Senator King Honors Rep. Hickman as an Angel in Adoption™

Rep. Hickman with his parents and sister on the church steps of Siloah Evangelical Lutheran Church in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 2001.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Allison Coble, Senior Director of Programs

Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute

allison@ccainstitute.org

(p) 202-544-8500

Senator Angus King Honors Maine State Representative Craig Hickman as an Angel in Adoption™ To Be Recognized at National Event in Washington, D.C.

AUGUSTA, MAINE – October 2, 2015 – Senator Angus King has selected Representative Craig Hickman as a 2015 Angels in Adoption^™ awardee for his outstanding advocacy of adoption issues. The Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute (CCAI), which orchestrates the Angels in Adoption^™ Program, will honor Rep. Hickman at an awards ceremony on October 6 and gala on October 7 in Washington, D.C.

 “I never would have imagined that twenty years of working on adoption issues would culminate with this great honor,” said Hickman. “I cannot thank Senator King enough. I will continue to fight for the rights of adopted children in Maine and across this great nation.”

Earlier this year, Hickman, an adoptee with a long-standing commitment to improving the lives of both adult and minor adoptees, introduced legislation in Maine that would prohibit the unauthorized “rehoming” of adopted children. Inspired by his father, a World War II veteran, and his wise mother, both deceased, Hickman has spent most of his life serving his community and feeding people. His award-winning 2005 memoir, Fumbling Toward Divinity, chronicles his search and reunion with his biological family.  When presenting his bill, Hickman asked his colleagues to “imagine being shipped across oceans to a new culture with a new language to become part of a new family, only to have that family decide that they don’t want you. And since it is not against the law, that family advertises you… and within days you are dropped off to another stranger.” Hickman’s bill, which passed the Legislature unanimously, will go into effect this fall, making rehoming a crime in Maine subject to the current penalties for abandonment. Maine will be the sixth state, and the first in New England, to criminalize this damaging practice.

Rehoming is not the first adoption issue that Hickman has brought to the attention of the Maine Legislature. He first testified, as a member of the public, before the Legislature’s Judiciary Committee in 2005, speaking in favor of a bill that would allow adult adoptees access to their original sealed birth certificates. He was successful in this effort as well, and adult adoptees born in Maine were granted access to their original birth certificates in 2009.

Both in his work as a two-term legislator and as a private citizen prior to his election, Hickman has drawn on his personal experience as an adopted person to advocate for important changes to state law. His success in these efforts is a testament to his dedication to these issues and for these reasons, King recommended Hickman as an Angel in Adoption^™ for 2015.

Hickman is also an organic farmer, chef, actor and poet. As House chair of the Joint Standing Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry, he has championed food sovereignty, food security, self-sufficiency and other efforts to protect Maine’s small family farms and promote rural economic development.

Originally from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Hickman moved to New England to attend Harvard University, where he graduated in 1990 with a degree in government. He and his spouse, Jop Blom, who lived in the Boston area for 16 years, have owned and operated Annabessacook Farm in Winthrop since 2002, raising organic produce, dairy, and livestock, and hosting overnight guests and a fresh food bank for anyone in need. For more information, visit http://hickmaninthehouse.blogspot.com.

The Angels in Adoption^™ Program is CCAI’s signature public awareness campaign and provides an opportunity for all members of the U.S. Congress to honor the good work of their constituents who have enriched the lives of foster children and orphans in the United States and abroad. This year, more than 150 “Angels” are being honored through the Angels in Adoption^™ program.

“The Angels in Adoption™ Program is a unique annual opportunity in the nation’s Capital to shine a well-deserved spotlight on the power of adoption and the unspoken heroes who have made the dream of a family a reality for children. Since the program’s inception, over 2,200 Angels have come to Washington to share their firsthand adoption experiences with Members of Congress, highlighting its joys, as well as the barriers encountered in the process,” said Becky Weichhand, Executive Director at CCAI. “Members of Congress are then able to use their new experiential understanding of these issues to create policy improvements that better support these children and the families that open their hearts and homes to them.”  

In addition to the more than 150 Angels from around the country, National Angels in Adoption^™   honorees will be recognized at the gala for their dedication and commitment nationally and internationally to child welfare on a grand scale. This year’s National Angels in Adoption^™ honoree is singer Rachel Crow.  Former National Angels include Korie and Willie Robertson, Deborra-Lee Furness Jackman, First Lady Laura Bush, Patti LaBelle, Jane Seymour, Muhammad Ali, the late Dave Thomas, Steven Curtis Chapman, Bruce Willis, Alonzo Mourning, Rhea Perlman and Kristin Chenoweth.

