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Log inMaine island living shapes longtime politician's views
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Maine island living shapes longtime politician's views
by Outspoken on Sat Oct 04, 2008 6:49 am
Chellie Pingree: Maine island living shapes longtime politician's views
By Walter Griffin
Staff Writer Bangor Daily News
NORTH HAVEN, Maine — Chellie Pingree's political life has taken her from Augusta to the nation’s capital, but it is this island in Penobscot Bay that is the source of her convictions and inspiration.
“People in a small town have a very good sense of how to work together, how to push to get things done,” she said. “You can learn a lot living in a small town. We all know each other’s business, but we keep an eye on each other, too. I could never live anywhere else.”
Pingree, who is the Democratic candidate in the race to replace Tom Allen as representative from Maine’s 1st Congressional District, has been involved in politics for decades.
She served on the island as assessor and on its planning and school boards. She served in the Maine Senate for eight years, ran for the U.S. Senate in 2002, and headed the public interest group Common Cause until last year when she announced her candidacy for Congress.
Pingree also had a career as a successful businesswoman. She now is the owner of Nebo Lodge, a restored inn and restaurant near the island ferry landing.
Pingree, 53, grew up in Minnesota and moved to North Haven right after high school, where she met her future husband, Charlie Pingree, at an Outward Bound program.
It was a time when people were in the streets protesting the war in Vietnam, the counterculture was taking hold and young people were heading back to the land.
“It was 1971 and we all had a copy of Helen and Scott Nearing’s ‘Living the Good Life,’” she said. “We wanted to get involved in all those things that people were talking about then, living off the land, heating with wood.”
The couple set up in a small cabin on the island, and though they tried to make a go of it, they quickly realized they needed to acquire the necessary skills if they wanted to realize their dreams.
Pingree enrolled at College of the Atlantic and her husband learned boat building. Upon completion of their education, they returned to North Haven and Chellie began farming while Charlie started building boats.
http://www.bangordailynews.com/detail/90382.html
BANGOR DAILY NEWS PHOTO BY JOHN CLARKE RUSS
By Walter Griffin
Staff Writer Bangor Daily News
NORTH HAVEN, Maine — Chellie Pingree's political life has taken her from Augusta to the nation’s capital, but it is this island in Penobscot Bay that is the source of her convictions and inspiration.
“People in a small town have a very good sense of how to work together, how to push to get things done,” she said. “You can learn a lot living in a small town. We all know each other’s business, but we keep an eye on each other, too. I could never live anywhere else.”
Pingree, who is the Democratic candidate in the race to replace Tom Allen as representative from Maine’s 1st Congressional District, has been involved in politics for decades.
She served on the island as assessor and on its planning and school boards. She served in the Maine Senate for eight years, ran for the U.S. Senate in 2002, and headed the public interest group Common Cause until last year when she announced her candidacy for Congress.
Pingree also had a career as a successful businesswoman. She now is the owner of Nebo Lodge, a restored inn and restaurant near the island ferry landing.
Pingree, 53, grew up in Minnesota and moved to North Haven right after high school, where she met her future husband, Charlie Pingree, at an Outward Bound program.
It was a time when people were in the streets protesting the war in Vietnam, the counterculture was taking hold and young people were heading back to the land.
“It was 1971 and we all had a copy of Helen and Scott Nearing’s ‘Living the Good Life,’” she said. “We wanted to get involved in all those things that people were talking about then, living off the land, heating with wood.”
The couple set up in a small cabin on the island, and though they tried to make a go of it, they quickly realized they needed to acquire the necessary skills if they wanted to realize their dreams.
Pingree enrolled at College of the Atlantic and her husband learned boat building. Upon completion of their education, they returned to North Haven and Chellie began farming while Charlie started building boats.
http://www.bangordailynews.com/detail/90382.html
BANGOR DAILY NEWS PHOTO BY JOHN CLARKE RUSS
"Music is a moral law. It gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and charm and gaiety to life and to everything."
Plato (427-347 BC)
Plato (427-347 BC)
