Word: thibodeau
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...hard-pressed to find a more local product than Cold River vodka, which gets its characteristic softness from Maine potatoes grown by brothers Lee and Donnie Thibodeau and water from the nearby Cold River aquifer. The brothers got the idea of making vodka several years ago, when the Atkins diet craze turned potatoes into a less than reliable cash crop. Their longtime friend and now partner Bob Harkins did some research and "found that the vodka category was exploding, driven especially by the high-end premium category." Patrons already used to paying $35 for a bottle of Grey Goose...
Some Ford dealers complain that even its new models, like the Ford Fusion and the Mercury Milan, are still too similar. "We'd like to see more differentiation in the sheet metal, not just the inside creature comforts or the taillights," says Robert Thibodeau, owner of a major Detroit Ford dealership. Toyota, by contrast, has produced SUVs and the luxury Lexus--two totally different vehicles--even though they are built on the same platform. Some analysts argue that Ford should get rid of one of its brands, such as Mercury, and narrow its product line. The company's drab minivans...
...spend money and energy to save, say, the frostweed or the small whorled pogonia? Medical benefits alone, says Thibodeau, could justify the center's efforts: "Well over a quarter of all prescription medicines in the U.S. are based on plant products." He points, for example, to antitumor alkaloids found in the Madagascar periwinkle that are now used in the treatment of childhood leukemia and Hodgkin's disease. "The question," says Thibodeau, "is whether you're willing to bet that there isn't another important drug out there among those 3,000 plants or whether you're willing to hold...
...characteristics important to agriculture: for example, resistance to disease or drought. Using new recombinant DNA techniques, scientists look forward to identifying the genes that confer these traits and transferring them from wild plants to crop plants. By preserving the endangered species, says Falk, "we're building a genetic library." Thibodeau considers the library essential "even if it turned out that these plants have no other identifiable value. They would still be worth saving, just as it is worth preserving old manuscripts...
...ensure the preservation of most or all of the 3,000 threatened species, the center hopes eventually to create a $15 million endowment. "That works out to about $5,000 per species," says Thibodeau. "In fact, for $5,000 we will be delighted to save an endangered plant in your name." --By Jamie Murphy. Reported by David Bjerklie/New York