Sunday, April 22, 2007
MOUNT DESERT: Town's fluoride-removal vote stands
In the wake of residents' controversial decision to remove fluoride from the water supply, town officials have fielded inquiries about how to overturn the vote, Town Clerk Joelle Nolan has confirmed.
Unfortunately for those who disagree with the town's voters, state law requires a two-year waiting period following any vote on fluoride.
The statute reads: "Whenever a single community water district has disapproved fluoride, it may not vote again on the matter for a minimum period of two years." The same is true for the addition of fluoride.
"That is the current statute," said Judy Feinstein, director of the state's oral health program, a division of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. "I think the reason for it is just to stop it from being an on-again-off-again sort of thing."
"I think the decision made by Mount Desert is regrettable, but we have all indications that it was conducted properly under the law," she said.
Mount Desert residents opted to remove fluoride from their water supply in a March 5 referendum following a public debate started by Paul Slack, director of the Mount Desert Water District. In his arguments against fluoridation, Slack cited a report issued by the National Academy of Sciences that details the detrimental health effects of fluoride. The report is cited frequently by those opposed to fluoridation of public water supplies to help reduce tooth decay.
Feinstein said a common misperception of the academy report is that it directly addresses community water supplies where fluoride is added. The academy did conclude that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's set fluoride maximum of four parts per million is too high to rule out bone problems and fluorosis. However, this recommendation is relevant only to communities where fluoride occurs naturally in the water supply and is harder to regulate, she said.
Water districts that add fluoride aim for between 0.7 and 1.2 ppm, the ideal range, according to the American Dental Association. The association and the CDC tout the fluoridation of water as one of 10 great public health achievements of the 20th century.
"It is fair to say that some issues deserve further investigation," Feinstein said of the academy report. The review concluded that a correlation between fluoride and bone cancer calls for further research. "Fluoride is like many other things," she said. "It continues to be evaluated as science develops."
Slack has no regrets about his campaign to eliminate fluoride from the public water supply, and he stands by his decision.
"We have to provide safe drinking water for everybody," he said. "Fluoride poses a high risk for babies if they receive too much."
- Mount Desert Islander, www.mdislander.com.
ALNA: 1790s homestead burns, days before sale is scheduled
A piece of Alna history disappeared Monday night when the 18th-century Walker homestead, due to be sold later in the week, went up in flames.
Firefighters at first believed the fire report was for the landmark Old Alna Meetinghouse on Route 218, but instead found the 1790 farmhouse and barn across the road engulfed in flames.
Despite the efforts of units from Wiscasset, Jefferson, Whitefield, Damariscotta and Newcastle shortly before midnight, only ashes of the post-and-beam structure and a lone chimney remained early Tuesday.
"There's nothing left," Alna Fire Chief Mike Trask reported.
Maureen Hoffman, executive director of the Sheepscot Valley Conservation Association, which owned the property, said Tuesday morning she was "in shock. This is heartrending. We had a contract to sell to a nice couple from Boothbay." She added that in the years it had stood empty, "we were happy that nothing had happened to it."
The Walker house had wide pine floors, a beehive oven and a summer kitchen. Some of the rooms were in almost original condition, and the house had been owned by the Walker family for its entire history until two years ago.
"A lot of its charm was the wooden beams," Hoffman said.
The last family member to live there, before heir David Walker put it up for sale in 2004, was his father, Clifton Walker, who died in 1995.
The association acquired the 90-acre property with sweeping fields and 1,250 feet of Sheepscot River frontage in January 2005 after realizing that developers were interested. The conservation group's purchase, for $650,000, was made possible by much fundraising, Hoffman said.
- The Lincoln County News,
www.mainelincolncountynews.com
BUCKSPORT: River tour business will use a tugboat from New York City
A former New York City-based tour tug called Lil' Toot was purchased recently by a Penobscot resident who plans to run up and down the Penobscot River from the waterfront here.
David Gelinas started Bucksport Harbor Tours LLC earlier this month soon after the tugboat, owned by the nonprofit group Project City Kids, went up for sale.
Project City Kids is a business that operates at North Cove in lower Manhattan and brings inner-city children on free boat tours. The boat tours have become so popular that the nonprofit plans to buy a larger boat, Gelinas said.
"I started the company because the boat became available and I felt that the boat was an ideal platform for doing something on Bucksport's waterfront," Gelinas said in a phone interview.
Lil' Toot is a 27-foot-long, certified passenger tour tug built by Crosby Yachts in Massachusetts. It can carry 24 passengers, a captain and a deckhand. Gelinas hopes to have the boat delivered in May and spend the month outfitting it and getting the proper Coast Guard papers, then put the boat in the water in June. He hopes to begin the tours June 23 at the BridgeFest.
Gelinas estimated he will run four or five tours per day, from late morning to early evening, on Wednesday through Saturday. Two days a week the boat will be used for private charters. The regular tours will range in duration from 1? hours to 2? hours.
Gelinas said he plans to hire captains and crews to run the boat in the coming months.
While tour routes and prices have not been finalized, Gelinas said he would like to have several tours - one traveling to Odom Ledge in Bucksport for seal watching and another to Fort Point State Park in Stockton Springs. A longer, sunset tour may go around Verona Island.
Gelinas said the area's natural and historical attractions, as well as Bucksport's working waterfront, make a good fit for the tour business.
"I've been driving tankers and barges up the Penobscot River for about 15 years, and it always amazed me how much scenic beauty and history there is in this whole river," he said.
Dave Milan, Bucksport's economic development director, said the tours are a good opportunity for the town.
"Operating a daily tour boat out of Bucksport will certainly help us by bringing more visitors into town and seeing what other things we'll have available," Milan said.
- The Ellsworth American, www.ellsworthamerican.com
DAMARISCOTTA: Veterinarian: Dog's death may be linked to pet food recall
Damariscotta Veterinary Clinic's Dr. Christine Welch believes that her practice has encountered at least one pet death linked to the current nationwide pet food recall.
"I can't confirm it, but I think two other animals might have been affected as well," the veterinarian said.
Welch believes tainted pet food was responsible for the death of one small dog.
"She was middle-aged, around 6 years old, and she weighed about 20 pounds. She had a previous diagnosis of early renal disease and she had been put on an appropriate diet, but the new food really wasn't something she liked."
When Welch found the dog to be in renal failure, she suspected the cause was one of the foods on the recall list. "She was already compromised before she ate the food," she said.
Also, she remembers seeing two other animals that exhibited symptoms of sudden renal failure.
"This was months before the recall, and it makes me wonder, because several patients - one of them a cat about three years old - passed rather unexpectedly due to the acute onset of renal disease."
Welch explained that renal disease is a silent threat to pets.
"A dog or cat might have already lost 75 percent of kidney function and not have any symptoms at all." In an otherwise healthy animal, Welch can help fight the disease through diet and other treatments.
However, acute onset of kidney disease usually means something specific caused the problem. An animal might have a viral or bacterial infection that attacks the kidneys, or it might be an environmental cause, such as ingesting a toxic plant.
"In this case, we support the animal with medication and hydration to flush out the kidneys, and hopefully flush out the toxins," she said.
The doctor wants pet owners to be aware of the symptoms of kidney failure. "The signs of this are lethargy, decreased appetite, vomiting and a change in drinking, usually drinking more, with increased urination."
- The Lincoln County News, www.mainelincolncountynews.com
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