02/20/2008
enlargefrom the Kennebec Journal
PROPANE NO QUICK FIX
AUGUSTA Penny saved is a stamp forever Cost to mail regular letter rises 1 cent on Monday
CENTRAL MAINE Area residents' scrap metal rising to top of heap
Dunn celebrates 35 years as fire chief
Maranacook set for budget tests
FARMINGDALE NEVER FORGET
HIGH SCHOOL BASEBALL ROUNDUP: Rankin sparks Black Bears
Morang stymies Bulldogs in only 2nd varsity start
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from the Morning Sentinel
Auctioneer sues woman over $300,000 Internet purchase
Prison time awaits
Waterville writer wins this year's Young Lions Fiction Award
Rising prices for scrap metal attract sellers to local facility
Colby seniors celebrate end of classes
JUDGES CHOOSE YOUTH OF YEAR Gary Fearon a 17-year-old member of Penobscot Nation Boys & Girls Club, a satellite unit of Waterville Area Boys & Girls Club
Biathlon might skip out on Fort Kent
HUSKIES COLLECT 1ST WIN
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from the Morning Sentinel
Tim Bolton said his generation's fearlessness in the face of tear gas and defiance of authority is its legacy to date.
But don't finish the chapter in the history books yet.
"We're not going to go quietly into the night," said Bolton, who shares his birthday with Hillary Clinton. "We're a very vocal generation. Maybe sometimes a little too self-absorbed."
Bolton, a Manhattan native who finished college in California, made his western pilgrimmage at a very interesting time in history.
"I was there during the People's Park Eldridge Cleaver period," he said. "I saw Eldridge Cleaver speak the day before he disappeared and went to Algeria."
Cleaver, a civil rights activist and writer, fled the country while facing attempted murder charges following a confrontation with police.
Bolton opposed the Vietnam War and described himself as more observer than activist.
"I saw some pretty hairy things," Bolton said. "Police actions against students, arresting everybody in sight on the street. The power of the state.
There was more education going on in the streets than there in the classrooms. Also getting tear-gassed from helicopters."
He eventually landed in Maine and has worked for the state Department of Transportation for more than 20 years.
He loves to travel, goes to the opera and has bookcases crammed full, with titles by James Joyce, Frank McCourt and Orson Welles.
He calls himself a liberal Democrat.
When it comes to younger generations, Bolton said he is worried that most of the people he sees at cultural events are older.
"I go to the opera and symphony and I look at the audience and there's very few people under 50," he said. "I wonder what moves younger people because it doesn't seem to be the things that interest me."
Bolton has been active in the West Side Neighbors group, the city historic preservation commission, and was recently elected to the city charter commission. Whether for pay or as a volunteer, Bolton and others of his generation want to be involved.
"I think we'll have a lot to say about how the Social Security thing is going to be handled," he said. "That is going to be a problem as time goes on. I think it's going to be a more activist generation for much longer than would have been true before."
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