WASHINGTON, D.C. — Sen. Olympia Snowe called for U.S. Trade Ambassador Ron Kirk to visit Skowhegan’s New Balance facility in order for him to understand the impact the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement would have on the footwear industry.
New Balance recently added 40 new jobs to its Skowhegan facility. The company has three factories in Maine and is the only remaining manufacturer of athletic shoes in the country.
“Ambassador Kirk must hear firsthand from manufacturers across the nation about the impact any trade agreements may have on American industries like the domestic rubber footwear sector and the jobs it supports in Maine,” Snowe said in a statement on Wednesday. “Based on his answer today, he clearly doesn’t grasp the gravity of the impact the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement could have for these workers, their families, and the specialized industry as a whole.
“I invited Ambassador Kirk to visit New Balance’s Skowhegan facility to get a unique glimpse of a business that has not only developed their domestic manufacturing options, but continues to innovatively produce new products while creating additional job opportunities in the Northeast,” the Republican senator said. “These are precisely the kinds of jobs that we must support, particularly since more than 28,000 jobs in the footwear industry have gone overseas in the past 15 years. At a time when so many American manufacturers are struggling, New Balance has provided stability and economic opportunities in my home state of Maine.”
Snowe also urged President Obama to sign a bill that recently passed Congress that would overturn the GPX case.
On Dec. 19, 2011, in GPX International Tire Corp. v. United States, a U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit panel unanimously ruled that the U.S. Department of Commerce may not apply countervailing duty law to nonmarket economy countries, such as China or Vietnam.
Have the Ambassador stay the night in Skowhegan and listen to all the fireworks nonsense that is now going on every night in Skowhegan after they were legalized. Ask him if he would like to live here and try holding down a job after lepage gave the town’s 4,168 welfare recipients, that dont have to get up to work in the morning , a new toy to play with at night.
Fireworks are not even sold locally yet. Extrapolate how bad fireworks complaints will become when they are sold locally.
ONE DAY’S WORTH OF COMPLAINTS TO THE SOMERSET COUNTY POLICE DISPATCHERS THAT TURNED OUT TO BE FIREWORKS RELATED COMPLAINTS
Somerset County SkowheganDispatch Log for 02/17/2012
12-9665 1656 Shots Fired Complaint Investigated Location/Address: [SKO] PALMER RD ID: GUILMETTE , STANLEY Disp-16:58:30 Clrd-17:10:15
12-9716 1937 Shots Fired Complaint Investigated Location/Address: [SKO] WEST FRONT ST ID: Wasiela , Kyle Disp-19:38:40 Clrd-19:43:17 ID: Gayne , Jason Disp-19:41:27 Clrd-19:48:04
12-9725 2008 Loud Noise/Music Investigated Location/Address: [SKO] EAST CHANDLER ST ID: Gayne , Jason Disp-20:14:52 Clrd-20:34:38
12-9735 2039 Loud Noise/Music Investigated Location/Address: [SKO] EAST CHANDLER ST ID: Gayne , Jason Disp-20:41:32 Arvd-20:45:16 Clrd-20:49:52
12-9768 2200 Loud Noise/Music Investigated Location/Address: [SKO] NORTH AVE ID: Gayne , Jason
Disp-23:28:39
Clrd-23:28:42
12-9755 2230 Shots Fired Complaint Could Not Locate Location/Address: [SKO] WATERVILLE RD ID: Wasiela , Kyle Disp-22:31:00 Clrd-22:50:14
12-9758 2239 Shots Fired Complaint Location/Address: [SKO] WEST FRONT ST
12-9766 2325 Loud Noise/Music Investigated Location/Address: [SKO] CEDAR ST ID: Gayne , Jason Disp-23:26:24 Clrd-23:26:27
http://www.somersetcounty-me.org/SSC_NewsMedia/NewsMedia/DispatchLog.cfm?Checkdate=20120217
So because people are playing loud music and shooting off their firearms, you are blaming our honorable governor?
