Support our local police
I have a sign in my front yard that reads “I support local police.”
I was listening to the news about the terrorist attack in San Bernardino, California, and I was impressed by the response of the local police there. This got me thinking about our local police in Bucksport and how they are our neighbors, their kids go to our local schools, they pay property taxes to our town and, quite often, we’ll run into them at the local grocery, hardware or drug stores.
And if terrorists were to attack Bucksport, our local police would become our first line of defense and it could cost them their lives as they defend us.
Why wait for a tragedy to show our support? Support our local police now.
Gerry Hamburger
Bucksport
No workers or no jobs?
According to a Dec. 18 Bangor Daily News editorial, Maine lacks educated workers. Business owners claim that a “lack of qualified candidates” is the “most common reason” jobs go unfilled. We’ve heard this many times before. It may well be true.
On the other hand, we’ve been told over and over (sometimes in BDN editorials) that Maine graduates are leaving the state in droves because there are no jobs for educated people. I don’t know which problem we have, but holding contradictory thoughts probably won’t solve it.
Ron Logan
Orono
Stand with the Penobscot Nation
I am disheartened and frankly angry about federal Judge George Singal’s ruling against the Penobscot Nation over its claim to the eponymous river. The ethic of preservation and mutual enjoyment of that waterway — which the state argued it is protecting — is central to the Penobscots’ way of life.
Attorney General Janet Mills has pursued this classification change without clearly stating on whose behalf this territorial reduction is being pushed. If the question is which group would best preserve and protect the river, the Penobscot Nation, with its reservation including islands in the river, has the strongest interest in maintaining the Penobscot River’s vitality and balance as its ancestral homeland and sustenance food source.
This ruling and Mills’ actions betray the best interests of this watershed and its people. Removing territory from indigenous people is a practice that should be stopped. This action furthers a confrontational posture with the Penobscot Nation that is both inappropriate and oppressive.
Please join me and many others in holding Mills to account and supporting our friends and neighbors, in the spirit of peace and unity this holiday season and year-round.
I’ll end with a few words from Dawnland Environmental Defense’s Facebook page: “Citizens of the state need to pressure their government; Penobscots cannot be responsible for leading this charge … after 195 years of territorial theft and losses at the hands of state government, we need your help. Do what you can, where you can.”
Joshua Kauppila
Brooks
Whither the new Chase Smith, Muskie?
The season of giving this year has been marked instead by fear mongering, blaming the victims, talk of wall building, closing borders, racism and religious prejudice.
I am not worrying about Syrian refugees or welfare recipients playing the lottery. Instead, I worry about climate change, mass shootings at malls, schools and Planned Parenthood clinics.
I worry about the proliferation of American hate groups, food insecurity and welfare cuts, inappropriate drug and mental health services.
I also worry about the attempt to gut the Land for Maine’s Future and other environmental programs.
Where is this generation’s Margaret Chase Smith or Ed Muskie?
Pamela Taylor
Bangor