Bangor fair smaller

The Bangor State Fair is once again smaller and yet they charge us more money even though the one tent where you could get a fairly balanced meal was taken out and a beer tent was put up.

Since the Cross Insurance Center was built, the fair keeps getting smaller and smaller. I know I’m not the only one who has noticed. I also have to buy a wristband just to be able to take my kids to the fair even though I don’t ride the rides. Next time, we will be going to a different fair rather than Bangor.

Brent Wells

Hampden

Trump administration priorities

We here in Maine know cold. Heating is a necessity that can mean the difference between health and illness, life and death for young and old. Many of our neighbors struggle to adequately heat their homes and safely make it through the long winter.

As we respond to President Donald Trump’s thoughtless plan to cut heating aid for the low income, let’s add up how much the Trumps’ Florida vacations and other lifestyle choices have cost us taxpayers. Picture it.

What do you think? How do you want our tax dollars spent? Let’s work together to help the new administration get its priorities right.

Annlinn Kruger

Bar Harbor

River rights

The July 1 BDN article about the Penobscots losing their appeal over jurisdiction of the Penobscot River outlined the issue in the context of policing the river, as Maine Attorney General Janet Mills has misrepresented the issue. I have heard the Penobscots speak in public many times of welcoming shared use of the river.

My understanding is that their primary concern is the water quality. They want to work toward being able to safely eat the fish and plants from the river. It is still not recommended for anyone to eat more than one fish a month, while children and pregnant women should not eat any. That is not what I call sustenance fishing rights.

Some of the issues that could affect the watershed include: the chemicals in the leachate from Juniper Ridge that could flow into the river, that Nestle wants to suck up the cold springs in Lincoln that cool the river enough for trout, and excess storm runoff that carries municipal wastewater into the river.

We need aware candidates running for office who will stand for justice, a clean environment and improved infrastructure for the benefit of all Mainers. We need to build relationships and work together to create many jobs to restore our waters, not compromise them further for the benefit of out-of-state and multinational corporations.

Peter Baldwin

Brooks

Team America is the only team

In an Aug. 1 BDN letter to the editor, a writer wrote that Sen. Susan Collins and others were not team players as they did not vote with the Republicans to pass the “skinny” repeal of the Affordable Care Act. I understood that Collins believes it was not the best option for the nation. The letter writer mentioned teamwork in sports and the military and rued the lack thereof in Collins’ vote.

In sports the goal is to win a game, period. In the military, it is to inflict maximum damage on the enemy to reduce his capacity to annihilate you.

In politics, there is ultimately only one team, “Team America,” and the Democrats and Republicans need to put that above everything else, especially party lines. Neither party has all the best solutions for all the issues, so it is necessary to sift through their ideas and choose only the best from both.

It is shortsighted to castigate a politician because of a vote that doesn’t support his or her party. This is why I am an independent. To be independent means giving more attention and thought to the issues and applying your values and judgement to each rather than adopt a “formula.”

Failure to respect the differences of opinion and freedom of choice each of us has been given, whether as an elected official or voting citizen, moves us closer to that mentality most of us despise. The stakes are high, so let our thought processes rise to the occasion.

Chris Zimmer

Brewer