story that could come out from this concatenation of  engineers, fishermen, hoteliers, plantation, officials, fishermen, a litigator. that could come from the plain-as-can-be  skepticism  evinced by  the islanders challenging smooth talking wind industry reps.

The story you can imagine is not the story that appeared in the  Herald Gazette newspaper, that has shown up in news aggregators  picking up the story.

No. Reporter Auciello threw all that out the window and did what any reporter who chooses not to shake the tree that  pays the newspaper's bills would do:  Cover the story exclusively from the point of view of the industry and  scissor out anything that conflicts with the industry spin.

A quick phone call to one of the engineers, and reporter Auciello had her story:  Everything's wonderful,  the wise industrial plan is underway, there is nothing hampering, nothing challenging the smooth flow of industrial control over  that bit of the Gulf of Maine.

Auciello's story faithfully reports as fact each slick one liner the wind industry's public relations people have dangleed before her. Her job is safe. For now.  What about the point of view of the Monhegan islanders?  Auciello does not quote a single one of them. What about the opponents of the wind farm plan?  That too is not newsworthy. Only the March of Industry, laid out in purple prose that must've have made the energy industry's own PR flacks .

Another writer in the same stable as Auciello is Steve Betts, once editor of the Courier Gazette but now downsized  to reporterdom.  A crucial difference between the two is that veteran scribbler Betts  may bend facts to suit his editorial fancies, but at least he presents the facts to the public, distorted though they may be.

Auciello, alas, belongs to the newer school of journalism, those who sense a $word of Damocles hanging overhead, ever ready to part them from their jobs should they rattle  the bill-paying powers that be.

Censorship at Bangor Daily News. To a good end? Or to end good?

When considering the comments to some of  BDN's recent prison reform articles, and an editorial, one must first screen out the whackjobs who usually dominate that august publication's online comments section. Thus filtered  there are learning moments that are otherwise near concealed amid the chaff and catcalls of BDN's "usual suspect" commenters.   In this case, filtering out  the noise revealed interesting comments from from guards and other informed persons within Maine Corrections culture. They embody criticisms prison reformers are liable to run up against when the solitary confinement bill comes up before the Maine legislature. One of the articles "Activist Probles Inmates Death" had its lengthy comments abruptly deleted & replaced with "Comments are disabled on this item."  Why?

SELECTED  COMMENTERS ON  BDN PRISON STORIES 
11/8/09  TWO INMATES ESCAPE PRISON SATURDAY NIGHT.
11/10/09  PRISON GUARD FIRED AFTER INMATE DEATH.
11/20/09 LITERACY KEY TO LIFE AFTER PRISON
11/20/09 EDITORIAL  SOLITARY PITFALLS
12/4/09 ACTIVIST PROBES INMATE DEATH
12/5/09  STATE MAY FACE $1M LAWSUIT

TWO INMATES ESCAPE PRISON SATURDAY NIGHT.

On 11/8/09 at 11:16 AM, JillT1981 wrote:        
Apparently Fogg already has an escape charge from Windham.......

On 11/8/09 at 1:28 PM, ThsWrldThseDayS wrote:        
from my understanding fogg has already excaped from here once. where they excaped from there is very minimum security due to the fact that the only way inmates go down there is if there senctence has less then 2 years left && they can prove to the guards they are able to go there && have more freedom then at the prison 10 feet down the road. Fogg was put back down there 2 days ago. its  ridiculous. Many inmates that go to the farm are set up w/ jobs && are able to leave during the day and work. I beleive that both these two will be caught very shortly and will have another 5-10yrs added to there sentence


On 11/8/09 at 5:09 PM, nutman007 wrote:        
Anyone know these two? The article says they are not dangerous? Mr Fogg boiled baby oil in his prison issued microwave and threw it in the face of another inmate. Thats just the begining. His acts and crimes have been violent, just like his prison time. Violent escapee is what the article should read.


