Category Archives: Millinocket News

Man to hike Appalachian Trail to spotlight military vet issues

Bradenton man to hike trail to spotlight military vet issues

Hiking the AT to raise awareness of Veterans needs.
Christopher Davis hikes the Appalachian Trail. photo provided.

Christopher Davis’ dream was to one day hike the Appalachian Trail to bring awareness to a cause closest to his heart — returning veterans.

To do on someone’s time clock would be an unexpected treat.

His dream has come true.

By RICHARD DYMOND
rdymond@bradenton.com  May 12, 2014  website

Davis made a pitch about a year ago to his new boss, Bob Rosinsky, president and CEO of Goodwill Manasota.

“There is something I’ve always wanted to do,” Davis told Rosinsky. “When I was sitting in Afghanistan in 2002 with the U.S. Army, I promised myself that if I lived through the war, I would walk the entire Appalachian Trail for a good cause.”

Davis proposed his “good cause” would shine light on the issue of military veterans coming home and having trouble accessing services.

Rosinsky immediately said “yes” even though it meant Davis would be physically out of pocket for five months, hiking with a backpack between Mount Katahdin, Maine, and Springer Mountain, Ga., while remaining on the payroll.

“Chris is still part of our team,” Rosinsky said. “It’s kind of a redeployment for Chris.”

As it turns out, the story of Davis’ May 28-to-Thanksgiving trek and why Rosinsky said yes is as much about Rosinsky and his enthusiasm and passion for military veterans as it is about his bucket list adventure.

‘One step at a time’

Davis, 35, was hired by Rosinsky in January 2013 to be the veteran’s program manager for Goodwill Manasota’s new American Veterans and Their Families Initiative.

Goodwill Manasota is well known locally as a not-for-profit organization whose mission is “changing lives through the power of work.”

It helped 329 veterans find jobs in 2013, according to Goodwill Manasota records.

But Rosinsky said he wanted to go beyond just landing jobs for veterans.

Working with an annual budget of roughly $100,000, Davis helps veterans and their families when they are down and out. Program funding comes from grants and sales of donated items.

“Chris provides information for vets to get housing, jobs, insurance, benefits, social integration, clothing, food, legal aide, transportation and medical,” said Yen Reed, director of marketing for Goodwill Manasota. “He works with hundreds of community partners.”

Rosinsky said Davis has done a stellar job.

“People have visited and said that our program has gotten more traction than other vet programs they are aware of,” Rosinsky said. “I believe the progress we are making is due to Chris.

“Chris’ program is evolving,” Rosinsky added. “We hope to provide services for every veteran in the drawdown as we leave Iraq and Afghanistan. We have a lot of people struggling. We hope that Goodwill is the doorway past that struggle.”

It’s hard to imagine a CEO giving the green light to a key employee to hike the Appalachian Trail for five months, but Rosinsky is more than OK with it.

“I immediately considered the fact that the screen got bigger for us to project on,” Rosinsky said. “We can reach a national audience and get people to recognize that vets need assistance.”

While Davis is gone, his assistant, Don Hill, will run the program, Rosinsky said.

Davis said he thinks the Appalachian Trail will be symbolic for veterans.

“It’s not how high or low we go on the peaks or valleys. It’s taking one step after another,” said Davis who graduated from the University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee last week as the Outstanding Graduate after serving 14 years with the U.S. Army with seven tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. “I will make it to Georgia because I will keep walking. I think that’s the message we want to send to vets, ‘If you just take one step and then another, you will get there.'”

Davis can thank the late Guy Kelnhofer of Wisconsin for making his Appalachian trek a reality. Kelnhofer, Rosinsky’s uncle, was captured in Wake Island during World War II and spent four years in a prisoner-of-war camp.

“I saw some of the issues he had coming back,” Rosinsky said.

Rosinsky noted veterans like his uncle don’t always get needed services but it’s not because the services are not available.

“When vets come out, they tend to get isolated,” Rosinsky said. “It’s not so much that things aren’t out there, it’s just that there is a lack of focus and a lack of assistance to help them access what is there,”

30,000-plus Manatee County vets

Manatee County has 36,000 veterans, Davis said.

“The 2011 census reported 81,000 veterans in Manatee, Sarasota, DeSoto and Hardee counties,” Davis said. “Manatee is definitely in the top three of Florida’s counties for number of vets.

“There are young vets as well,” Davis added.

Davis recalled a recent case where he helped a vet access a Veteran’s Administration housing program for chronically homeless vets.

“The sky is the limit when it comes to what we can do to put vets back on track,” Davis said.

Goodwill Manasota will be getting a lot of value out of Davis’ trek, Rosinsky said.

“Chris is going to do a blog where people can follow him every day (available through experiencegoodwill.org or linked directly at trailjournals.com/goodwillwalking),” Rosinsky said. “We will also hook up with media all along the trek and give updates on his progress. Some people will go out and walk with him.”

Rosinsky plans to meet Davis at Harper’s Ferry, W. Va., in August and walk about 100 miles over a week.

