Reject SAD 27 budget
For the third time, the voters of SAD 27 will be voting on the school budget. This proposed budget of $12,092,828 is again being presented after being turned down by the voters. Doesn’t the school board hear us?
During the last 12 years, the budget has almost doubled, while the student enrollment is almost half of what it was. This, coupled with a suffering local economy, and a substantial cost of living increase created a perfect storm.
At the same time, we continue funding a school system that has a per pupil expenditure approximately 14 percent higher than the Essential Programs Services established by the state. We must adjust our budget to match EPS.
Resident voters of SAD 27, take back our schools and vote Tuesday Sept. 15.
Robert Michaud
Fort Kent
Collins disappointment
I was very disappointed in U.S. Sen. Susan Collins’s decision to oppose the Iran deal as expressed in her Sept. 10 BDN OpEd. Her decision, of course, falls along strictly partisan lines as she joins all of her fellow Republicans in opposing the deal.
Her suggestion is that we should negotiate a better deal. Please, that isn’t going to happen and she knows it. In reality, the only other way to absolutely stop the Iranian nuclear program is by force, but none of the opponents of the deal want to talk about exactly how that would work. Probably about as well as in Iraq.
Jim Close
Gouldsboro
Petty prosecution
Now that the justice system has spent countless hours and thousands of dollars prosecuting Scott Jurek for celebrating on top of Mount Katahdin, perhaps we could look at better allocation of finite prosecutorial resources and go after the big fish, like jay walkers or people who don’t use ZIP codes.
That the Bangor Daily News would take this nonsense a step further by making it a front-page headline somehow obscures the irony that our legal system and the press feel that a small celebration of an incredible human feat, such as Jurek’s spectacular run, is more important than tracking down drug pushers, child molesters and men who beat their wives.
William Shuttleworth
Lincolnville
Athletes choose Maine
I enjoyed the recent BDN profiles of University of Maine football players Sherrod Baltimore and Randy Samuels — two young men it has been my pleasure to have in class. Their paths to Maine were difficult and represent how the power of family and personal determination help to overcome daunting odds.
One cannot, however, only focus on what this kind of success means to the student athletes and should give thought to the plethora of benefits that accrue to the university community when such bright, determined students come to our campus.
Randy’s quiet pride and Sherrod’s buoyant personality bring as much to the classroom as their respective athletic skills bring to the gridiron. I am glad they chose Maine.
Bruce Pratt
Eddington