Is Luke Damon the real deal? Can this political neophyte win SWH select board seat? (Natasha Johnson did)
Other news: Fernalds sell landmark house in Somesville; Read the QSJ's voting guide
SOUTHWEST HARBOR - Once again the race for select board is competitive, with three candidates vying for the seat vacated by Dan Norway, who resigned in the spring when he got tired of the intense drama and histrionics surrounding town decisions.
Luke Damon has generated surprising buzz as a newcomer to municipal affairs. It’s easy to see why. The 37-year-old comports himself with a soft-spoken, low-key equanimity. He has great curbside appeal.
“I'm applying for this board out of love for our town and community with no self serving items to bring to the table or personal axes to grind,” he wrote on his Facebook page. “I simply feel I have the most to offer the town to keep us moving along instead of kicking cans down the road further.”
In an interview he said, “I would say over the past 30 plus years, the town has made some great strides in a lot of areas. Southwest Harbor used to be considered not much of a place to visit which was taken with pride by a lot of locals because we all loved having our own place.
“But boy, to be able to walk to 13 different restaurants in town, that's quite a nice thing to have now that didn't exist when I was a kid.
“I understand sometimes things are three steps forward, two steps back. In the past few years, there has been a lot of turnover and it hasn't been the most productive use of everyone's time that I can tell,” said Damon.
“Things haven't moved along well enough. And I understand people have different opinions and I appreciate their opinions. Some people are cheap, some people are frivolous. And right in the middle is probably where everyone needs to be.”
Damon is a young father seeking to engage in a town where municipal government is dominated by people with an AARP membership and a Medicare card. He is part of a declining demographic, as many young families like his struggle with rising cost.
He fits more the mold of a Natasha Johnson, the local businesswoman who became a select member this June and who has shown she’s a quick study of town issues. The combination of having younger representatives on the select board is exciting to many because they will have a longer view of the town. Damon’s son attending Pemetic is also considered a plus, broadening his view of the total needs of the town.
He also will bring expertise in a useful area, the way that select member Jim Vallette, a materials scientists, has brought expertise in waste management and other subjects, and chair Carolyn Ball with her grant-writing skills.
“I feel my experience and background can be a great asset to the Town to efficiently get through a lot of these complicated infrastructure projects that are upcoming including the town garage, Main Street sidewalk & drainage project, Manset town dock & property project, and the new Waste water treatment plant, to name a few,” he stated on Facebook.
Damon works as a stationary steam engineer for the state. Before that he was assistant chief engineer for Jackson Lab’s utility plant in Bar Harbor. He graduated with honors in engineering from Maine Maritime Academy. He’s seen a big chunk of the world on container ships, chemical tankers, LNG regassification vessels and drill ships.
“Over the past 11.5 years I've been involved with many building, underground utilities, and critical infastructure projects at our facility and for my plant. I've been involved from initial design, design modifications, construction oversite, commissioning, rectifying punchlist items and operations.”
Damon supported the proposed town projects but cited the difficulty of estimating the true cost through the municipal biddings process.
“From where I work, that is not a perfect science. You never know who's available, what kind of labor pool they have and what materials are doing at any given moment.
“And so estimates are all fine and good, but we very very often will make an estimate for our projects here, where I work, and the they end up being much more once we go to the quoting table. So I understand part of that.”
On the Main Street project which has seen cost triple in four years, Damon said, “I do feel there was a lot of complicated factors in that we had three town managers in the middle of that, and the state was dragging their feet.
“And then I think there was some communication issues. They call it the sidewalk project, but there really is more than the sidewalk happening. So hopefully we're going to get rid of the terrible potholes by mitigating the drainage that comes off of Freeman Ridge.”
Damon lives on Main Street in the middle of the affected area. It’s uncertain whether he has an interest in issues beyond capital projects. We did not discuss the housing crisis. He did not return a follow-up call.
I pointed out that until July, the select board was dominated by George Jellison, whose menacing presence led to dysfunction and unnecessary friction with other boards and committees, and that Jellison had Norwood and Allen Willey vote for virtually everything he wanted.
“I am a very free thinker,” Damon said. “I don't follow anybody else's line or party lines.”
