Don Mendell’s stand
Tim McLaughlin’s letter in the April 16 edition of the BDN asserts that “the actions of Don Mendell do not represent” his or his fellow counselors’ stand against discrimination within the context of their work as counselors. However, the author, like so many before him (and, I am sure, after him) fails to see the point of the discussion. Don Mendell’s stand against same-sex marriage is neither a condemnation of gay people nor their rights. It is merely a stand against the alteration of marriage laws. I doubt that many counselors, McLaughlin included, ever could be as effective or selflessly caring toward students as Don Mendell has been in his 30-plus-year career as a high school counselor. His love for his students, gay or straight, was never at issue. Unfortunately, the fact that some of his colleagues seem to feel the need to punish him for not agreeing with their own views is an issue that gives one pause.
Greta Sproul
Brownville
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UMaine budget cuts
I’m glad to hear that the University of Maine in Orono is backing off its insane proposal to eliminate specific and important majors. Enough well-spoken people already have written about why it is not a good idea. What concerns me is that it was thought of at all as a viable way to ensure a University’s future. And that they are not alone. In the March 10, 2010, “New York Review of Books,” there is an article titled “Britain: The Disgrace of the Universities” by Anthony T. Grafton. He compares the traditional “Slow Food feel to British university life, based on a consensus that people should take the time to make an article or a book as dense and rich as it could be” to the fast food approach to “produce, regularly and rapidly.” Now, in Britain, the arts and humanities faculty are being let go “not because they have ceased to do basic research or teach effectively, but because their fields aren’t fashionable and don’t spin money.”
They, also, are becoming more and more top-heavy with excessive administrative positions. Not long ago, the BDN published a list of salaries at the University of Maine.
The number of people employed and the amount of money they received was appalling. Grafton concludes his article thus: “The language of ‘impact’ and ‘investment’ is heard in the land. In Iowa, Nevada and other places there’s talk of closing humanities departments. If you start hearing newspeak about ‘sustainable excellence clusters,’ watch out. We’ll be following the British down the short road to McDonald’s.”
Dindy Royster
Blue Hill
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Mallinckrodt’s right
This weekend’s column by Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner David Littell contained inaccuracies that warrant correction. Woodard & Curran reviewed all site data after being assured by Mallinckrodt that it would abide by our findings. This data showed that four of the landfills do not need to be removed: They are capped, meet drinking water standards for mercury and are located where they are safe from potential flooding.
The P.E. LaMoreaux study cited by Mr. Littell is more than 30 years old and ignores the many site studies completed over that time. DEP technical staff who worked on this site for more than 15 years never recommended the removal of all the landfills, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency was shocked to learn that the DEP selected the “dig and haul” remedy to the tune of more than $250 million.
Mallinckrodt’s proposed remedy is a well-thought-through, common-sense approach based on scientific data. It is consistent with how landfills like these are treated in the U.S. and will protect the Orrington community and the Penobscot River for centuries to come.
Mr. Littell had his opportunity to present to the Board of Environmental Protection, as did Mallinckrodt. The Orrington town manager and lawyer attended these hearings, and the selectmen had multiple meetings with the DEP and Mallinckrodt representatives. Based on the scientific data, the Orrington selectmen voted unanimously to support the Mallinckrodt alternative.
We all eagerly await the BEP’s decision so that this site can be re-mediated and put back into productive use, which is absolutely part of the Mallinckrodt alternative.
Guy Wm. Vaillancourt
President
Woodard & Curran
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Thanks to Sen. Collins
I would like to thank publicly Sen. Susan Collins for her successful effort to save our lovely wilderness village from having a large and unnecessary new Customs and Border Protection office complex.
Sen. Collins and her staff realized the outrageous nature of this proposal and worked diligently to persuade CBP to use land it already owns for the project.
Thank you for a job well done.
Jane Johnson
Forest City Township
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Tea Party activism
We recently heard a Tea Party activist on NPR explaining why he was protesting on tax day. Paraphrasing, “We’ve got to protect our Constitution. Our rights are being stripped by excessive taxing and spending. The most egregious violation was the health care bill that requires you to purchase health insurance. The Constitution doesn’t allow government to require citizens to buy health insurance.”
I’m disappointed that health care passed without a measure allowing citizens to buy into Medicare. It seems wrong to require us to purchase insurance from the same companies that helped us into our current health care fiasco in the first place. But unconstitutional?
Where were these people when President George Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney were gutting the protections of the third, fourth, fifth and eighth amendments during the “war on terrorism?” Where was their outrage then? As long as they weren’t the ones being arrested without charge, due process, equal justice under the law, right to counsel, right against self-incrimination, and right to privacy, then they didn’t care.
But let a Democratic Congress and president require people to have health insurance, something that actually affects them — well, that’s so unconstitutional that they form “tea party” groups, march in protest and maybe worse.
The United States drafted soldiers into war during World War II, Korea and Vietnam; actions never declared unconstitutional. It boggles the mind how a government action forcing our sons and daughters to fight and die in defense of this government is constitutional but one requiring us to buy health insurance is not.
Ben Lamborn
Levant