Maine Industry

Emily Post pulls no punches when it comes to the etiquette of using toothpicks in public: Don't! Fair enough--but then again, Emily Post probably never spent much time in western Maine. If she had, she would have known that toothpicks are considered things of beauty and utility in the area's backwoods towns. They're the reason for harvesting the forests of white birch (a good-sized tree can be turned into about 4 million toothpicks).

This resort city was built on crystalline beaches, turquoise waves and people like Margarita Rojas, who has seen once-sleepy Cancun become one of Mexico's fastest-growing regions. Born in northern Mexico, Rojas vacationed here in 1993 and decided to stay, making a career of assisting tour groups for some of the area's swankiest hotels. She and her musician husband, Javier, have forged a good living.

For 160 years, Waterville's women have taken up needle and thread at the C.F. Hathaway plant to stitch together a product as much a part of Maine's proud tradition as lobsters or timber--the Hathaway shirt. The company's advertising trademark--a debonair gentleman wearing a white shirt and a black eye patch--became a national symbol for quality in the 1950s.

For 160 years, Waterville's women have taken up needle and thread at the C.F. Hathaway plant to stitch together a product as much a part of Maine's proud tradition as lobsters or timber--the Hathaway shirt. The company's advertising trademark--a debonair gentleman wearing a white shirt and a black eye patch--became a national symbol for quality in the 1950s.

According to Hollywood folklore, in 1934 Clark Gable bared his chest in "It Happened One Night" and single-handedly collapsed the men's undershirt industry. Oddly enough, his appearance in 1935's "Mutiny on the Bounty" didn't launch a surge in powdered wigs and knee-breeches. Gable didn't sink the undershirt industry; American men were ready to abandon undershirts, millions already had, and Gable's appearance only confirmed what many of the rest wanted to.

This was Canada's poorest province even before its major industry, the cod fishery, was wiped out. But Newfoundland isn't seeking sympathy. Saddled with 19% unemployment, the province is tackling its epic problems with potentially epic solutions, including world-class mining and offshore oil projects. Not to mention sea-urchin farming, and marketing vodka made from melted icebergs. Not everyone will emerge a winner.

This resort city was built on crystalline beaches, turquoise waves and people like Margarita Rojas, who has seen once-sleepy Cancun become one of Mexico's fastest-growing regions. Born in northern Mexico, Rojas vacationed here in 1993 and decided to stay, making a career of assisting tour groups for some of the area's swankiest hotels. She and her musician husband, Javier, have forged a good living.

A federal judge on Thursday blocked Maine's pioneering law aimed at cutting the cost of prescriptions with the threat of price controls, saying it would probably be tossed out as unconstitutional. The preliminary injunction granted by Judge D. Brock Hornby prevents the state from enforcing the law pending the outcome of a lawsuit filed by the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, which represents about 100 drug companies.

A 27-pound lobster? Robert Malone went fishing for shrimp and pulled in a surprise: a 27-pound Maine lobster that could never be viewed as shrimpy.  The critter, caught in the vicinity of Rockland, Maine, was dubbed Rocky, reports the Associated Press. Of course, the size of the lobster's fearsome claws also bring to mind the meaty fists of that boxer named Balboa. Malone opted to donate the nearly 40-inch-long crustacean to the Maine State Aquarium in Boothbay Harbor, the AP says.

A look at the major races and ballot propositions around the nation on Tuesday: GOVERNOR New Jersey Christine Todd Whitman (R)* : 47% Jim McGreevey (D): 46% **** Virginia Jim Gilmore (R): 56% Don Beyer (D): 43% CONGRESS New York Vito Fossella (R): 62% Eric Vitaliano (D): 38% MAYOR Atlanta Bill Campbell*: 46% Marvin Arrington: 36% **** Cleveland Michael White*: 61% Helen Knipe Smith: 39% **** Detroit Dennis Archer*: 83% Ed Vaughn: 17% **** Houston Lee Brown: 41% Rob Mosbacher: 29% (top two

This was Canada's poorest province even before its major industry, the cod fishery, was wiped out. But Newfoundland isn't seeking sympathy. Saddled with 19% unemployment, the province is tackling its epic problems with potentially epic solutions, including world-class mining and offshore oil projects. Not to mention sea-urchin farming, and marketing vodka made from melted icebergs. Not everyone will emerge a winner.

Emily Post pulls no punches when it comes to the etiquette of using toothpicks in public: Don't! Fair enough--but then again, Emily Post probably never spent much time in western Maine. If she had, she would have known that toothpicks are considered things of beauty and utility in the area's backwoods towns. They're the reason for harvesting the forests of white birch (a good-sized tree can be turned into about 4 million toothpicks).

According to Hollywood folklore, in 1934 Clark Gable bared his chest in "It Happened One Night" and single-handedly collapsed the men's undershirt industry. Oddly enough, his appearance in 1935's "Mutiny on the Bounty" didn't launch a surge in powdered wigs and knee-breeches. Gable didn't sink the undershirt industry; American men were ready to abandon undershirts, millions already had, and Gable's appearance only confirmed what many of the rest wanted to.

The forklifts zigzag through the chilled warehouse, balancing plastic crates filled with cod, haddock, pollock, flounder and other catch from the North Atlantic. The smell of fish hangs heavy on a recent Sunday as more than a dozen buyers for seafood processors and wholesalers slide into their seats at the Portland Fish Exchange, a commercial fish auction that has been around for two decades. Spread on the tables before them are sheets listing the types and amounts of fish to be sold.

When a hooded seal nearly the size of a pickup truck wandered onto a highway in this coastal community, it did more than tie up traffic. The animal's appearance dramatized the recent growth of Maine's seal population and the arrival of species not normally found on the state's rocky shores. The population of Harbor seals in Maine has doubled in the past decade to more than 28,000, but marine mammal experts admit they are not sure why the animals are doing so well.