Sally Bouchard
Fiscal Hawks
By Sally Bouchard
May 20, 2007 - 2:39:47 PM

A small group of people were called fiscal hawks by a member of the town council. If I was one of those people he considered a fiscal hawk, I would take that as a compliment.

For too many years, I have watched members of our town council spend money, not wisely but wastefully, as has our school system.

Times were good at one time, and the citizens thought they would never end; but they have and we as a town cannot continue to spend our money unwisely.

A lot of money that was supposed to be used for "economic development" has gone to an organization called the Millinocket Area Growth and Investment Council (MAGIC). The people of Millinocket had supported MAGIC once, but after so many years, they now feel that the time has come to go another route and to hire our own economic developer working for the town, rather than for MAGIC.

Like too many ideas that does go with a certain clique, the thirty thousand for an economic developer that would work with the town manger is being held up.

This is the same clique that gave thirty thousand dollars to the so-called culture center, without any accountably and with no strings attached - thirty thousand dollars gone and, being a fiscal hawk, I did not like that vote by the four members of the MAGIC clique.

This past week, the citizens of Millinocket lost another courageious voice. Gordon McCauslin died, and he also was a fiscal hawk.

When he was on the town council, he spoke out against the outrageousness of the school budget and, like too many of the fiscal hawks in Millinocket, the citizens did not reelect him to office. Do not ask hard questions about the school budget, as it is a sacred cow.

It was Gordon who begged the organization called MAGIC not to accept money from the Wilderness Society, as it would split the town. They took the money anyhow and the town is much divided.

It was Gordon who told me about the devastation in Oregon that was caused by organizations like the Nature Conservancy and the Wilderness Society.

Mills were closed, and jobs were lost due to the tree huggers and organizations like the Wilderness Society. Small communities after community were destroyed and now, instead of wilderness, the developers have moved in, the land is being cleared for new homes, and the forest are being lost forever.

The jobs that the mills had are also lost forever and when the development is done, those jobs will also be forever gone, as will the forest and the animals that lived in those forests. Well done, all you tree huggers.

Gordon was a man of deep faith and he was a man who stuck by his convictions. He spoke for the people of the land - the fishermen, the hunters, the mill workers - the people who grew up in Millinocket, and he represented them well.

Unlike other spokesmen for the town and our state, Gordon could not be bought by the big money that the Nature Conservancy and the Wilderness Society has. He knew how much destruction they have caused to the people of his country and how they could destroy his town and state, so he fought a good fight against them.

Many of us who knew Gordon have to give him many thanks for a job well done. Gordon, your voice is still but you will be remembered for all of the good that you have done for your town and community.

Thanks Gordon, you will be missed by many.