[at-l] Buffering the AT

[Bob Cummings <ellen@clinic.net> (Bob Cummings)]

I think this particular dispute stems from Clifford, arguing that "...Personally I don't
feel that additional funding is appropriate in light of
the governments land grabbing tactics....As much as a I like and care about the AT, lets face
it, it's use is very limited ... As we pump more tax
dollars into the AT, sooner or later going to get to the point where the
other taxpayers want something of the AT for there tax dollars. Might be
handicap accessibility, adjacent ATC/snowmobile trails, maybe even mountain
top auto access and snack bars, and a nifty lodge."

He's upset that I haven't address this point, but instead dealt with some perpheral matters.
Contrary to the impression of some, I only comment when I think I have something to say. Cliff's
opposition to additional land purchases is based on pure speculation. I happen to disagree with that speculation,
but any comment I might have would be speculation also.

I'm willing to risk a possible backlash that Clifford thinks may happen if we buy land to buffer the
trail from development. He isn't. As I said before, I don't see much evidence of inappropriate "land
grabbing tactics" by government.

In defense of his position he questions a 30-year-old land swap in Maine, that occurred after the
courts said Maine still owned 400,000 acres that it had preserved when it sold its public domain and
then forgot it owned.

Since I played a marginal role in the developments that lead to the court decision, I defended the
court and the swap. There is no way this forum can resolve such matters. I spent much of my time and the
newspaper I worked for's time for a decade dealing with this matter.

There's a minority mind set in Maine that feels the state should have let the paper companies, the
lumber companies and the large forest landowners keep the lands they had claimed for a century, and
somehow blame me. I called attention to the forgotten lands, but I had nothing to do with the courts
decision. I was asked to testify, but refused, since I really had nothing that was pertinent to say.

I read the deeds and suggested that the public might still have the right to walk, camp, hunt and
fish on these lands. The courts agreed and added that the sale of timber rights that the state
thought had cost it these lands had actually ended decades ago.

Weary