Ripley residents plan relief effort

RIPLEY — Concern over the plight of Bosnians has prompted several Ripley residents to organize a relief effort to provide badly needed firewood to the region.

Rye Emerson of Ripley, the owner and operator of a Ripley wood cutting operation, said this week that he and other area woodcutters are willing to donate the firewood if a way can be found to airlift it to the war-torn region.

“My wife and I saw on television the terrible living conditions over there and we felt that we wanted to do something to try to help those people out,” he said this week.

Emerson said that he would be willing to donate the firewood, as would other woodcutters. A friend, Doug Thomas of Ripley, has donated the equipment needed to transport the wood to any air base in Maine. Other people have pledged their support for the project, he said.

Emerson contacted Sen. George Mitchell’s office this week to find out if any armed forces crews could fly the firewood to Bosnia. A spokesman at the senator’s office stated that he was very interested in the project and would advise the senator of the willingness of people to undertake the project, Emerson said.

Emerson said this week that if people are interested in supporting the project, they may wish to contact Mitchell’s office as a “groundswell of public support” may help to move the issue of transportation of the wood more quickly if President Bill Clinton and Mitchell are aware of how the public feels about the relief effort.

More information about the project is available by calling Emerson at 277-3354.