The only candidate guaranteed not to be a Jellison supplicant is Charlotte Gill, owner of Charlotte’s Legendary Lobster Pound on Seawall who has been hounded by Jellison since July 14, 2021 when he ordered the new police chief to crack down on parking around her establishment. He didn’t bother to tell the chief nor anyone else that his sister lived across the street from Charlotte and was the chief complainant. At a subsequent meeting, the police chief described all the chaos “like a crime scene.”
This week the select board once again declined Jellison’s appeal to erect no parking signs on the state road on which he also owns a house, 426 Seawall. It was the sixth select board meeting to take up his singular cause.
Like Donald Trump, who makes up his own rules, Jellison ignored multiple entreaties to recuse himself especially after member Jim Vallette did so, even thought Vallette’s house (400 Seawall) is farther from the restaurant.
The refusal to acknowledge his own conflict this week as he continued to push for sanctions against Charlotte was disturbing on several levels. The owners of the lot next to Charlotte’s had already taken the law into their own hands, erecting an illegal fence on the road and joining Jellison’s personal vengeance. Jellison fuels such blatant vigilante behavior. That fence was cited by the state as being a danger to passing cars.
The election in May 2022 was whether the town would tolerate more of Jellison’s tyranny. The town spoke loud and clear. Jim Vallette and Natasha Johnson were elected by a landslide. Willey got only 57 votes.
Now comes a second test.
The journalist in me would love to cover meetings where Gill and Jellison each has a seat at the table. It would make for great copy, but at what cost to the town?
The third candidate, Michael Magnani, is essentially a George Jellison “lite” - another reliable supplicant if elected.
Luke Damon has many unknowns.
Charlotte Gill stated that if she does not win, she would like the seat to go to Damon. “Anyone else besides either of us would guarantee a Jellison legacy.” She said if she loses she would definitely run against Jellison next June when his term is up.
With remote voting underway, here is a guide on how to vote in MDI elections
For Bar Harbor voters:
(The town council, boards and committees are rife with conflicts of interest and have become essentially agents of the Chamber of Commerce. On the busiest weekend of the year with the running of the 17th MDI marathon Sunday, the town still allowed cruise ships to add to the congestion. Ships with more than 3,000 passengers and a third as many in crew will be in town Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. Only the citizens initiative will bring back some order to town.)
For Bar Harbor and Mount Desert
For Tremont and Southwest Harbor
For all MDI towns:
Who is Bob Granger and will he win district attorney’s race with just yard signs?
TRENTON - Bob Granger, whose signs are on virtually every open space in Hancock and Washington counties, said he is running as an independent because he believes politics should not be a consideration for positions like district attorneys in Maine. Yet, here he is, hoping for some right-wing pixie dust from the biggest political lightning rod in the state, Paul LePage. Granger is running against true Republican Matthew Foster, who is seeking his third term. Here is his Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100080098938933
Tom and Carroll Fernald bid farewell to Somesville; end of an era, NY couple acquire house
SOMESVILLE - Tom Fernald posed for me in front of his house Tuesday, leaning on a column in front of what is arguably the most famous house on MDI, which he and his wife Carroll sold on Wednesday.
There are many houses on the island with a rich history. But the Fernald’s property stands alone for its representation of an era, its attendant care for the beauty of the village and its historic importance as its only about 100 yards from where Abe Somes pulled up with his Chebacco sail boat in 1761.
The sale of the house is not connected to the funeral home next door. Tom Fernald was disheartened when he had to take down four giant elm trees earlier this year for which he received no assistance from the town, he said.
Abraham C. Fernald, Sr. was the founder of the business in 1860. It has been owned and operated by five generations of Fernalds. In 1961 the current funeral home was built in Somesville. In 1981, the family purchased the Jordan Funeral Home in Ellsworth, followed by the purchase of the Healey Funeral Home in Blue Hill in 1993, and the facility in Bar Harbor in 1999. In 2004 all four locations became known as Jordan-Fernald Funeral Home. In 2011 the Bar Harbor Facility closed when it was decided only one facility was needed on MDI.
