<>Howdy and Welcome to the Green Wave. Getting something in the mail from the Greens might not be all that new to you - the State Party and even our little group have been known to send a few things out now and then. But this right here is an attempt to keep registered members of Maine’s Green Independent Party (GIP) living in Knox County (and surrounding areas of local resistance) up on what’s happening with the political party they chose to align themselves with.

So with that in mind:

• The Knox Greens are a certified and sanctified Local Group of the GIP. An "epicenter" if you will. We’ve been meeting monthly in Rockland for almost a year - and the Green movement in Knox County goes back much further (in fits and starts, of course.)
• The Knox Greens represent over 400 registered Party members in Knox County. Five times that voted for Nader when he ran for President as Green last year. We’re growing (at a rate of 2x over the last year) - and frankly, would like your active involvement as we fight the good fight.
• The Knox Greens also have a few things going that keep us together. (See the next item and our calendar on the back page.) One of these are people - so we’d invite you to join us, just as you’ve joined the party, to help make this area of Maine a little more friendly to living things.

Since January we’ve been putting on monthly dances at the Blue Goose in Northport. If you’ve been to one, you know they are hot straight-ahead dance fests for the community. They make the association of FUN with GREEN, add a few of our issues into the mix of public discourse, and put a few coins in our bank account. Most importantly perhaps, they make us known. We’ve got the Blue Flames coming on Saturday May 26! Potluck at 6:30, music at 8.

We recently got behind a bill in Augusta that would replace the winner-take-all system with Instant Runoff Voting (LD 1714.) Along with a few other organizations, we succeeded in having the committee recommend a study of IRV (not much, but with continued pressure, a good start.)

We had a couple people active in the Knox Greens go to Quebec City in protest of the FTAA summit. (Congratulations and thanks to all the people from this area who went to Quebec or Jackman! And a special tip of the hat to Camden-Rockport House Rep Susan Dorr and her husband Greg for going up. A politician and city employee speaking out like that is something you have to admire.)

We are getting some internal housekeeping done. In March, we adopted by-laws, elected officers, and set working groups to tasks. We think we’ve done a fine job of handling the old consensus problem that Greens have - our meetings are both productive and creative.

We have a website (http://maine.greens.org/knox/) for anyone wishing to get that cyber fix on us. Minutes, contacts, calendar, burning issues. Submissions most welcome!

Maybe the hottest local development is the proposed Lane asphalt plant in Washington. This is a typical out of state corporation trying to cash in on rural Maine – in a 57 acre strip mine, 48 gravel trucks per hour, extractive kind of way! There’s understandably a lot of local opposition to the proposal, and we’re doing what we can to help make sure that Lane simply goes away. See the calendar for public hearing dates.

Another hot issue is the continuing saga of the proposed marina in Rockland. There’s a good chance it could re-emerge just around the Breakwater’s corner. That’s why we are behind the idea of a "Marine Heritage Park."

Contact us for more info on any of these. And please…

May 19 - GIP Spring Convention (all-day), Portland

May 20 - KG Steering Committee, Rockport

May 24 - KG General Meeting (7 - 9pm), Rockland

May 26 - KG present Blue Flames, Northport

June 3 - Marine Heritage Park fundraiser, Rockland

June 4 - GIP Candidates Committee, Topsham

June 4 - Lane Asphalt Public Hearing, Washington

June 9 - KG present Brian Templeton, Northport

June 17 - KG Steering Committee, Rockport

June 28 - KG General Meeting (7 - 9pm), Rockland

For info on these or other events, please contact us below:

Knox Greens

P.O. Box 171

Rockland, ME 04841 

Bylaws, minutes and archives

Mike Ray   - Co-Chair

Lynne Williams   - Co-Chair

Joanne Batty – Treasurer

Cindy McIntyre   - Scribe  

Tim Sullivan   - GIP Representative

Green Independent Party

P.O Box 2046

Augusta, ME 04338

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