Park it
I understand how some people in the Millinocket area may feel about a national park. But planning for the area needs to deal with its strengths. Paper mills are gradually going away, and that resource — wood fiber — may now be limited to pellets, etc.
The people around Acadia National Park certainly value their economic benefits from the park. If someone goes to national parks in other places, you will find the people near the park value it in the same way. Go out to Cooke City near Yellowstone. Go to Flagstaff near the Grand Canyon. They wouldn’t dream of giving up their parks there.
I wish our neighbors to the north well in their decision making now. I love their area and Baxter as well. Please give yourselves a future. Consider the benefits of a national park in your area. I will turn 80 this fall, and I would love to see you all looking forward to a bright future for yourselves and your kids. Mainers all.
Dick Brooks
Phillips
A spoiler
I have Googled for information about the work independent gubernatorial Eliot Cutler has done for Maine, in Maine, since he ran for governor four years ago. I came up with nothing.
So far as I can see, Cutler made a fortune in China at a time when Maine lost jobs to China and then came back to Maine and with his fortune bought a mansion on the sea.
At present, a majority of people in Congress are millionaires. There is only one former mill worker, and that is Rep. Mike Michaud, D-2nd District.
It seems clear to me that a former mill worker who then worked in Maine state government for 20 years and then spent 11 years representing Maine in Congress knows more about Maine and the needs of ordinary people than someone who spent his life either working in Washington, D.C., (for Sen. Ed Muskie) or in China.
Cutler’s run last time gave us Gov. Paul Lepage. BDN columnist Jim Fossel points out in his May 16 column that Cutler has a right to run. Of course he does. But until we have instant run-off elections (where a voter checks first and second choices), Cutler is a spoiler. Or he was four years ago.
I suspect Michaud’s life-time dedication to Maine, in Maine, will save us from another four years of LePage come November. I’d be more comfortable, however, were Cutler to resign himself to simply enjoying the fruits of his labor in China.
Karen Saum
Belfast
Tragic consequences
On July 27, 2009, our 21-year-old daughter was struck and killed by a driver with .23 blood alcohol coursing through his veins — three times the legal limit. At the time, our daughter was sober (zero alcohol in her system) and walking with two friends along a road in Readfield.
Five years later, most would never guess that my husband, two surviving daughters and I are not “over it.” We laugh, we smile, we engage in life, but somewhere deep inside, our lives will never be the same. There is a veil of sadness that clouds and touches every moment and every activity. The world does not seem quite right without our treasured daughter/sister in it. Life does go on, but we do not “get over it.”
This is a plea to local residents never to allow people they know to drink and drive, no matter how much they may protest that they are in control. Often, people are lucky and arrive at their destinations unharmed. But when they do not, the consequences are tragic and impact hundreds of lives forever — the victim, the driver and all who love them.
Please drive safely and soberly, and, please consider making a donation to MADD, whose campaigns have saved thousands of lives over the years. Until we can say there are no traffic fatalities caused by impaired driving, the battle is far from over.
Debbie Lazar
Ft. Myers, Florida
Smart meters
Rate hikes and so called “smart meters.” What next, a Central Maine Power electronic/radioactive monitor in my kitchen? Well, that’s pretty much what “smart meters” are.
CMP has compromised our health and our wallets for years. CMP’s CEOs refuse to begin underground wiring, saying it’s not cost effective. If they did a little each year, the massively overpaid executives could still reap their annual overpayments and eventually get the job done.
Enough insanity. Even a modicum of common sense would be so refreshing.
Donna Milbourne
Sanford