On 11/9/09 at 3:10 AM, freetospeak wrote:        
someone wrote a comment stating, where were the guards. I think it ought to be known that since the prison system went to 12 hr shifts that there are a lot of days and nights that the prison is really short staffed. On the night of the escapes, the prison was short staffed. So, thanks to state budget, the public is also being put at risk of escapes.


On 11/9/09 at 9:05 AM, LoisGM wrote:        
Did you say "prison issued microwave"? We pay for them to have their own microwave oven in their cell? .

On 11/9/09 at 10:49 AM, Michigal wrote:        
LoisGM No they do NOT have prison issued microwaves in their cells. There is one in the dayroom of each pod, where they can heat up what they buy (with their own money) from the machines (at a  VERY high price).

And these guys were at the Farm. It's supposed to be for those who have earned trust. Unfortunately too many fail and are sent back to the prison. Sometimes for minor stuff (like smoking cigarettes), and sometimes for major stuff (selling drugs, escape). I don't think it was a failure of the Corrections Officers on duty, but more a failure of the decision makers who sent them there, esp. considering Fogg had a previous escape (if what is said above is true).

I am honestly surprised these two yahoos haven't been caught yet. Surely someone identifying himself as "White Trash" shouldn't be too hard to spot. Oh wait, didn't someone say that's most of the  state? Must have been one of those people from away that live in the McMansions by the sea. Because most of the people I know in this state are hard working decent people.

On 11/9/09 at 5:21 PM, Amanda1982 wrote:        
Its not even really a prison, its a farm that the inmates work on. They were right in saying its min. security, and its not the 1st inmate thats escaped from there. You give someone an inch and they take a  mile....

===============================================================================

PRISON GUARD FIRED AFTER INMATE DEATH.  11/10/09

On 11/10/09 at 4:29 AM, outdoorman wrote:        
It is a bad enough of a place to work. It's pretty bad when you are at risk of being punished or sued on the job site for not seeing something go down on your watch. You cannot even help someone out of a burning vehicle these days without the threat of being sued. I would say by this article that they have no idea what inmate(s) did this to this inmate in the wheel chair. More credit needs to be given to these men and women in uniform. They work a sh! t job and put their lives on the line every day. Nobody's perfect.


On 11/10/09 at 9:59 AM, freetospeak wrote:        
Sometimes pretty important details get left out of an article. Details such as the inmate who died had told the officers he was ok and didn't need medical attention after the attack. But, I guess the commissioner just wants a "fall guy" as he does every time something drastic happens at the prison. I guess things such as the pods being designed to be run by two officers but instead is run by one officer on 64 inmates really doesn't matter either. Let's not look at the important issues at hand. Let's just look for a "fall guy" to make the family of the victim feel better. It doesn' t really matter if you ruin the family of a corrections officer who is trying to do his job in the process. Maybe the people who look for the ":fall guy": or the people who have no idea what goes on inside the Maine State Prison should come in and run a pod sometime. Maybe then you will shut the hell up....I am not saying the incident of tis inmate dying isn't unfortunate, because it is. But, don't put the blame on a corrections officer until you look at all the details. Then if the CO is to blame, you can prosecute or whatever. But, don't until you know everything.....

On 11/10/09 at 10:14 AM, guerraelson wrote:        
I understand the feeling of the public in this article. I agree. However, the guards had a job to do. They were being paid to watch over this man regardless of what he was charged/convicted of. If they couldn't do that job without prejudice than maybe they should be looking for a different career. I know what I am talking about because I was a corrections officer for 20 years.

On 11/10/09 at 10:49 AM, RodMarks wrote:        
You couldn't pay me enough to be a prison guard. The crap they have to take from the inmates (sometimes literally) and then they can't even give them an attitude adjustment without being sued for violating someone's civil rights. Lots of details left out of this story like how the prison was set up, was it adequately staffed, was he offered segregation. Everyone will benefit from this except for the guards. The big guys have their scapegoats, the perv's family is going to get paid, the lawyer will get a big fat commission and just maybe the elimination of this perv will have prevented a few cases of future molestations. Justice would be if the lawsuit award went to the victim of the molestation rather than the perv's family.