Sounds to me like you should be blaming the 9th century Chinese who developed the first firearm and Alexander Graham Bell for his work on speakers that make noise louder.
All those complaints turned out to be fireworks-related complaints. “Loud Noise/Music Investigated” is a classification for either or. “Shots Fired Complaint ” are people who thought they heard shots,but turned out to be fireworks.
I predicted long ago fireworks will be the most controversial issue of Lepage and the R Legislators. Wait til fireworks are sold locally throughout Maine,wait til its warm out,wait til its summer yet.
Here are more firework complaints for tonight from other areas in Maine.
Somerset County
Dispatch Log for 03/07/2012
Shots Fired Complaint = firework complaints
12-13635 2054 Shots Fired Complaint Taken/Referred to Other Agency
Location/Address: [ROM] WOOSTER HILL RD
12-13638 2102 Shots Fired Complaint
Location/Address: [NOR] SIERRA LN
ID: COLE , DAVID
Disp-21:05:07
12-13641 2115 Shots Fired Complaint Taken/Referred to Other Agency
Location/Address: [WNP] MEMORIAL D
http://www.somersetcounty-me.org/SSC_NewsMedia/NewsMedia/DispatchLog.cfm?Checkdate=20120307
They sell fireworks in South Carolina. It gets plenty warm there and its warm there for a lot longer than it is here. Relax. Guns make loud booms and it sounds to me like people are calling about shots fired because they are afraid some neanderthal has shot Bambi and they want the perp thrown in jail for their horrid crime. Cops check it out and either find nothing or discover that the people were legally shooting off fireworks.
Calling the police and reporting that someone is shooting off fireworks is akin to calling the cops and saying your neighbor is having a barbecue and the smell of the burgers is driving you nuts.
If this is LePage’s biggest problem, I think he will have a pretty good record to run on.
For every yahoo in this state who is happy fireworks were legalized by lepage, there are a 100 people that are angry they were legalized. The full impact of the controversy is just starting.
I voted lepage, not going to do it a second time.
Those are made up figures. 1 out of every 100? That would mean only 12,000 people in the state support fireworks. Do you really think only 12,000 people in the entire state are in support while the other 1.88 million are with you? I don’t buy those numbers at all and I don’t think you do either. You listed 8 or 10 examples of people shooting off fireworks. That would mean those people probably support them. I would also imagine that those people are not shooting those fireworks off alone. So lets just assume there are 2 people with each example. That is 20 people or so just from your examples. That would mean just to cover those, you would have to find 2000 people who are against them. I don’t think you know 200 people against them, let alone 2000.
Bookmark this post. Hit Control B on most computers.
In 3,4 months from now, when its warmer out and fireworks are widely being sold throughout the State, there will be hundreds of thousands of Mainers complaining about the firework cr-p going off day and night in their community.
Then look at at your book mark of this forum of today, see how i was right.
Way to hijack this thread for your own personal rants.
Where does it show ‘i hijacked this thread’? I posted one,single, primary post in the thread on how living in Skowhegan is changing with the legalization of fireworks. My other posts were secondary posts to another poster who asked questions.
I’m glad she stepped down hopefully get new blood in.Yet I hope she takes her exp. and works to bring more manufacturing to Maine preferably north of Bangor.I don’t hate the woman and she served Maine a long time.I believe we need term limits on politician’s.I also hope she finds a way to help Maine get more work, more work for all of Maine, it would be good for everyone that lives here can’t get tax money out of out of work family’s.
Don’t bother Olympia, from this administrations perspective there are too many bitter clingers holding on to the guns and religion here in rural Maine for any Obama administration types to show up. Maybe they have more to do handing out checks to deadbeats somewhere.
Olympia was in Congress for the last 30+ years and had a ring side seat for the tariff reductions and labor regulations that drove Maine’s textile and shoe jobs offshore.
Now she tries to convince us that she was an innocent bystander, like the piano player in the brothel.