CCAI is a 501(c)3 nonpartisan organization dedicated to raising awareness about the tens of thousands of orphans and foster children in the United States and the millions of orphans around the world in need of permanent, safe, and loving homes through adoption. 

CCAI was created in 2001 by the active co-chairs of the bicameral, bipartisan Congressional Coalition on Adoption, one of Congress’ premiere caucuses. The goal of the caucus is to eliminate policy barriers that hinder these children from realizing their basic right of a family and more effectively raise Congressional and public awareness about adoption. 

The Angels in Adoption^™ Program was established in 1999 as a Congressional press conference to honor outstanding individuals. Since then, the program has developed into a yearlong public awareness campaign, culminating in an extraordinary awards gala and celebration in Washington, D.C. 

CCAI does not receive any government funding and relies on the generous support of foundations, corporations, and individuals to accomplish this mission. For more information, visit www.ccainstitute.org or www.angelsinadoption.org.

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Maine’s Universities Should Walk the Talk on Local Foods, Farms

By Craig Hickman, Special to the BDN

Posted Aug. 06, 2015, at 12:33 p.m.
Last modified Aug. 06, 2015, at 5:04 p.m.

As a farmer, an advocate for food self-sufficiency and a resident of the great state of Maine, I am pleased — and entirely unsurprised — to see such excitement around the University of Maine System’s upcoming food contract. Its current, 10-year, $12.5 million annual contract with the national food service behemoth Aramark is coming to a close at the end of the 2015-2016 calendar year.

I am pleased because this opportunity for UMS to make a significant commitment to Maine food in the contract renewal is ripe with enormous potential for our great state.

It will be good for our farmers, who need more markets and reliable partnerships to make investments in their businesses and hire more workers. It will be good for our economy because we know dollars spent in Maine stay in Maine. It will be good for our students who will have access to fresher, healthier food. And it will be good for UMS, which will attract more students and positive public relations.

Read the rest...

Readfield Heritage Days Schedule of Events

August 7 - 8, 2015


Readfield Historical Society Art: Beverley Norton Newton

Friday Events

• Barbecue — 4:30 to 8 PM - Readfield Town Beach

• Readfield Historical Society Wine & Cheese Social — 5 to 7 PM - Readfield Historical Society & Museum.

• Rich Charette Concert — 6 PM - Readfield Town Beach

• Fireworks — 9:15 PM - Readfield Town Beach

Saturday Events

• Readfield History Walk — 10 AM to Noon. Walk will include the new trail that leads from the Community Library to Union Meeting House, and parts of the old Fairgrounds Trail, Church Road and Main Street. Brief stops will be made along the way to share information about some of the oldest and/or intriguing homes, and at Readfield Corner where a major fire occurred in 1921 and many businesses have come and gone since the late 1700s. Walk leaders will be Dale Potter-Clark, Readfield History Walks coordinator; Milt Wright, Readfield Trails Committee chairperson; and William Adams, Readfield Corner historian. Adams and Potter-Clark are researching for a book about old houses in Readfield and thus far have researched nearly 200 houses — including those at Readfield Corner. Readfield. Meet at Gile Hall on Old Kents Hill Road by 10 a.m.

For more information, call 441-9184 or email crossings4u@gmail.com.

• Sixth annual Ricky Gibson Memorial Car Show — 8 AM to 2 PM - Maranacook Community School. Entry fee is $10 for a car or bike; spectators free. Registration is set for 8-10 a.m. Awards given for 20-plus classes. There will be a disc jockey, barbecue, 50/50 raffle, prizes and more. The event is hosted by Strictly Street Car Club. Proceeds will benefit the Ricky Gibson Football Scholarship Fund.

• Readfield Community Library’s annual Library Book Sale — 9 AM to 1 PM - Readfield Fire Station. Proceeds will benefit Readfield Community Library.

• Union Meeting House Lawn Sale — 8 AM to 2 PM - 22 Church Road. Proceeds will be used to restore the Old Union Meeting House.

