CALAIS – The Chamber of Commerce honored one of its own Saturday night, City Solicitor Francis Brown.

Brown’s wife, Laurel, was presented with a legislative sentiment honoring the longtime Calais lawyer during the annual meeting of the Calais Chamber of Commerce held on Saturday. Because of health reasons, Brown was unable to attend.

Newly elected state Sen. Kevin Shorey, joined by U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, said he was honored to present sentiment, which read in part: “The members of the Senate and House of Representatives join in recognizing Francis Brown, of Calais, a true son of Maine.” It went on to praise Brown for the years he spent in the military and for his years of community service.

“Throughout his successful career as an attorney, he always gave generously of his time to the people of Maine by serving on many boards and committees in the Calais area. … Mr. Brown’s warmth and generosity won him great respect for the thousands of people that he has met during his distinguished career. He is remembered by all for his warm smile, generous advice and Down East humor.”

Collins, who was the guest speaker at the annual meeting, said she was pleased to be able to honor the longtime Republican.

During her speech to the chamber, Collins said that when the voters sent her to the Senate four years ago, she promised she would encourage small businesses to start up, grow and prosper so they could create the good jobs that make a community grow.

“As the Senate considered issues ranging from repeal of the death tax, to providing for full deductibility of health insurance costs for the self employed, to proposed ergonomics regulations, I have consistently considered the impact on small businesses in deciding how to vote,” she said. “I am proud that, throughout my tenure in the Senate, I have maintained a 100 percent record on the issues that the NFIB [National Federation of Independent Business] ranked as most important to small businesses.”

Maine’s junior senator said small business would continue to be high on her agenda for the next two years. She said she plans to work hard to pass legislation to help small businesses cope with the rising costs of health insurance and to encourage investment in start-up businesses and small firms seeking to expand.

Collins said that although much has been written about the few accomplishments of the 106th Congress, she believed the term was productive with Congress holding the line on federal spending, passing balanced budgets for the past two years and paying off $362 billion of the public debt.

“Even more important, Congress balanced the budget without raiding the Social Security surplus for the first time in 40 years,” she said.

Among the bills she helped pass, Collins said, was a new law to create a $25 million grant program to allow small rural communities to purchase automatic external defibrillators, a computerized device that is used to shock a heart back into normal rhythm and restore life to a cardiac-arrest victim. Another bill she authored was one to expand research and other activities to address diabetes in children.

“My legislation is designed to help reduce the tremendous toll that diabetes takes on our nation’s children and young people,” she said. “My legislation would establish a Type 1 diabetes monitoring system to help define the prevalence and incidence of the disease.”

Addressing an issue of much local interest, Collins said that she had introduced a bill that directed the Department of the Interior to assist in the planning, funding, construction and operation of the $6 million Downeast Heritage Center to be located in Calais. “I have made the center a personal cause,” she said.

The “Saint Croix Island Heritage Act,” directs the secretary of the interior to provide assistance to complete the Heritage Center by 2004.

“The goal is to ensure that the heritage center will be completed in time to commemorate an event of international historical significance, the 400th anniversary of one of the earliest settlements in North America, at St. Croix Island,” she said. The heritage center also will celebrate the rich history of the area including the Moosehorn National Wildlife Refuge and the Passamaquoddy Tribe.

As an initial step, the senator was able to secure $350,000 in federal funds to help plan and design the center.

In 1604, French explorer Sieur de Monts and geographer Samuel de Champlain landed on the island with French-born builders and vagabonds with a mandate from French King Henry IV to explore the New World.

An early harsh winter devastated the area and nearly half the men died.

The next year, the survivors left the island and established the Port Royal habitation on the shores of what is today the Annapolis basin in Nova Scotia.