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"Sacred Trust is now available in paperback!

"Sacred Trust is now available in paperback!

“An existential environmental time bomb - in the form of a massive powerline - is about to explode an entire way of life for the people of the North Country. Nine unlikely heroes - rock climbers, paddlers, a deer farmer and a former spook -  are all that stands between the people and their worst nightmare.”

This is their story . . .

The paperback version is available here: 

http://bit.ly/STPaper

Sacred Trust Kindle eBook

http://bit.ly/STrust

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Sacred Trust Overview

“The Monkeywrench Gang Meets the Third Industrial Revolution!”

In the coming “Age of Electricity” the principal battleground will be over who controls the production and distribution of power. All across America today the battle lines are being drawn and the two sides are rushing to create advantages for themselves. Already more than 10 trans-national power transmission projects are proposed from Maine to Washington State and the Canadian Electricity Association projects a tripling of that demand in the next ten years. In most instances these transmission projects are being proposed by utility companies or consortiums that include a local utility company.

Utility companies represent one front in this battle over competing visions of our energy future. These utility companies, already in an existential battle for survival, seek to maintain control of the revenues generated by the flow of electricity. With a few rare exceptions, they are pitted against those advocates of a new distributed energy paradigm where small, renewable power production replaces the large electricity generators of today.  

Most Americans notice that things are changing with respect to energy production and transmission but they have yet to put together the full picture of what will be a sea change in life for every American this presages.

“Sacred Trust” is intended to tell that story in the context of a novel about a group of citizens that have joined together to stop the construction of one, especially egregious powerline, proposed in the small state of New Hampshire where tourism is the second most important industry and the people deeply cherish their beautiful mountains, clean air and pristine waterways.

The power company behind the transmission line, Polaris Electric, proposes to put most of the line above ground with massive 150 foot towers and intends to export 100% of the power right on through the state - like a giant extension cord - with no benefit to the people of the state. In short, like the oligarchs of a previous age, they intend to reap 100% of the benefits and to pass off a large portion of their costs through the generations-long visual pollution of the public commons, to say nothing of the decline in property values and the unknown scientific consequences of high voltage transmission lines on citizens living in their path.

The citizens of the state who stand to lose most from the destruction of real estate values and cherished viewscape are dead set against the project but the political winds are against them with a Governor in the pocket of the utility company and an approval process that seems to be rigged against them, eight unlikely compatriots from across the political spectrum come together to take on the consortium proposing the “Granite Skyway” Transmission line.

While the compatriots, who call themselves The Trust, engage in creative civil disobedience intending to stop the project, or at the very least to literally drive it underground, a group of writers and activists, presenting themselves in the style of the writers of the Federalist Papers produce a series of essays in opposition to Granite Skyway, making the intellectual case, justifying the actions of The Trust.  One business writer, in search of a pulitzer, takes on the task of describing the tableau in which all of this takes place beginning with the 1972 election of Jimmy Carter and the drafting of the National Energy Policy Act and the Public Utilities Regulatory Policy Act into which one lone New Hampshire Senator, John Durkin, inserted two lines that changed history and ushered in the renewable energy revolution.Through the device of a series of articles scattered through the novel, business editor James Kitchen leads his readers through a virtual primer of the battle for a new post-carbon energy paradigm.

"Sacred Trust" is a vicarious, high voltage adventure to stop a private electric transmission powerline that leads the reader through not only the hijinks of The Trust, but also through the series of choices with which we all are currently confronting, or will be, in this new “Age of Electricity”.

Described by one reader as "The Monkey Wrench Gang Meets the Third Industrial Revolution" the book follows these unlikely compatriots as they dodge both the law and a cabal of recruits doing the dirty work of the Consortium.

