byte&chew

Paging John

In today's The Berlin Daily Sun (1/26/09) a letter to the editor by Linda Harriman Lalande not only deserves your attention, but should be placed on the front page of the newspaper. Although I have no idea who Linda is, her accounts of what transpired between John McCarthy of Cascade Flats and the paper mill are quite accurate as I remember the events. During those times I had a friend who worked at the mill and, who told me about the attention to details the leadership at the mill paid to environmental laws etc., because they knew John McCarthy was watching. I also remember John going after NH-DOT after a woman was killed at the intersection going to Cascade Flats. I believe that there's at least two points in Linda's letter that we need to focus on. 1-How just one person can influence the outcome of events by becoming involved. 2-That it doesn't take much to make someone betray his/her community. Right now, Berlin is in dire need of a John McCarthy to keep a watchful eye on Laidlaw Energy and the goings-on at the Burgess mill site. This polluted and contaminated center of our community is being considered for continued exploitation by Investors only interested in profits! This follows a period of two years when NADC had carte-blanche authorization to do whatever it wanted to do with anything above ground level. The site was mostly leveled and left there as an eye sore for the community to accept. The City allowed NADC and made no demand for environmental assessment or program to mitigate possible air and water contamination from run off or dust being blown off the site. I believe the City has a responsibility to its residents in determining what or if any contaminants are leaving the property. We need a modern day John McCarthy to make our public officials accountable for the mess left behind by the paper companies, North American Dismantling and whatever activity Laidlaw Energy may initiate on the site. When the dust flew-up the day the stacks were taken down, how many among us standing there thought that there was a good possibility that the dust was contaminated? How many people now wonder about the dirt and mud coming off the truck tires leaving the site and ending up on Unity Street may be contaminated?  Are we concerned that this summer when the kids are heading to Community Field to play, some walking barefoot, will possibly  be picking up contaminants off the street and ground? What is our City government preparing to assure us that the construction activities of Laidlaw will not present a health hazard to the people living on surrounding properties? ....John, I hope you're somewhere that allows you to intervene on behalf of the residents.

A Monumental Mistake

I continue to be impressed with the improvements I see in The Berlin Reporter. I have no idea who deserves the kudos for the improvements, but Ms. Sally Manikian who is the face of The Berlin Reporter in Berlin seems to be able to put into words some of the more subtle twist and turns of a meeting. Keep up the good work Sally! …So it was with Sally’s story about Barry Kelley’s performance before Mayor & Council last Monday night. I use the word “performance” because Barry was playing to more than M&C, he brought his select audience with him for effect/applause and his words were chosen to influence those who don’t have first hand knowledge of the specific issues related to the Laidlaw Energy project. I’m sure that Barry’s explanation of how the national grid works and how electrons flow made Edison and Farad turn in their graves! Discrediting the value of the two best wood studies on record as “wrong” because of weather conditions last summer, should have brought laughter from the audience, but they had been recruited to cheer not jeer. Allowing folks like Barry to preach their false gospel at  public meetings where residents look for information is a dangerous practice. Technical information needed for us to judge the value of an important project such as the Laidlaw Energy project requires that the subject matter be presented by people who don’t have a hidden agenda or motivated by self interest. Personally I choose to believe the people who have experience in gathering and compiling information about the wood industry over the sawmill owner who sees every tree as a log and potential profit. If Barry was telling us how to best to cut a log and how to extract the most money from a tree I would listen very carefully. When Barry endorses a company headed by a slick Wall Street salesman over a company like Clean Power who has a proven history in the energy field, Barry is being a snake oil salesman. One of the challenges those of us who either don’t want the Laidlaw boiler downtown or fear that the Laidlaw project is a scam is that, we don’t have our own Barry Kelley for the opposition. The Citizens For A New Vision have all but vanished which has left the pro forces with the full stage and the media to spread their half truths. When Barry Kelley makes absurd statements like “It’s not a good project, it’s a great project”, we know that the facts were left at the door. I believe that the citizens of Berlin deserve nothing less than the most accurate and best information available on important projects such as the Laidlaw Energy plant, not personal opinions, or worse, false information. I agree with Barry when he says that the remains of the mill “is not a monstrosity, it’s a monument”.  Barry, you know as well as we do that, most monuments are a remembrance of someone or something from the past. Keeping the boiler and stack downtown guarantees that Berlin will remain in the past, while the rest of the world passes us by, much like the ride past the monuments on the way to your sawmill. Barry, your ideas are stuck in the past and if followed, years from now our grandchildren can come back to Berlin on Memorial day, place a wreath at the base of the 300’ stack and on our graves. I would rather work towards a new economy that will keep them here to enjoy the quality of life the region  has to offer.

Head hunting

The "no announcement" announcement by Laidlaw Energy that they had closed with North American Dismantling for the  mill property is one of the strangest  moves that Mr. Batoszek has made in a long series of exaggerated announcements. Up to now, the Laidlaw CEO had made mountains out of mole hills, fabricating information to make it look like something substantial had taken place when in fact nothing of importance had taken place. I've collected a series of those half truth announcements over the past couple years, but now (if) Laidlaw has indeed closed on the mill property, there isn't a beep from Mr. Bartoszek himself or on his blogs.  What is "that" all about?  Using Laidlaws track record in Ellicottville NY as a guide, I suggest that Berlin City officials better be ready for a nasty and dirty fight if they continue to oppose the Laidlaw project. This "paper company" (as opposed to a "real" energy company) and, (I don't mean they make paper either), just exist on paper. Such companies surround themselves with clever lawyers rather than engineers.(Can you say "Charlie"?) These lawyers get paid if and when they win in court, something like ambulance chasers and they give the legal profession a bad name. So what is Mr. Bartoszek up to and who are his friends? By friends I don't mean people like Barry Kelley who until recently, I thought was a smart businessman and friend of Berlin. I mean who is Laidlaw cozy with, who stands to gain financially (besides Mr. Bartoszek and a few insiders) if this project goes forward? I don't believe the list of friends is very long, since companies who push communities around and attempt to have it their way right or wrong by going to court don't have many friends. I suggest that there's a rat amongst us and sooner or later we'll see it's ugly head.

Another nail please

Having heard rumors of the Laidlaw purchase of the mill property since last week, I had delayed posting anything on the subject until the matter was made public. With today's headline in The Berlin Daily Sun, "Laidlaw purchases former Fraser boiler, land", the silence has been broken. I personally view this event as another tragedy for Berlin!  I say "another" because we've seen a whole series of negative events surrounding the mill property since it was purchased by American Tissue. Under that ownership, whatever value that was left in the mill was compromised until the bankcruptcy was filed and the sale of the property went to Fraser Papers. That sale which was brokered by the State was another nail in Berlin's coffin when another more promising buyer (Cascade of Canada) was by-passed for Fraser who ignored its own promises of keeping the mill complex "whole", including the six hydro electric facilities. Then again three years ago, the State brokered the sale of the pulp mill property to North American Dismantling completely ignoring the City in the process, another nail was driven. So now the property will legally become the property of Laidlaw Energy, a company with no history of ever bringing online any power generating plant and headed by a Wall Street slick CEO who hasn't shown any sensitivity to the wants or needs of communities he wishes to exploit for profit. Will this be the final nail in Berlin's coffin?  I doubt it!   As Barnum once said "there's a sucker born every day" and Berlin has been suckered again and, until it learns to stand up for what is in the communities best interest, it will continue to be suckered, nailed and exploited!