Consider national monument
I sympathize with folks in the Millinocket area who are concerned about future access to and traditional uses of the land under consideration for national monument status.
I have memories of bucking down logging roads in my dad’s Jeep, canoeing on ponds, bushwhacking through old cuts to pick raspberries, hiking hills to enjoy open views, catching brookies by a culvert, skiing new growth in the winter and finding tracks everywhere, and biking tote roads in the fall. The paper companies were generous in allowing recreational use on their land.
I live on the midcoast, and I see that privately-owned land can, and often does, come with restrictions. If it weren’t for local, state and national parks, our access to waterfront and open land would be pretty limited. I don’t fault people for wanting to protect their private land. It’s just that we need to keep in mind that privately-owned land doesn’t necessarily promise open access.
I wish things didn’t have to change. I wish my dad was still alive, and that we still had his old Jeep. I wish the paper mills still thrived, and that we didn’t have to worry about future access to the woods we love.
In the face of change, please consider creation of a national monument as a way to preserve our outdoor way of life. Perhaps it will present opportunities for jobs in the area, as well.
Anne Winchester
Pemaquid
LePage does some good
Could the Bangor Daily News, just once in awhile, print something positive about Gov. Paul LePage? He has done a few things for this state that are good things. Could the BDN just once write an article that makes it known that he’s not the crude, rude insensitive boob all the time? I mean, isn’t this a lot like “bullying”? The BDN does know what that is, I assume. I’ve read articles about bullying in the paper.
The April 26 BDN article I read about the disrespectful students from Maine was written up to make LePage look like the bad guy. There is a time and a place for everything. That was neither the time nor the place to display their signs. How disrespectful to the friends and family of the former University of Maine at Farmington President Theodora Kalikow, who was being honored. If they want to make a sign and display it, have them do it in front of his office. I can’t emphasize enough how wrong the students were in their actions, nor how wrong to make LePage the bad guy for walking away. Those students should have been taught respect growing up. Shame on them and whoever raised them, and shame on the BDN for making it look like they were in the right and he was in the wrong.
Lorraine Blass
Enfield
Why I quit the GOP
Today I fired the Republican Party. I went to my town office and un-enrolled from the GOP. The mass media (especially Fox News) made the “Republican” Donald Trump. Perhaps the ratings and profit will outweigh regret and guilty conscience when they realize the damage to a party and nation they have wrought.
No matter who wins in November, the GOP is so damaged it could lead to years of liberal rule and a radical Supreme Court. So many have been fooled or willingly misled by this colluding machine.
Instead of demonstrating how modern capitalism has made a powerful, wealthy and generous nation, crony capitalism will now highlight the ugly side of business and pave the way for socialism and, ultimately, tyranny.
But one day, like a phoenix, conservatives will once again rise and resume their role of defending the Constitution and the freedom and individual liberties it gifted Americans. Until then, RIP conservatism.
Philip Duggan
Milbridge