Davis is also fundraising. People can donate from five cents to $1 per mile at experiencegoodwill.org, which will have links on the home page, Reed said.

“Whether he raises $2,000, $10,000 or $50,000 for his program is inconsequential when you look at the impact of raising awareness over that longer period of time,” Rosinsky said.

Richard Dymond, Herald reporter, can be reached at 941-745-7072 or contact him via Twitter @ RichardDymond.

Read more here.

Roxanne Quimby and the North Maine Woods

Roxanne Quimby, North Maine Woods, National Park

National Park in Maine?
Yankee Magazine – Roxanne Quimby and the North Maine Woods.

Wow.  I just found this great article from Yankee Magazine. The story of what’s going on with the north Maine woods, a national park and what Roxanne Quimby is doing and… why!  The article is quite long but very interesting!  It looks at the plight of:

1. the locals who feel they deserve to access the land as they wish; to hunt, fish, hike, camp (like they have always had) – even if they don’t own it and the owner of the land doesn’t want them doing that there.

2. a few wealthy individuals who see huge tracts of Maine land being sold to foreign entities for division and development – and want to preserve it in its entirety (with access to visitors), possibly as a national park.

Jym St. Pierre, Maine director of a group called RESTORE: The North Woods, says in the article, “The biggest reason we don’t have a national park in Maine today is because we’ve had a de facto park for generations. People feel entitled to that land, just because it’s always been there.”

Roxanne Quimby summits Mount Katahdin in Maine.
Roxanne Quimby summits Mount Katahdin in Maine.

Roxanne speaks about The Whetstone Bridge and how locals are feeling the hurt with the loss of a back-woods east-west road…

“These two pieces of land here effectively stop all east–west traffic. This bridge, the Whetstone Bridge, here — it’s one of the very significant nails in the coffin because it’s the only way to get across the river for something like 30 miles. Okay, you can go over the bridge, but you can’t go across my land with a car. So you can have your bridge, but it ain’t doin’ you any good. I’m closing in, and I’m doing this to demonstrate that you cannot leave this to chance.”

She is speaking broadly to those who oppose a park, those who ironically also claim they believe in property rights: “Yes, it’s a private road, but it’s been in such permissive use for so many years, people forget that the state doesn’t own that road.”

Up there, where she is pointing, people slapped bumper stickers onto their cars and wore T-shirts emblazoned with the slogan “Ban Roxanne.” Letters to the editor condemned her.  But… she agreed to keep open two important snowmobile trails that cross portions of her land, perhaps heralding a thaw in her relations with area sportsmen and residents.

Read the entire article at Yankee Magazine

North Maine Woods

Video of Millinocket Lake and Mount Katahdin

Excellent video of Millinocket Lake & Mt Katahdin

A great video shot across Millinocket Lake in Maine during evening and sunset.  The video starts looking at Mount Katahdin, the crown jewel of Baxter State Park and shows the viewer many views of the lake and Lake Road, leading to the lake.  The video ends with Mount Katahdin in late evening with a great sunset shot.  Thanks to user satajet883 at youtube for uploading the video.

Sunset video of Millinocket Lake & Mt Katahdin.
Millinocket Lake and Mount Katahdin, Maine Video from Youtube.

Investor working to complete financing for Millinocket pellet mill

Investor working to complete financing for Millinocket pellet mill despite FAME shortfall

Millinocket Pellet Mill may go forward if they can find financing.
Closed Millinocket Mill – photo: Robert F. Bukaty | AP

MILLINOCKET, Maine — The New Hampshire investment firm that could create a new market for the state’s forest products industries intends to proceed with its plans to build a $140 million pellet mill despite a recent $9 million reduction in a state bond, officials said Wednesday.

excerpt from bangor daily news
~ By Nick Sambides Jr., BDN Staff ~

Thermogen Industries leaders are “disappointed” with a Finance Authority of Maine decision last week to reduce a $25 million bond to $16 million, but are working to close that gap with its investors, said Dammon Frecker, Thermogen’s project manager.

“While this setback is certainly unfortunate, our team’s passion and determination [are] inspiring and I have full confidence that we will prevail,” Frecker said in a statement released Wednesday. “We are working around the clock to restructure our financing plan and finalize a new path forward.”

rocks-low-water-katahdin“We are committed to developing this project and putting people back to work,” he added.

Cate Street Capital is a Portsmouth investment firm bankrolling Thermogen and Great Northern Paper Co. LLC, which owns a temporarily closed paper mill in East Millinocket and an industrial park in Millinocket where the pellet mill will be sited.

more…

Great Northern Paper Company is a Maine-based pulp and paper manufacturer that at its peak in the 1970s and 1980s operated mills in Georgia, Maine, and Wisconsin and produced 16.4 percent of the newsprint made in the United States.

The company was acquired by Georgia-Pacific Corporation in 1990. Its name was revived in 2011 when private equity firm Cates Capital acquired Great Northern’s original Maine mills.  Cate Capital now plans to replace the Millinocket mill with this pellet plant.