Category: Crystal Bozek
Maine State Society: Hidden Gem of D.C.
WASHINGTON, Nov. 20, 2002–A 48-foot Blue Bird tracker-trailer will pull in to Arlington National Cemetery on this Wednesday, loaded with nearly 4,000 balsam fir wreaths donated to the Maine State Society.
Veterans, friends and family will gather together with the society for the tenth year to place wreaths donated by Worcester Wreaths in Herrington at the gravesites throughout the cemetery to remember those who have served the country in different ways.
“I like the fact that we place the wreaths in an area that not a lot of people often visit,” said Joan Dollarhite, president of the Maine State Society. “It’s one if my favorite activities.”
This year wreaths will be placed on the gravesites of sailors, marines and the officers of the USS Maine; the Pentagon victims; Admiral Perry, discoverer of the North Pole; Evander E. Andrews of Solon, the first serviceman to die in Operation Enduring Freedom’s strike against terrorism; and the late Maine Senator Edmund S. Muskie, according to Barbara Owens, spokeswoman for Arlington National Cemetery.
Merrill Worcester, owner of Worcester Wreaths, began the event in 1993 after realizing he had an overstock of wreaths.
“I had all these wreaths that I wasn’t going to sell and I’m pretty successful in the wreath business,” Worcester said. “I started thinking about Arlington. This may sound trite, but we owe those people an awful lot.”
Worcester first visited the cemetery when he was 12, after winning a subscription contest when he worked as a paperboy for the Bangor Daily News.
U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe’s office arranged the event with the cemetery, after Worcester pitched the idea. He was then put in contact with the Maine State Society, which rounded up the volunteers.
While the event started that year with only 25 volunteers on a cold, snow filled day, it has grown drastically, with approximately 83 to 85 people placing wreaths in 2001, according to past president of MSS, Lou Pearson.
The only question was how to get so many wreaths down to Arlington.
Worcester placed a call to his old friend James Prout, owner of the Blue Bird Ranch Inc. trucking company, and asked for help delivering the wreaths. Prout offered one of his trucks to transport the wreaths. For the past ten years, the company has continued to donate a truck, driver and transportation costs to the event-a price tag which adds up to about $2,000, according to Blue Bird Ranch Inc.
Most of the time, one can find staffers from the offices of the Maine delegates placing wreaths next to members of MSS. Some times one can even find members of local VFW units helping out.
“You’d be surprised how everyone has a connection to Maine,” Dollarhite said. MSS has 1,100 members in 26 states and five foreign countries.
The Superintendent of the cemetery selects a different section very year, so “all graves will have been decorated at one point or another, which assures that everyone is paid tribute to,” Pearson said.
While most visits to Arlington are either for visiting loved ones or exploring the cemetery as a tourist, this event is “one of a kind,” according to Owens.
Heads of state, diplomats, veteran’s groups and school children usually take part in other wreath layings around the cemetery.
Published in The Kennebec Journal and The Morning Sentinel, in Maine.
Mainer Looking Over the Star Spangled Banner
WASHINGTON, Nov. 17, 2002--Groups of people stroll by an old and tattered flag on exhibit. One asks in a half-interested condition, "What's the big deal?"
Marilyn Zoidis steps out and explains in her best, animated story-telling voice the significance of the original Star Spangled Banner.
To Bangor native Zoidis, curator of the Star Spangled Banner exhibit at the Smithsonian National American History Museum, history is at the same level as a good Stephen King novel.
"Even growing up, I used to go in my room and read history books like novels," Zoidis said. "I read the new John Adams biography and cried when Abigail died and for the alcoholic sons. I understood John's pain. I am sick."
Back in her office, Zoidis shows off her coastal Maine paintings and a map of Bangor. University of Maine mugs and a few local history books crowd her shelves. Zoidis began her history obsession back in a living room on Sunday afternoons. She would sit in front of the television with her father Peter and watch shows like "Meet the Press" and "Big Picture" for hours on end. She would become mesmerized by the historic footage, the military uniforms of the time periods and the futility of the battle.
