Hoping for a better life (editor’s note)

Nearly three months ago, 14 foreign tree thinners died when the van in which they were speeding to work flipped off a logging bridge into the Allagash River deep in the north woods.

Besides being the worst motor vehicle crash in Maine history, the event shocked many of us for another reason: These men – impoverished Hondurans and Gautemalans – had come to the United States legally, merely seeking a small piece of the American dream. Had regulations having to do with housing, transportation and pay somehow led to their deaths? State and federal officials who are studying such matters have yet to offer us any public guidance.

The accident also drove home the fact that at a time when our economy is failing, Maine depends increasingly on hundreds of foreign laborers to perform work that local people either can’t or won’t do because of the low pay and the arduous working conditions.

Many Mainers became curious: Why were these men here and what were conditions in their homelands? To answer these questions the Bangor Daily News sent assistant photography director Stephen Katz and free-lance writer Michelle Falck to Honduras to talk to the families of the men who died and to other residents who stayed home this year. We also purchased a report from Kevin Wack, a former Associated Press reporter, who traveled to Guatemala to interview the tragedy’s sole survivor. Their reports will appear today through Saturday.