Find bipartisan health care solution

Thank you, Sens. Susan Collins and Angus King, for protecting our health care on behalf of the American Lung Association in Maine. I thank Collins and King for standing up and protecting health care for the Mainers living with lung disease.

The Senate’s health care bill would have harmed the millions of Americans who need health care as part of their daily battle against lung diseases, including asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder and lung cancer, and Collins and King were right to vote against it.

We are hopeful the Senate can work together in a bipartisan way to improve our nation’s health care system and ensure all Americans have quality and affordable health care.

Doug Couper

Leadership board chair

American Lung Association in Maine

Falmouth

Don’t mar Maine’s beauty for Massachusetts

In 1819, Maine separated from Massachusetts and became its own entity. We have gotten along just fine for the past 200 years. But Massachusetts wants to use us as its industrial power center by running power lines and putting up industrial wind turbines in our mountains.

Massachusetts has put up barriers to future pipelines to ensure an adequate supply of natural gas from the gas fields in the mid-Atlantic and Midwest. Real clean power comes from natural gas and hydroelectricity as it is stable, dispatchable, reliable and continuous, not feckless like wind.

We have the transmission infrastructure in place to provide clean energy for our state, and with the attitude Massachusetts is showing us, we should be diligent in protecting what is ours. Maine already has a renewable portfolio that is among the cleanest in the country with hydroelectricity and biomass. We have no oil or coal electric plants in Maine.

We must speak out to our legislators and Gov. Paul LePage to keep what the state of Maine is known for: wilderness and beauty. Our $6 billion tourism industry relies on people from away coming to see our beauty, not our wind turbines and power lines in our forests or on our waters.

If Massachusetts wants clean energy, let them put it in their backyard.

James Lutz

Bangor

An athlete’s selfless act

Admittedly, most of us race to win. This was true for Jesse Orach and Rob Gomez when each set out to run the Beach to Beacon road race this past weekend in Cape Elizabeth.

But the selfless and great act by Gomez when he helped his competitor, Orach, is exactly what I hope I would do. None of us can say for certain what we would do in a similar situation. But this inspiring human-interest story definitely made me think about my values. I truly loved this story.

Congratulations to both of these fine athletes. And kudos to Gomez. He did a great thing.

Ellen Hendrickson

Phillips Lake

A state of nature

It was a Sunday afternoon, and I was walking my mini black poodle around the block, entering a parking area to Reggie Ginn field, a baseball field above my house.

At the top of the incline, I was looking east above the tree line and I saw an Osprey flying toward me with a bald eagle in pursuit.

All of a sudden, another Osprey rose above the tree line on my right and dove at the eagle, with his talons extended for the “kill,” putting the eagle on the defense. The attacking Osprey adjusted his attack line and attempted to hit the eagle’s head, and it looked like it missed and disappeared below the tree line on my left.

Within seconds, the chased Osprey appeared above the tree line on my right and dived at the eagle, and again the eagle went into a defensive mode. This time the eagle also made a 180 degree turn, back toward the east and exited the area in full flight — and probably full fright mode, as well.

The chased Osprey flew up and above the tree line on my left and went right and was joined by its mate coming up from the right and the two of them flew off together, like biplanes with wingtips nearly touching, over my house toward the river.

This was one of those great interactions with nature that makes living in Maine so exciting and fulfilling, and it is just another day in the life and times of Bucksport.

Gerry Hamburger

Bucksport