Letters submitted by BDN readers are verified by BDN Opinion Page staff. Send your letters to letters@bangordailynews.com
Safe for swimming
Mainers do love swimming at our beautiful beaches. Unfortunately, pollution can ruin a day at the beach and make swimmers sick. In the 2021 edition of the Safe for Swimming report, our researchers found that the water was potentially unsafe at 36 Maine beaches on at least one day tested last year. Fifteen beaches had enough fecal indicator bacteria to put swimmers at risk one out of every four days tested.
Runoff pollution and sewage overflows are common sources of pathogens in our water. To stop this pollution, we need to fix our outdated water infrastructure. In July, the U.S. House passed the INVEST in America Act, a bill that not only provides urgently needed funding to stop sewage overflows but also dedicates at least 15 percent of those funds to green projects — including nature-based solutions that prevent runoff pollution from flowing into our rivers, lakes, and streams. Kudos to U.S. Reps. Chellie Pingree and Jared Golden who voted for this measure.
When our country came together to pass the Clean Water Act nearly 50 years ago, we set a goal of making all our waterways safe for swimming. Let’s do it.
Chloe Holder
Intern
Environment Maine
Portland
Susan Collins right on DC statehood
A recent news report described a group calling on U.S. Sen. Angus King to support legislation to make Washington, D.C., a state. Maine veterans from the organizations Common Defense and Defend American Democracy rallied recently in support of the Washington, D.C., Admission Act. They claimed that the approximately 30,000 veterans who live in D.C. do not have representation in Congress.
I think the truth of the matter is that the effort to make D.C. a state is nothing more than an attempt to gain two additional Democratic senators, giving that party a more solid majority in the Senate. Maine people need to know that King was targeted in this rally because of his Democratic leanings.
His counterpart, U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, a Republican, doesn’t support D.C. statehood. She has voiced support for the district becoming part of the state of Maryland.
Collins’ plan would give Maryland one more member in the House of Representatives and Maryland would keep its constitutional number of two senators. Collins cited precedent for this when part of D.C. was included in the state of Virginia years ago.
Collins’ plan is the right plan and the right thing to do.
Rep. Peter A. Lyford
Eddington
A day of rest
My mother informed me years ago that I did not like to sleep when I was a baby. She said I would lie awake in my crib for hours, make my baby noises and look from side to side at everything. I feel I have that same curiosity about the world and my surroundings still to this day, less the baby noises. Everyone needs to rest at some point in their daily routines and in their lives.
Rest is restorative and healing. When we are in physical pain, we cannot rest, and consequently we cannot heal. The biblical concept of “Sabbath rest” comes from the Genesis account of the creation. Genesis 2:2 says on the seventh day God rested from all the work of making everything. It follows; if God needs to rest, you and I must also need to rest. Perhaps in the life of our nation, everyone needs to rest to heal.
America needs to heal from the insurrection of January 2021, the COVID-19 lockdown of 2020, the Derek Chauvin verdict and the ongoing turmoil of the previous administration. When we rest, we heal. Let’s advocate for a citizens day of rest that we may heal as a nation. The rest will do us all good.
James Weathersby
Augusta