In part one of the book Sasha Brandt, an Iroquois woman from Canada who travels with her companion, a wolf named Cochise, meets Daniel Roy, a guide and outdoorsman while hiking the Mahoosuc Range on the Appalachian Trail. After a unique first encounter the two - three with Cochise - continue their hike together. A few days later, while paddling on Lake Umbagog, they find themselves unexpectedly camping together with an unusual assortment of people including a former Olympic paddler, a very conservative deer farmer, a real estate broker, a retired spook who was the first US victim of Lyme disease and an iconoclast named Thomas (just Thomas) who is also a former Army Ranger now living as a recluse in multiple backwoods abodes in the Great North Woods area of New Hampshire. Thomas is also unique in that his primary mode of transportation is a moose named Metallak, who pulls a cart when traveling with Thomas’ five dogs or wears a saddle when Thomas rides him solo.

The group quickly discovers that they have one very important thing in common - a deep concern about the Granite Skyway proposal to transport electricity from Canada to the toney suburbs of Boston, New York, Connecticut, Philadelphia and Washington D.C.. Their concerns range from the effect it will have on the habitat of newly re-established Raptor populations; to the clear cutting necessary to construct the line; and, the impact of 150 foot towers on the landscape of their beloved state.

The threat to the environment and the scenic beauty are only the tip of an iceberg that includes the value of homes, farms and businesses built by generations of men and women in this hardscrabble land. Rumors alone are already affecting life for many caught up in whisper campaign around this proposed transmission line. All agree, Granite Skyway poses an existential threat to an entire way of life.

Determined to do more than shuffle papers and employ lawyers, the compatriots form a band of brothers and sisters - along with Cochise and Metallak - calling themselves "The Trust". Armed with only their wits and a lot of heart they embark on a rolicking campaign of civil disobedience that would make Thoreau, Alinsky and Dr. King proud.

While the book is a work of fiction, teachers and professors may find it a book that would add a new dimension to classroom discussions and an interesting touch for classes on sustainability, renewable energy or the American tradition of protest.

Throughout their adventure the members of "The Trust" examine many of the most important questions of our time including how America can continue to make an honored space for free speech and civil disobedience in an era of terror; how social media can help create accountability in an increasingly corporatized mega-media landscape; and, how citizens can challenge the corporate oligarchies that often threaten our planet's future.

"Sacred Trust" is written by Wayne King a former State Senator, Democratic nominee for Governor of NH, and most recently CEO of environmental cleanup company MOP Environmental Solutions. Not coincidentally, King worked his way through college as a Mountain Guide in New Hampshire’s White Mountain which explains his detailed knowledge of the setting for the novel. The book is filled with political and environmental stories that will have you laughing and gasping and wondering what is true and what is fiction.

"Sacred Trust' is a vicarious, high voltage campaign to stop the Granite Skyway power transmission project and its short-sighted and in some cases greedy corporate sponsors, intent on using political muscle and money to lock up the region's energy production and distribution, short circuiting efforts to bring about an energy future based on sustainable, and renewable energy deployed through micro-grids, smart-grids and a competitive environment that makes energy more - not less - affordable.

http://bit.ly/STrust

New Hampshire’s Outsized Role in The Renewable Energy Revolution

Want to Know who to thank for The Revolution? Start with John Durkin. . . and Jimmy Carter

Sunlight on a Woodstock Beaver Pond

Summer’s fleeting pleasures are quickly yielding to the bittersweet days of autumn here on Rattlesnake Ridge. Autumn always seems to summon forth the highs and lows of our inner spirits; one moment we want to run and jump and throw our hands in the air, rejoicing at the beauty of the world around us and the next we are close to tears, often for reasons that seem completely unfathomable . . . bouncing between joy and sadness, though I sense that the passage of time, more acutely felt, is the primary motivating force.

In a week or two the hills will be ablaze with color. At least we all hope so. The effects of climate change seem to be having an effect on autumn foliage, but we really don’t know what the effect is. Some climate scientists say it will enhance colors, at least in the short term. Others insist the leaves will turn from green to brown and simply fall off the tree, but we don’t know how much of that is because of climate change and how much is because of an extremely dry summer and fall.  Scientists differ wildly in their predictions of the effect but there is not the slightest difference on the causality side of the equation . . .  the changing climate of our earth mother.

