Mom's Obituary October 5, 2011

           

Ruth Cathryn (Kirkpatrick) D'Alessandro, 87, of Montville, NJ passed away Oct 5,2011 @ her home surrounded by her loving family. She was born March 19, 1924 @

Dover-Foxcroft, ME to John D. & Lottie Pearl (Hall) Kirkpatrick. After moving to

Portland, ME she married Louis D'Alessandro Sept 15, 1943 in Forest Hills, NY. After

WWII they lived in Elmont, NY moving to NJ in the late 50's where they raised 3

children.

Although a licensed hairdresser in Maine, Mass & NY her real career was a

homemaker, not only raising her children but using her self taught skills to tackle

amazing things from cake decorating, sewing wedding dresses for entire wedding

parties, refinishing & reupholstering furniture, building stone walls or taking down

interior walls, always to perfection whatever the task. A quiet, humble person who never

balked at any task if she could make it better or learn something new—even horseback

riding. Family was most important & therefore holidays too with April Fool's Day one of

her favorites, a celebration of her ever present sense of humor-even in her last days.

She is survived by her son Douglas (Patricia) D'Alessandro of Boonton, NJ,

daughters Susan D'Alessandro (fiance Dan Nelson) of Millinocket, ME & Nancy (Michael)

Ginder of Kinnelon, NJ; grandchildren Scott D'Alessandro (fiance Angela Preston) of

Pensacola, FL, Gayle (Sean) O'Donnell of Boyds, MD, Lisa D'Alessandro of Wharton, NJ,

Randy Bourgoin, III (fiance Kayla MacLeod) of Millinocket, ME, Victoria (Sudeep) Kesh

of New Providence, NJ, Sarah & Amanda Ginder of Kinnelon, NJ. Great Grandchildren

Sofie & Jakob O'Donnell, Mallory & Carter Bourgoin.

She was predeceased by her parents John D. & Lottie Pearl Kirkpatrick, her

husband of 58 years, Louis D'Alessandro, brothers Walter, Earle, Leon, Ray & Glen,

sisters Joy Libby & Rena Beckum.

At her request, a private service was held at her home on Oct 10, 2011.

If anyone wants to remember her in a special way, please make a donation to a

charity of your choice or Montville Twp. 1st Aid Squad, 137 Changebridge Rd, Montville,

NJ 07045.

Last NH paper mill with new ideas?

Quoting from a Bangor Daily News article : http://bangordailynews.com/2011/06/19/business/last-northern-nh-paper-mill-can-make-it-reps-say/

A cheaper source of fuel, a dedicated sales team and workforce, and an investment in a tissue machine will help the last paper mill in New Hampshire’s North Country succeed, state and mill industry representatives say.

“They’re concentrating on areas that they can be strong on, that there’s a little bit less competition — towel and tissue is a little bit more difficult to, let’s say, import from Asia and make it feasible,” said George Bald, commissioner of New Hampshire’s Department of Resources and Economic Development. 

Tilton plans to spend the money to convert the mill’s fuel source from oil to gas in about five months. “It’s a must,” she said. The gas line has been secured that would supply power to the mill from a landfill.
She said the largest investment will be a tissue machine, “so we can battle against foreign imports.” She estimated it would take about a year to build the machine and get it operating.
Tilton said one reason she took interest in Gorham was because Patriarch had bought the Old Town Fuel & Fiber mill in Maine a few years ago, the firm’s first mill venture.
Old Town’s owner had filed for bankruptcy. The mill had been selling pulp to customers such as the Gorham mill, but also was researching the development of biofuels.

“We got the mill back up and running, we put all the workers back to work, we were able to make money and we’re building a biorefinery,” Tilton said. “We’re going to be the first to make jet fuel out of wood on a mill level. Everybody, every day is proud of the work we do together. So that is what gave me the inspiration to be here.” 

Some interesting points to ponder........

Katahdin landfill bill - Corporate Blackmail?

