Lessons from Jordan’s Delight
I’m sorry to read another “government prevails” story regarding Jordan’s Delight. It has the same tone of so many stories I’ve come to read in the BDN where a non-Mainer comes for the seclusion, beauty and freedoms to exist in a private setting, only to suffer the same smothering, locked out, not-on-our-turf mentality that I’ve begun to realize.
I suppose this is true in many states where agencies and government-appointed jobs and positions constantly need qualification. I’m reasonably sure an off-grid camp had little to no adverse effect on the wildlife, but environmentalists and hoards of agencies ruled over the roost. I could be wrong. After a likely significant investment, another outsider became familiar with the simple life, as some may call it.
Fact being that if marshals, deputies, rangers, sheriffs, wardens and the plethora of freely-appointed law enforcement people actually looked about at the blight, grunge and decadence that exists from the native mentality of “It’s my property, I’ll do as I wish,” then maybe the folks who aspire to a clean, orderly, and safe environment for people, wildlife and sea-life alike might be able to see it everywhere. The problem is, that environment doesn’t exist, unless of course you own an island.
Maine has so much to offer, so much to gain, and so much to learn. From Jordan’s Delight, it appears not much was learned and even less was gained. It sounds a lot like people — and a few birds — simply went back to where they came from, none the worse for wear.
Henry Wheelahan
Jonesboro
Sticks and Stones
There is an old saying: Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me. This is probably true most of the time, except if you are our current president.
President Donald Trump mocking Joe Biden as “ Sleepy Joe” made me chuckle. It is like the pot calling the kettle black. Especially when you consider “ Lying Trump” and a few other names that have described our president. This country can do so much better.
Richard Barclay
Holden
Right to strike
In a free society, it is a fundamental right of workers to withhold their labor. The ability to exercise this right is a crucial component of making collective bargaining meaningful. When the right to strike is abridged, power at the negotiating table is grossly skewed toward the employer who controls both the purse strings and the management of the work. Under current Maine law, the workers who serve in the public sector do not have the same rights to fully leverage their power as those who work for private sector employers.
LD 900, sponsored by Rep. Mike Sylvester, D-Portland, aims to reduce that difference by giving public sector workers the right to strike.
As one who has sat with union members as they have deliberated this choice, and also stood with union members when they have made it, I know what workers are putting on the line when an impossible negotiation comes down to that decision — and I know that they know it. A strike is drastic action and no one takes it lightly.
Workers in the public sector — those who provide so many services across the state — should have the same rights as their counterparts in the private sector to join together and withhold their labor when deemed necessary. Throughout history, many of the gains labor has made have been finally achieved only through the withholding of labor when other methods fell short — the eight-hour day to mention just one, the right to be treated as a human being on the job to name another. Passage of LD 900 will be an important achievement.
Cynthia Phinney
President
Maine AFL-CIO
Livermore Falls