"I was only seven or eight years-old and I was captivated by this idea of war and it's long-term implications," Zoidis said.
Her father had served in World War II, and the war stories seemed incredible to her.
She still has her father's old college history textbooks sitting on her bookshelf.
Growing up, she worked in her father's restaurant, Pilot's Grill, typing the menus in the back room. Former Senator William Cohen's father, Reuben, worked as a baker and would bring bread to her father's restaurant daily.
"He would bring me a fresh, baked roll everyday," Zoidis said. "It's funny what a small world it is."
History has always been a thread connecting all the steps of her career.
Zoidis had taught history at Bangor High School, and had worked as director of the Bangor Historical Society and Freeport Historical Society in the late '80s.
Years later, at age 52, Zoidis now works as curator and historian at the Smithsonian museum, working closely on the Star Spangled Banner exhibit and the September 11 exhibit. She has degrees in both education and history. She still visits Maine a few times a year, to go sailing and to celebrate the holidays with friends and family. The magnitude of her job still hasn't hit her yet.
"Everyday I drive into work, and I pass by the Jefferson, Lincoln and Washington memorials. I make it a point to remind myself of where I am and what a special time it is," Zoidis said.
She still hasn't gotten quite used to the attention she garners and her eyes still light up at the very mention of celebrity figures such as Colin Powell and Senator Bob Dole.
"When Bob Dole came to take a tour of the flag exhibit, he was so respectful, saying hello to everyone," Zoidis said. "He didn't even put on airs when people asked him questions. He would say, 'You'll have to ask Marilyn that.'"
She receives confidential memos from the White House when the President and the First Lady want to make appearances.
"It's so elaborate. They give directions on where everybody should be every second. They need to get clearance on everyone and they send the dogs in," Zoidis said. "There are Secret Service looming everywhere."
Zoidis' charm stems from her fairness-- she doesn't treat anyone differently. Everyone from the security guard in the Smithsonian elevator to the President of the United States gets treated with kindness. This year, she received two big awards from the Smithsonian-The director's award for outstanding contributions and the peer award. She spoke about the peer award most fondly.
Valeska Hilbig, Smithsonian public affairs specialist, said that Marilyn is a very popular Smithsonian staff member to talk to.
"I have never seen more people interested in any of our staff," Hilbig said. "So many people want to come to talk to Marilyn."
"When you know your colleagues notice your contributions, it's such a great feeling," Zoidis said.
Zoidis had never figured she knew so many people until she went on television to support the flag exhibit.
"After I did the Today Show, I heard from people I hadn't heard from in ages," Zoidis said happily. "The only thing with television is, I will never master the thing in the ear."
Zoidis is working on co-writing a book called "For Which it Stands: The American Flag in American Life," along with the head conservator of the project, Suzanne Thomassen-Krauss. She hopes to educate people on many of the flag myths that simply aren't true.
"First off, Betsy Ross didn't make the first flag, and I want to blow that message right out of the water," Zoidis said. "Also, not many people know the Star Spangled Banner was written to the tune of a British drinking song."
While Zoidis has enjoyed taking part in the interpretation of an incredible American icon, she refuses to even touch the flag, leaving it up to the conservators. When she was offered to cut a stitch from the wool backing of the flag, she politely refused.
"I use scotch tape to keep my hems up," Zoidis said matter-of-factly. "When they asked me to cut a stitch on the flag I said no. I'd probably cut the flag."
Zoidis has also co-written a book on local Maine history called "Woodsmen and Whigs: Historic Images of Bangor," with a prelude by Senator Cohen.
"I'm just a kid from Bangor, Maine who never thought she'd end up at the Smithsonian," Zoidis said with a grin. "I really had no plan. I just love what I do."
Published in The Kennebec Journal and The Morning Sentinel, in Maine.
