A One Billion Dollar Tourist Trap

Sometimes I waste time worrying about the forest instead of paying attention to the trees in front of me. I do not know how this stupid idea passed me by without my notice. It certainly did. Bringing it up now is truly a johnny come lately moment. It is a good thing other folks paid some attention.

I am referring to the proposed tallest flagpole in the world being erected in, or more precisely close to, Columbia Falls, Maine (Pop +/- 500). It is to be taller than the Empire State building with a flag larger than a football field waving from it. There will also be the normal support structures, roads, and asphalt parking lots on a 10,000 acre parcel of previously undisturbed land. A one  billion dollar tourist trap.

The "Flagpole of Freedom Park" is to be privately funded through donations mostly. I am not sure where the other money is coming from, but I damn well will raise holy Hell if it comes out of the taxes I pay, state or federal.

The man responsible, Morrill Worcester, is also the man responsible for "Wreaths over America", a seasonal event in which over 1,000,000 wreaths are laid on the graves of American Veterans at Christmas time. 

I applaud the wreath gig, but well I have never been fond of flag waving as a form of chest puffing and patriotic posturing. And spending a billion dollars and wasting 10,000 acres to do it seems the epitome of  over the top, "only in America", chauvinism. I'd rather see someone build the world's largest lobster trap in Jonesport, Maine, just a few miles away. 

Thankfully this proposed eyesore hit some resistance right out of the gate as do most projects that threaten to scar the beauty of Maine. Mainers are cautious about anything new and grander than their imaginations. Mainers seem to favor the simple beauty and calm of our state above almost anything else. 

We deal with tourists because we have to. More often than not, folks from away are held at arm's length, even as they are handed that lobster roll with their glass of craft beer. Tourists are greeted mostly with gruff ambivalence but on Labor day we might show up at the York Tollbooth on the Pike and enthusiastically wave and bid the tourists a fond farewell as they head back from whence they came.

So, the lofty plans of the newest PT Barnum scam to come around has run into a snag. DEP (Maine's equivilant to the Fed's EPA) stopped construction of 54  cabins to used to house Construction workers and later to be turned into rentals. Our DEP does not fool around. They are sticklers of some of the strictest environmental laws in the country. And like any state department worth their salt, they never get in a hurry. 

The prognosis is at least a delay of months, maybe years and hopefully forever. Locals have divided opinions that have now brought the rest of the state into it. I am hoping it gets no further than it has. I say erect the damn thing in Texas near El Paso and overlooking Trump's Wall. If the wall can't keep em out, maybe a ridiculously large flag will. 

Keep it 'tween the Ditches .......................

________________________________

How do I find a tune that fits with this. 

YO. ..... YO! I'm Eben and this is Maine Rap. Make room for "Mr Man!"