On 11/10/09 at 1:23 PM, bidoux wrote:        
Why in heck should the state be obligated to pay for wrongful death?
... guerraelson how many guards were on the same section as u. If I understand right he was alone for the whole section.


On 11/10/09 at 3:18 PM, Amanda1982 wrote:        
Its very common for child molesters to experience this sort of thing while incarcerated. A lot of inmates do not tolerate this kind of behavior (crazy as it sounds, as some are murderers)...but, Ive witnessed many child molesters having to be put in protective custody due to the threat of being injured by others. I believe there is an eye for an eye, and in the end God has your death all planned. I guess if it was my kid who was molested at the hands of this animal, I would of been relieved of the news of his death. So that way he could never get out and do it to another innocent child again. Doesnt make it right, per say...but it is what it is. Yes these guards are suppose to protect all inmates no matter what their charges, and I can say 100% that the pressure you get from inmates to do this, and do that, to turn your back for a minute and pretend like u didnt see, is huge! Im so torn regarding this, because I know what the guards were thinking...justice. I just dont think they realized how far this was going....

On 11/10/09 at 5:01 PM, freetospeak wrote:        
In a couple comments here, I see people asking things such as "where were the guards or If the guards can't do their jobs then maybe they need to find other employment." What really got me is the latter comment came from a CO of more than 20 years. He must've been one of those CO's we call CCTW/CO. The kind that is all about caring for inmates. People need to really understand how things in the prison works. There is one officer for 64 inmates in a pod. If inmates are going to assault another inmate, they normally have other inmates distract the officer. It only takes seconds for inmates to accomplish their mission on assaulting someone. So, unless you know how inmates play in there, you need to keep your mouths shut about "where was the officers." I don't care if I piss someone off here or not by saying this. I have been there and done that job. The only ones I feel for here are is the guard who lost his job because he was doing his job trying to support his family or the sargeant  who lost his stripes. Maybe when the new warden comes she will be more supportive of staff than some people obviously are....


On 11/10/09 at 5:58 PM, sewerman wrote:        
Mr Magnusson saved his buddy Jeff Merrill who was the warden when this happend, Jeff now has a 6 figure or near 6 figure job 15miles from his home. Marty knows all about this because he was warden when Larry Richardson was killed there and he Marty got off scott free, now some poor guard trying to make a living is taking the fall NOT FAIR. These Good Old Boys take care of esch other while some poor sucker will probably loose everything. While budgets are being cut they make Jeff a chushy job that got created for him as Energy Auditor or some such tijtle. If some of you people worked the front lines you'ed know what I'm talking about

On 11/11/09 at 9:24 AM, freetospeak wrote:        
Just a quick note in ref to what sewerman said: What you said about the "good ole boys" taking care of each other, you hit the nail right on the head. Everything you said is so true. The system is so corrupt it is pathetic. Nobody can do anything within the system because, as you said, they take care of each other. The warden departed to his new job taking with him items belonging to the state from the wardens house which the state owns in Thomaston. Shouldn't this be a crime such as theft or destruction of state property? But, because he is "the MAN" he can get away with this. And, as far as this cushiony job Merrill has been given, doesn't the public have anything to say about this because this is a time of state budget crunch. Check out the camp Merrill has. Rumor has it that inmates from Charleston built that. Isn't that inappropriate use of inmates? I hope all these asses who think htey are untouchable get burned some day.

On 11/11/09 at 10:31 AM, msfreeh wrote:        
......The current Commissioner of Corrections Magnusson was the understudy for former Commissioner of Corrections
Don Allen of Cousins Island. Allen was indicted by the Maine Times newspaper in the mid 1970's for his involvement in
torturing children at the Maine Youth Center. Some of these former juveniles testified against Allen at his confirmation hearings in the 1980's.