Recently I finished my novel, “Sacred Trust” and published it as an eBook on Amazon Kindle  (http://bit.ly/STrust) while I finish the process of readying it for publication in paper - and if I’m really lucky finding a publisher and/or a production company that agrees with me that it would make a great movie.

In Sacred Trust An existential environmental time bomb, in the form of a massive powerline, is about to explode an entire way of life for the people of the North Country. Nine unlikely oddballs: rock climbers, paddlers, a deer farmer and a former spook, are all that stands between the people and the powerline.

Most readers find themselves praying for the Oddballs. . . If the storyline sounds familiar it is at least in part because I was seeking a vicarious way to express my own frustration with the current situation here in New Hampshire, but also in states across the nation where the same scenario is taking shape.

The novel is somewhat unique, I think, in that the story divides itself between our heroes - citizens engaged in creative civil disobedience as the last defense against the powerline; a group of writers, calling themselves the Gazetteers, writing against the powerline project in the style of the authors of the Federalist Papers; and, finally, a serious-minded journalist who is writing a well researched analysis about both the project and the national and international challenges of the advancing “Age of Electricity”.   

It was, and is, my hope to create a work of fiction that was enjoyable to read but that also helped readers to understand some of the challenges and nuance of the world in which we are all living and the world we are beginning to see emerge . . . the post-carbon world. Whether this education occurs on an individual basis or as a creative tool for the classroom, or both, it was my hope that art could be harnessed to facilitate change and dialog.

In doing research for Sacred Trust I learned a great deal and found to my delight and surprise that New Hampshire played an outsized role in today’s Renewable Energy Revolution. Furthermore, there were some civics lessons that also could be gleaned from the process that has brought us to this place.

Most of the remainder of this column is taken, almost verbatim, from Chapter 57 of Sacred Trust, in which journalist James Kitchen discusses the renewable energy revolution and New Hampshire’s role in its genesis.

Kitchen begins by describing a shifting paradigm that replaces carbon-based energy sources with sustainable green energy and some of the choices, challenges and dilemmas associated with the changeover.

 

Understanding the choices that our nation faces as we struggle to build a new energy paradigm requires that we have at least a basic understanding about how we got to where we are today and that journey - strangely enough - winds right through New Hampshire. In more ways than one . . .

Most politicians and even most citizens in New Hampshire consider the place of our state in the national election process as sacrosanct. The First-in-the-Nation presidential primary provides a jolt of cash to the state’s economy every four years but most people, particularly the staunchest defenders of the Primary, will tell you that there are more important reasons for protecting our place as first in the nation.

They will explain that only in a small state like New Hampshire does a candidate with limited money - but a great message - have a chance. In larger states, where the election is dominated by big business, big labor, and exorbitant media costs a great candidate without deep pockets will never have such a chance.

New Hampshire folks take their role in the process of winnowing down the field of candidates in their primary very seriously.  They study the issues, they vigorously question the candidates, and then, once they have made up their minds, they roll up their sleeves and get involved in one campaign or another.

To understand where we are today we need to go back to the mid 1970s. Richard Nixon had resigned, to avoid being impeached, and Gerald Ford, appointed by Nixon after the untimely (and from many accounts unseemly) death of Nelson Rockefeller, was our first unelected President.  

The Presidential primary of 1976 saw a very crowded primary among Democrats. Depending on who you count there were almost twenty people testing the waters or outright campaigning for the nomination. From that process, an unknown Governor named Jimmy Carter emerged and swept to the nomination as the “un-politician”. Carter won in Iowa and during the last three weeks of the New Hampshire Primary, capitalized on his Iowa win and zoomed from a 2% standing to over 30%, capturing New Hampshire. These two wins would serve to create a groundswell and Carter would go on to win the Democratic nomination. By the time the General Election rolled around James Earl Carter had sold himself as the first “outsider” candidate of the modern era and he won handily over Gerald Ford.

