Emery for Maine Senate
With just a few weeks until the election, I would like to ask voters in Senate District 12 to consider voting for Republican Dave Emery to represent Knox County. Emery is a local person with tons of experience who works well with both sides of the aisle. I hope that, like me, voters in Knox County will cast their votes for Emery.
Linda Curtis Brawn
Thomaston
Update Rockland sewers
Rockland voters will soon decide what to do about our old sewers. Voting for a $10 million bond for sewer work would not increase taxes because the city is retiring the same amount from previous bonding. That trade from one debt for another seems smart and financially responsible. It addresses long-postponed updates to our old sanitary sewer lines that need separation from the storm drains so we can avoid Environmental Protection Agency fines and reduce energy costs for the treatment plant.
Several Rockland homeowners have discovered some sewer surprises that are a public health issue. Some have a neighbor’s sewage backing up into in their basements or sewer lines on their property that neighbors want to dig up to deal with shared sewer connections. The master plan for the sewer has been carefully mapped, studied and steadily addressed by our wonderful city water treatment manager, Terry Pinto, but surprises still come up.
The city council has added $400,000 to the original bond to address the situation. As I understand it, this would put a sewer line in the proper place so that a homeowner could pay to tap into it without causing a disruption to his or her neighbor.
I think everyone who pays a sewer bill should not have a health hazard related to improper location of sewer lines. Rockland is becoming more responsible by addressing this, and the entire bond deserves a “yes” vote.
Connie Hayes
Rockland
Casas for House District 94
I’m honored to write a letter of support for my brother, Owen Casas, independent candidate for House District 94. If I could vote for him, I would, but I live in another part of our great state.
He is intensely loyal, smart, funny, honest, true, the first to volunteer to stack wood, help with the dishes or a crying baby at a family party. He is quick to offer encouragement and a joke to someone who might be having a bad day. If your car is stuck in the ditch, Casas is the first to pull on his boots and head out the door. Casas has demonstrated time and again in our family and his community that when things look bad, he is who you want at your side.
Casas loves his family, community, state and country. I say this as someone who has known him since the day he was born. My brother cares deeply and sincerely about the health of his community with regard to jobs, education, the environment and veterans programs. He is the best sort of leader — one who listens, understands, takes action and works alongside everyone, regardless of party affiliation, income or background.
If I lived in his district, I would vote for him in a heartbeat. I encourage voters in District 94 — Camden, Rockport and Isleboro — to take advantage of the opportunity to elect Casas as their representative.
Abbey Casas Rice
Rumford
Obamacare isn’t without hope
In his Sept. 7 BDN OpEd, insurance executive David Fenderson points out a flaw in the Affordable Care Act. While he and I agree that there are middle-class families whom the ACA hurts as much as it helps — my oldest son among them — Fenderson and I reach opposite conclusions.
He proposes that we should not “re-elect the creators of the Affordable Care Act” and instead we should elect those who will “reconstruct our health insurance system.” He overlooks that the creators of the ACA took a necessary first stab at a system that left millions of Americans uninsured and one with health care costs spiraling out of control. He overlooks that the creators of the ACA lost power in 2010 and that the incumbent Congress is the one to whom we should direct our frustration. We have endured six years of a Republican House of Representatives unwilling and, therefore, unable to address the flaws in the ACA.
Legislators have instead wasted their time and our money voting, at least 62 times, to abolish the ACA. An estimated 20 million people would lose their health insurance. This November, Maine’s 2nd Congressional District should elect Democrat Emily Cain, who can work across the aisle to guide the fledgling ACA through its growing pains. Our current Republican majority has been unable to do anything but try to throw the baby out with the bathwater.
Jeffrey Jones
Bangor
Trump will take America backward
I keep asking Donald Trump supporters why he appeals to them. The only answer I get is that he “tells it like it is” or “he speaks his mind.” My request for specific detail is answered with vague generalities and Trump continues to be devoid of detail when questioned by reporters. I’m still interested in any deep thoughts he might share with citizens.
I didn’t think anybody would take Trump as a serious candidate. He is a rich celebrity with no connection at all with the common citizens of this country. He represents the very moneyed, privileged class that many Americans feel are the reason that nothing can get done in Washington. Trump has fanned the flames of anger, yet he fails to articulate beyond his ever-repeated list of derogatory comments about everyone who is serving the nation today. He rails that the country is a disaster, the military is ineffective and our foreign policy is in shambles. I have never heard so many negatives used to describe our country.
I have always been optimistic about our future. This is the greatest nation on earth. Our whole existence is predicated on the rights of individual humans. We remain great and will project that greatness into the future. Trump’s theme of making America great again is a sorely disguised backward wish by those who want a return to a time that favored them. We need to move forward, and guide all Americans into the future. Trump is not the answer. He remains a product of the past.
Terry McCannell
Pittsfield