• Fun Fair — 10 AM to 2 PM - Readfield Town Beach. Event will include bounce houses, face painting, “tote”-ally fun tote design, grab bags, glow-in-the-dark novelties and refreshments. Admission is free; in case of rain, the event will move to Maranacook Community School.

• Party Palooga — Noon to 2 PM - Readfield Town Beach. There will be balloon fun and temporary glitter tattoos. In case of rain, the party will move to the Maranacook Community School.

Hickman's Bill To Promote Food Self-Sufficiency Becomes Law in Maine

AUGUSTA – A bill to encourage food self-sufficiency in the state has become law in Maine.

“As a fellow farmer asserts, growing your own food is like printing your own money. It is the policy of the state to be food self-sufficient. This bill strengthens that policy by encouraging people to grow, process and preserve their own food to feed themselves, their families and their communities,” said Rep. Craig Hickman of Winthrop, the bill’s sponsor. “It also addresses the current shortage of available farm workers for the many new and expanding family farms that are taking advantage of the growing local foods movement.”

“When a state with a farming and fishing legacy as strong as Maine's imports ninety percent of the food its people consume, there is cleary something wrong with the picture. Thanks to the reputation and availability of our signature commodity foods ― lobster, wild blueberries, and potatoes ― Maine will always be a net exporter of food. But it makes no sense for us to import so much of the food we eat. Mainers produce only fifteen percent of the poultry that we consume. The rest comes from elsewhere. We can do better than this. We must do better. Our economy requires it. The public health, common good, and welfare of our people require it.”

LD 1291, its chaptered law embedded below, would direct the Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry to develop and administer an agricultural jobs network. It would link farms and facilities that process agricultural products grown in Maine with available workers who are involved in farming or a local food industry, or who are required to perform community service.

It directs the department to develop an educational marketing campaign, similar to the US Department of Agriculture and the US Food Adiministration World War II poster campaign, to promote food self-sufficiency by encouraging the public to grow gardens, raise farm animals and preserve garden-grown food.

Hickman’s bill also requires the Department of Agriculture to purchase food that is grown, harvested, prepared, processed and produced in Maine when purchasing food for an emergency or supplemental food program for elderly or low-income people whenever possible.

LD 1291 passed the Legislature by unanimous consent in both the House and the Senate after it was funded by the Appropriations Committee and sent to the Governor's desk. The law will take effect ninety days after the Legislature adjoured on July 16, 2015.

Hickman is an organic farmer and House chair of the Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry Committee. He is serving his second term in the Maine House and represents Readfield, Winthrop and part of Monmouth.

Hickman's Bill To Prohibit Rehoming Becomes Law in Maine

For Immediate Release
July 2, 2015
Contact: Ann Kim [Hickman], cell: 233-1838

Hickman’s bill to prohibit “rehoming” of adopted children becomes law

AUGUSTA – The Maine Legislature on Tuesday unanimously overrode the governor’ veto of a bill sponsored by Rep. Craig Hickman to prohibit the unauthorized “rehoming” of adopted children.

Hickman’s bill, LD 1342, addresses this practice. It prohibits the transfer of the long-term care and custody of a child without a court order. Hickman, adopted when he was a baby, has been involved in adoptee rights issues for the past 20 years.

“Imagine being shipped across oceans to a new culture with a new language to become part of a new family, only to have that family decide that they don’t want you. And since it is not against the law, that family advertises you on Facebook or Craigslist or some other social media platform and within days you are dropped off to another stranger in a parking lot behind some Walmart somewhere,” said Hickman, D-Winthrop. “Yes, this actually happens.”

The Judiciary Committee passed the bill unanimously with an amendment to make rehoming a crime subject to the current penalties for abandonment. It includes an affirmative defense clause to ensure people acting in good faith are not penalized.

The first time Hickman ever testified before a legislative body was before the same committee. In 2005, he spoke in favor of a bill that would allow adult adoptees access to their original birth certificates, which had been sealed when their adoptions were finalized. That bill became law in 2007 and took effect in 2009.

“This legislation will protect children and families from the outrageous indignity called re-homing and send a clear message to adoptees here and all over the nation that Maine people care about the safety and welfare of all our children,” Hickman said.

According to the Washington Times, Colorado, Florida, Louisiana, Ohio and Wisconsin also have adopted laws against rehoming.

“When I saw the votes in favor of this bill light up the board all green, I was moved to tears,” said Hickman. “This is the most important piece of legislation I’ve introduced thus far. As an adopted person, it goes to the core of who I am. It feels like the culmination of two decades of work. I am forever grateful to my colleagues for their overwhelming support.”