Carter’s one-term presidency was roiled by controversy and crisis, from an Arab Oil Embargo to the taking of American hostages at the American Embassy in Iran and a disastrous attempt to rescue those hostages.

Hidden in the layers of these controversies and crises is a legislative record that created the framework for a renewable energy revolution that has, of late, taken the country by storm. Carter’s team shepherded through Congress the landmark Nation Energy Policy Act,  including a section called PURPA - the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act. These massive pieces of Federal legislation included the first national policies on renewable energy and energy conservation, among other things.

Two years before Carter ascended to the Presidency, New Hampshire held an election for a United States Senator to replace the retiring Norris Cotton. A close contest between the Democrat John Durkin and the Republican Louis Wyman led to two recounts; the first won by Durkin, by ten votes; and, the second, won by Wyman, by 2 votes. Any citizen who wonders if their vote counts, need only look at the outcome of this election.  Finally, at an impasse, the election was decided in the US Senate and Durkin was seated. Two years later, as the Carter Energy policy was moving through the Congress, John Durkin quietly and without fanfare, added an amendment into the PURPA act. The amendment required that utility companies purchase power - at market rates - from any producer of electricity generating fewer than 80 megawatts from a renewable energy source.

Durkin originally believed that he was helping to establish a foothold for wood to energy biomass and trash to energy co-generation, and he was, but the door that he opened with his amendment turned out to be big enough for every dreamer and entrepreneur, with a viable idea for generating electricity renewably, to walk through.

Soon proposals for small hydro (also called low head hydro), solar power, wind power and other renewable resources were on the drawing board and underway.

The Energy Policy Act passed the Senate by 1 vote. Again, a civics lesson in the importance of every vote in a democracy.

Over the years since then a few changes have been made to the Energy Act, but all continuing to move the country toward the day when renewable energy would account for a larger and larger portion of the power produced.

The changes of the 70s represented the first step in a changing relationship between America’s public utilities and the people and businesses who consumed the energy. Utilities no longer held complete monopoly power over both the sale and the purchase of electricity as well as its transmission.

To be fair to utility companies, it is important to note that these changes have created serious disruption in the model that they had been employing to govern their business plans and for many would come to represent an existential threat to their economic viability.

Different utility companies have approached the challenges posed by this deregulation in different ways. Almost immediately Vermont utilities formed a working group among utilities to come up with approaches that would allow them to create sustainable business models and one of the first things they did was to add ratepayers and citizens to the process to create forward momentum and a consensus building approach that made everyone a participant in a process that strengthened utility companies and encouraged the development of renewable energy.

Those who simply tried to squeeze more from a diminishing set of profit centers hastened toward crisis. The changes that have taken place over the past twenty years represent an existential challenge to many utility companies. They are casting around for ways to generate more profits in an era of shrinking opportunities.

The more progressive utilities are doing this by working to build an infrastructure that enhances the opportunities for renewable energy and the organic job growth that comes with it. Others are simply clinging to the past and trying to enhance their bottom line through transmission proposals that link together large generators of power with lucrative markets.

 

There are many lessons to be learned from the approaches employed to enhance their sustainability by utility companies all across America. But there is no doubt about one thing.

One short paragraph, authored by John Durkin and his team, had successfully wrested monopoly control over the electric grid from the utility companies and opened the gates for a flood of small alternative power producers and eventually individual homeowners and businesses.

For the first time the American people, just beginning to experience a growing environmental consciousness back in the 70s, had a say in the kinds of energy that we were using and could participate in the creation of that energy. For that we can thank Jimmy Carter, John Durkin and the 95th Congress of the United States.

