Houlton ready to work

11 years ago

To the editor:
Friday April 27th I arrived in Houlton to begin renovation of a building I had recently purchased in downtown. Once I toured though the building, I quickly realized that I needed much help to empty the building out. Figuring the best way to summon up the manpower, I placed a newspaper advertisement offering $10 per hour for those who were willing to work. I asked that persons just show up at 8 a.m. May 3rd, ready to work. Some in my immediate circle dismally predicted I might get just a few persons who were ready and willing to work.

Early that morning at 7:30, I received a call from a friend stating that there were approximately 25-30 people milling about the front of my building, they had come early ready to work. I rushed down, opened the door and proceeded to explain my expectations. By the time work began at 8 a.m., there were 35 people, including two young women who had biked from Hodgdon, with an agenda to prove they could work harder than the men. There was a man who worked at Tim Hortons overnight, who came after his shift and worked four hours till he burned out.
Most striking of all was the overall work ethic of the entire crew. These people worked and did so smartly! There wasn’t much standing around and surprisingly, crews sprang up with specific skills, self directing themselves with a little direction and followed that by the governing those in their ranks not working hard enough. Those in the social sciences could have made a case study of all this.
If the Houlton naysayer would have been there, they would have had to come to the same conclusion I did. There is a reservoir of smart and strong workers in Houlton with a tremendous work-ethic spirit. They are waiting for the opportunity to work and earn a few bucks.

Jim Unker
St. Paul, Minn.