Quoting from the recent Bangor Daily News Article, http://bangordailynews.com/2011/06/16/politics/katahdin-landfill-bill-okd-despite-claims-of-corporate-blackmail/

A bill authorizing the state to acquire an East Millinocket landfill received final approval Thursday, but not before some lawmakers compared the controversial deal aimed at saving two shuttered paper mills to “corporate blackmail.”A lopsided, 34-1 vote in the Senate Wednesday morning belied the consternation some lawmakers felt as state officials — in their quest to salvage two Katahdin Paper mills and hundreds of jobs — prepare to potentially take over an aging landfill tied to the mills.The Dolby Landfill has, for decades, received paper-related sludge, pulp and other waste from the two paper mills in Millinocket and East Millinocket. Nearly full, the landfill is now regarded as a liability and an obstacle to finding a new buyer for two mills that a few years ago employed roughly 600 people.

To me, the most troubling is :

Another issue raised Thursday was the level of contamination at the landfill. In a letter to the Attorney General’s Office, the Conservation Law Foundation pointed out that the landfill has struggled to receive a permit renewal from the Maine Department of Environmental Protection“due to continuing problems with leachate discharges and landfill stability issues.”

A few months ago I wrote to the Maine Center for Disease Control, Cancer Registry Dept., asking for a breakdown of the incidents of the different cancers broken down by town in Penobscot County.  The County figures are published online so you would think it wouldn't be too difficult to furnish the breakdown but to date I have received no information.

I also wrote to Erin Brockovich and have heard nothing yet.  Perhaps there are so many similar situations across the country that no one has time?

Wisconsin Dems to announce that they will try to recall Scott Walker - The Plum Line - The Washington Post

Wisconsin Dems to announce that they will try to recall Scott Walker - The Plum Line - The Washington Post

An interesting story to follow on a Sunday afternoon....it is so good to see people starting to take a stand....

Stop the Slashing: The human needs advocates' simple guide to understanding - and defeating - unprecedented attacks on the federal budget - Peach New Media - Online Events by Peach New Media

Please mark your calendar & participate on this free online seminar--learn about the unprecedented seriousness of the threats that will permanently restrict the federal role in meeting human needs

Stop the Slashing: The human needs advocates' simple guide to understanding - and defeating - unprecedented attacks on the federal budget - Peach New Media - Online Events by Peach New Media

14 Points of Fascism

14 Points of Fascism

This might sound extreme but is worth your time to read. Given the nature of what's going on today, it's hard to sort out what's really happening in politics today.  I hate to use the word politics because so many are turned off to it.  The definition, according to Wikipedia is: Politics (from Greek πολιτικός, "of, for, or relating to citizens"), is a process by which groups of people make collective decisions.   It would help to read the above link 14 Points of Facism & give the points some thought & then look into the following book.  This is really eye opening........

 Quoting from one of the reviews on Amazon:

The term that pops to mind is that process that M.I.T. scholar Noam Chomsky would refer to as "manufacturing consent", a dangerous propensity which influences the perceptions of individual citizens by continually immersing the populace in an electronic stream of messages, both blatant and subliminal, that serves to condition them to a particular way of  perceiving the world around them. 


According to Laura Dawn Lewis, there are also 7 Conditions that Foster Fascism:

1. INSTABILITY of capitalist relationships or markets
2. The existence of considerable DECLASSED SOCIAL ELEMENTS
3. The STRIPPING OF RIGHTS AND WEALTH focused upon a specific segment of the population, specifically the middle class and intellectuals within urban areas as this the group with the means, intelligence and ability to stop fascism if given the opportunity.
4. DISCONTENT among the rural lower middle class (clerks, secretaries, white collar labor). Consistent discontent among the general middle and lower middle classes against the oppressing upper-classes (haves vs have-nots).
5. HATE: Pronounced, perpetuated and accepted public disdain of a specific group defined by race, origin, theology or association.
6. GREED: The motivator of fascism, which is generally associated with land, space or scarce resources in the possession of those being oppressed.
    
7. ORGANIZED PROPAGANDA:

a) The creation of social mythology that venerates (creates saints of) one element of society while concurrently vilifying (dehumanizing) another element of the population through misinformation, misdirection and the obscuring of factual matter through removal, destruction or social humiliation, (name-calling, false accusations, belittling and threats).

b) The squelching of public debate not agreeing with the popular agenda via slander, libel, threats, theft, destruction, historical revisionism and social humiliation.  Journalists in particular are terrorized if they attempt to publish stories contrary to the agenda.