Possible Snipers Caught, People Relieved
WASHINGTON, Oct. 24, 2002--Last Saturday, Antonette Russell realized how afraid she was of the D.C. sniper. When leaving her house to walk her dog, she spotted a white van and quickly ducked back into her home.
"I almost popped the poor dog's head off trying to get back inside," Russell said. "He wouldn't cooperate, so I leashed him and left him outside."
Russell, 27, of the Capitol Hill area, hadn't even pumped her gas since the sniper shootings started. She finally ran out last Saturday and made sure she brought her car into a heavily populated area to pump gas.
"I finally broke down and I didn't even pump it myself," Russell said. "I had my boyfriend pump it while I stood beside him."
Since the possible snipers were taken into custody early Thursday morning, however, Russell said she feels a lot safer, but still carries the fear around.
"I am thinking they may be the ones who are asking for the money, but might not be the snipers," Russell said. "If they are the people they are accused of being, they are stupid because you don't shoot everyone first and then ask for money."
The sniper task force surrounded a freeway rest stop before dawn, arresting the two suspected snipers, John Allen Muhammad, 42, also known as John Allen Williams, and his 17-year-old stepson John Lee Malvo, a Jamaican citizen. The arrests were made on federal warrants. The two victims were to be arraigned Thursday afternoon in U.S. District Court in Baltimore.
The police recovered a Bushmaster .223-caliber rifle from the vehicle impounded during the overnight arrest of the suspects. All of the victims have been hit by a single .223-caliber shot. Washington radio station WTOP reported that a scope and a tripod also had been recovered from the suspects' vehicle.
John Nguyen, 27, of Silver Spring, said he lives down the street from the last sniper shooting, of bus driver Conrad Johnson. Nguyen said he trusts the police and thinks the sniper case is finally over, because all reports and evidence point to the two men.
"Before I was zig-zag walking and scoping out my surroundings when I left the house," Nguyen said. "This afternoon, when I came outside for lunch I did cartwheels."
Nguyen, who works at a computer firm, said he will begin his running routine again.
"This is such a great feeling," he said. "It's horrible to feel like you can't run in your own neighborhood for fear that a sniper is hiding behind a tree with a rifle."
A group known as the Guardian Angels will continue to pump gas for scared people in the area until all reports are final, according to John King Ayala, 33, the D.C. chapter leader of the nationwide group.
"Mostly women have been asking for their gas pumped," Ayala said. "They pull up with tears in their eyes. They are so happy to see us there."
The Guardian Angels are trained to patrol areas and call the police if they see any illegal activity. They also are trained in self-defense, and break up fights when necessary. Angels from Florida, New York and Pennsylvania have been filtering into the D.C. area, volunteering to help with gas pumping and patrolling duties.
Wearing their standout red berets, white T-shirts and black pants, they also plan to patrol various school neighborhoods until they know for sure that the sniper has been captured.
"Ever since the sniper sent the letter threatening to our children, we have been out there on the streets trying to keep the streets safe," Ayala said. "We aren't going to stop until everyone is sure because we aren't going to leave the children unprotected."
Sniper investigators were looking into a possible connection to a fatal shooting at a liquor store in Montgomery, Ala. Montgomery Police Chief John Wilson said Thursday that there were "some very good similarities" between Malvo and a composite sketch of the attacker at the Sept. 21 shooting.
Authorities said Thursday they had made a match between a fingerprint lifted from the scene and Malvo. But Wilson said the weapon used in the Alabama shooting is not the same as the one used in the sniper shootings in the D.C. area.
Published in The Kennebec Journal and The Morning Sentinel, in Maine.
New USDA Organic Code May Be More Harmful to Small Farmers
WASHINGTON, Oct. 24, 2002--When the new organic food standards went into effect last Monday, they were touted as helpful to both consumers and farmers. But now the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association says they might be more harmful to smaller farmers.
