Maine Street Monday (oops a day late)--Skowhegan

Skowhegan is the county seat of Somerset County and about an hour north of my home. The district court there is within my work radius and so this morning I was on the road early for an 8:00 docket call. Skowhegan with a population of around 8,000 people is the largest town where I regularly practice.

Skowhegan is located on the Kennebec River and was a favorite fishing spot for the local Abenaki Indians. Skowhegan means watching place.
Eventually the Abenackis gave way to the settlers and industrialists and the powerful Kennebec River went from providing fish to providing energy to power textile mills, lumber mills and paper mills. Now, the mills are mostly idle and much of the population has disappeared as the Abenackis did a century before.

Some of my favorite fun facts about Skowhegan (other than the fun of saying the word) include that it was the home of Margaret Chase Smith, the first woman U.S. Senator and that it hosts the Skowhegan Fair, the country's longest continuously running state fair.

In 2001, Robert Russo won a Pullitzer Prize for writing the novel Empire Falls. The town of Empire Falls was fictional but Skowhegan was used for the setting when HBO filmed the miniseries in 2005.

With all the politicians trying to distance themselves from Wall Street and attach themselves to Main Street, I have decided that for a while anyway (until I get bored with it), I will feature Maine Main Streets on Mondays.

Maine Street Monday--Livermore Falls

Downstream on the Androscoggin River is a town called Livermore Falls. Like a lot of towns in Maine, Livermore Falls has seen better days and like many towns in Maine, in its heyday there were mills for converting our wealth of timber into paper and lumber.

Today there is a small lumber mill, a lot of empty store fronts and a lot of run-down apartments. When I first started practicing law in Maine ten years ago, the courthouse was open every Wednesday and I was in town weekly. Since then the court has closed and the filings have been moved to the large courthouse in Auburn.

The river dominates the town dividing it from the seemingly more prosperous and rural town of Livermore. There is still a big papermill upstream from Livermore Falls in the town of Jay and probably the lucky ones in town still work there. The Jay papermill was owned by International Paper, now it is owned by Verso Paper. There have been layoffs and shutdowns over the last few years and there is always the fear of more.

One of my favorite political signs was posted in a window in an empty building block. The sign says "Impeach Ignorance". I'm not even really sure what that means but it sounds good. The person whose sign the vote encourages is a Republican running for Congress in the Second District. Interestingly, a debate between the candidates was being replayed on Maine Public Radio as I drove through town. It was highly entertaining, but I still don't understand the sign.

Kathie used to live in Livermore Falls--maybe she can share some of her memories.

With all the politicians trying to distance themselves from Wall Street and attach themselves to Main Street, I have decided that for a while anyway (until I get bored with it), I will feature Maine Main Streets on Mondays.

Main Street Monday

With all the politicians trying to distance themselves from Wall Street and attach themselves to Main Street, I have decided that for a while anyway (until I get bored with it), I will feature Maine Main Streets on Mondays.

Dixfield's hub is at the intersection of Weld Street (Rt. 142) and Main Street (Rt. 2).

Doug's Dogs is a staple of the intersection. Every day from the time the snow melts until it comes back again, Doug is selling hotdogs from his little cart in the parking lot of the American Legion. Doug has outlasted at least four restaurants who have opened and closed in the time that I have lived in town. In the winter months, he travels to Florida with his hot dog cart. I suspect that he is a very successful businesman, I know he's a nice guy and Charlie takes every opportunity to pick up a Doug's Dog for lunch.

Across the street from Doug's Dogs is the Bangor Savings Bank. If Bangor Savings Bank has had to be bailed out by the federal government, that news hasn't broken in the Rumford Falls Times yet. National news reports say that small local banks are the safest from the current financial sunami.

Alot of big trucks rumble through town. We have a lumber mill and there is a paper mill downstream in Jay and one upstream in Rumford. Huge 20 ton trucks hauling logs rumble through town at all hours of the day and night.

The gas price at the new Towle's Corner Store is at $2.69 per gallon today. Lower gas prices have to help the truckers and loggers whose incomes support the other businesses in town.

The Towle's Corner Store is a new business by a family who also owns the adjacent hardware store. The Corner Store opened up last fall and features really tasty meals and wireless internet along with the usual convenience store stock.

The Towle's Hardware Store is undergoing extensive remodelling and expansion even in the face of headlines that scream recession.

There are a lot of houses for sale in town and some that have been sold for far less than they should have been worth. I have no doubt that people are suffering greatly from the current financial situation, from fuel prices and fear but I also think that people on Main Streets in Maine and probably all over the country try to live within their means, pay their bills, raise their children, take care of their elders and they can't really comprehend what a trillion dollars looks like. I know that I can't.