Credit: George Danby / BDN

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An all-too-common story

The story of a Happy Meal at McDonald’s in Auburn is a real life, all-too-common news report of

possession of drugs and to be taken seriously.

How it allegedly occurred was this: during shift work, the ballpoint pen and Suboxone inadvertently fell from an employee’s shirt pocket into the Happy Meal box and the employee who lost the pen and Suboxone and also the supplier did not become aware of it until after shift work.

Uh oh! This has the makings of a half-hour comedy show. Though not very humorous for the two McDonald’s employees.

Richard Mackin Jr.

Millinocket

Welcoming LePage to the race

I, for one, welcome the  entrance of Paul LePage into the race for governor in 2022. When he left after eight years, it almost seemed like someone pulled the plug in the Blaine House.  

Gov. Janet Mills doesn’t seem to realize that being governor of Maine requires bombastic lambasting of political opponents.  

For several months, it seemed as if she was not there; it was so quiet. Misunderstanding the responsibilities of the job, Mills has apparently stayed in her office, working with her cabinet and leaders of both parties to resolve problems. Admittedly, she has only had to face a measly pandemic, which LePage would probably have been able to minimize and ignore into remission.  

Government is so uninteresting now, I hardly ever even feel the need to read the newspaper.  There is no drama, no blaming, no pitting of liberals against conservatives. It is downright boring. So welcome back, former guy.

Michael Fasulo

Linneus

Oppose Frenchman Bay fish farm

Down East Maine is my natural refuge from the noisy and chaotic midcoast cities I have lived in and their nearby hotel-and-boardwalk-lined beaches. One of the last vestiges of a wild and unpolluted world left on the eastern seaboard, Frenchman and adjacent bays have remained clear and swimmable, replete with ephemeral magical islands that only surface with the tides. And they are still fringed by awe-inspiring rocky shores, forests and mountains. Millions of people visit or summer in this vacationland each year. This brings Down East Maine much of its revenue.

But that may soon change if the  American Aquafarms proposal for a large-scale salmon farm is approved by state and federal officials. From each of its 30 pens, the discharge from this operation into Frenchman Bay is expected to be about 2,000 times the amount of the discharge from Bar Harbor’s waste treatment plant. The 40 generators it will require will be exceptionally noisy, and its lighting will mar the star-studded darkness for which nearby Acadia Park and its annual Night Sky Festival is known.

I value economic development in Maine, but not if it will cost what makes the state valuable to most of the people who live or visit here. I urge us all to oppose this salmon fishing endeavor and the damage it will wreak in one of the most beautiful places in the world.

Margie Patlak

Corea