Re-elect John Martin
I have known John Martin for more than 50 years. For the past six years, my wife, Joyce, and I cooked for him at Moose Point Camp on Fish River Lake. While there, we witnessed hundreds of people from all walks of life come to the camp seeking help or advice. It didn’t matter what party they belonged to, he never refused help to anyone.
There is one example I will never forget. This couple lost contact with their son in Korea for several months. After contacting Washington with no help, they decided to call on John one evening. They explained their problem. The very next day, they talked to their son on the phone. This is only one example of what knowledge and experience means when we vote for a representative.
At the last election, because of dirty politics and people who did not vote, John lost the election. This year, please get out and vote and let us get John back in Augusta. We need his knowledge and experience.
Ervin Ouellette
St. Francis
Cutler should bow out
Four years ago, Eliot Cutler ran a credible campaign as an independent candidate and placed a close second to Paul LePage, who became governor with less than 40 percent of the vote. Encouraged by his showing in 2010, Cutler decided to run again. So here we find ourselves four years later in another three-way race, with roughly two weeks until Election Day.
The most recent polls suggest LePage and Mike Michaud running a very close race, each hovering at around 40 percent, with Cutler’s numbers around 16 percent. It becomes very difficult at this point to imagine a credible scenario in which Cutler could make up this ground and mount a serious challenge. Realistically, what looms is another default election, with either Michaud or LePage elected by a minority of the electorate. A dispiriting prospect for most Maine voters.
Realistically, Cutler does not have the support to win this time around. But ironically, he is probably the only person who has the power to assure that in this election at least, a majority of voters can determine the outcome. To achieve that would require an honest appraisal of his situation and the courage to thank his supporters and release them to vote for their choice of the two remaining candidates. I’m aware of the personal cost of such a concession after the investment he has made in the process. But far from a defeat, such an act would resonantly remind us that even in today’s sordid political climate, the “better angels of our nature” can in moments prevail. And that in such moments, we all win.
Jim Bishop
Bangor
Restoration vision
As the news of the closing of our mill reverberated through town, I could not help but ponder on the question as to why. It came to me that it is like a number of people and their cars. Some have saved a lot of money buying a “beater,” running it until it gives up the ghost, junking it and getting another. Others see that old worn-out car, take it home and go to work on it, investing time and money into it and turning it into a classic worth a lot of money.
That is kind of what has happened in Bucksport and Millinocket. Companies bought our older tired mills, ran them with no modernization as to the philosophy or equipment until they removed all the money they could from them, then cast them aside.
The workers and the communities have witnessed this happening and could see it coming, but they were virtually helpless to stop it. Now, our only hope is for a company that has the vision of a classic car restorer to come in and restore our mills. It would be a big job but not impossible.
Unfortunately, as there are few with the vision to restore classic cars, there are even fewer with the vision to restore classic companies. Sad, isn’t it?
Bob Mercer
Bucksport
Yes on Question 1
Maine is the last state in the U.S. to allow the trapping, hounding and baiting of bears. For the sake of our economy, we can’t afford to continue these practices.
Right now, fair-chase hunters don’t want to compete against people who are using packs of radio-collared hounds or are luring bears into point-blank range with doughnuts and junk food. After Colorado, Oregon and Washington banned these three practices, the number of bear hunting licenses doubled or tripled as fair-chase hunters got back into bear hunting. That led to more clients for Maine guides and more revenue for the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife.
As a fiscal conservative, I’ll be voting yes on Question 1. I want our state’s tourism economy to be based on boating, hiking, fair-chase hunting and enjoying our pristine environment, not based on catering to the very small group of out-of-staters who can’t legally pursue their fringe trapping and hounding practices in their own states.
Question 1 will boost our economy and will allow Maine to join the rest of the nation in more humane and responsible wildlife management.
Christopher Hyk
Belfast
Yes on Question 2
The Maine Farm Bureau encourages voters to approve Question 2 on November’s ballot to support Maine’s growing agricultural economy. Maine’s farms are critical to the state’s rural character, the exceptional quality of life and to the vitality of our economy. With more than 8,100 farms and 1.3 million acres of working farmland, Maine consistently is a top food producer in New England.
The passage of Question 2 will benefit Maine farmers and consumers through the creation of a new University of Maine Cooperative Extension animal, plant and insect laboratory. UMaine Cooperative Extension works closely with Maine farmers to ensure strong, productive crops and safe, healthy livestock. The proposed lab will be an invaluable resource to Maine’s farmers, allowing the Cooperative Extension to enhance pest monitoring, plant-disease forecasting, management of animal health issues and educational outreach.
In addition to the direct agricultural benefits, the proposed lab also will feature disease-screening of ticks, which has become an important problem for all of us who spend time outdoors. As you head out to enjoy everything the fall harvest season has to offer, remember to vote yes on Question 2 for healthy farms and healthy communities.
Jon Olson
Executive Secretary
Maine Farm Bureau
Augusta
Election notice
The Bangor Daily News will stop accepting letters and commentary related to the Nov. 4 election on Monday, Oct. 27. We will stop publishing election-related letters and columns with the Nov. 1-2 edition. Not all submissions can be printed.