Everything from organic meat to milk would be governed by a single set of federal standards put out by the United States Department of Agriculture.
Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe, who voted for the 2002 Farm Bill, which provided funding for farmers to implement the standards, said Monday in a statement: "Under these new standards, farmers in Maine will for the first time be able to sell organic produce to retailers in other states with the confidence that the organic label will be accepted and recognized by consumers there."
She also said that United States Department of Agriculture standards would help the costumers by giving them standards to judge by, which means no more confusion.
"For consumers this rule means clear and consistent labeling that will affirm the content, production process and handling of organic food-whether it is milk, cheese, vegetables, fruit, grain, meat or poultry," Snowe said Monday in a statement.
The new labels will say "100 percent organic," which means exactly that; or "organic," which means the product is 95 percent organic; "made with organic ingredients," requiring the product to be at a minimum 70 percent organic; or "some organic ingredients," which classifies foods with less than 70 percent organic ingredients.
However, some people aren't as enthusiastic about the standards as Snowe is.
"This will take a lot of sorting through," said Russell Libby, director of the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association, which is Maine's organic certifying agency.
Only those farmers who sell more than $5,000 worth of product must become certified, according to the MOFGA certification coordinator Mary Yurlina. Small producers who possibly have misused the "organic" label now could be subject to a $10,000-a-day fine.
"While small producers now have more reasons than ever to get certified, the paperwork burdens and the rise in the fee might stop them," Libby said. "The increased paperwork burdens might make people wonder whether they actually want to be certified."
In Maine, people have usually had that one-one connection with their farmer, so the USDA organic standards won't be changing much at all.
"If people trusted their farmers before, what will these standards mean to them?" Libby said. "Maine has a very local food system."
Libby also said there were still many questions that need to be answered by the USDA before the new year takes effect.
"We don't feel as if we're getting clear answers from the federal government," Libby said.
Libby explained how the farmers have used a number of botanical pesticides for years. The pesticides haven't been approved for next year.
"We're left wondering what we'll use or if it'll be approved," Libby said. "They haven't offered us alternatives either."
The organic industry is growing between 20 and 25 percent annually, and has been for the last several years. U.S. retail sales of organic foods reached approximately $7.8 billion in 2000, with global sales topping $17.5 billion.
Published in The Kennebec Journal and The Morning Sentinel, in Maine.
Sniper Affects Lives of Everyday Mainers in D.C.
WASHINGTON, Oct. 23, 2002--Caileen Nutter's memories of crisp autumn days in Maine are filled with camping trips, hiking excursions, and biking down scenic streets, never thinking twice about her safety. She would walk around the University of Maine's Orono campus last fall like every college student, with her books in hand.
This October has been different. If Nutter was carrying a book, she'd nervously clutch it to her chest, hoping that maybe it would serve as some sort of protection against the sniper's next bullet.
Nutter, 21, was breathing a sigh of relief Thursday. Two men were arrested early that morning in connection with the sniper attacks in the D.C. area, though as of mid-afternoon Thursday they had not been officially charged with the murders.
"I feel much better," Nutter, who moved to this area last January to work for Republican Sen. Susan M. Collins, said in a phone interview. "I trust the police work that's being done."
John Allen Muhammad, 42, and John Lee Malvo, 17, were taken into custody by police at a rest stop near Frederick, Md., about 60 miles northwest of Washington. Malvo is reportedly Muhammad's stepson.
Nutter was one of countless people living in and around the Washington suburbs who became increasingly nervous as the elusive sniper's deadly game started three weeks ago.
The sniper shot 13 people, leaving 10 dead and three wounded.
"It's the utter randomness and senselessness of the attacks that makes it scary," Nutter said.
But not everyone was fearful of the sniper. Bangor resident Garrett Corbin, 20, is a Boston University student spending a semester here, and he said that although his parents worried for his safety, he never thought to change his normal daily routine.