Hickman is serving his second term in the Maine House and represents Readfield, Winthrop and part of North Monmouth at the foot of Mt. Pisgah.

Testimony: An Act To Prohibit Unauthorized Custody Transfers of Children

Testimony of Representative Craig V. Hickman on LD 1342, An Act To Prohibit Unauthorized Custody Transfers of Children Before the Joint Standing Committee on Judiciary, May 21, 2015

Senator Burns, Representative Hobbins, and other distinguished members of the Joint Standing Committee on Judiciary, I am Representative Craig Hickman of Winthrop and I represent District 81, Winthrop, Readfield, and a part of North Monmouth at the foot of Mt. Pisgah. Today, I come before you to present LD 1342, An Act To Prohibit Unauthorized Custody Transfers of Children.

As some of you may know, I am an adopted person. My parents, Hazelle and Minnie Hickman, may they rest in peace, chose me to be a part of their family when I was a sixteen-month-old baby named Joseph Bernard White. The story behind my adoption reads almost like a soap opera and yet it was typical of a time when young girls went away to have babies in secret, when young girls were coerced to surrender their children for adoption, when young girls, broken-hearted and catatonic, returned to their communities wounded for life.

My birth mother got pregnant on February 14, 1967, while at Oakwood College in Huntsville, Alabama. Her mother didn’t want her unwed daughter’s pregnancy to stain the family name, so she sent her away to live alone in a room on the second floor of a home in Madison, Wisconsin, where I was born on December 8. As my birth mother recalled, thirty-three years later, when I showed up on her doorstep unannounced, after a 6-year search to find her, she told me her story: 

“It was like being on death row, son, and I had one last request before they took you away. They weren’t supposed to let me, but I demanded that I have a moment with you in the room with no doctors, no nurses, no brothers, no parents, no technicians, no one. But the laws in the state of Wisconsin forbade such a request. Birth mothers couldn’t see, much less hold, their children after delivery if they had already consented to give them up. But I told them that rules were meant to be broken, and who would find out about it anyway? So, I held you in my arms and looked you in your eyes and said, ‘You look just like your father. Someday you will grow up to be a handsome and smart man, son. But I may not get to see any of it because Mommy has to go away now. I have no choice. 

“But I remember the story of Joseph from the Bible. How his brothers sold him into slavery and how he was lost from his brothers and his father for all those years. And then he became ruler of Egypt. And during the great famine when his brothers came to him to get food, he recognized them, but he didn’t let them know who he was. When he finally let them know, he told them to go and get Jacob because he wanted to be reunited with his father before his father died. And they were. And so I name you Joseph, because I know that someday, you’ll come back to me. Someday, you will find me. I don’t know if I’ll be living or dead, but I know you will find me. Just as Joseph in the Bible was reunited with his family, so shall you also be reunited with me. I just know it. Someday.”

Three days later, I was in foster care. Just over a year after that, my parents came to Madison on a camping trip, picked me up from the foster home, took me back to Milwaukee to join their adopted daughter, my sister, Gina, changed my name to Craig Von Hickman, and the rest is history. 

As much as I love my parents and my sister, as good as my parents were to both of us, I always wanted to know where I came from. And so when I was old enough to search for my biological parents, I did. I had to. I couldn’t reach my full potential in life without the knowledge of my genesis.

For the past 20 years, I have been involved in adoptee rights issues. In fact, it was this committee, back in 2005, where I first testified before any legislative body on a bill that would allow adult adoptees access to their original birth certificates, which had been sealed when their adoptions were finalized, just like mine had been. Then, as now, Representative Hobbins was a chair of this committee. Throughout my search for my birth parents and my involvement in adoptee rights issues, a disenchanting reality revealed itself to me. For all the talk of doing what is in the best interest of the child, children are not always well served by the institutions that are supposed to protect them, and adult adoptees are treated like second-class citizens by law and by adoption agency policies in far too many situations. Fortunately, some of these injustices have been corrected but too many of them remain.

Today, I stand before you and ask that you correct another. When my childhood friend, Governor Scott Walker, signed into law last year a bill that would prohibit the unauthorized custody transfer of adopted children to nonrelatives, Wisconsin became the first state in the nation to outlaw what has come to be called rehoming. Now, other states are following suit. It’s time for Maine to join them.