If the Department of Corrections was a private corporation it would have been sued out of business a long time ago.
Until Maine voters and taxpayers start to see themselves as primary consumers of this system and take a leadership role
in shaping its organizational model these type of events will continue with some frequency.
Lets give our legislature a new mantra and call it RESTORATIVE JUSTICE. http://www.restorativejustice.org/


On 11/11/09 at 8:56 PM, cbpo2858 wrote:        
lets get a few things straight he was not a civilian he was a inmate. Second off he deserved what he got and yes i would of sat there and watched too or turned a blind eye. Boo Hoo he was vulnerable so was the little child he molested i have no sympathy for scum bags like this. No we would not let this happen to a civilian oh wait yes we would we are america a country where people are afraid to help beacuse they are afraid to get sued for everything they own. so another words yes i would let this happen to a inmate or prisoner but not a innocent civilian he was neither a innocent civilian or a civilian  at that.

On 11/12/09 at 11:15 AM, PaleShadows wrote:        
FreetoSpeak is correct. Inmates have nothing but time on their hands and these things are usually well calculated. They'll distract the guard and execute these types of plans in only a few short moments. I've seen it happen and I've also watched COs look the other way as the inmates torment the pedophiles day after day. Even in PC, the torment continues...remember the kitchen staff is made up of inmates too:)

Its difficult to feel sympathy for anyone who would use a helpless child for their own twisted sexual gratification, and many of the CO have children of their own.


On 11/12/09 at 4:51 PM, freetospeak wrote:        
The Warden lost his job because he wasn't doing his job. Now that makes more sence. What doesn';t make sense is that the governor gives him a cushiony job to "save face" so to speak. And this was done only because he is a friend of the governor and because he was the warden. So I guess it really does matter who you are. You can do your job and get fired and your name in the headlines and trampled on. Or, you can be someone who doesn't do their job and, because of who you are, you are saved the embarrassment. Thanks Mr. Governor. I guess this is what they mean by the state motto: MAINE: THE WAY LIFE SHOULD BE.


===============================================================================

LITERACY KEY TO LIFE AFTER PRISON

On 11/20/09 at 8:25 AM, JeffDubay wrote:    
People did not forget how to read before they went to prison, they lacked the talent before they left school.

On 11/20/09 at 11:02 AM, Michigal wrote:
It's not about literacy, it's about the unwillingness to hire someone who has been in prison. That and that alone is the big reason for recidivism. If you can't find legitimate work, you turn back to a life of crime. And with the economy and lack of jobs, it's even worse. People without felony convictions can't find a job. So imagine how much harder it is for someone coming out of prison. There are no support services available. And that's something that's desperately needed. Lincoln County at one time had a job fair for those leaving the county jail, perhaps something like that could be arranged for the prisons.

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EDITORIAL   11/20/09
SOLITARY PITFALLS

On 11/19/09 at 8:48 PM, SantiniSpagoandSpike wrote:        
So, what do you do, Mr. Masters Degree in Correctional Administration. hold two Doctorate LLD's in International Law, and this does not make me knowing everything there is to know about the profession. It seems on the surface to me, you are saying there are levels of society, which mandate law enforcement and penalties under the current system of "due process", but when in prison, you are stating there can be no "due Process levels of punishment within that community...if a prisoner is a bad boy or bad girl and does not follow the prescribed rules of the prison systems in the US?

Stupid...

So what; if putting a prisoner in solitary, and he doth protest too much about it, you are simply offering that crim just as much rights under the judiciary system as a person who has led a life of substantial law-abidance! Now, there are "rights" in prisons? Already, sir, the US prisons for the most part, are semi-luxury communities as it is. Plus, everything is free and you can form your own gangs, or belong to them, have yard fighting, (recreation time), stabbings (fun and games, plus serious inmate discipline), and family visits (bring in your local streetwalkers), and have all the telephone time you need (to run your outside drug operations while you are on 'vacation').

People like your ilk, Mr. Schatz, make me ill with your proposals, and goodies aimed at prison reform. These prisoners gave no rights to others for the crimes they committed against people, and why should these prisoners deserve more rights now to wage civil rights and incarceration rights over the public's head and also the federal US Governments Constitutionality?

