Camden by the....

The ugliest acre in Knox county must be the Waste Transfer Station on Buttermilk Lane just west of Rockland, proudly serving Thomaston, South Thomaston and Owls Head. (In a delicious irony, the part of Buttermilk between the airport and the dump is designated a scenic drive, with lovely views of the marshes and its birds.) It also smells.

That dumps stink is apparently news to residents of Camden. Parties have been complaining.

Of course in Rockland, parties have been complaining for years about smells, not from the little dump in the country but from the sewage system. The treatment system has much improved recently (it takes a pretty hot August afternoon to bring back the good old days) but now the quarries stink. I was amazed to learn that the city is still disposing of trash there. It's supposed to be only "Construction and Demolition Debris" but it looks like animal and vegetable has somehow accompanied mineral.

What an ignominious end for Rockland's once-proud limestone industry! Why any dumping whatsoever? How about recycling old quarries? They look to me like Adventure Parks waiting to happen. In a sad irony, perhaps at least some of the stuff called C&DD is plaster and mortar coming home.

Can you take one more bit of irony? The Camden smell seems to be coming from the sulfur in a load of unburied Sheetrock. Which is the modern equivalent of plaster.

Camden and Rockland are often at odds. Camden by the sea, Rockland by the smell...plus ca change...