Willette’s shameful comments
Maine Sen. Michael Willette’s recent Facebook postings point to unsettling truths about this man. He hates our president more than he likes truth and civil discourse. He prefers religious stereotyping to factual reality.
The postings stretched over too much time and contained too many images and statements fostering distortion and violence to be dismissed as jokes or a momentary impulse. Willette’s boast that his “political gut” is “never wrong” suggests a man who confuses propaganda and hate-mongering with political process. Claiming that President Barack Obama is secretly building a “personal Gestapo” comprised of Muslim terrorists says more about Willette’s paranoia than it does our president.
A state senator ought to be a public model of appropriate behavior and moral integrity who makes measured decisions based on truth and reality. If the Republican Party is more aligned with Willette’s political views, he should be following the example of U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, a woman of integrity, logic and honor. She understands appropriate public conduct and practices ethical governance. She is not an embarrassment to Aroostook County and the state of Maine.
It is with embarrassment I admit I once voted for Willette. The state and our district deserve a senator who is serious and performs all civic duties with dignity and intelligence. Willette should cobble together a shred of honor and resign from his seat in Augusta.
Pamela J. Snow Sweetser
Presque Isle
Equal Pay Day
Equal Pay Day (April 14, 2015) illustrates how far into this year a woman must work to earn the same amount made by a man. More women than ever are key to the economic security of families and pay rates make a big difference in many aspects of family life.
Equal pay for women in the United States is a relatively new concept. It was not that long ago that women were routinely paid less than men doing the same jobs were paid. In the 1930s, the federal government actually required its female workers be paid 25 percent less than male workers in the same jobs.
In the 1950s, congressional representatives began to introduce bills for equal pay for women, but passage of such legislation would wait until 1963 when President John F. Kennedy signed the Equal Pay Act.
In the 1980s and 1990s, women’s earnings rose at a steady pace. More recently, the pace of change has slowed to a near halt. Sadly, if the recent past is then the best predictor, the pay gap is not going to close for another 124 years.
Many steps can be taken to address pay differentials for women. I encourage you to write to your representatives and senators in Congress to urge them to move forward the too-long-stalled Paycheck Fairness Act that will help resolve these issues. This bill is important to leveling the playing field for women and men..
Betsy Brown
Waterville
Why not BIA?
The near horrific disaster but miraculous hard landing of the Airbus A320 AC624 in a snowstorm at Halifax, Nova Scotia, last weekend brings up a hypothesis to be considered. Take a school classroom 12-inch ruler and place the left end of it on Toronto, Ontario, then align the right hand end with Halifax. A perfectly straight line can be drawn along that ruler. About two-thirds of the way up towards Halifax, you will see a familiar city on the top edge of the rule: Bangor. It has an international airport, U.S. Customs, it’s the proud home of the 101st Aerial Refueling Wing of the Maine Air National Guard. Many overseas commercial flights have landed there for various reasons and at all hours of the day and night.
Why didn’t the A320 Airbus request diverting to Bangor instead of landing at Halifax? If there are no such contingency plans on the books for our northern neighbors to safely land at the Bangor International Airport in the event of dangerous landing conditions at Halifax, then there certainly should be.
Dennis Marrotte
Westbrook
Taxing nonprofits wrong
As president of Katahdin Area Council, Boy Scouts of America, I am writing to express our great concern and opposition to Gov. Paul LePage’s proposed taxation of real estate owned by nonprofit organizations.
We, like a lot of other nonprofits, are financially fragile. The proposed legislation would have a devastating effect on our mission of giving 3,000 youth each year the opportunity to reach their full potential as responsible adults.
Nonprofits, in general, provide a valuable service to society far exceeding their impact on municipal services. Nonprofits provide a unique way to deliver services more efficiently and effectively than government entities with volunteers.
Nationally, scouts provide more than 17 million hours of service each year to their communities. Based on National Volunteer Hour Value, that is more than $377 million in service.
Taxing nonprofits would set a dangerous precedent. The unintended consequences of beginning to tax real estate, at any level, could be the slippery slope that eventually causes many nonprofit organizations to fold operations, leaving the public governmental entities to fill the void.
Taxing a nonprofit organization that delivers a service at no cost, raises private support, represents people who don’t have a strong voice and through their mission bring common good to the community is a bad idea and should be rejected.
William Lucy
Verona Island
UMS buildings folly
Selling surplus Univeristy of Maine System properties is not something to do lightly. Many colleges and universities are increasing their footprint in their respective neighborhoods for several reasons including aesthetics, safety and as insurance against future development that would not benefit them. The “White Houses,” as they are called at the University of Southern Maine serve, and should continue to serve, such a purpose. They constitute a buffer and insurance against the need for future construction on a campus with little available land.
Demographics change and down the road when the college age population spikes, it is the public institutions who feel it most. Private schools simply get more selective and thus many students end up in the state systems. Deciding to sell the Stone House was foolish enough. To sell the White Houses is folly. The Bangor facility? Sure.
Bruce Pratt
Eddington