Flagging proportions
The Confederate flag issue has reached ridiculous proportion. We didn’t make the German or Japanese people eliminate their flags when we won those wars. The whole issue sounds like Joseph Stalin when he rewrote the Russian history to his liking. History is supposed to be what really happened — not what the people now wish that happened. Some of it is not pleasant. It is time to stop making a huge issue over past grievances and make a better future for everyone.
Alan Campbell
Newport
Maine’s future
Since 1995, the Land for Maine’s Future program, with strong public support, has made investments to support our natural resource businesses and safeguard our Maine way of life. Over these 30 years the majority of acres conserved has been through conservation easements in partnership with private landowners. These lands remain private and on the tax rolls. They continue productive commercial use and are open to public access. Everyone wins.
Protected land adds to the value of property in communities. It doesn’t detract from it. We have countless letters from real estate agents, businesses, communities and studies showing parks, open space and trails increase the desirability of a community as a place to live and own a business. People want to live near protected land. Everyone wins.
Ask forestry companies and sportsmen and women why they support LMF. Ask farmers who are able to keep their farms in operation with LMF funds. Ask commercial fishermen how the LMF working waterfront program supports their business. It’s about our future. Everyone wins.
Now Maine is suffering in the national media due to politics in Augusta. No one wins.
We can do better.
We ask our legislators to do the right thing and take all actions necessary to maintain the LMF program and the bonds, so LMF can keep investing in Maine and keep it the way life should be.
Ed Meadows
Commissioner, Maine Dept. of Conservation, 1988-1995
Executive Director, Land for Maine’s Future, 2013-2014
Old Orchard Beach
LePage’s bad conduct
Maine’s Constitution states that the governor may be impeached for misdemeanors. Merriam Webster Unabridged Dictionary’s first definition of misdemeanor is a crime less severe than a felony. The second definition, “bad conduct,” aptly describes many of the governor’s actions, both in fulfilling the role expectations of his office and in the moral quality of his behavior.
A fundamental expectation of anyone serving as governor is an understanding of our democratic system of government and respect for the individuals and the processes involved in making laws. In our form of government it is assumed that reasonable people will have different views on important issues. There will be disagreements between legislators and between the legislative and executive branches. Civil debate and compromise are vital to the legislative process.
Participating in democratic government requires observing a shared set of rules and acting with a modicum of patience, tolerance and mutual respect. The governor gets low marks on all counts. Hateful and demanding comments about individuals, indiscriminate use of the veto, acting to intentionally waste legislators’ time and lack of understanding of the legislative process all constitute bad conduct in the governor’s role. Morally, his hostile and disrespectful comments are the kind of conduct nearly every parent hopes to train out of their children.
In his conduct, the governor’s misdemeanors are many, and his impeachment is more than justified.
Stephen McKay
Orono
Children vs. elderly?
Noelle Merrill, paid advocate for the elderly, pitted the elderly in Stockton Springs (720 residents) against the children (166-plus) of the town over tax dollars in a July 10 BDN letter. Since Maine gave its richest residents a huge, ill-conceived tax break, why isn’t Merrill rousing her indigent and indignant elderly, many struggling with property taxes, to have those tax breaks revoked to restore revenue sharing for towns and education?
As for Stockton Springs, there were attempts, for years, to get the town interested in providing public housing and services for seniors with no success. That problem continues. An emerging issue for those shocked by the cost of education is that a plan to “tuition out” our children to within 10 miles, read Bucksport, is a solution.
Actually, there would be a request by Bucksport to join its district, RSU 25, as a full participating member. The cost of educating our children would be about the same, and the children would be displaced in another direction. With the Bucksport mill closure, it is hard to forecast future costs.
Our withdrawal committee’s work is over. The newly reorganized RSU 20 and the Searsport campus deserve a chance to succeed. They have some great plans in the works and deserve our support. Being concerned about taxes is OK, but being sensitive to the parents and children of the community of Stockton Springs would be appreciated.
Veronica Magnan
Stockton Springs
LePage on the edge
Calling Paul LePage “governor” is a misnomer these days. He is doing anything but governing. He’s bullying, lying, obstructing, wasting time and money, squandering Maine’s good name and character, abusing his office and creating an unfriendly climate for business. But he’s not governing.
He has made it clear he will veto or not sign every bill presented to him by the Legislature. Many times he has demonstrated a lack of understanding the Constitution and laws of Maine. He even appears to have withheld money from a nonprofit organization in order to control whom it hires.
It was sad that he squeaked into office with a minority of votes from the electorate. It was appalling that we re-elected him, given his first-term record — again, with a minority of votes.
How can LePage recover and develop a cooperative relationship with a Legislature that he has completely repelled? The governor’s time left in office appears to be very short. With his lack of leadership, his wasteful and obstructionist behavior, his lack of collaboration with the Legislature, our governor has backed himself to the edge of the cliff. LePage has no place left to go.
Alan Parks
Bar Harbor