Through one man, two communities have been equated with intolerance

Residents of Lewiston should understand how much this hurts.

Earlier this spring, the buzz went around the tiny community of Matinicus Island, 23 miles from Rockland, in Penobscot Bay: “Have you seen what’s on Wikipedia?”

“Oh sure, all that business about the lobster wars and bullets flying.”

“No, it’s worse. Now it reads like we’re all a bunch of Nazis.”

Back in November of last year, I first saw the rather odd (but Nazi-less) Wikipedia reference to Matinicus Isle when my daughter’s friends from high school were merrily e-mailing the link to one another. She joked about hearing friends urge her not to go home for Thanksgiving: “It’s dangerous, you can come to my house instead.”

The online encyclopedia entry described a recent disagreement among lobstermen which had been inflated by the excited local press, eager for a swashbuckling story about “Maine’s Pirate Islands,” and suggested that life on Matinicus is a routine of ducking bullets and dodging outlaws.

It read like a hodge-podge of cutthroat folklore and crime reports. Other, less dramatic descriptions of the island on the Web site were more blandly perplexing, such as the curious assertion that there is “a strong Christian presence,” and some wobbly demographic data.

Most of us took this cartoon-like account of our community with a grain of salt, laughing about how the wider world loves to think of us as Dodge City East, and speculating upon who might have written the text.

Since the recent appearance of a reference to a racist and anti-Semitic organization called “the World Church of the Creator,” the laughter has dried up. The site now states that “According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, Matinicus was home to a branch of the World Church of the Creator, a hate group, in 2002. The SPLC reported that the branch was closed by 2005.”

That is simply incorrect. More than that, it is a painful affront to our community.

The World Church of the Creator, as many will remember, is the neo-Nazi organization which rallied in Lewiston on Jan. 11, 2003. After a controversial letter written by Lewiston’s then-Mayor Larry Raymond concerning Somali immigrants, this group supposed Lewiston might be a host for their brand of hate-mongering.

Around 200 people turned out for their disturbing and peculiar rally, while at Bates College, somewhere between 3,000 and 5,000 gathered for a counter-demonstration in support of diversity, and to show the world that Lewiston is not a hotbed of white-supremacist violence.

One of the ringleaders speaking at the WCOTC rally had, sadly for us, briefly held a job on Matinicus the year before. This man, David Stearns, attracted the attention of journalists in Lewiston with graphic examples of hate speech and white-power paranoia (no question about his involvement; there was a photograph in the Bangor Daily News of him with “White Power” tattooed in large letters across his back.)

To understand how Stearns came to Matinicus the summer before the Lewiston rally, you may need a peek into the lobster fisherman’s business. A lobsterman usually engages a sternman, a helper, who may or may not be an experienced commercial fisherman.

This is often a good job for somebody looking to turn over a new leaf; no resume is needed, no background checks or references are necessarily involved. Some sternmen never pick up mail, have no bank accounts, pay no phone bills. Their captain may know little about them. Sometimes all that is asked is that they work hard aboard the boat and in the trap shop, handle rough weather, and get up early.

An island fisherman hired a sternman, who turned out to be Stearns. After exhibiting some violent and threatening behavior on the island, he was relieved of his position (or assured that he was unwelcome, depending upon whose account you hear) and he left.

His employer had no prior knowledge his dangerously racist politics. He was gone in less than a year. Like Lewiston, we didn’t appreciate his conduct, and Matinicus most certainly does not and has never housed a “branch” of any hate group such as the WTOTC.

It is small comfort that Wikipedia’s information is known to be sometimes unverified; many people believe everything they read on the Internet. By the way, I find no mention of Matinicus in a search of the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Web resources.

Our reputation may be one of fierce independence bordering on anarchy, but neither we, nor any community, deserve this insulting association. This statement stings.

Lewiston, you know how it feels.

Eva Murray, of Matinicus, is a 1986 graduate of Bates College and a columnist for Maine Boats, Homes & Harbors magazine. E-mail her at [email protected].