Later, you will hear the harrowing experience of a young woman who was rehomed. As with all adoptees, so much of her story unfolded against her will. Imagine being shipped across oceans to a new culture with a new language to become part of a new family, only to have that family decide that they don’t want you, and since it is not against the law, that family advertises you on Facebook or Craigslist or some other social media platform and within days you are dropped off to another stranger in a parking lot behind some Walmart somewhere. Yes, this actually happens.

Right now, this scenario would be perfectly legal in the great state of Maine. Unless we pass LD 1342, which would prohibit such an unconscionable act and make it a Class C crime. To borrow and modify a quote from another legislator on this very matter, children are not furniture to be replaced on a whim. Children deserve stability. Adopted children, especially, deserve the chance to heal the so-called primal wound of separation from the mothers who pushed them into the world, and to have the opportunity, if they so choose, to discover their origins.

We must protect our children.

As with all bills, the devil is in the details, and so there may be some kinks that will have to be combed out. But I have faith that under the wisdom of your deliberations, you will craft a piece of legislation that will protect children and families from the outrageous indignity called re-homing and send a clear message to adoptees here and all over the nation that Maine people care about the safety and welfare of all our children. I urge you to pass LD 1342 with a unanimous vote. 

Thank you and I would be happy to answer any questions.

::

Remarks on the Retirement of Stephen Knight of Winthrop

It was my honor and pleasure to take a break from planting Silver Queen Sweet Corn and Yukon Gold Potatoes yesterday to attend graduation ceremonies at Winthrop High School and present a legislative sentiment to Steve Knight, who is retiring from teaching after more than 30 years.

REMARKS OF REPRESENTATIVE CRAIG V. HICKMAN ON THE RETIREMENT OF STEPHEN D. KNIGHT OF WINTHROP - JUNE 7, 2015

Good afternoon students, teachers, administrators, family and friends. I am honored to be here to participate in this ceremony and I thank Principal Morin for the opportunity to make this special presentation. 

Today is the day we congratulate the graduating Class of 2015 for this milestone achievement and wish them all the best in the next chapter of their lives.

They are our future thinkers, our future visionaries, our future leaders, and our future teachers.

None of them could have gotten this far without their teachers. And so today, we honor one of their teachers, a teacher whose own children, children who graduated from this high school, have this to say about him.

“He epitomizes what every parent looks for in a teacher: intelligence, a promise to make your child work hard, and a respect-driven dedication to put in his own time and effort for any student who is willing to do the same. But perhaps more importantly, he's spent three decades setting the standard for teaching among his students as well: a sense of humor, a deep and genuine engagement not only with the subject matter, but also with the art of curiosity and the pursuit of learning itself.”

And so as we go away this afternoon, let us go away more committed to education, more committed to all our teachers.

And let us remember this decent and humble man, who is leaving this honorable profession today and moving on to the next chapter of his life.

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State of Maine, in the Year of Our Lord 2015, we, the members of the Senate and the House of Representatives join in recognizing Stephen D. Knight, of Winthrop, on the occasion of his retirement from teaching. A graduate of Duke University, Mr. Knight began his teaching career in 1980 at Maranacook Community School in Readfield, where he taught for 12 years. He also taught for a year at Good Will-Hinckley in Fairfield and for 2 years at American School in Switzerland. Over the course of his career, Mr. Knight taught chemistry, physics, biology, geometry and algebra. He finishes his career with 22 years at Winthrop High School. We send him our appreciation for his commitment to education and to the youth of Maine. We extend our congratulations and best wishes to him on his retirement; 

And be it ordered that this official expression of sentiment be sent forthwith on behalf of the 127^th Legislature and the people of the State of Maine;

Given this second day of June, 2015, at the State Capitol, Augusta, Maine;

Signed: Michael D. Thibodeau, President of the Senate; Mark W. Eves, Speaker of the House; Heather. J.R. Priest, Secretary of the Senate; Robert B. Hunt, Clerk of the House;

Introduced by Representative Craig V. Hickman from Winthrop; co-sponsored by Senator Earle L. McCormick from Kennebec.

Will Mr. Knight please step forward to receive this legislative sentiment.

Maranacook Community Middle School Chorus at the State House

Maranacook Community Middle School Chorus of Readfield serenaded the House Chamber on the morning of June 2 with a harmonious rendition of the National Anthem. Their concert on the fourth floor before session was beautiful. Later that evening, they will perform in another concert at the middle school.

