BIA staff kudos
My husband and I were on a plane flying from St. Thomas to Boston last Saturday. After an unsuccessful attempt to land during a blizzard in Boston, the plane was diverted to Bangor International Airport. The plane lost an engine during the landing, and it had to be towed to the terminal and needed a repair. This was a very long day for all of us because we had boarded the plane at 3:30 p.m. and landed about 10 p.m. in Bangor. Passengers were taken to the international terminal and told nothing by the crew.
The late-night skeleton crew in Bangor was our link to reality and I, for one, really appreciated their commitment to making our unexpected stay in Bangor a good one. Many of the passengers did not want to fly back into a blizzard but needed their luggage. My husband and I could have left because we are from the area, but we would have relinquished rights to our luggage. So we waited and waited until after 3 a.m. when another plane was sent from Boston to pick everyone up. At about 3:15 a.m., the Bangor crew was able to extract the luggage of all who wanted to stay.
If it were not for the advocacy and dedication shown by the Bangor International Airport staff, we would not have known what was happening or why. They, not the airline staff, were wonderfully helpful to all of us stranded passengers. We in the Bangor region should continue to be proud of our small but wonderful airport.
Noelle Merrill
Sandy Point
How they voted
I am fully aware of all the coverage and printed inches devoted to the political “reporting” of the polls and opinions and irrelevant information regarding the upcoming elections of 2016, about two years away. Personally, I find no value in such stories, and I must wonder why the Bangor Daily News does. Such space seems a silly waste. Polls about potential, likely and undeclared candidates have no bearing on the issues of today and contain no useful, practical information about tomorrow.
I wonder if the BDN might, instead, devote some (or all) of that space to informing readers of how our representatives, both state and national, vote on legislation that comes before them, which actually does have bearing on our lives, today and in the future. Would you please report on what our Congress people are up to. And, if possible, their explanations for their decisions.
I may have missed such information, but in looking for it periodically, it is glaring by its omission. I hope this suggestion will be considered. I believe it would be a valuable public service.
Scott Milliken
Blue Hill
Babe and Martin
Bangor, Bemidji, ox or bull, frankly I don’t really care. The real gem in this story is the original designer of the Paul Bunyan statue, J. Normand Martin. While the statue is Martin’s most recognizable project, it is but one piece in a lifetime of work that includes artwork, scale models, architectural pieces, photography and much more. He is a treasure, and we are fortunate that he has made Bangor his home for all these years.
So while I realize that Babe the Blue Ox belongs next to Paul Bunyan, my vote would be to put a statue of Martin right beside them both.
Wayne Lawrence
Corinth
Carbon tax support
As a right-leaning moderate, I was very interested in a recent interview on Public Radio International’s “Living on Earth,” when Bob Inglis, former Republican congressman from South Carolina, explained that the artificially low price for gasoline does not reflect the true cost of the product, and the real cost includes significant subsidy from American pockets in the form of other taxes. It also does not reflect the price for health care related to the particulates creating air pollution or any of the climate costs that either we or our grandchildren will pay. He reminded us that we are not paying as we go. However, if you pay as you go and you’re accountable, then the free enterprise system can show alternatives.
He went on to say that if the subsidies are removed from fuel pricing and the real cost is exposed, the alternative energies do not require props, it levels the playing field. He said that eliminating the biggest subsidy of them all, dumping the trash into the sky for free, provides accountability and aligns with conservative belief and thought.
There is a policy that has been developed by Citizens Climate Lobby proposing a revenue-neutral carbon tax on all carbon at the point of entry into the marketplace whereby a tax is applied and then returned equally to all citizens. Quite simply it makes sense from a conservative perspective: pay as you go, use more, pay more, use less have more in your pockets from the revenue.
John Rohman
Bangor