Tag Archives: Arthur Frederick

The governor’s Lincoln

I remember feeling a huge sense of delight over this story about Maine Gov. James Longley’s Lincoln Continental. Why? Because reporters love to catch politicians in this sort of delicious paradox. Here’s the back story: Longley ran as an independent and said throughout his campaign that the state spent way too much money on just about everything. But Longley also loved his wealth and his privileges, both as a businessman and later as governor.  And he REALLY wanted this Lincoln. But he didn’t know how to get it without appearing to violate his pledges of state cost-cutting. That’s why he put a “hold” on this Lincoln contract rather than simply cancelling it. Ultimately, once attention to all this died down, he got his Lincoln.

By ARTHUR FREDERICK

AUGUSTA, Maine (UPI) — Gov.-elect James B. Longley may be driven around the state during his term in a brand-new Lincoln Continental Mark IV.

A lease contract has been signed for the luxury car, but it was learned Monday that Longley has ordered a hold in the contract “until we can review the lease,” according to Col. Donald Nichols, chief of the state police.

Longley aide Jim McGregor at first said he didn’t know of any contract for a Lincoln, and said a decision on a new executive car might not be made for up to 90 days. Later, however, he said he had been the one to tell Nichols to hold up on the Lincoln contract.

“We haven’t reached a decision on a state car,” McGregor said early Monday.

“We might not decide for 30, 60 or 90 days. think a recommendation was made on a Lincoln by Col. Nichols, but I’m not sure of the particulars. We’re not sure now so we are not committing ourselves.”

76cont[1]Nichols said he had urged Longley to trade the Plymouth now used by Gov. Kenneth Curtis for a Lincoln.

“About a month ago he asked me for a recommendation, and I recommended that he get a heavier car,”Nichols said. “I’m familiar with the operation of the governor’s office, so I recommended a Lincoln.”

“As of this time, we’re holding on it to determine how the cost compares with that of the present car that’s under lease to Curtis, a Plymouth Fury,” he said. “On the surface, it appears that the Lincoln would be more expensive, but after checking it seems the Lincoln lease provides more.”

Nichols said the basic lease price would be $2,000 per year. “That seems to be a good deal for the taxpayers,” he said.

Nichols said Lincoln gives a low lease to many government officials, and said the Lincoln would be a safer car for the governor.

“I recommended that he get away from the lighter car,” Nichols said. “It’s going to be doing a lot of traveling and it makes sense from a safety standpoint.”

Later, McGregor said he knew that Nichols had recommended the Continental, and said he had been the one, at Longley’s direction, to tell Nichols to put a hold on the lease contract.

The contract had been signed by state purchasing agent Linwood Rods.

McGregor added that Longley would only use one state car, instead of the present two. One car is now used by Gov. Curtis, and a three-year-old Plymouth is kept at the Blaine House for use by the governor’s family.

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Bill riding the Dragon in North Carolina

Bill riding the Dragon in Tennessee

FULL DISCLOSURE DEPT.: I did not take this picture of myself. It was taken by a roadside commercial photographer as I rode past him last fall (2013) on the Dragon at Deal’s Gap, a stretch of roadway popular with motorcyclists that has 318 curves in 11 miles. I’ve posted so many motorcycle-related stories here that I thought this picture would make a nice complement to them.

Press release: Prepared for Senator William Hathaway, D-Maine

It’s kind of funny to go back and look at old newspaper stories and press releases, because so many of the issues from the mid-1970s have changed so little in the last 40 years. This release is about good U.S. jobs being shipped overseas. In this case it involves the shoe industry, but the components of this story are little different than the stories we now see about other U.S. jobs being exported to other countries. Those shoe jobs never came back…

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:
Bill Frederick
Press secretary
Office of Sen. William D. Hathaway, D-Maine
(202)xxx-xxxx

U.S. should deal firmly with shoes imported from overseas, Hathaway says

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Maine shoe industry will not be able to provide an adequate number of good-paying jobs until the U.S. recognizes that it must deal firmly with foreign shoe imports, according to Sen. William D. Hathaway, D-Maine.

The Maine shoe industry, once one of the largest and strongest industries in the state, has been weakened for years by the importation of shoes made in foreign countries. The shoes can be sold for less money because of the low wages paid in the exporting countries.

“We have finally taken some positive steps in limiting the imports since Jimmy Carter took over the White House,” Hathaway said. “We must not relax those efforts until the shoe industry is once again strong and vibrant.”

The Carter Administration has managed to limit foreign shoe imports through negotiated orderly market agreements.  The agreements with the exporting countries limit the number of shoes which can be brought into the U.S.

“These agreements have not been negotiated with all exporting countries, and they do not place the stringent limits that I would like to see,” Hathaway said. “However, they begin a process which should lead to the revitalization of one of our oldest and finest industries, and we must not let down until the industry is on the road to full health.”

Press release writing

This news release unveils and explains a new surgical device. Since it is a high-tech product, there is a danger of getting lost in the details. This release shows how a potentially complicated subject can be treated simply, and can be readable and interesting in spite of its technical nature.

CONTACT:
Bill Frederick
BILL FREDERICK COMMUNICATIONS INC.
727-599-7206
bill@billfrederickcommunications.com

The next revolution in surgery may come
from a small, under-the-radar company

 By ARTHUR FREDERICK

CLEARWATER, Fla. (June 7, 2012) — The next revolution in surgery may come from a small medical equipment company which, according to its own executives, has always preferred to fly a bit under the radar.

Bovie Medical Corp., a public company with executive offices in Melville, N.Y. but with labs and manufacturing facilities in Clearwater, Fla., has received permission from the U.S. Food & Drug Administration to begin marketing this summer on a new, non-contact surgical device it calls J-Plasma. Those initial evaluations are expected to take place in several surgical centers around the country.

