April 2010

By Carol McCracken (Post # 454)

The public is invited to attend the first of its kind, fantastic OLLI Follies – a variety show starring Olli members. The program includes a wide variety of entertainment – some serious and others just plain silly and fun! There are about fifty Olli members who will strut their best for your enjoyment on Sunday, May 2nd at 2:00, Hannaford Hall in the Abromson Building on the USM campus here in Portland. Olli instructor Jack Lynch is the organizer.

There are musicians, actors, poets, singers and dancers performing in 21 different acts. The Olli Follies are open to everyone. You need not be an Olli member to attend. To help defray the cost of renting Hannaford Hall, it is asked that those over 18 years of age please donate $3. at the door. (The cost of renting Hannaford Hall is over $600.)

FREE parking is available across the street from Hannaford Hall in the student lot adjacent to the Student Union and Cafeteria. Thanks to the graciousness of USM, the indoor parking garage which is normally closed on Sunday will be open and FREE parking will be available – for this one event only.

We hope that you and your friends will join us for this once in a lifetime event!

OLLI, a/k/a Osher Lifelong Learning Institute,
formerly called Senior College. For more, please visit www.usm.maine.edu/olli

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By Carol McCracken (Post # 453)

Although Maine Citizens Against Handgun Violence did not officially participate in the “open carry” gun rally last Sunday afternoon at Back Cove, Tom Franklin, president of the non-profit was there. Franklin, a life-long hunter himself has his own views that clearly conflict with the prevailing attitude at the open carry rally.

By way of background, about seventy-five men openly carrying their guns, which is legal in Maine, attended a rally to exercise their right to do so. The rally was organized by Shane Belanger, a 19 year old freshman at the nearby University of Southern Maine. The almost 2 hour long rally was highlighted by a barbecue for Belanger’s guests and several heated discussions between differing factions – but nothing more serious than that.

“We didn’t want to add to the publicity of the event,” said Franklin, explaining why the ten year old “MCAHV” did not participate in the rally. “We felt the event presented a negative image of Maine that was not accurate. It would make tourist think we are either weird or dangerous or both and it certainly doesn’t represent the views of traditional Maine hunters. Most hunters have no more interest in brandishing their guns in public than they do in walking naked in public.”

Franklin, who is an attorney moved here from Boston five years ago, went on to say: “Maine has a tradition of being quietly respectful of the views of others and hostile behavior like this is disrespectful of prevailing community values.” When he was living in Massachusetts, Franklin became involved in the issue of gun control because he was a hunter and amazed that the National Rifle Association was giving hunters a bad name. Frankliln grew up in Illinois where he shot pheasants and has hunted ever since. According to Franklin, state legislators assume that all hunters oppose all gun laws, but a poll in Maine last September showed that 88% of the population favored closing the gun show loophole.

“Why doesn’t the state legislature allow open-carry in the capitol?” Franklin asked.

“Our objective is to keep guns in the hands of responsible people. We do not believe openly carrying a gun is a responsible exercise of the right to own one. And we urgently oppose the concept of ‘normalizing’ the role of guns in our community,” he said on behalf of MCAHV.

Franklin, a resident of the Hill, is a sailor who volunteers at the Maine Island Trail Association. He’s director of special projects such as fundraising and its donate your boat program. (Please see Tom Franklin in upper left-hand photo.)

Please see previous post for more details on “open-carry” gun rally.

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By Carol McCracken (Post # 452)

About seventy-five men openly carrying guns attended a rally this afternoon at Back Cove to “have a good time with friends with common interests such as open carry,” said Shane Belanger, 19, the organizer of the well- publicized event. Belanger said the rally had nothing to do with politics. It ended around 3:30 pm – peacefully.

For most it was about exercising the right to open carry guns “because if you don’t exercise the right, you’ll lose it,” one of several mantras of the day. Clayton King said: “It’s an opportunity to exercise a right that isn’t always in the public view. I support the constitution.” That philosophy prevailed among the group of men – many with cameras and dogs beside them. An exception was a man who refused to be identified, but he has a license to carry a concealed weapon. He told Shane Belanger that his group was going about making their statement in the wrong way and would backfire on them. An experienced gun handler who served in the military, he charged the group with “flinging something in the faces of others.”

On the other side of the parking lot were a smaller group with a different point of view. The unidentified gun expert may have a point. Among them was Councilor Dan Skolnik. He wants the state legislature to pass a law that permits Portland to ban the open carry law. Standing in front of a flat-bed truck displaying the Confederate flag and a critical sign about President Obama was Jim Millard. He was carrying an old Obama campagin sign to block out the Confederate flag as best he could. “I don’t care so much about the guns – it’s more about the Confederate flag flying in Portland. That upsets me.” (See upper left photo.)

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By Carol McCracken (Post # 451)

He drove out of the parking lot at the Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad Co. & Museum this afternoon leaving behind a bit of a sucking noise. Joe Monty, was driving home to Masssachusetts in his wood pellet fueled car after volunteering at the mini-railroad today. As he passed MHN.com on his way out, he said, laughing -”You wouldn’t do this to a good car!”

What Monty has done to his 1994 Ford Escort station wagon with almost 200,000 miles on it, is convert it into a wood pellet fueled car. He’s spent a substantial amount of time during the past 1 1/2 years working to get the car just the way he wanted it. He succeeded earlier this year. “It’s not a new idea,” Monty said. “During World War II, civilians could not get any gas in Europe because it was needed for the war. So, they used this same Imbert Gasofield, he pointed to the back end of his car. It burns wood into synthetic gas – a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen. It’s flammable enough to run a gasoline engine.” Monty is an engineer who works on jets for General Electric.

It takes a 40 lb. bag of wood pellets to get 60 miles from his car. A 40 lb. bag of pellets equals two gallons of gas. He buys the wood pellets at stove shops, Home Depot and he gathers twigs and branches from his front lawn at home to add to the fuel mix. His regular fuel system is still there, so he just has to flip a switch and the gas kicks in. “My wife hasn’t ridden in this car since I began converting it,” he said, grinning. “She has her own car she uses,” he added, still grinning.

“I wouldn’t build another one of these for anyone else unless the liability laws are changed, he said, laughing again. “When the price of gas goes up to $4.00, I’ll have an answer for the gas companies.”

Editor’s Note: Following Monty’s departure from the parking lot, Brian Durham, a long time volunteer at the mini-railroad volunteered that perhaps the “sucking” noice came from “gasses being pulled through the filter.” Both men are steam engineers at the railroad.

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