About Wayne D. King: Wayne King is an author, artist, activist and recovering politician. A three term State Senator, he was the 1994 Democratic nominee for Governor and most recently the CEO of MOP Environmental Solutions Inc., a public company in the environmental cleanup space.  His art is exhibited nationally in galleries and he has published three books of his images. His most recent novel "Sacred Trust"  a vicarious, high voltage adventure to stop a private powerline has been published on Amazon.com as an ebook (http://bit.ly/STrust ) with the paper edition due in Mid-October. He lives in Rumney at the base of Rattlesnake Ridge. His website is: http://bit.ly/WayneDKing

Bend in the Buffalo Road

The Opportunity Cost of Northern Pass - Opinion from Wayne King

" In the middle of the last century, these would have been the same people who used the air and water for their waste disposal system, leaving the public an environmental legacy that is largely responsible for today’s fight over climate change . . . In response to this, Richard Nixon created the EPA; his most shining domestic achievement. Nixon recognized the con game that had been played at the public’s expense for more than a century - privatizing profits and socializing costs.  It is an age-old and time-tested methodology employed by the one percent to enhance their bottom line at the expense of the rest of us. "

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Sacred Trust Excerpt

Sacred Trust Excerpt

This chapter from Wayne King’s new novel “Sacred Trust” revolves around an essay written by a group of North Country folks, writing in the fashion of the authors of the Federalist Papers, who have chosen to provide written support to “The Trust” the name adopted by a group of compatriots using civil disobedience to try and stop the construction of a massive private powerline.

Some people have suggested that this fictional story has a reverberating echo of familiarity. We’ll let you decide for yourself.

You are invited to share this excerpt freely with your friends and contacts. Permission to reprint this except is also hereby granted by the author.

Link:
https://thesacredtrust.blogspot.com/2017/09/sacred-trust-excerpt.html

Chapter 42  
Who’s in Charge Around Here?

Duggan, Wilson and Echo walked through the front door of Tea Bird’s Cafe in Berlin with just minutes to spare before they stopped serving breakfast.

Wilson immediately noticed that a new Essay from the Gazetteers had been released and was in the magazine rack just inside the front door. She surreptitiously snatched up the entire stack of them and slipped them into her jacket. As the three took a table she withdrew a copy and photographed it with her smartphone, sending it directly to both Enright and Mac. Mac would no doubt want to send it along to Governor “Mags” who was still operating under the illusion that she was of an independent mind on this and Mac still needed to treat her with kid gloves until she was turned.

She shared copies with Duggan and Larry Echo and the three sat stoically reading the essay.

Giving Away the Store  
A Free Pass and an Extension Cord

Politicians and Bureaucrats Sell Out the State’s Future with Granite Skyway

Patrick H. Stark

No matter the state, politicians have a long history of tough talk and slight of hand. Whether it’s Kansas or Georgia, Alabama or New Hampshire we have all heard a line of Governors, Senators and Representatives talking tough about protecting the interests of their state only to cave in to the first comer with a bag of money.

All too often the tough talk is not meant to protect us but rather to distract us from what is really going on. This allows the politicians to seem as if their interest coincides with ours when actually they are aiding and abetting a bait and switch that leaves us digging around in our pockets and wondering how someone made off with our keys and our wallets.

Virgil and Wyatt Earp have the rest of us watching the OK Corral while the thieves are sneaking into the bank and stealing all the money and a horse or two on their way out for good measure.

Such is the case with Granite Skyway. Our current Governor was elected on a pledge that she would not support the project unless the entire length was buried, yet since her election all talk of burying the lines has evaporated like so much hot air and now she has moved on to wringing her hands about making sure that the long term power needs of the state are met.

Leaving aside the fact that no politician ever gave a rip about what was going to happen 20 or 30 years hence, unless it fits the needs of their current agenda, it’s worth noting that the Granite Skyway project is being proposed at a time when electricity demand has been flat or falling for more than a decade. Not because we have been in a recession - we have in fact had one of the longest periods of sustained growth in US history - But because of new technologies, particularly ones that allow us to reduce electricity demand through efficiency and conservation, are being employed by more and more individuals and businesses.

Additionally, though only a modest number of homes and businesses have been able to take advantage of net metering laws the electricity generated for the grid has demonstrated the promise of expanding rooftop, business and home solar arrays in the future. Most projections for the future indicate that conservation and technological advances will continue to exert a downward pressure on the need for large new power facilities and transmission lines. Allowing older plants to be retired without the need to construct new large facilities.