"You can't really protect yourself against it," Corbin said. "If he starts to shoot in my neighborhood, then I'll worry. I'd be more scared if I lived in the suburbs, but living in the center of town, not so much."
Nutter's home in the Old Town area of Alexandria, Va., is less than 20 minutes away from a shooting last week in a Home Depot parking lot where a woman was killed by the sniper.
Nutter said she rarely walked around her neighborhood unless she was with her roommates or driving in a car. She'd even duck into a store if a white van passed her by on the street.
Although she said she was comforted knowing that the possible snipers have been caught, she added that she will "wait for confirmation" from police before feeling completely at ease again.
Crystal Bozek contributed to this story.
Published in The Kennebec Journal and The Morning Sentinel, in Maine.
In Washington You Can’t Escape, Even By Zigzagging
WASHINGTON, Oct. 23, 2002--As soon as we walk out the door our eyes begin gliding up and down the passing traffic. There are 17 white vans or trucks passing by in about four minutes today. We all ask ourselves, why can't these people drive something else for a few days? Something not so white.
I stand next to taller people when I'm waiting to cross the street. I bob my head when I listen to my Walkman. I figure I'm safe that way. That it would probably be difficult for the sniper to get off a clean shot. At first I told myself not to worry. He only shoots at gas stations. Then it was post offices, middle schools, homes, Home Depots and even bus stops. I refused to walk farther than five blocks without hailing a cab.
While I have a far better chance of getting into a car accident than being targeted by a sniper, there is still that inner voice of dread that says, "I bet the other victims didn't think they'd get shot either."
There are the phone calls from parents who live eight hours away, telling you not to step outside unless absolutely necessary. They are watching through the glass of the television screen, seeing pictures of the smiling people who are now dead, analyzing the maps of shooting points, reading out names of places they have never heard of. "Fairfax County? Is that anywhere near you?"
I see people now constantly moving their heads while getting gas. Fewer people leave the office during lunch break. Some diners now are removing their patio furniture to discourage people from sitting outside. High school football games have been moved to "undisclosed locations." The city may enact curfews. I have FBI agents down the street from me, checking vehicles for guns. Outdoor activities aren't encouraged.
I turn on the television, and every local station is running endless sniper coverage, interviewing witnesses who know nothing. The police offer no comfort, presenting a tip sheet that describes how best to witness a killing, how to avoid getting shot and how to walk "zigzag." And, yes, two friends and I zigzagged down Connecticut Avenue for the first time two nights ago when we saw a white van with a ladder rack. We giggled uncontrollably and kept telling ourselves we were idiots, yet we didn't stop till we reached our door.
Everyone has a theory about who the sniper is and why he is killing people at random. Some think the sniper may have played too many video games, may be a disgruntled military person or may be a terrorist. My taxi driver connected it to 9/11. Regardless of the motive, this person is now suspected of shooting 13 people, killing 10, since Oct. 2. No Son of Sam or Ted Bundy, this serial killer doesn't even care to see his victim's pain, shooting from far away -- cold, quick, calculating.
My first week living in Washington D.C., we experienced an anthrax scare in our building a block or so from the White House. I was warned of being in this city a year after the Sept. 11 attacks.
Forget about anthrax, plane crashes, smallpox and nuclear weapons. I worry about this sniper armed with a gun every night before I go to bed and every morning as I wake up. The sniper might be walking beside me while I walk to the subway. He may not be driving a van anymore. The shootings happen less frequently. I make jokes about it, but it's scary to think that right now I am living in what will some day be a motion picture starring Denzel Washington.
It seems like police have nothing to go on. The sniper could walk away right now and forever be anonymous. That's what bugs me the most. I read there are over 100 unsolved homicides in the capitol area every year, yet we are all afraid of one person, a person without a description, a person without a motive, a person who's playing God.
Published in The Kennebec Journal and The Morning Sentinel, in Maine.
