Faith-based treatment works
I couldn’t disagree more with the May 3 BDN editorial that says faith-based treatment won’t help Maine overcome the addiction crisis. Faith-based addiction treatment has a tremendous place in helping to treat addiction and it is an important option.
Seven Oaks Training Center and Blessed Hope in Orrington have seen high success rates in treating addiction in the 17 years since they began. They are drug-free residential discipleship programs, with no state funding yet inexpensive compared to traditional secular rehabs, where people with addictions come having already gone through the detox process. While the editorial refers to the “ science,” we have seen living proof that staying addicted to a legal substance like methadone or suboxone is not necessary.
People with addictions come here emotionally and spiritually decimated having lost everything. The issues that caused them to get high to avoid the pain need to be addressed and in the year that they live here, studying the Bible, learning about a relationship with Jesus, forging deep relationships with other residents, the staff and the church, healing and changes do happen. For those who come here engaged in the process and who complete our programs, the success rate is very high.
I challenge anyone who says the only way to overcome addiction is with medication to let me put them in touch with the scores of men and women who have graduated our programs who are living happy, productive, drug-free lives, many of whom have started similar programs in their home states.
Lisa M. Norsworthy
Secretary
Calvary Chapel
Bangor
Mainers right to support national park
Poll after poll shows that Mainers support the Elliotsville Plantation Inc. proposal to create a national park and recreation area east of Baxter State Park. Elliotsville Plantation has generously offered to donate roughly 87,500 acres for the park. The Elliotsville Plantation property sits astride the historic, scenic East Branch of the Penobscot River in the heart of Maine’s iconic North Woods and our 2nd Congressional District, where the support for this proposal is high, 67 percent, according to a poll conducted last summer.
Attending College of the Atlantic, I’ve lived in Bar Harbor for three years, sharing with my fellow community members the benefits of Acadia National Park. Although Acadia is not perfect, it is a great example that all the conservation, cultural and economic benefits outweigh any problems.
The majority of Mainers are right to support Elliotsville Plantation’s proposal. While I am disappointed that our congressional delegation has not been listening, I’m happy Sen. Angus King has at least invited National Park Service Director Jonathan Jarvis to Maine to hear from the vast majority in favor and the minority opposed.
My hope is that King and Jarvis will take that support back to Washington and work with the president to create a national monument. Then we can roll up our sleeves and work collectively to ensure the development of the Maine Woods National Monument using our 100 years of experience with Acadia, which, like so many of our treasured national parks, was first established as a national monument.
Lea Savarese
Bar Harbor
Marble for state Senate
American historian Shelby Foote stated: “Americans like to think of themselves as uncompromising. Our true genius is for compromise. Our whole government is founded on it.”
Unfortunately, in our state and nation, there has been very little compromise during the past several years. Luckily, an individual with a solid track record of compromise and common sense has entered the fray of Maine politics: Dennis Marble, an independent candidate for Maine Senate District 10.
Marble has dedicated his career to helping others and advancing critical social and economic causes, and he has been lauded for his achievements with recent awards from the Bangor Region Chamber of Commerce and United Way of Eastern Maine.
In today’s political atmosphere, compromise seems more genius than ever before. But we the people can make it the standard and not the exception. I urge my fellow residents in Senate District 10 to vote for Marble. His fair and cooperative leadership will bring about real action to benefit our state and our local communities.
Mike Jellison
Hampden