Suicide no joke
I am writing about the governor’s comments regarding a newspaper columnist being on “suicide watch,” which was bad enough, but then he added someone better watch the “Bucksport bridge.” And everyone laughed. Do you know someone who did not laugh? It was me. My precious son jumped from that bridge, which is called the Penobscot Narrows Bridge. Sad the governor didn’t even know the bridge’s actual name.
It was not a joke. As a parent, can you imagine how I felt when the governor was making a joke about the suicide/death of your son? All I could do was stare at the TV and cry, visualizing the jump all over again. The death of my son was not a joke.
Suicides from that bridge are not jokes. We drove onto the bridge and my son stopped the car half way across and got out of the vehicle saying he was going to jump. I reached for him and basically tore the coat off his back but I could only stand and watch my son fall to his death. I can barely function day today because of this. Not only has it destroyed my life, but also the lives of my other son, my husband, grandparents, friends. And to think that the governor made a joke about the worst day of my life. If he had been the one standing on the top of that bridge that day, he wouldn’t be making jokes out of it.
I feel that myself, and all the other ones who have lost loved ones on that bridge, are owed an apology. I hope Ann LePage also reads this. I know she is a mother and would not have thought that places of suicide are jokes.
Stephanie Cossette
Eddington
Hickox fear factor
The vitriol and anger displayed over the story of Kaci Hickox has made me sad. It is disheartening to see so many (Mainers included) call Kaci names and generally show a lack of compassion for her position. Some have called her decision narcissistic and selfish, but in fact it is the opposite.
Kaci is taking on this fight because she knows non-scientifically based policies – such as a complete 21-day isolation – will likely discourage other volunteers from engaging in the fight against Ebola at its source. And that is where the fight must be won.
It is true Ebola is frightening. But when fear threatens to overtake rational thought, we must pause, take a deep breath, and remember that the medical community knows how to fight and control this disease. We must trust the medical science and we must show compassion towards and pride in those from our communities who have selflessly volunteered across the globe.
It is the reality of the 21st century that disasters halfway around the globe will, left unchecked, eventually find their way to our doorstep. We need to be encouraging more people like Kaci to help so that, hopefully someday soon, this disaster will be discussed in the past tense.
Lauren Jacobs
Old Town
Union revenue source
Gov. Paul LePage claims that it really rubs him the wrong way that a person can be forced to join a union as a condition of their employment in a union shop so he wants to pass “right-to-work” legislation to cure this. No need to go to all the trouble LePage because it is, and has been for quite some time now, illegal to force anyone to join a union under federal law. Also under federal law, the union has to represent a non-dues paying member of a union run shop when it comes to negotiating their benefits, so they can legally collect a fee for those services.
Right-to-work laws would allow these non-member employees to receive all the benefits of dues paying members without having to pay for them. This surely seems like theft of services to me.
I’m quite sure LePage is well aware of these laws but he is counting on an uninformed electorate to buy into his scheme of crippling the unions ability to protect workers by drying up their source of revenue.
Mike Avery Sr.
Milford
BDN election kudos
I would like to compliment the Bangor Daily News on its excellent coverage of the 2014 elections. The interactive graphics were particularly helpful. Of all the websites seen, none surpassed those of the BDN.
Annemarie Vickers Quin
Bangor
Ban assault weapons
The recent BDN article highlighting the results of a poll conducted by Maine Citizens Against Handgun Violence at the Common Ground Fair showed a majority of voters — reflecting a national New England Journal of Medicine survey — favored a ban on the sale of assault weapons. This reinforced my letter to the editor last spring calling for a ban due to the great loss of life whenever these powerful rifles with high-capacity magazines are misused.
One online response to my letter dismissed support for a ban — following the Newtown, Connecticut, school shootings — as an overreaction, since the number of deaths there comprised a low percentage of the number of fatalities by all gun violence. Such a cold and detached response, as if the only way to view that horrific episode is as a difference in decimal points rather than as the ongoing susceptibility of defenseless victims to these arms that kill efficiently — as with the Pennsylvania state trooper murdered by an assault rifle — and in large numbers.
And now a greater danger presents itself: home-grown terrorists using these weapons. Often without criminal records, they will have access to semiautomatic rifles sold in stores. As Sen. Angus King stated recently, sophisticated weaponry is falling into the hands of people with far fewer scruples against using it. His comments addressed the ISIS menace overseas, but they apply well to the risk we’re in here.
Dave Witham
Bangor
McConnell’s Kentucky
Sen. Mitch McConnell, about to be the Senate Majority Leader, has been expounding his vision and dreams for America now that he is leading the pack that has just commandeered the U.S. Senate. Let’s hope he doesn’t do for America what he has been able to do for his home state of Kentucky.
Kentucky is 46th in per capita income at $22,300. It has the 10th highest rate of teen pregnancy. Of the 10 poorest counties in all of America, Kentucky has five of them. Only 11 other states have higher rates of unemployment. It is one of 11 states that have more people collecting welfare than are working. State expenses exceeded revenue by $6.2 billion in 2012. Twenty seven percent of all children live in poverty.
William Shuttleworth
Lincolnville