Congress Passes Election Reform
By Crystal Bozek and Michelle Kohanloo
WASHINGTON, Oct. 17, 2002--With the support of the Maine delegation, Congress has approved legislation designed to improve the nation's voting procedures and provide the first substantial federal spending on election reform nearly two years after the mayhem of the 2000 presidential election.
The Senate passed the Help America Vote Act Wednesday, 92-2, with an amendment offered by Republican Sen. Susan M. Collins that guarantees that all states, regardless of size, will share in the federal grant money that the bill authorizes.
The bill, which would provide $3.9 billion in federal grants over three years, was sent to President Bush Wednesday for his expected signature. The House passed the legislation last week.
"This legislation is an important step in restoring voter confidence," Collins said in a statement Wednesday. "It provides a blueprint for election reform and the means to pay for it."
Her amendment could mean at least $20 million to upgrade Maine's registration and voting system, Collins said.
The bill will help to revamp the voting system already in place, giving people the ability to double-check and correct errors before their final votes are cast.
Beginning in the 2004 presidential election, states must provide "provisional ballots" to voters whose names do not appear on registration lists. The ballots would later be counted if the voter's registration was verified.
Voters also will have to show a driver's license or the last four digits of their Social Security number in order to protect against voter fraud.
By 2006, registration information is to be available in a single computerized statewide database linked to the state's driver's license agency.
The centralized voter list will be the biggest change in Maine's voting program, according to Rebecca Wyke, Maine's chief deputy secretary of state.
The state's current system requires each municipal jurisdiction to maintain its own voting list.
"Right now, if a person lives in Portland, he or she is registered to vote in Portland," Wyke said. "If that same person moves to South Portland, he or she would have to register all over again."
The new legislation would provide money to replace punch card and lever voting machines with more modern equipment, improve state election administration and increase polling place access for the disabled.
The bill will also help fund the National Student & Parent Mock Election program for Maine's schools. The program encourages students across the nation to become active in political and civic life.
More than forty million students nationwide and in 14 foreign countries will cast their mock votes online or on paper ballots between October 25 and November 1.
Published in The Kennebec Journal and The Morning Sentinel, in Maine.
House Passes Iraq Resolution
By Crystal Bozek and Michelle Kohanloo
WASHINGTON, Oct. 10, 2002--The House gave the green light to President Bush Thursday, granting him the authority to launch a unilateral military action against Iraq. An overwhelming number of Democrats voted against the resolution, including Maine Rep. John E. Baldacci and Rep. Thomas H. Allen, despite the fact that Minority Leader Richard A. Gephardt was one of its authors.
The resolution, passed 296-133, calls on the United Nations to enforce strict rules on inspecting and eliminating Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. It also requires Bush to inform Congress, no more than 48 hours after initiating military attack, on why diplomatic efforts were ineffective.
Allen, a member of the Armed Services Committee, disagreed with the resolution because, he said, it gives Bush a "blank check" for a unilateral attack on Iraq without his having to consult Congress any further.
"The classified briefings I have received do not lead me to conclude that the threat is imminent," Allen said on Tuesday. "We have time to work with our allies to enforce U.N. resolutions."
Allen, along with Baldacci, voted for a Democratic alternative proposal sponsored by South Carolina Rep. John Spratt, which the House rejected, 155-270, on Thursday. The proposal would have approved the use of U.S. forces in conjunction with U.N. approval of action against Iraq but would have forced the president to come back for a second vote if he wanted to act unilaterally.
"To support the President and to build a powerful allied force against Iraq, I voted for the Spratt resolution," Baldacci said in a written statement. "Its strong approach offered the most effective way to accomplish these goals."
Baldacci, a staunch supporter of a multilateral coalition, said he believed that "it offers the best chance to effectively disarm Saddam Hussein."
The Senate was expected to approve the White House-backed resolution Thursday night or Friday.
Republican Sen. Susan M. Collins said she decided to vote in favor of the Bush resolution after extensive discussions with Secretary of State Colin Powell.
