Opposing gun control is patriotic
I would ask Chuck Carter to not call into question my patriotism, as he did in a Jan. 6 BDN letter to the editor, simply because I disagree with him and others like him on the issue of gun control.
It is precisely my love of country and patriotism that motivates me to resist the seemingly reasonable, incremental legislative steps that likely would lead to registration and ultimately confiscation of privately and responsibly owned guns.
Additionally, as to his assertion that I and others who oppose gun restrictions loathe the president, I would like to set the record straight on that as well. I do not loathe President Barack Obama. In fact, I voted for him twice and will vote Democratic again this November.
Jay Hall
Brewer
Keep landline service
Fellow residents of Maine, our Legislature is back in session and they have two bills on their docket, LD 466 and LD 1302, both titled An Act to Increase Competition and Ensure a Robust Information and Telecommunications Market. These bills are carried over from the last session.
If these bills pass, FairPoint Communications will be allowed to dump their obligation as “provider of last resort” for the landline phone service. This will affect 25,000 customers, many of whom are elderly, disabled or have no cellphone coverage in their area. Once this deregulation is allowed to happen, we will no longer have any protection to keep reliable, affordable and timely service, which benefits no one except FairPoint and again the ratepayers will be thrown under the bus.
If you feel land lines are important, please let our legislators know you are against the passage of these two unfair bills.
Carol MacDougall
Augusta
Odds are against Caribou secession
It’s interesting to read in the BDN about the residents petitioning to secede from the city of Caribou. Unfortunately, the likelihood of this petition moving forward beyond this point is nil. I filed a petition to allow my wife and I to secede from the town of Madawaska in May 2013, long before Caribou’s March 2015 petition.
The town of Madawaska, our Rep. Ken Theriault, the Maine Municipal Association and the 126th Maine Legislature amended M.R.S.A. 30-A sec. 2171 in order to prevent our petition from going forward.
This amendment by the 126th Legislature now requires the supporters of secession petitions to have approval of legislators before moving forward. Good luck with that.
I also believe the amendment promulgated by the 126th Maine Legislature is unconstitutional and should be reviewed by the federal courts.
Richard Cayer
Madawaska
Contractors should be licensed
Thanks, Jane Rosinski, for writing in a Jan. 22 BDN letter to the editor about the huge problem of unlicensed contractors in Maine. The contractor who ripped me off has a 26-year criminal history, including charges of assault and theft but is still in business.
Home inspectors are not licensed either. There is a clause buried in their contracts, saying the “inspector makes no warranty, express or implied, as to the fitness for use, condition, performance or adequacy of any inspected structure, item, component or system.” Most real estate agents and bankers don’t point this out to a buyer when they are trying to arrange the profitable sale of a house.
I discovered more than $20,000 of hidden damage my home inspector did not find and spent more than a year trying to get restitution. Our bank, the seller’s agent and the Maine Real Estate Commission all placed the blame on our home inspector.
I have been in touch with the Bangor City Council, our council chair, our state representative and Sen. Geoffrey Gratwick. Our elected officials put most of their effort into supporting the issues that concern a critical mass of people. They need to hear stories from many more people so they will prioritize this issue. I urge others to speak up and demand our leaders institute licensing, fiscal responsibility and consumer protection. If we speak up, they will listen.
Nancy Nicholson
Bangor