Summer Work Week

[Fred Morse]

Very few people cutting grass so far this week, will probably do away with the summer work week next year and instead have a try at 6 work Fridays instead, will have to talk it over with the board. Maybe a few people will be able to get one or Two fridays off. Any suggestions !

[Ira Schreiber]

Hire a herd of goats. Could even use cattle as lawn mooers................

[Fred Morse]

Nahhhhhhh.

[Richard "Steam" Symmes]

Just a wild idea . . . is there a possibility of getting convict labor to do grass cutting?  I know that down here in Mass., we see them doing supervised work along the highways.  These are not hard core criminals, just people from the county jail, mostly waiting trial on drug charges, or white collar crime. etc.  I have no idea how Maine correction facilities are set up for work like this. As I said, simply an idea. 

Barring that, how about young people looking for "community service" projects tied to school or Scout organizations?

Richard Symmes

[Craig "Red" Heun]

It's much easier to call in "sick" a few times than get an entire week off

hmmm...I like that idea   

[Wayne Laepple]

Red -- We used to call them "mental health days."

[Craig "Red" Heun]

still do... cough... cough...sniff...sniff

[Ed Lecuyer]

Back to scheduling...

Some of our other work events are scheduled on long weekends. What if the summer work week coincided with the week of July 4? Would that be better or worse?

For me, my (new) employer shuts down the week of July 4. I know that is not unheard of, and may be a good time for a work week. Then again, it is also a popular week for family vacations.

[Ken Fleming]

A couple of years I asked a guard at Thomaston about using a few of their inmates for grass/weed cutting.  The answer was YES, if its a public project.  We are an open to the public museum.  Has anyone ever asked?

[Richard "Steam" Symmes]

Sounds like a possibility. It might even generate some publicity for the museum in the media. It certainly couldn't hurt to ask. The worst they can do is say no, and they may say YES! I suspect that inmates might enjoy the work more than mindless litter collecting along the roadsides.

Richard

[Ed Lecuyer]

In Mass, a volunteer organization that feeds the homeless that I was involved with would use Prison labor on occasion to sort food. That organization was not run by a state agency, but by a church.

Rules in Maine may be different, of course.

That having been said, would it truly be a good idea to have convicts know about the railroad, etc.? I assume we would only do this on non-public days.

[Richard "Steam" Symmes]

So what if they know about the railroad?

What are they gonna do, break out and escape on it? Hold it up like Butch Cassidy?  These are not lifers, you want people who are waiting trial for minor issues or white collar crime. Not violent inmates. Those types wouldn't be let out anyway.

Hey, nothing ventured, nothing gained. You need workers. They might be able to help.

Richard Symmes

[Jason M Lamontagne]

BRV has used inmate labor before- These guys are usually small-time offenders, sometimes serving OUI sentences or the like.  Not quite fair to paint the "convict" color over all these guys.  It worked out fine at BRV- with several painting projects getting done.  There may be rules on the type of equipment they can use-- I'm not sure. 

I think the real answer is to get more Freds.  Do they grow on trees somewhere?

Jason

[Vincent "Lightning" LeRow]

I hear China is developing a Fred-bearing tree as you speak... 

[Wayne Laepple]

If mowing the right of way annually is a serious priority, a way must be found to accomplish it. Right now, a handful of volunteers takes care of it, but at what cost in time away from other projects? This issue comes up every year, but nothing changes. There is little interest in mechanization of the process. There seems to be even less interest in using work-release offenders to do the work. When enough people want to approach the issue in a different way, something will happen.