 Fascism DOVETAILS BUSINESS & GOVERNMENT sectors into a single economic unit, while concurrently increasing in-fighting and distrust between the units fostering advancement towards war. 

 a) Fascism PROMOTES CHAUVINIST DEMAGOGY, (appealing to the prejudices and emotions of the populace) by fostering selective persecution and accepted public vilification of the target group. It then promotes this a "patriotic", "supportive" or "the party line" and disagreement with such as "anti-government", "anti-faith" or "anti-nation".

b) Fascism CREATES CONFUSION through "facts". It relies on junk science, revisionism, the elimination of cultural records/treasures and obfuscations to create its case and gain acceptance. Fascism can also combine Marxist critiques of capitalism or faith based critics of the same to re-define middle class perceptions of democracy and  to force its issues, confuse logic and create majority consensus between targeted groups.  This is also referred to as creating a state of Cognitive Dissonance, the mental state human beings are most easily manipulated. TOP

 Both middle and upper-middle-class dictated democracy and fascism are class dictatorships that use ORGANIZED VIOLENCE (verbal or physical) to maintain the class rule of the oppressors over the oppressed.

 It is not too late to reverse this in either country, but it will be soon.  The first step is realizing it.  The second step is getting involved.  As the propaganda slogan disguising our current war goes, "Freedom isn't free." But our war for freedom isn't abroad; it's here at home.


Does any of this sound familiar? As America sinks deeper and deeper into corporate greed will this country continue to be a democracy by the people and for the people or will it be ruled by the few? Will the trinity of money, power and greed over come one of the greatest countries in the world? Only we, the people, can keep it free. SPEAK OUT AND LET YOUR THOUGHTS BE KNOWN...ONLY BY SILENCE WILL WE BE DEFEATED!

Finance & Development, June 2000 - Subverting Corruption

Having been troubled by the current events, locally, nationally & globally, I came across the term "systemic corruption" which led me to the following article which starts:  The focus of countries' anticorruption efforts typically begins with consciousness raising, shifts to making governments less susceptible, and then addresses the problem of corrupt systems. When this third stage is reached, what measures can governments, concerned citizens, and others take to subvert entrenched corruption?

Finance & Development, June 2000 - Subverting Corruption


Like so many, it's hard not to feel helpless, but I want to believe that knowledge is power & these books will give a lot of insight.
  

The Nature of Memorial Day

Borrowing from yesterday's  Editorial in the Bangor Daily News, the following are some excerpts to give us some points to ponder about the nature of Memorial Day, our Country and about Maine....

http://new.bangordailynews.com/2011/05/29/opinion/memorial-day-2011/

Long before sales and sports and the three-day weekend, Memorial Day was a day of mourning. .. 

Each Memorial Day has been a time for words of reflection and gratitude, to assess America’s place in the world and the prospects for lasting peace. Consider these words from earlier holidays, culled from newspaper files. They date from the first Memorial Day in 1868 to the early days of World War II: 

“Let our mottoes be truth, justice and equality, and the heroes who died for us will never have been disgraced.” — Hon. John Peters, Bangor, May 30, 1868 

“Today we are one people, forgotten are all racial bitterness, partisan bigotry and sectional differences.” — The Rev. H.E. Dunnack, Orrington, May 30, 1917 

“To [democracy's] defenders, who are among its finest expressions, we must make no promises which we cannot or will not perform.” — Bangor Daily News editorial, May 30, 1941

It's hard to choose which of these I like the best.  I wish they were all true.  I wish I wasn't discouraged that we seem to have a hard time living up to these ideals.  The statement that lingers for me is "Let our mottoes be truth, justice and equality....but even more is so "the heroes who died for us will never have been disgraced".

 We still live in the most wonderful country in the world but it's more than troubling to see what's going on politically, and therefore in our everyday lives.  When you consider the sacrifices our service men & women and their families have made it feels like the least we can do is forget "all racial bitterness, partisan bigotry and sectional differences".

