March 2010

The Portland Observatory on Munjoy Hill

The Spirits Alive 2010 Winter Lecture Series concludes, tomorrow, Saturday, March 27th at 10:00 am with a talk by Earle G. Shettleworth, Jr., on the Historical Development of Munjoy Hill. The talk will be given at the Maine Historical Society, 489 Congress Street. It is suggested that the public arrive early to be assured of getting a seat for this popular series of talks.

Shettleworth who was born in Portland has been director of the Maine Historic Preservation Commission since 1976.

Spirit’s Alive is a three year old nonprofit organization dedicated to the protection and preservation of Portland’s historic Eastern Cemetery. Please visit www.spiritsalive.org. Memberships are available.

Please see post # 400, dated February 20th for more background information.

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Governor John Baldacci Speaks at Press Conference Today

With the two-day oil spill exercise still on their minds, a coalition of advocates for oil independence gathered this afternoon at the Ocean Gateway Receiving Center to promote their legislative agendas: speaker after speaker recalled the 1996 oil spill of the Julie N. on the Fore River and its implications.

For some, like Portland lobsterman Dick Black, he was prevented from pursuing his livelihood for almost two months because of the almost 28,000 tons of heating oil lost back in 1996. “We must break the grip of the reliance on fossil fuels to heat our homes and run our vehicles to improve our long-term economic and national security,” said Governor John Baldacci.

General Donald Edwards, (Ret.) said: “We are spending $ 1 billion dollars a day for oil in the Middle East. Some portion of that money goes to Al Queda, the Taliban and other terrorist organizations. That is immoral. We need to take care of our own.” The general served in Vietnam.

Tollef Olson, founder of Ocean Approved Seafood said that an oil spill of the magnitude the Coast guard is planning for would completely destroy his business. His company specializes in aquaculture and seafood products. “I have nothing but gratitude for the effort that the Coast Guard and other agencies have put in to training for an oil spill of national signifiance….the cheapest barrel of oil is the one we never have to drill for….”

The event was hosted by Repower Maine.

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By Carol McCracken (Post # 420)

Oral arguments were heard this morning in Portland in a case with important implications for Anthem’s roughly 20,000 individual policy holders in the state. The case is Anthem Health Plans of Maine vs. the Superintendent of Insurance. Anthem is suing the state because it rejected Anthem’s request for a rate hike of about 18 percent in favor of a rate hike closer to 10 percent.

Pierce Atwood attorneys representing Anthem requested that the case be remanded to the Superintendent with “instructions to approve rates that include at least a 3 percent pre-tax profit and risk margin.”

Following the hearing, Chris Dugan, director for corporate communications at Anthem stuck to the company script and said that this line of insurance is “not a profitable line of business. People in good health are dropping their insurance. Overall, Anthem is making money, however.”

Greg Howard, ( upper left photo), communications director for Change That Works said: “What we heard was double speak for double digit rate increases. The state did a great job of protecting Maine’s insured.” He continued: “If it weren’t for companies like Anthem, we wouldn’t need national health care reform.”

The case, Docket No. AP-09-29, was filed in the Consumer and Business Docket in the West Bath office. However, because of an agreement the case was heard in a larger courtroom in Superior Court in Portland. A decision from Judge Humphrey is forthcoming.

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By Carol McCracken (Post # 419)

The Regional Opportunities Center of Maine has announced there will be another “peaceful and lawful” protest at the Front Room restaurant this Friday, March 26th. It runs from 6:30 pm- 7:30 pm.

This peaceful protest follows another one held on February 14th in which former State Senator Anne Rand participated. It likewise was held outside the popular Front Room restaurant at 73 Congress Street.

At that time, Rand said: “We are not trying to hurt his (Mr. Smith’s) business. This is not a boycott. We just want Mr. Smith to sit down with as and try to resolve the issues laid out in the complaint. We want to highlight the greatness of our restaurants and the skilled workers who work in them,” she said.

“ROC” filed a complaint on behalf of a number of defendants in the U.S. District Court here in early January. Since that time, the defendants’ attorney, Pierce Atwood LLP filed an Answer on March 8, 2010.

For more background information on the subject, please see Post # 395, dated 2/14 posted herein as well as earlier posts herein.

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