William C. Fernald, who started in 1961, retired in 2009 and his brother, Thomas J. Fernald, who had joined the family business in 1967, retired in 2013. However, the longest serving member, Robert B. Fernald who started in business in 1955, passed the reigns to his daughter, Lauri E. Fernald, in 2018. Lauri joined the firm in 1988.
Tom and Carroll are headed to Southwest Harbor where he expects to spend the rest of his life, he said. In 2015, the Islander’s Dick Broom wrote this feature on the meticulous care of the house by the couple. https://www.mdislander.com/living/landmark-maine-house-meticulously-preserved
His house was purchased by a couple from New York, Joel S. Kress and Kathleen McGee. The two lawyers will no doubt join Mount Desert’s phalanx of summer people and be welcomed heartily, except perhaps the swim club.
When I first drove through Somesville in 1984, I was struck by the flowers raking the stone wall in front of the Fernald house. The new buyers will get plenty of advice on how to keep that tradition continuing.
Fair winds Tom and Carroll Fernald. Hope to bump into you at the church pie sale next season!
Monterey Bay Aquarium says it won't change lobster red-listing despite threats from Maine lawmakers
SOMESVILLE - The Monterey Bay Aquarium is refusing to back down from its recent listing of American lobster on the group's Seafood Watch "Avoid" or "red" list. The Maine delegation has crafted a bill to strip the group of any future tax grants.
On Tuesday, US Rep. Jared Golden and Senator Angus King announced their intention to introduce the "Red Listing Monterey Bay Aquarium Act" to prohibit federal taxpayer funds from going to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Maine Senator Susan Collins and Congresswoman Chellie Pingree will cosponsor the legislation.
The move follows the September decision by the Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch program to list American-caught Atlantic lobster on its Avoid list because of the fishery's interaction with endangered right whales.
Tribute: David Thurston Allen
MOUNT DESERT - David Thurston Allen, 83, passed peacefully at the MDI Hospital on Oct. 3, after a long illness. He was born Jan. 30, 1939, in Blue Hill to Arnold P. Allen and Elizabeth Irene (York) Allen.
He is survived by his wife of 50 years, Betty Allen; two sons, Timothy Allen of Mount Desert and Michael Allen and wife, Holly, of Hancock; three stepchildren, Laraine Wade and her husband, Dennis, of Greenfield, Mass., Susan (Walls) Jackson and her husband, Lee, of Oakfield and Allan (Sparky) Walls and partner Marny of Town Hill; eight grandchildren and five great-grandchildren; two sisters, Nancy Gray of Centre Hall, Pa., and Mady Allen of Mount Desert; two nieces, Vicki Homan of Centre Hall, Pa., and Denice Gray of Falmouth; and one nephew, Steven Gray of Trenton.
He was predeceased by his father, Arnold Allen, by his mother, Elizabeth, when he was 3, a baby brother and sister, his stepmother Marie Allen and nephew Stacey Gray of Bar Harbor.
David was best known for being the captain of the Maine Seacoast Mission’s vessel, the Sunbeam. His wife, Betty, was by his side as steward and cook. While still in high school, he got his pilot’s license in one week. He flew the plane to spot fish for his father’s seining outfits and later in life to spot fish for his own seining outfit, and to take aerial photos for island real estate persons. He got his first boat, a 24-foot lobster boat, while still in grade school. His loves were many — the sea, flying, dancing, basketball games, cutting wood for his wood boiler and kitchen stove, people, and for life, which he lived to the fullest, until his health started to fail three or four years ago. That made life difficult.
The family would like to thank all of the home health workers who helped make his last year easier, especially, Debbie Kiley and Julie. The MDI nursing staff and doctors, the ambulance persons, without all those wonderful professional persons, we would all suffer more! Dr. Baxter, his wife, the staff and Kendra, who looked after him for years. To all who did so much, thank you!
David requested no funeral at this time. The Sunbeam will be taking his ashes to sea, for a final resting place, in early spring. The date will be announced later. No flowers. If you want, feel free to donate to the Maine Seacoast Mission, Northeast Harbor, in David’s name.
As always, I appreciate the reporting. But I think it was unwise to post a completed ballot.