This is not to say that new sources of power and new transmission will be completely unnecessary, but the changes needed will be more along the lines of upgrading existing systems and taking advantage of new ideas like smart grids and more green, renewable energy sources, decentralized and scaled laterally, built by joining together locally developed resources and linking them together through a smart grid.

A recent report from the highly respected Marcy Institute for Public Policy at the University of New Hampshire, indicates that no additional transmission or power production is necessary for the foreseeable future and the creation of such is likely to create unanticipated costs to the ratepayers from unneeded stranded assets.   

When viewed in this light the Granite Skyway project can only be described as . . . well . . . DOWNRIGHT STUPID.

A theft of public resources for private greed.

Ask yourself this:  If a group of experts representing a broad diversity of residents and expertise had been brought together to design a power generation and transmission system in keeping with our best interests, how would it look?

Certainly not like this.

This is the biggest betrayal of all: At a time when we need our primary state utility to be planning the transmission grid of the future, advocating and advancing the generation of renewable power in a post-carbon era  and standing up for the values that define our beautiful natural state, they are wasting their time and resources on a glorified extension cord with no future value to our state whatsoever.

All around us states have begun planning - even constructing - smartgrids that meet the challenges of the future and support distributed energy sources, but not here.

It is malpractice, malfeasance of the highest order. Over the years Polaris has grown fat, dumb and happy - with particular emphasis on DUMB  -  in its enviable position of a publicly sanctioned monopoly. If it had to compete with other utility companies in an open marketplace it would have been long gone, but it has benefitted from a lack of assertive oversight and now we are paying for it.  

In essay number 1 Gazetteer Paine compared them to the Oligarchs of old who despoiled the air and the waters of our country rather than finding ways to produce their products without polluting the public commons - pocketing the difference and leaving us to breath the air and drink the water poisoned by their greed.   

If the proponents of Granite Skyway  have their way, they will repeat this travesty again and  we will pay the price for the next 5 generations. They will start with thousands of acres of clearcuts, creating massive scars upon the land we love, and they will  leave behind a trail of towers and tears that will be our legacy to our children, our grandchildren and their grandchildren.

Yet the politicians and bureaucrats are not standing up to them. . . Not demanding that they go back to the drawing board or go home! Demanding that if we are to have a transmission line, let it be OUR transmission line not a privately owned one over which we have no control.

Polaris Electric exists by our forbearance. They are a Public utility. They can only hide behind a cadre of investors if WE PERMIT IT. If they wish to burden our grandchildren with a transmission line, let them bring us a proposal that is designed to cherish and respect our heritage, our land and our interests.

We have been played for a bunch of chumps. Handing over the public rights-of-way and the viewsheds to a cabal of investors, led by a utility company bent on ignoring its moral and economic obligation to us, whose only interest appears to be in making a buck.

Granite Skyway investors are bent on creating a transmission system that privatizes profits and socializes the environmental, social and economic costs and consequences.

As proposed The Granite Skyway project began as nothing more than a glorified extension cord, bringing power directly from Canada to the suburbs of Philadelphia, Boston and New York without so much as a kilowatt finding its way into a home here in the Granite State. Little has changed since then.

For too many politicians this is just fine. They are willing to throw open the doors and let the home invaders have their way with the entire family.

We are not.

When the British came to enforce their authority over our land, their soldiers wore red and marched in a straight line. We hid in the woods, fought back from behind stone walls and took the battle to them on our own terms.

This war will not be waged with guns and cannons but we will surely fight it on our own terms.

The Gazetteers

Patrick H. Stark

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Scott Gregory was behind the grill making the last of the breakfasts and he watched Susan Wilson pocket the pamphlets. He discretely continued to watch the entire scene transpire as he cooked. Rather than confronting the trio he decided that he would simply watch them. Something wasn’t entirely kosher but he was going to arm himself with         all the details before he decided what to do, after all, he could always order more of the essays.

