Police raises needed
As our society becomes more violent each month, with more drugs and school shootings, less respect for law enforcement and more domestic abuse, our police officers are the only local resource that we have to keep people safe. We can’t afford to let our “Thin Blue Line” get any thinner. All communities need experienced officers to stay in their chosen career for as long as we can keep them. Every community struggles with their budget but as a country we need a strong military and as a community we need a strong, well trained and well-paid law enforcement officers.
After taxes on the 3 percent raise for the Bangor Police Department, the actual take-home amount officers will have for disposable income won’t amount to much. I can’t speak to the retirement plan, but after 25 to 30 years on the frontlines, it better be a good one.
Why are we nickel and diming our finest?
David Winslow
Brewer
Love your neighbor
The seven member-denominations, along with the associate members and cooperating bodies of the Maine Council of Churches (representing 434 congregations and over 50,000 members) are rooted in the Hebrew and Christian scriptures. We find woven throughout those sacred texts two clear messages: Love your neighbor as yourself; and do not be afraid.
As people of faith and good conscience living out those commandments, we agree with the resident who said, as the Kittery School Committee considered a transgender policy proposal on June 5, “There is no place for hate in Kittery.” And we commend the school committee for its unanimous vote to support transgender and gender expansive students. Often among the most vulnerable of our children, LGBTQ youth face a higher risk of suicide, depression and homelessness. A policy that aims to keep them safe and in school is a key element in reducing those risks.
Though some Christians were vocal in their opposition to the school committee policy (“Despite opposition from Christian group, Maine school district adopts transgender policy,” BDN June 6), it is important for Kittery’s students, families and schools to know that not all Christians share that attitude. In fact, there are tens of thousands of faithful Mainers who stand with the people of Kittery in seeking to build a culture of compassion, justice, dignity and peace for all.
Rev. Jane Field
Portland
Gun Violence Awareness Day
June 1 was National Gun Violence Awareness Day. Sen. Susan Collins has significant experience dealing with issues of homeland security. I wonder how she marked the occasion. I wonder what all our representatives did on June 1.
Nearly 100 Americans die, on average, in gun-related incidents every day in this country. No other North American or European nation even comes close.
Instead of regulating guns like we do cars and car owners, our students are having to practice active-shooter-drills, and some are still dying anyway. Women in every state are still being shot by their partners. Children continue to die because of unsecured guns. Depressed and angry people are still killing themselves (and sometimes others) instead of getting the treatment they need. What kind of “homeland security” is that?
All it took was one crazy guy sneaking a bomb in his shoe (that fortunately didn’t go off) onto a plane, and everything changed in our airports. The contrast between that governmental response, and its response to “everyday gun-violence” is reprehensible and needs to change.
Jim Owen
Belfast
Secure guns at home
In response to a recent BDN article about the school shooting in Santa Fe, Texas, evidently the parents of the 17-year-old boy did not have the shotgun and handgun that were used to kill 10 people at the Sante Fe High School locked in a container. Everyone who has guns surely knows of the recommendation to have guns and ammunition locked up — especially in households with children.
It would be interesting to know just how many Mainers reading this letter with children living with them actually have their guns under lock and key. And I would like to ask the same question of Texans at this moment.
I don’t think anyone would want to be in the parents’ position right now. If you have children, especially teenagers, living with you right now and do not have your guns locked up, you could be the next parent to suffer the consequences
William Babson Jr.
Sinclair
Excise tax nonsense
As a new resident coming from Georgia to Belfast to build a retirement home, I’m continually puzzled by the lack of creativity to broaden the tax base to take pressure off Maine residents and especially seniors. The excise tax to fund local budgets is a joke. Levied for the “right to drive on public roads” is laughable, since this money goes into the general fund (black hole) of the cities.
Let our thousands of visitors each year help with a Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax levied county by county per referendum. A 1/2 or 1 percent increase in the sales tax for a defined period will be paid by all residents and visitors. Visitors use our roads too.
I had an RV rental business that I wanted to continue in Maine, but with nearly $2,000 per year in excise taxes due, I’m liquidating the fleet and calling it a day. The RVs average 16 years old, not new, which is the ridiculous basis for calculating the excise tax.
Eric Schrader
Belfast
Finish work in Augusta
Legislators need to go back to the State House and fund the Medicaid expansion immediately. As an eligibility specialist for the Department of Health and Human Services, it’s my job to process eligibility for these folks. Every month that has gone by since Medicaid expansion has become law has been a month wasted, not being able to hire and train new and existing staff on policy that is yet to be implemented without funding.
Legislators have already cost me and my fellow workers much needed time, and potentially affect thousands of others if we are continually understaffed to implement the change in program eligibility. We are playing catch up as it is, and work hard every day to bring lifesaving services to the people of the state of Maine.
Legislators need to do their jobs, so I can do mine.
Allison Perkins
Cornville