[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 9]
[Senate]
[Pages 12373-12374]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                   RECOGNIZING GERALD PELLETIER INC.

 Ms. SNOWE. Mr. President, this summer, thousands of Mainers 
and Americans will be drawn to the town of Millinocket to enjoy the 
natural beauty of Maine's outdoors. This year, however, they will also 
have the opportunity to enjoy the bountiful meals provided by the 
Pelletier family at the Pelletier Loggers Family Restaurant. Besides 
serving up hearty Maine cooking to locals and tourists alike, the 
Pelletier family performs the herculean task of delivering many 
thousands of cords of firewood each year to the people of Maine through 
their extensive logging operations. As such, I rise today to honor the 
Pelletier family and their small business, Gerald Pelletier, Inc., 
which has continued to embrace the spirit of entrepreneurship by 
providing critical jobs to rural Mainers as well as serving the people 
of our State for over 50 years.
  What began as a log hauling operation in 1954 by a father that wanted 
to put extra food on the table during the winter months, eventually 
developed into a successful logging operation employing family members 
and dozens of Mainers alike. Gerald Pelletier Inc., produces over 
200,000 cords of firewood each year, much of which is hauled over the 
Golden Road, a treacherous logging highway cutting through the Maine 
woods to the Canadian border. The company's logging operation is 
carried out with the utmost care thanks to the training many of the 
workers receive through the Certified Logging Professionals program, 
which

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trains and certifies loggers in safe, efficient, and environmentally 
sound logging practices. The company is also a member of the 
Sustainable Forestry Initiative, the Maine Forest Products Council, and 
the Professional Logging Contractors of Maine. Today, with brothers 
Eldon and Rudy Pelletier at the helm, Gerald Pelletier Inc. has over 
100 employees during the frigid winter months that, in addition to 
logging, build and maintain roads and bridges throughout Maine.
  Gerald Pelletier Inc. has become a very attractive operation thanks 
in large part to the television show American Loggers, which airs on 
the Discovery Channel. This popular show has catapulted the company 
into a bright spotlight, and thrust the family into a form of reality-
stardom. Produced by a native son of Maine, the show portrays the 
struggles and successes of the family as it continues its work in one 
of Maine's most remarkable and historic industries.
  With this newfound nationwide appeal, Gerald Pelletier Inc. was 
recently able to undertake another entrepreneurial endeavor, the 
Pelletier Loggers Family Restaurant in Millinocket. Their restaurant 
serves up hearty Maine meals prepared from scratch to an array of 
locals and visitors alike. Customers can order from a wide variety of 
creatively titled menu items like the Moose on the Loose, a 10 oz. 
filet mignon, or for those interested in sampling fresh seafood, the 
Triple Trailer, which is a seafood medley of lobster, scallops and 
shrimp.
  While at the restaurant, customers from across the country can also 
get a true visual taste of the Maine logging experience. In front of 
the building, a tractor trailer truck can be seen bursting from the 
second floor. Inside, various tools used in the logging trade adorn the 
walls, including a rugged chainsaw that is stuck through one of the 
beams. Clearly, the Pelletiers have invested a great deal of effort in 
providing visitors with a thorough and fulfilling traditional 
experience.
  Truly, Gerald Pelletier Inc. embodies the entrepreneurial spirit that 
makes America so great. The Pelletier family has shown that a small 
business can succeed through hard work and personal sacrifice. I extend 
my congratulations to Rudy and Eldon Pelletier, the two coowners, and 
everyone at Gerald Pelletier Inc. for their remarkable enterprises, and 
offer my best wishes for their future success.

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