On 11/20/09 at 5:14 PM, SantiniSpagoandSpike wrote:        
Yes, EG, I did come off a little harsh, and I do sometimes. It is just that I deal directly with prison systems in many other countries due to incarceration of US citizens who have broken the law in those countries at some level or the other, and from what I'm observing, the US treats their prisoners namby-pamby in comparison to other countries. I don't blame the system in and as such; I blame people like the ACLU-type Schatz implies; even with his Masters in :Correctional Administration". Nice work if you can get it. I do not believe in the chain-gang psychology, but I do believe the non-union prisoner-civil worker aspect ought to deserve some chance of recognition; and thanks for mentioning that.

My reference is what is happening in and to prisons in todays society in that particular community. Our taxpayer money is going to waste in a lot of respects here, but reformation of the criminal minds should be incorporated into the overall planning and effect by the US prison system nationwide.

The real point ought to be not what to do with the prisoners once they are in prison, as much as how to keep people out of prison in the first instance. This is a completely another topic and problematic situation in itself. The part-problem lies not in law enforcement, but in some law-enforcement policies and procedures, and the judicial system. We could discuss this one for hours on end...

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ACTIVIST PROBES INMATE DEATH  12/04/09
By Abigail Curtis
ALL COMMENTS DELETED BY BDN

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12/5/09  STATE MAY FACE 1M WRONGFUL DEATH LAWSUIT

On 12/5/09 at 5:36 AM, Robpott wrote:        
Though the death of a child molester is tragic, the fact remains he died. Two Guards took the fall for it even though policy was followed but the people at the top collecting retirement and regular wages needed scapgoats to protect their way of life, and open themselves up for a lawsuit by admitting guilt even when it is unfounded. (an old story of unsteady leadership). I'm sure when the child molester passed away, his wife heard a cash register door close to end an embarrassing life with a guy who just got caught once. As for Gardner, the man is a snail who could'nt get a job flipping burgers at McDonalds.

On 12/5/09 at 7:05 AM, JWBooth wrote:        
Prison contraband smuggling is very profitable.
Dead men tell no tales.

On 12/5/09 at 8:57 AM, knowitall wrote:        
The biggest reason prisoner Weinstein was beatin to death was he liked to brag about what he had done. If all child molesters knew this is what was in store for them when they go to prison I think it would reduce this crime. Prisoner Weinstein's wife had almost 2 yrs. left to divorce him, she was in no hurry because she knew somehting would happen to him in prison.All she wants is a little money to make her feel better about the way her pedophile husbad was.


On 12/5/09 at 9:28 AM, fredrogers wrote:        
"...In June of this year, the Office of Program Evaluation and Government Accountability (OPEGA) released a scathing report, concluding that “Despite several Department efforts focused on cultural change since 2005, the following elements are still likely present to some degree within the culture at Maine State Prison.” These elements included :

• Intimidation of, and retaliation against, individuals attempting to raise concerns – or behaviors that staff perceive as intimidation or retaliation.
• Behaviors that staff or prisoners experience or perceive as harassment and discrimination of various forms.
• A distrust and/or lack of respect for management as a whole, or of certain individuals within the chain of command, that appears to be fed, at least in part, by staff perceptions that a strong “good old boy” network exists.

• Reluctance or actual failure to report situations that are personally concerning to staff, appear unethical, or that otherwise expose the State to unnecessary risks and liabilities. OPEGA also observed potential weaknesses in both formal and informal reporting avenues that may affect staff’s willingness to use them, or that may interfere with those concerns getting proper attention and action at the appropriate supervisory level.

In August, Warden Merrill was summarily removed from his post and reassigned to the energy conservation project, at a 42% pay cut. During the search, Commissioner Magnusson served as Warden..... "

Can the BDN EVER, EVERY do a thorough job of reporintg?


On 12/5/09 at 9:35 AM, dlquinn wrote:        
It's nice to hear everyone's opinion on the Weinstein and Valdez stories but no one knows the whole story..stop placing blame on the medical staff...and the suspicious death of Valdez..where did that Come from?The medical staff at the MSP is one of the best considering the antiquated equipment and chronic understaffing.There are a lot of inaccuracies in the news stories, someone should really do better research or find more reliable informants.


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