We live in coastal southern Maine. Our family moved up here from suburban Connecticut in the early 60s. My two brothers and I were little kids and loved it, so much to do.
We get a fair amount of tourists and people with second homes. Most are fine but there are some they want to come up here and change things.
Little brother really flourished, always had something to do and he was ambitious. In the winter he dug clams and sold them, summers he was down on the flats digging sand worms a.k.a. sea worms, they're really good bait. He'd box them up by the dozen and sell them from an ice chest in front of the house, self-service/honor system.
The flats are tidal, high tide covered with water, low tide exposed. One summer day little brother was worm digging when this man came out onto the flats from a house a couple hundred yards away. He tried to kick Pete off the flats. Now Pete was a gutsy little kid. Told the man he had no right to tell him what to do, he had his official State of Maine Commercial Wormdiggers License(yes, there is such a thing) and he knew his rights.
This man, he's from a couple of states south of here(that's code, an implication there) has a nice second home here on the shore.
When little brother asked the man why he had a problem with him digging the response was it made the flats look messy. He then said he was going to get some poison, spread it around and there would be no worms left a dig.
Understand now, the State of Maine takes its marine resources very seriously. Pete got home and called up the local Sea and Shore Fisheries warden, and told him what was going on. Pete was told that the Warden, I believe his name was White, would pick him up shortly and they'd take a ride. He thought highly of Pete for the hard working kid he was.
The Warden and Pete drove up to the man's house and knocked on the door. This was in the late 60s, back then law enforcement officers didn't wear baseball caps. These wardens wore a hat similar to a policeman's but a bit smaller and kind of crushed on the sides, sort of that 50 mission look that pilots caps in World War II movies had. In addition to the rather unique headgear, the uniform was sort of a forest green and a duty belt with the normal law enforcement gear. What I'm getting at is that when Mr. From Away answered the door he was looking at some sort of law enforcement officer but probably wasn't sure what kind and standing next to him was the kid he'd had words with out on the flats.
Warden White started the conversation with something along the lines of "I understand you've been giving this kid a hard time when he's been digging worms. Furthermore, something was said about poisoning the flats." The man was babbling some type of denial, the warden made it perfectly clear if he heard of any more harassment the man would be spending the night in Alfred (the county jail).
As Warden White was driving Pete home he told him they went and called on that man to protect Pete's rights but also more importantly to protect our way of life in Maine.
Pete had no more problems on the flats aside from black flies and mosquitoes.
Merry Christmas, Kevin G
We get a fair amount of tourists and people with second homes. Most are fine but there are some they want to come up here and change things.
Little brother really flourished, always had something to do and he was ambitious. In the winter he dug clams and sold them, summers he was down on the flats digging sand worms a.k.a. sea worms, they're really good bait. He'd box them up by the dozen and sell them from an ice chest in front of the house, self-service/honor system.
The flats are tidal, high tide covered with water, low tide exposed. One summer day little brother was worm digging when this man came out onto the flats from a house a couple hundred yards away. He tried to kick Pete off the flats. Now Pete was a gutsy little kid. Told the man he had no right to tell him what to do, he had his official State of Maine Commercial Wormdiggers License(yes, there is such a thing) and he knew his rights.
This man, he's from a couple of states south of here(that's code, an implication there) has a nice second home here on the shore.
When little brother asked the man why he had a problem with him digging the response was it made the flats look messy. He then said he was going to get some poison, spread it around and there would be no worms left a dig.
Understand now, the State of Maine takes its marine resources very seriously. Pete got home and called up the local Sea and Shore Fisheries warden, and told him what was going on. Pete was told that the Warden, I believe his name was White, would pick him up shortly and they'd take a ride. He thought highly of Pete for the hard working kid he was.
The Warden and Pete drove up to the man's house and knocked on the door. This was in the late 60s, back then law enforcement officers didn't wear baseball caps. These wardens wore a hat similar to a policeman's but a bit smaller and kind of crushed on the sides, sort of that 50 mission look that pilots caps in World War II movies had. In addition to the rather unique headgear, the uniform was sort of a forest green and a duty belt with the normal law enforcement gear. What I'm getting at is that when Mr. From Away answered the door he was looking at some sort of law enforcement officer but probably wasn't sure what kind and standing next to him was the kid he'd had words with out on the flats.
Warden White started the conversation with something along the lines of "I understand you've been giving this kid a hard time when he's been digging worms. Furthermore, something was said about poisoning the flats." The man was babbling some type of denial, the warden made it perfectly clear if he heard of any more harassment the man would be spending the night in Alfred (the county jail).
As Warden White was driving Pete home he told him they went and called on that man to protect Pete's rights but also more importantly to protect our way of life in Maine.
Pete had no more problems on the flats aside from black flies and mosquitoes.
Merry Christmas, Kevin G
Larry
