Thursday, Aug. 9, 2012: Boy Scouts, Rev. Carlson and global warming

Let the Scouts know

It would be interesting to know if the people who are criticizing the Boy Scouts’ decision to avoid gay leaders are the same people who have criticized Penn State and the Catholic Church for allowing gay predators to take advantage of young boys.

If there is a better way to protect young boys from gay predators than the Boy Scouts’ way of denying gays leadership positions, the Boy Scouts would probably like to hear about it.

Leverett Merrill

Orrington

Sad message to children

Of all the idiotic, moronic comments from our esteemed leader over the past year and a half, his latest is the worst. The governor of our state actually told our children and grandchildren that wherever they go for more education or for employment, they will be looked down upon because they are from Maine.

Even if this were true, which it most certainly is not, it is a sad day when the youth of this state receive such a message from their governor. Young people should look up to you, Gov. Paul LePage, but your constant acting like a buffoon makes that impossible. The next election can’t come soon enough.

Bruce Dorr

Old Town

Above the radar

Like many people reading the details of the Maine State Police investigation of Bob Carlson, I found the magnitude of it overwhelming. Carlson created his persona of clergy person/law enforcement professional/high-profile nonprofit leader to fool us all.

If I were a victim, I wouldn’t have considered coming forward. Who could stand up to that? Who would believe a child in the face of Carlson’s credentials and powerful friendships? As a former fraud investigator, I know that people who perpetrate such a fraud fly either below or above the radar.

Carlson was flying way above the radar in Bangor. Everyone knew him as he drove his car around town. So much so that when he parked with a small child, no one confronted him. If that were another man, would the response have been different? There are many reasons why someone would suspect and do nothing or not enough. We hear that in Penn State it was a culture of protecting the institution.

What was Carlson’s institution? His collar and vestments were part of the guise, as were his connection with law enforcement and his position at Penobscot Community Health Center. People of this community were betrayed. Important men, be they clergy, law enforcement, nonprofit leaders or, in this case a combination, are not more important than the children in our community. When we allowed Carlson to come and go with impunity, we allowed his treachery and violence to children to continue. Let’s not put our children in danger again.

Rebecca Hobbs

Winterport

EPA should strengthen soot standard

Here in Maine, especially in the summer, we suffer from “bad air days.” These are days when the air is unhealthy to breathe. The unhealthy air is caused primarily by ozone and soot (fine particles in the air). One way to reduce the number of bad air days in Maine and nationwide is to reduce ozone and soot pollution.

Thankfully, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency must soon update national health standards for fine particulate matter, i.e. soot. Coal- and oil-fired power plants are the main source of soot pollution in the U.S. Currently, the EPA limits soot to an average daily exposure over a year of 15 micrograms and a maximum of 35 micrograms on any one day.

These limits are not strong enough to protect American families from soot in the air we breathe every day. According to the EPA, soot causes early death, asthma, heart attacks, stroke, heart disease and may cause cancer and developmental and reproductive harm.

I am writing to urge the EPA to strengthen emission standards for fine particle matter to an annual standard of 11 micrograms coupled with a daily standard of 25 micrograms as recommended by the American Lung Association. This standard could prevent as many as 35,700 premature deaths every year, 1.4 million cases of asthma and reduce the number

of bad air days here in Maine. We all benefit from cleaner air.

Eloise Kleban

Orono

Cain vote

I was disappointed to read a recent column from Republican state Senate candidate Rod Hathaway, “This November, keep the reform coming,” which ran on July 6 in the BDN. The column heralded the policies of Gov. Paul LePage and his Republican allies in the

Legislature, whose policies have held job growth hostage and have resulted in moving Maine’s economy backward. I don’t want my legislator rubber stamping those harmful ideas.

I’ll be casting a vote for Rep. Emily Cain, D-Orono, this November instead. Cain is a distinguished voice in the Maine Legislature. She has stood up for Maine people time and time again, from spearheading efforts to strengthen Maine’s domestic violence laws to fighting against GOP policies that pull the rug out from middle class families.

Deanna House

Lee

Global warning

I’d like to comment on the Aug. 1 article about global warming being linked to extreme storms. First off, I think global warming (climate change) is a joke. I remember in the 1970s, we were told that if we didn’t act immediately, that mankind would be gone within 10 years because the earth was heating up.

Then, in the 1980s, we were supposedly going into an ice age because the earth was cooling off. Now, we are back to “global warming.” Which is it, what is it, and why is it? God only knows. Al Gore, and the people like him (i.e., environmental wackos), run around telling us how we should live, all while Gore himself is living in his Tennessee mansion and using more power in a month than the average household does in a year, according to the Tennessee Public Utility Commission.

Scientists in Angola had to fudge the numbers of a study because the evidence was not there to prove that man was to blame for so called “climate change.” Science is a proven fact; everyone in the room agrees on the outcome — i.e., water boils at 212 degrees. One more thing: North America was covered by ice 15,000 years ago, according to so-called scientists. This was at a time long before the Industrial Age. Why did the atmosphere warm to the point that it had the ability to melt glacial ice? My point being: We have no control over Mother Nature.

Elisha Reynolds

Vassalboro