Katahdin Region's Uncertain Future Editorial

When reading the Bangor Daily News editorial this weekend online, Katahdin Region's Uncertain Future 

http://new.bangordailynews.com/2011/05/27/opinion/katahdin-region%E2%80%99s-uncertain-future/

Some of the comments made by other readers were very disturbing, here is the post:

I'm curious who wrote this, it seems to be pressing the state to assume TENS OF MILLIONS of dollars of liability for a sludge dump which is almost full ( Dolby  I and II are full, while Dolby  III has 15 of 17 "cells" completely full). 
Some facts about the Dolby land fills: The dumps also have NO Liner, since they were built before that was required. This means that an average of 90 MILLION gallons of contaminated leachate can escape into rivers, ponds and aquifers annually. "In the last ten years significant deterioration of the ground water conditions has occurred in the area north east of Dolby III"These two facts come from the Maine DEP, under the Water Quality Summary dated 5/24/11 If the state bought the dump, it would be liable for all injuries and illnesses associated with this.
Dolby III sank nine feet last year (more space right?)
When it comes to Hydro, I think we should remember that whoever owns those hydro damns is allowed to sell that "green" power to other states (through Renewable Energy Credits REC's), at a premium which can be double or more than the market rate for electricity. It is no wonder they want to shut down the mills, sell off the equipment and make more money selling power to Boston and Newark.
This article is also oxymoronic when it mentions industrial wind and tourism. Maine tourism is often based on the thought we are the "last frontier of the North East", showing un-touched nature. Industrial wind puts 400' towers on top of the highest terrain in the region, so you can't avoid seeing them and how Maine is no longer your nature escape.
Something this article did not mention is how  Katadian Paper is supposed to have a trust account to deal with closure of the Dolby III sludge dump, which as of December of 2009 had 7.5 million in it. As of today, the account is empty and no one knows why.
Hope this sheds some light on what is really go on with this sludge dump deal.

STEPHEN M. KATZ | BDN

My path to Ebay from the great north woods!

A Peek At Paradise! What a world we live in....wasn't that long ago we never dreamed how important computers would become.  What a world I'm lucky enough to live in.  We're at the northern end of the Appalachian Trail and about an hour from two Provinces of Canada, all in the shadow of Mt. Katahdin and some of the most pristine forest in the country.

My Girl Casey! My best friend, a collie named Casey, and I go on many excursions.  In fact, if it wasn't for Casey, I almost spent an unintended night in the woods--lost!  We went to an area that was unfamiliar and I got so carried away with the scenery and taking pictures that before we knew it, it was dark--and I MEAN dark!  When they say you can't see your hand in front of you--it's true!!!  It was also getting VERY cold.  I didn't think she understood me but after I stumbled in the darkness for a very long time, I said "Take us home".  Somehow, she lead the way and after many hours, she got us back to the car! I have a lot of things to thank Casey for too. That's how I got started with Maine Nature & Nostalgia.  Casey & I  spend so much time in the woods. I have always been such an admirer of the miracles of nature, now I have become a gatherer!  Some people go the the malls.  I go to the woods and come home with driftwood, fungus, rocks, pinecones and so many things nature has to offer.  These things were just so unique and beautiful.  I just had to do something with these things so I started making wreaths and mirrors from driftwood, painting on fungus--so many ideas, so little time :)  From time to time I've done some oil paintings.  I started taking some beautiful pictures so I could use the subjects for either oil paintings or to paint scenes on fungus.  Then again, some of the pictures are beautiful just as framed pictures.  My other past time is going to good ole' country auctions and estate sales.  It's amazing what you can find in the great north woods! So many paths to follow!  That's why you never know what you'll find here.  That's also why there may be times when there are no listings for a few days--we're probably on one of our excursions.  Well, there you have it--the brief history of where the "nature" and the "nostalgia" comes from.  You might find an original creation or the collectible you've been looking for!  I try very hard to describe my items as thoroughly as possible, include a lot of pictures so you can see exactly what you're buying, pack extremely well, send the items usually within 24 hours and be readily available to answer any emails or questions.  Hope you'll drop in often to see what's new!