Is Revisionist History A Conspiracy?

Changes after the fact in reports about the upcoming referendum for a 89-million dollar school.

Poll as it looked before and after I published my story

I recently published a story about an upcoming referendum for the Boothbay Peninsula in Maine, titled "A Referendum That Poses No Options to a $89 Million Dollar School Should Be Voted Down." on July 30 2023.

My article was posted on Facebook and then removed because the person who posted it “didn’t like anger”. I appreciate that thought but it caused the thread to become one that attacks the messenger. My stories were portrayed as “having inaccuracies” I was described as writing about conspiracy theories in the manner of those who use the phrase “conspiracy theory” to implicate someone not to be taken seriously, and i was described as arguing “whataboutism”, probably a reference to asking “What about the alternative options to demolishing the current school and replacing it with the Lavellee Brensinger design paid for by a group of private funders, whom, we were told early on “wanted to remain anonymous” ?

Those are just labels absent of cogent argument.

My article included a poll that was published in the Boothbay Register article titled "Breaking down the cost of a $56 million school" on November 16 , 2020, which can be found with a Google search.

Would you support a plan that requires the demolition of the BRHS building"

The majority said NO.

I published a screen shot of the poll in my article,

Yesterday I went back to the 2020 article and the poll question had been changed to

Would you support a $56 million investment in renovations and new construction for a new K-12 school building?

With no poll answers. The quoted cost of the demolish and rebuild option is now 98 million, but in the 2020 article the cost was quoted as 56 million, so to be consistent with the 2020 article the poll question used the $56 million figure.

This is followed by two other polls, one repeating the original question in the original poll but now showing no results:

Note that the vote link does not work in the recently revised polls.

There is also a second poll in that article that I do not recall being there before. Since that poll also has no results and the vote link is dysfunctional, it is possible that it was added since I published my own story.

In my article I noted that “The third option, Concept 2 is no longer available online but it matches the targeted project for the $56 million dollar vote.”

When I wrote that there was a link to Concepts on the AOS 98 Building Exploratory Project docs list, but that link did not work. However, since it was there as a menu item, I knew that Concept 2 must have been in that menu at one time.

Today Concepts has been removed from the AOS 98 Building Exploratory Project list.

I do not know how after-the-fact changes happen or if the Boothbay Register has any participation in these after the fact changes. Over the years I have seen many changes in what I have published, usually to do with links that don’t work due to additional code being inserted into them. I have no idea how that is done. I commend the Boothbay Register for keeping its comment section open to diverse opinions.

In addition to the obvious options there are other options for education on the Peninsula that get no consideration. Andersen Design was established on the Boothbay Peninsula in 1952 and for many tears taught STEAM skills on the job. Read more about it when you click this link:

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Mackenzie Andersen

Andersen Design

Mackenzie Andersen is a sponsored artist with The Performance Zone Inc (dba The Field), a not-for-profit, tax-exempt, 501(c)(3) organization serving the performing arts community. Contributions to The Field earmarked for Mackenzie Andersen are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law. For more information about The Field, or for our national charities registration, contact: The Field, 75 Maiden Lane, Suite 906 New York, NY 10038, phone: 212-691-6969. A copy of our latest financial report may be obtained from The Field or from the Office of Attorney General, Charities Bureau, 120 Broadway, New York, NY 10271.

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