Joel Salatin's Testimony on Right to Food

With Joel Salatin of Polyface Farm and our not-so-smart phones at the Right to Food, Right to Know Rally before public hearings on LD 783 and LD 991 on April 30, 2015

STATEMENT BY JOEL SALATIN BEFORE THE JOINT STANDING COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE, CONSERVATION AND FORESTRY IN THE MAINE LEGISLATURE ON LD 783 - APRIL 30, 2015

Senator Edgecomb, Representative Hickman, and other distinguished members of the Joint Standing Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry: my name is Joel Salatin from Virginia and I am here to testify in favor of LD 783, a constitutional amendment to establish a right to food. I’m a farmer, eater, and more importantly, custodian of a 3 trillion member internal community of bacterial beings energizing my personhood.

The only reason the founders of our great republic did not include food rights alongside the right to bear arms, to speak, and to worship was because no one at that time could have envisioned a day when citizens could not acquire the food of their choice from the source of their choice.

Prior to fairly modern times, people depended on their communities for food. Production, preserving, processing, and packaging were all done in a fairly transparent relational transaction. Shoddy participants experienced community censure to maintain hygiene and standards.

With the rise of the industrial food system, this accountability by the commons was replaced by governmental administrative bureaucracy. An opaque industrial food system created a desire in the culture for oversight. That oversight has arguably become just as opaque and industrial as the entity it was created to police. Instead of consenting adults voluntarily self-actualizing their decision-making freedom to private contract, regulators began defining and manipulating food commerce.

Large industrial food businesses curried favor with regulators and politicians who empowered them. Gradually an unholy alliance between industrial food and farm enterprises and the regulatory fraternity, encouraged by an increasingly paranoid, ignorant, and disenfranchised consuming populace, demonized, marginalized, and criminalized historic freedom of choice through the food commons.

Butter and lard were out; hydrogenated vegetable oil was in. Raw milk was out; Coke and Mountain Dew were in. Homemade quiche was out; microwavable hot pockets with unpronounceable ingredients were in. As the official USDA food pyramid wreaks its havoc on the population by encouraging carbohydrates and empty calories, many citizens realize government-sanctioned food and farming bankrupt our health and wellness.

Many of us yearn to opt out of this enslaving orthodoxy. We prefer homemade anything, knowing our farmers, loving compost piles, animals that don’t do drugs, and acquiring most of our food from sources we vet through personal knowledge or the scuttlebutt wafting through the commons.

But to our dismay, we’ve found our choices blocked. We can’t buy the wholesome quiche from our neighbor. In order to sell me her unadulterated, small-ingredient quiche, she must capitalize a commercial kitchen and navigate a labyrinth of licenses, compliances, and infrastructure. The result is that my government denies me the freedom to purchase food through my commons. I can’t exercise freedom of choice; I must depend on administrative regulators to determine my body’s fuel.

I can’t imagine a more basic human right, a more bi-partisan issue, than protecting my right to choose my body’s food. Who could possibly think that such freedom of choice should be denied? We allow people to smoke, shoot, preach, home educate, spray their yards with chemicals, buy lottery tickets, and read about the Kardashians: wouldn’t you think we could let people choose their food?

It is time to give us back the food freedom our ancestors enjoyed. Freedom is not a focus group exercise. If we can’t taste freedom, we can only talk about it, and that leaves liberty hollow. It’s time for us to embrace the innovation and food security solutions that granting a fundamental right to food engenders. You’ve been gracious to let me address you this afternoon. Now please do the right thing and vote yes on LD 783.

Thank you.

::

Amendment LD 783 reads as follows, “Right to food. Every individual has a natural and unalienable right to food and to acquire food for that individual’s own nourishment and sustenance by hunting, gathering, foraging, farming, fishing or gardening or by barter, trade or purchase from sources of that individual’s own choosing, and every individual is fully responsible for the exercise of this right, which may not be infringed.”

Rep. Hickman Introduces Bill Establishing a Right to Food

Maine has New England’s highest rate of food insecurity

AUGUSTA – A bill to establish a constitutional amendment declaring that every individual has a natural and unalienable right to food will be heard before the Legislature this Thursday, April 30, 2105, before the Joint Standing Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry.

