Vote! It matters
For many past years, usually only a minority number of eligible voters have actually voted, with the majority failing to vote and have their voices heard. This sad voting record indicates that simple minority numbers who vote make the decisions on all elected personnel and issues that affect our lives. As the old saying goes, “If you do nothing, you will accept anything.” That is actually what has been happening in Bangor for many years.
On Sept. 3, I met with Bangor City Clerk Lisa Goodwin, who prepared a small brief of the numbers of Bangor registered voters who voted in elections since 2010. As of that date, there were 22,748 registered voters in Bangor. In Bangor’s most recent election — the June primary and school budget referendum — only 2,881 votes were cast. On spending for the library roof, 2,204 ballots were cast in June 2013. The high point was the 2012 presidential election, where 15,245 votes were cast. In the 2010 race for governor, only 11,179 Bangor voters showed up at the polls.
The registered voters of Bangor have got to research and study those seeking elective offices and issues affecting our lives and ensure they vote in larger numbers to have their voices heard, for it affects all residents in Bangor.
In November, let all of us registered voters actually vote and show others we, as a majority, do care about our people as a whole and start carrying out and exercising our freedoms, liberties, rights and responsibility.
Charlie Birkel
Bangor
Quote note
I understand Native American aversion to historically abusive terms and names. I am confused, however, by their apparent “claim to exclusivity” with the use of “warrior,” according to a Sept. 20 BDN story that quoted Penobscot Chief Kirk Francis.
“Warrior” is a term rooted in history seemingly since time began, from the Crusades to modern times, and makes no inherent reference to any specific race or ethnic group unless stated in the same breath, i.e. “Roman warriors,” “Genghis Kahn and the Mongol warriors,” etc.
Is the Wounded Warrior Project, for instance, expected to change its name?
Michael P. Gleason, SMSgt (Ret), USAF
Bangor
Don’t starve bears
First, even the proponents of Question 1 admit that if most forms of hunting are banned, the number of bears will grow to the point that they starve to death. Starving a bear to death is clearly more cruel than hunting it. Furthermore, if I meet a bear when I’m hiking in the Maine woods, I’d prefer that he be well stuffed with donuts than that he be starving. Starving bears will wreak havoc on other animals, including livestock, pets and perhaps humans.
Second, when the population of bears becomes intolerably large, there’ll be demands that their numbers be reduced. That will mean hiring professional hunters, as some islands have had to do to reduce deer populations. Economically it makes no sense to ban the bear hunting business that brings millions of dollars to the state, and then hire professional hunters to kill the bears that have become too numerous. That’s a true lose-lose proposition.
Third, the bear hunting ban is just the first step in the Humane Society of the United States’ master plan to ban all hunting everywhere. I have no doubt that if the bear hunting ban passes, HSUS will be back within five years with a referendum to ban moose hunting: “There’s no sport, they just stand there,” they’ll say. And a few years after that, to ban deer hunting: “They’re so graceful and pretty.” And then ducks. And partridges. And coyotes.
Lawrence E. Merrill
Bangor
Making ends meet
I’m writing this letter to bring attention to the struggle that students go through to attend school. Being a second-year technical trade student at Eastern Maine Community College, as many other EMCC students, it is extremely difficult to receive the funding awarded to us by the college. Like the majority of students, many of us may only work part time and commute to school every day. We are dependent on the refund checks we receive from the school to live and pay for attending school.
This is where the problem lies for most of us EMCC students. Last year, I didn’t receive my check, like many other classmates, until the beginning of November. Unlike other Maine universities, these refund checks disperse the first week of classes, and we are told it will take four to five weeks to receive our checks. In all reality, it takes longer.
I hope I am not the only student and taxpayer that takes heed to the fact that we, as students, are being abused. If we are solely responsible for paying for our education, then why don’t we have access to the money we are awarded? That funding is composed of loans and grants, which we depend on, and having that from the start would make it much easier to be in class, knowing that we can afford the expenses it takes to get there. After all, my tax dollars are going to this college, or is the interest that they make from our funds paying for it?
Joseph Streams
Millinocket
Clear headline
Let me first say that Maine is lucky to have a quality newspaper like the BDN. I’m a reader and a fan. But, twice the BDN has headlined Polaris Project reports about trafficking laws as articles about trafficking in Maine. Yesterday’s headline read, “Annual report shines light on human trafficking in Maine.” On Aug. 14, 2013 the headline said, “Maine gets mixed reviews in annual human trafficking report.” These headlines are misleading and it appears many people believe Maine has an unaddressed problem selling children and teens into the sex trade.
These Polaris Project reports have nothing to do with the amount of human trafficking. Polaris does not rank states on trafficking. These are annual reports on how many anti-trafficking laws each state has passed. Polaris is a lobbying organization. It urges state legislatures to pass laws they think combat trafficking.
For constitutional reasons, the Legislature did not pass the Polaris victim’s record-expunging law and they did not fund a 24-hour manned Polaris hotline as a regional hotline already exists for New England. For those reasons only, Polaris considers Maine a second-tier rather than a first-tier state in so far as our laws are concerned.
Maine is not into human trafficking. In the interests of accuracy, could the BDN make this clear in its next headlines about Polaris Project reports?
Janet Alexander
Old Town