It appears there's some last minute trouble in paradise.

The concern poised to sell 8,000 acres of land near Baxter State Park to the state for $6 million--the appraised value, by the way--now says the figure "is too low."

Really?

And why now?

The property in Wassataquoik Valley was to be purchased to ameliorate parties upset over the Katahdin Lake parcel, which, as an addition to Baxter State Park, would be off limits to hunting and snowmobiling et cetera.

It was a reasonable compromise, one where each side got most of what they were looking for.

So now what?

The Gardiner Land people clearly don't seem to think it's a big whoop: "If this deal falls through, we have some other people that are interested."

Oh really. Well that's nice. A real pleasure doing business with you.

One of the potential buyers (with deeper pockets than the state apparently) is thought to be Roxanne Quimby, who has already demonstrated no love for hunting, trapping, wood harvesting and such on her other properties in the region (but hey, it's her land and that's her right).

But that ain't at all how this particular deal was supposed to go down. The Katahdin Lake parcel went to Baxter as "forever wild" and the Wassataquoik Valley was to to be sold to the state, preserved and managed for multiple use.

Shame on Gardiner if this doesn't happen.

The whole thing smells pretty damn stinky to me.

You?

I hope the Maine Department of Conservation holds Gardiner's feet real close to the fire on this one. And forces them to hold true to the original deal.