Rep. Craig Hickman of Winthrop has introduced LD 783, a resolution that would amend Maine’s Constitution to address the issues of food security and food self-sufficiency in Maine.

“Food is life,” said Hickman. “I believe that access to wholesome food is a right for every individual. When one in four children among us goes to bed hungry every night, we must do better. We cannot allow a single one of us to go hungry for a single day. Maine has all the natural resources and the hard-working, independent-spirited people to grow, catch, forage, process, prepare and distribute enough food to feed ourselves and strengthen our local economies. Let us stop importing more food per capita than any other state on the continent.”

Because the bill proposes to amend the Constitution, two thirds of the Legislature will need to approve the resolution and send it to the People for a vote in the next statewide election.

With more than 84,000 hungry children, Maine has New England’s highest rate of food insecurity, according to the USDA

“There is nothing more intimate than eating,” Hickman said. “People are demanding access to the kinds of food that they determine are best for their own health and the health of their families.

"Food is life. This resolution declares that all individuals have a right to the food of their own choosing and that they be personally responsible for the exercise of this right. I believe that the good people of Maine, if given a chance at the ballot box, will resoundingly agree.”

The bill was referred to the Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry Committee, where it will receive a public hearing on Thursday, April 30, 2015, at 1:00 PM, Cross Office Building, Room 214. There will be a rally at noon in support of LD 783 and LD 991, an act to remove the trigger from Maine's GMO labeling law.

"I am honored that Mr. Joel Salatin of Polyface Farm in Virginia will appear and testify in favor of the right to food," said Hickman. "He has been an inspiration to me ever since I first saw him in the feature documentary Food Inc."

Hickman is an organic farmer and House chair of the Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry Committee. He is serving his second term in the Maine House and represents Winthrop, Readfield and part of North Monmouth at the foot of Mt. Pisgah.

::

Speaker Appoints Rep. Hickman to Maine Citizen Trade Policy Commission

AUGUSTA – Rep. Craig Hickman of Winthrop has been appointed to the Maine Citizen Trade Policy Commission by House Speaker Mark Eves.

“It is a great honor to have been appointed to this commission,” said Hickman. “I intend to work hard to ensure that Maine is well represented in trade agreements that affect our state.”

Hickman, an organic farmer and House chair of the Legislature’s Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry Committee, has concerns about how fast-track trade agreements will affect Maine farms and rural livelihoods, as voiced in a recent op-ed coauthored with former Rep. Sharon Anglin Treat. They noted that a commission report highlighted key concerns about the impact of free trade agreements on Maine agriculture, including how the Trans-Pacific Partnership could affect dairy stabilization efforts and the proposed elimination of local food procurement preferences in the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership.

The commission was created in 2004 to give Mainers a stronger voice in federally negotiated international trade agreements and to monitor how those agreements affect state and local laws, working conditions and the local economy.

Hickman is serving his second term in the Maine House and represents Winthrop, Readfield, and part of North Monmouth at the foot of Mt. Pisgah.

::

AUDIO: Remarks of Representative Craig V. Hickman on the Joint Resolution Recognizing the 50th Anniversary of the March from Selma to Montgomery

Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. led marchers across the Alabama River on the first of a five-day, 50-mile march up Route 80 from Selma to the state Capitol at Montgomery, Alabama, on March 21, 1965. (Associated Press file photo)

Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. addresses the crowd March 29, 1965, at the concluding event of the Capitol march. A huge crowd massed in front of the state building for the demonstration. (The Birmingham News file photo)

President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1964 with the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. looking over his shoulder in the Capitol Rotunda, Washington, DC, July 2, 1964. (White House Press Office photo)

President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Voting Rights Act of 1965 as Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., with other Civil Rights Leaders, in the Capitol Rotunda, Washington, DC, August 6, 1965. (US National Archives photo.)

Floor Speech (Click Play Below to Listen): Remarks of Representative Craig Von Hickman of Winthrop, Maine, on the Joint Resolution Recognizing the 50th Anniversary of the March from Selma to Montgomery – Maine House of Representatives, March 25, 2015 (AUDIO COURTESY OF MAINE PUBLIC BROADCASTING NETWORK. PLEASE DO NOT BROADCAST, PUBLISH, OR SHARE WITHOUT CREDIT.)