"He has convinced me that the prospects for effective action by the United Nations to disarm Iraq depend on the credible threat of the use of force, and that is the reason I will cast my vote in favor of this resolution," Collins said in a prepared statement Thursday.
Collins urged Bush to continue exploring all means of non-military action to disarm Iraq, but she said she was not averse to the president's ordering military strikes as a last resort.
"As difficult as the decision to authorize military action is, one need only consider how much more difficult it will be when Saddam has a nuclear bomb," Collins said.
Republican Sen. Olympia J. Snowe announced her support for the White House-backed resolution early Wednesday.
"By granting military authority to the president in advance, it leaves no question or uncertainty as to the level of our commitment - thereby strengthening the president's ability to secure U.N. implementation of a new and enforceable resolution," Snowe said.
Bush applauded the House's approval of the resolution late Thursday afternoon.
"Today's vote sends a clear message to the Iraqi regime: It must disarm and comply with all existing U.N. resolutions, or it will be forced to comply," Bush said.
Published in The Kennebec Journal and The Morning Sentinel, in Maine.
Maine Receives F Grade for Affordability
WASHINGTON, Oct. 09, 2002--Maine students may be receiving a first-rate education, but their pockets are empty.
A study done by a private research group named Maine the fifth-smartest state in the country. However, this great education comes with a price. College students in Maine continue to pay more than those in other states, but they tend to complete their degrees, according to another study, a report card on U.S. higher education.
Maine colleges and universities received an F grade for affordability, along with 11 other states, including New Hampshire, Vermont and Rhode Island. The National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education's report card, Measuring Up 2002, stated that Maine students must spend about a fourth of their family income, after financial aid, to attend the state's public colleges.
"Measuring Up was created to encourage and support state leaders in their efforts to expand and improve college-level opportunity and effectiveness- a challenge in every state," National Center President Patrick M. Callan said in a statement last week.
Directors at community and technical colleges acknowledge that the affordability problem may contribute to the shortage of high school students who move on to higher education.
Even though Maine has the highest high school graduation rate in the nation-- 94 percent-- only 55 percent of high school graduates attend college, according to U.S. Census figures.
Alice Kirkpatrick, director of public affairs for the Maine Technical College System,
says that a combination of cost, financial aid available for low-income Mainers and income levels put the schools in a challenging place.
"We offer the lowest tuition in Maine and still we are concerned that we can't reach the lowest-income families," Kirkpatrick said.
"We have frozen tuition for the past four years and we want to continue doing that, with help from the state," Kirkpatrick said. "Adequate state funding might just bring us into line with the national average."
Maine technical schools' attendance has experienced a 16 percent increase in the past year, the largest increase in the system's history, Kirkpatrick said.
The "report card" also gave Maine these four grades:
*C+ for the number of high school students who immediately attend college
*D+ for the number of residents with bachelors' degrees
*B for the number of college students who finish school with a degree
* B+ for college preparation
Another study has named Maine the fifth-smartest state in the country. The Morgan Quitno Press, which compiled the smartest-state report, didn't just rank states by their student test scores.
"It isn't just about high school student test scores," Scott Morgan, the press's president, said. "The award measures a broad array of educational factors," varying from percentage of household income spent on public schooling to average class size to teacher salary.
Teacher salary in Maine is at an all-time low, ranked 38th in the country. The average Maine K-12 teacher earns only $36,373 a year, compared to Connecticut's $53,507. Connecticut won the award for smartest state in the nation.
Chris Galgay, vice president of the Maine Education Association and a third grade teacher in Buckfield, said Maine might have been ranked higher if not for its low teacher salaries.
"When I heard the different factors that led to the ranking, my first reaction was that we must be awfully high in every category except teacher salary," Galgay said. "We are a poor state, and the average income for most professions is very low. We get a bang for our buck from our educators."
Other high scorers in the study were Vermont, Montana and New Jersey.