“We announced the J-Plasma concept several years ago, but the process of getting any new product to market has become increasingly difficult and time-consuming,” said Rob Saron, Bovie Medical’s president. “Because of that, the initial excitement may have waned a bit. But J-Plasma’s time has finally arrived.”

Bovie Medical is known most widely for its cauteries and other electrosurgical products, but it owns three patents for the J-Plasma technology, the first of which was granted in 1999. The latest patent was granted last November.

Three other patents related to the new technology are pending.

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Being part of the story: #2

Probably best to read the preceding post before you read this one.

By ARTHUR FREDERICK

PORTLAND, Maine (UPI) – Everett C. Carlson helped blow up a National Guard truck in Boston and kept watch while others blew up a plane at Logan Airport and a courthouse in Newburyport, Mass., the governor’s star witness said yesterday.

Joseph A. Aceto, 23, of Portland, was the first witness in the trial of Carlson, 38, also of Portland, on charges of interstate transportation of explosives in connection with the bombings.

Aceto, who pleaded guilty Friday to three counts of interstate transportation of explosives, testified all morning and was scheduled to take the stand again today for cross-examination.

Aceto told the jury that he, Carlson, Richard Picciarello, 28, of Portland and Edward Gullion Jr., 28, of Boston’s Dorchester section, went to Massachusetts July 1 to bomb unspecified targets because of what they considered “oppressive acts of government against poor and black people.”

“The idea was to make demands… “ the slightly built witness said, speaking easily of the events.

At one point the group developed a list of eight to 10 possible targets, including a nuclear submarine at the Portsmouth naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine, and jet bombers at Pease Air Force Base in New Hampshire and actually visited a section of the base,  Aceto said.

“Me and Piccariello crossed the fence onto the airfield,” he said. “Carlson got out of the car but didn’t cross the fence.

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Being part of the story: #1

This story, and the next one I post, may be the strangest series of events that I ever encountered as a reporter. Someone planted a bomb in the offices of the Central Maine Power Co. in Augusta, Maine one day in 1976 — not exactly a common situation in rural Maine. The next day my office phone rang, and a voice said: “This is the Fred Hampton Unit of the People’s Forces.” The man, speaking quickly and allowing no opportunity for questions, claimed credit for the CMP bombing and hung up. I stood there with the dead phone in my hand for a minute or so, not knowing what to do. An operator finally came on the line and asked, “Are you through, sir?” I told her not to disconnect the line and that the FBI would be calling her directly. She gave me a number to call, and I called the FBI in Portland and told them what happened. The call was traced to a phone booth in South Portland. The bombers were part of a left-wing cell of radical former prison inmates who spent several months planning and carrying out a number of bombings in New England. When we think of terrorists, we tend to think of the events of 9/11 and thereafter. But terrorism has been with us for many, many years.

 

By ARTHUR FREDERICK

PORTLAND, Maine (UPI) – The composite picture which had been prepared by an FBI artist did the trick.

The new Central Maine Power Co. offices on Edison Drive in Augusta had been rocked by two blasts on May 11.

Injuries were avoided only because the workers were evacuated after a threat had been telephoned to the CMP switchboard just moments before the blast.

Letters left at the a Kennebec Journal and mailed to UPI indicated that the bombings had been carried out by the Fred Hampton Unit of the Peoples Forces, a self-styled revolutionary group which claimed that CMP was singled out because of its efforts to secure a rate increase from the Public Utilities Commission.

The day after the bombing, a person identifying himself as a member of the Fred Hampton Unit called UPI. The call was traced to a telephone booth outside a Howard Johnson’s restaurant in South Portland.

FBI agents from Augusta, Portland and Boston arrived at the CMP offices and began sifting through rubble and interviewing workers. The letters and pieces of the debris from the bombing were sent to the FBI laboratory in Washington.

The FBI agents began interviewing workers at the CMP offices. Some of the workers recalled seeing two young men walking around the new building several hours before the bombs went off.

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Aside

Covering the news media

Writing about the news media was one of my beats when I worked for a business newspaper in Tampa. It was fun and an interesting coverage area, but even in the mid-1990s the print business was in decline. That made for some uncomfortable stories, and also for some uncomfortable news business executives. They didn’t like it when reporters would write negative stories about them. I could always count on a ringing telephone the day after writing a story about a newspaper that was less than glowing. This story was about the Tampa TRIBUNE, a newspaper that has been in second place to the St. Petersburg TIMES (now the Tampa Bay TIMES) over on the other side of Tampa Bay. The Tribune is still hanging on, but its future is cloudy.

Arthur Frederick
Staff Writer

A team of Pennsylvania-based consultants has been hired to study the nooks and crannies of the Tampa Tribune, and is searching out ways to cut costs and boost efficiency.

Publisher Jack Butcher said the move was simply a matter of the newspaper business trying to catch up with other industries.

“The word that comes to mind is `archaic.’ Every other industry did this eight or 10 years ago,” Butcher said. “We are trying to make our company more productive and more customer-friendly — what just about any company in America has to do to survive.”

But to some Tribune news staffers, the study is little more than a cover for the further elimination of jobs which has been rumored at the paper for some time.

Tribune managers won’t discount the possibility of layoffs. But they say the study is really aimed at finding more efficient processes which will improve news reporting, and make the paper stronger and more competitive.

“This is an ongoing process that probably will take at least six or seven more months,” said Michael Kilgore, the Tribune’s promotion director and chief spokesman. “We aren’t looking at money to be saved or people to be employed. We’re looking at processes. We’ve told our employees that in some departments we might need fewer people, and in others we might need more.”

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