More about the Selma to Montgomery March

Maine State Forester Sharply Questioned On Public Lands Report

From the March Maine Forest Products Council Newsletter:

About halfway through the Bureau of Public Lands’ annual report, Rep. Craig Hickman leaned into his microphone and, as one onlooker put it later, “tipped over a beehive.”

"The ACF Committee room was unusually crowded March 10, perhaps because of the controversy last session over Gov. LePage’s unsuccessful proposal to expand harvesting on public lands to fund heating efficiency programs. But LePage has not given up on his plan, saying he’ll withhold $11.4 million in bonds for the Land for Maine’s Future program until timber harvesting on state-owned lands is increased to aid efficiency programs. The governor’s budget also would move public lands to the Maine Forest Service (MFS), which also is raising concerns.

"The March 9th meeting started quietly. For the first hour, Doug Denico, MFS director, simply went through the BPL report, page by page. He’d reached Page 24, when Hickman, D-Winthrop, who is House chair said, “Mr. Denico, I just have a question. I was looking forward to asking the acting director of Public Lands the question that I asked at the public hearing, but he is not here today. Is he still employed?” (Read more)

Floor Speech: Honoring a Hero

Senator Earle McCormick and Representative Craig Hickman present a sentiment to Sharon Wise of Winthrop

REMARKS OF REPRESENTATIVE CRAIG HICKMAN ON THE SENTIMENT TO HONOR THE HEROISM OF SHARON WISE OF WINTHROP – MARCH 17, 2015

Mr. Speaker, women and men of the House, I rise to honor the heroism of Ms. Sharon Wise of Winthrop, who, back in December, was ready to fight to keep a young girl from being abducted, but first, I would like to read from the Posting Guidance for Federal Agencies as presented by the U.S. General Services Administration Missing Child Notice Program. And I quote:

• At the beginning of each month, all notices from the previous month should be removed and replaced with new notices. It is important that new notices are not added to existing notices. Listing more than ten at a time reduces the impact of the program.

• When selecting a site within your building to display notices, choose wisely. Ensure that notices are posted in public areas and offer maximum exposure to the public.

• Missing child notices present a powerful and emotional message, therefore, keep all hardcopy displays tasteful and modest in size out of respect for employees who may see the pictures repeatedly.

End quote.

The compassion on display in this guidance underscores an alarming statistic:

Every 40 seconds in the United States, a child goes missing or is abducted. Every 40 seconds.

And so, yes, missing child notices present a powerful and emotional message. I’m sure we’ve all seen them. Children’s faces plastered on the walls of the post office or the grocery store.

Every 40 seconds.

According to the most recent published statistics here in Maine, since 1971, seven children reported missing have not been found. Their families have no closure. There is a grief that knows no outlet. Can you imagine the emotional turmoil of mother who goes every single day to the last place her son was seen hoping to find him right there calling out for her? Can you imagine the desperation of a father, who, every time he hears the wind blow open the gate to the back yard, runs to a window hoping to see his daughter walking up to the back door. Can you imagine?

Later today or tomorrow or the next, I say go hug your children or grandchildren, your young nieces and nephews and godchildren. Embrace them as often as you can. Let them know that they are special little angels and that you love them from the bottom of your heart. For in the blink of an eye, any one of them could go missing. We wouldn’t wish that heart-shattering tragedy on any parent or grandparent or uncle or aunt. And so when you hold your children close and tell them how special they are, think of those whose vigilance, responsiveness and bravery have kept families whole. 

And so, Mr. Speaker, women and men of the House, I rise also to say this:

Let us honor Ms. Sharon Wise of Winthrop, who, as far as our research could take us, prevented the first abduction of a child by a stranger in the State of Maine. 

I’m going to say it again:

Because of the vigilance, responsiveness and bravery of Ms. Sharon Wise of Winthrop, the first abduction of a child by a stranger in the State of Maine was stopped, while it was happening. The man could have drawn a weapon on her as she pulled the child back from his grip, and even if that crossed her mind, she was undeterred and kept a 2-year-old girl from being taken from her grandmother in plain daylight. And she did it all on a bad knee.

Talk about going above and beyond.

“Generations,” wrote James Baldwin, “do not cease to be born and we are responsible to them because we are the only witnesses they have.”

Today, we thank Ms. Wise for bearing witness. Today, we honor her for her heroism. Today, we are most grateful to Sharon Wise for her brave act of love. Her example is a blessing. Her example is an inspiration.

May we all be so vigilant, so responsive, and so brave.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.