Published in The Kennebec Journal and The Morning Sentinel, in Maine.
Allen Speaks Out Against Medicare Cuts
WASHINGTON, Oct. 09, 2002--Medicare cuts that will amount to about $12 million in lost revenues for Maine's 125 skilled nursing facilities took effect Tuesday, the first day of the federal government's new fiscal year.
But if Democratic Rep. Tom Allen has his way, payments for skilled nursing facility services will stay untouched for the next three years.
Allen, whose father lives in a nursing home in Maine, spoke Monday at a rally here, joining the American Health Care Association and others who oppose cuts in the Medicare skilled nursing care benefits.
"To those who argue that skilled nursing care is too expensive, I say the consequences of these cuts are much more costly," Allen said.
On Sept. 19, Allen and Republican Rep. Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia introduced bipartisan legislation, the Medicare Beneficiary Skilled Nursing Protection Act, to prevent a $1.7 billion cut in reimbursements to skilled nursing care providers nationally. The Ways and Means and Energy and Commerce Committees are reviewing the bill. It has 37 co-sponsors, including Democratic Rep. John Baldacci.
The cuts are the unanticipated side effect of the 1997 Balanced Budget Act, designed to bring the federal budget into balance. Congress acted twice before to prevent cuts to skilled nursing care that would otherwise have taken place under the budget act. The latest cuts took effect Tuesday morning, because Monday was the end of the 2002 fiscal year and Congress hadn't passed a bill to stop the cuts for the new year, said Allen press secretary Mark Sullivan. Allen's bill would freeze spending at current levels for three years.
Dr. Charles Roadman II, president and CEO of the American Health Care Association, said he believes the message is clear: Save our seniors. Fix Medicare now.
"We're talking about residents and patients, not just the providers and facilities, but the people," Roadman said.
Roadman said Congress has had increased expectations of the quality of skilled nursing care but has allowed a reduction in resources to bring that quality down.
"It's illogical," Roadman said, surrounded by advocates of all ages wearing T-shirts with red stop signs saying "Stop Medicare Cuts."
Allen mentioned Bob Pelletier, a 70 year-old native of Brunswick, Maine, who has an amputated leg, a bone infection in his other foot and a spinal infection that nearly cost him his life. Medicare enabled Pelletier to receive care at the Seaside Skilled Nursing Care Center in Portland. He receives physical therapy to teach him to walk with a prosthesis.
"Bob Pelletier is only one of hundreds of thousands of Medicare-funded skilled nursing care success stories each year," Allen said. "Tragically, unless Congress acts soon, the promise of skilled nursing care could disappear for millions of Americans."
With Tuesday's cuts, federal reimbursements for nursing homes would be reduced by 10 percent, or $ 36 per day per patient. By 2003, they would be reduced by $73 per patient per day, according to the 2000 Nursing Home Statistical Yearbook, published by the Cowles Research Group.
"Many facilities could be at risk, potentially leaving thousands of patients, especially in rural states like Maine, with no place to go," Allen said.
Monday's event was the conclusion of the AHCA's "Driving for Quality Care"
petition drive, which visited nursing care facilities in 44 states to highlight the impact budget cuts would have on Medicare recipients.
Other members of the Maine delegation also are fighting the cuts. Republican Sen. Susan Collins urged Congress last April to pass a bill that would temporarily increase the federal Medicare assistance percentage for the Medicaid program, but the bill did not make progress through the Senate. Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe also has dealt with Medicare issues in the past, focusing on seniors and prescription drugs, and has worked with senators from both parties to try to pass a Medicare prescription drug benefit this year. While Snowe thinks it's important to help the providers, she also wants to help the elderly, said Dave Lackey, Snowe's press secretary.
"We are working to bridge partisan differences on Medicare issues, and while she is addressing provider issues, Senator Snowe also wants to help the seniors with such areas as prescription drugs," Lackey said.
Published in The Kennebec Journal and The Morning Sentinel, in Maine.