Heather was clearing tables and he hit the bell on the counter they used to indicate that an order was up. Heather looked up and Scott motioned with his head for her to approach.

“Don’t look over there” Scott said, “but those three who just arrived are acting very weird. The woman took the entire stack of new essays from the Gazetteers and stashed them in her coat but for one each for herself and the other two, then she photographed hers and texted someone - probably sent the piece to them.”

“What should we do? Should I make her put them back?” Heather said.

“No” Scott said. “Let’s see if we can figure out what they’re up to. If we figure out who the members of The Trust are maybe we can provide them with some useful information.”

“Okay, I’ll bring them some menus and water then.”

“Be careful Heather. We don’t want to tip them off.”

Heather hugged him, “This is exciting! We get to play spies for the good guys.”

“We’re not playing Heather. This is serious business.”

“Oh lighten up Lancelot. Your Guinevere knows how to handle this.”

Heather walked over to the table and poured water into the glasses that had already been set there after the last patrons had departed. She passed out menus with her characteristic good cheer.

“We’re still serving breakfast but only for a few more minutes” she said. “Can I bring you some coffee or juice while you decide?”

Will Duggan ordered coffees all around and just as Heather was about to walk away, he said, “hey we’re up here scouting a movie and we’re looking for someone who has a wolf that we might be able to use in some of the scenes. Do you know anyone?”

Heather seemed genuinely interested. “A movie! WOW! How cool!  What’s it about?”

Duggan hesitated, he should have thought this through a bit more. He was improvising on the fly and now he had to come up with something he had not planned on. “Err. . . well . . . it’s kind of a secret. You know intellectual property stuff. But it has a wolf as one of the characters. Does that sound like anyone you know? It’s pretty good money.”

“Wolves have been extinct here in NH since around 1900,” Heather said, “and it’s illegal to have a purebred wolf as a pet” There are some folks who have wolf-hybrids - - that’s a dog that might be up to 50% wolf - - but I don’t know any of them personally. There’s actually a sanctuary down in the Ossipee area and one near Keene as well. You might check there.”

“Ready to order? Or do you need a few more minutes?”

The trio ordered breakfast and Heather walked away, heading for the kitchen, trying not to be too obvious in her excitement.

“Did you learn anything?” Scott asked.

“They claim they’re scouting a location for a movie, said they were looking for someone with a wolf. but something was hinky about their answer when I asked what the movie was about.”

“Daniel Roy was here with that Canadian woman the other day, didn’t he say something about a Timberwolf?”

“That’s right. I caught a glimpse of him, the wolf I mean, his big head was sticking out the car window when they drove in. I told these three I didn’t know of anyone with a wolf.  Do you think we should warn Daniel?”

“Whether we need to or not.” Scott said.  “He needs to know that someone is asking around.”

Copyright Wayne D. King 2016/17.  Reprinted with permission of the author. "Sacred Trust" A vicarious, high voltage adventure to stop a private powerline has been published on Amazon.com as an ebook with the paper edition due soon.

Described by one reader as "The Monkey Wrench Gang Meets the Third Industrial Revolution" the book is a fictional account of a group of unlikely compatriots who join together to stop a powerline proposed by a private consortium, employing creative civil disobedience in the traditions of Alinsky, Thoreau and Dr. King.

Available from Kindle Books

Moosewood Communications Publisher

http://bit.ly/STrust

The Wildboy

"Sacred Trust" Published as ebook on Amazon

Available from Kindle Books

Moosewood Communications Publisher

http://bit.ly/STrust

Signup for Wayne King's eZine

"Whispering Pines"

http://eepurl.com/c5t1nX

Wind in the Maple

InDepthNH.org

Very pleased to be in discussions with a great NH Website InDepthNH about writing a column and providing some images from time to time for them. I reconnected with Nancy West, the founder of the New Hampshire Center for Public Interest Journalism, that produces InDepthNH.org after many years. I'm so pleased at what she and other great journalists have done in creating this website. Check it out here!

Wayne & Alice King