home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search
- NATION, Page 45American NotesMAINERallying to The Claws
-
-
- Lobstermen in Kennebunkport, Me., are boiling mad about special
- arrangements for one of the neighbors. They learned last week that
- the U.S. Coast Guard will enforce a 500-yd. "security zone" in the
- waters around George Bush's summer home on Walker's Point, site of
- some of Maine's best lobstering. Whenever the President is in
- residence, Coast Guard cutters will stop and search lobster boats
- seeking to enter the zone. Even more frustrating to the 40 or so
- lobstermen affected: the cutters' propellers tend to get snarled
- in the traplines, resulting in dozens of lost traps.
-
- During his campaign for the White House, Bush promised that if
- his visits affected the lobstermen's livelihood, "I would not come
- here." But at a meeting with the aggrieved group last week, Coast
- Guard Captain R.W. ("Bud") Breault offered little hope that the
- rules would be relaxed. Some lobstermen, claiming that steering
- clear of the zone could cost them as much as $700 a week in lost
- catches, vow to continue placing traps in the restricted area.