Same-day works
Why on Earth would anyone who believes in the right to vote want to put restrictions on when you can register to vote? Any restriction on registration seems wrong to me. Voter fraud is used as an excuse to change the rules, but that is nonsense to me because voter fraud is voter fraud, no matter when you register.
Same-day registration has been working, and working very well, for 40 years. It is not the cause of voter fraud.
Alan Goguen
Brooks
Large mouth abundance
I was delighted to see the underwater pictures of Sabbathday Lake in the BDN’s Sept. 1 edition. As lucky owners of a family cottage on this pristine lake, swimming, fishing and snorkeling make up a good part of the time we spend there.
I would offer a minor correction — the lake has an abundance of large mouth bass, and not smallies as the caption noted. Thanks again for making my day!
Benita Deschaine
Bangor
Squaw explained
I am studying Native American culture as part of the Native American Studies program at the UMaine campus in Orono. In Rayna Green’s Women in American Indian Society the word “squaw” is discussed, and even more so mythic images of Native female archetypes.
Two myths dominate, and they are exactly opposite; the Indian queen and the princess-savior myth of Pocahontas, or alternatively, the bias against native women — or even the negative mindset perhaps toward all women at all times everywhere if one considers the Garden of Eden.
Women are portrayed either far above or far below, but never simply equal in importance. Squaw was originally an Algonquian word meaning married woman.
James Winters
Orono
Shame on us
I was at the Sept. 7 meeting at the American Legion post in Bingham concerning the discontinuance of the Veterans Mobile Medical trailer at the Bingham Medical Center.
Everyone there spoke English — not Russian, Arabic or German. These vets have preserved our way of life. Many volunteered and many were drafted but all served us very well.
To take away their medical services that they were promised and they earned is just plain wrong.
This is a rural area where a veteran’s hospital is not just around the corner. The nearest health facility for our vets is one-and-a-half to two hours from Bingham, let alone Embden or the Forks.
These vets had better health care on the battlefield. Shame on us and the politicians for allowing this to happen. Budget cuts must be made but we cannot forget our vets because without them the U.S.A. might not need a budget to cut. The U.S.A. might not exist.
By the way, I am not a vet; just a grateful, respectful citizen.
Joseph Dionne
Abbot
No support for college students
My 19-year-old granddaughter just lost her job. Her employer told her that she had to choose between working and going to college.
Initially there was no attempt to work around her class schedule. Then the employer set her up with a schedule that was not possible. When my granddaughter reminded her boss that she had already explained her school responsibilities, the employer told her she was “done” and would send out her last check.
It is distressing that a business that employs mostly young people will not adjust work schedules to accommodate college class schedules. My granddaughter was relying on working three days a week to cover transportation and other expenses.
After talking with others, I find that this practice is not limited to this particular business. It is a sad commentary on our society when businesses do not support students trying to better themselves through education.
Patricia Ellis
Glenburn
Unacceptable death toll
How is it that 26,000 children under the age of five die every day from hunger and easily preventable diseases in developing nations? Why did some countries grow (industrially, economically) while others did not? Why were so many in Africa without the basic necessities of clean water, enough food and health care?
The ticket required to board the train called the industrial revolution was primarily “adequate rain” and “good soil.” Therefore, Africans are still where our great grandparents were prior to this train’s arrival in our country, poor farmers with five or six children in order to accomplish the work necessary to live.
It’s difficult to imagine the scope of the tragedy that happens in Africa day after day, largely due to geography. Imagine you are watching your local news and hear of a day care center with 25,000 children burning to the ground — no survivors. The next day another day care another 25,000 children. The next day and the next, with no end in sight. This is essentially what is happening in Africa.
Please take this opportunity to save a life. Choose a little child who is starving and feed him. Or possibly a couple children who have lost a brother to malaria and provide a bed net. It costs $1 per day through World Vision. Their finger is on the pulse of the world’s poor. There can be few greater joys available. You can make an actual difference in the health, length, impact and joy of a child’s life.
Carol Smith
Acton
More access needed
Maine needs more snowmobile and ATV trails so that everyone can enjoy the wilderness.
Back in the 1930s when outdoors purists tried to stop the building of roads into public
wilderness areas, wheelchair-bound president Franklin D. Roosevelt asked, “How would I get there?” In that same spirit, Maine needs to open up more wilderness areas to motor sports. Otherwise the state’s increasingly moribund population will be in the same jam as the polio-stricken former president. How will they get there?
In the face of a general health decline in America and obesity rates that doubled in Maine over the last decade, it should be apparent that motor sports represent a growth industry. People still want to enjoy speed and power even if they are unable to develop these attributes in their own bodies. Motor sports make that possible.
And towns along ATV trails should support their local economies by opening public roads to ATV and snowmobile traffic, especially when those roads lead to businesses like restaurants, gas stations and food stores that motor sports enthusiasts need.
Some environmentalists may question why professed outdoors lovers would want to fill Maine’s woods with noise and exhaust fumes from machines. Those folks have to understand that the woods belong to everyone, including the victims of a cultural malaise. And the enviros also need to remember — in the spirit of irrationality now permeating America — that noise and bad smells are a part of nature. Ever been in a thunder storm or smell a skunk? Enjoy!
Paul Molyneaux
Whiting