To The Editor:

I was happy to learn that Ken Morse is running to be the Representative for District 71 (Norway, Sweden, Waterford, and West Paris). His experience, his warm personality, and his love of our state will make him a great representative for our region.

Many people will remember Ken who, as the former owner of Grassroots Graphics in downtown Norway, provided design and printing services to the Oxford Hills for 18 years, as well as jobs for over twenty people. That experience, along growing up on a working farm, helped Ken to understand the needs of small business owners.

For most of his life, Ken has lived in the Oxford Hills. He was born and raised in Waterford where his family owned and operated an orchard that produced up to 50,000 bushels of apples a year. That was the beginning of what has been his lifelong interest in healthy foods and food distribution.

Ken was one of the founding members of Fare Share, the food cooperative in Norway that has been around for over 40 years. With the experience he gained from that endeavor, he joined forces with the New England Cooperative Network, and later the Federation of Maine Cooperatives, helping other communities start food cooperatives of their own in Maine and in other parts of New England.

For 8 years he directed Healthy Oxford Hills, where he helped to mobilize the Farm to School movement for our area. While I was teaching at the Streaked Mountain School, through a grant that Ken wrote, he raised money for our students to start a garden, some of the vegetables of which were donated to the high school cafeteria. In addition, through some of the grants that he helped to write, the Oxford Hills Middle School was able to start the garden program up at Roberts Farm.

I am extremely confident that with Ken as our Representative in the Maine House, we will have someone in office who cares about the needs of the people, the businesses, and the environment of our area. I have seen Ken in meetings on a number of occasions, and I’ve always been impressed by how carefully he listens to others, even people with whom he disagrees. He would help to create connections between the two parties and help stop the current gridlock and partisanship that have been plaguing the Maine House for too long.

Jason Trask

Norway