Letters submitted by BDN readers are verified by BDN Opinion Page staff. Send your letters to letters@bangordailynews.com
Don’t close Long Creek yet
The concept is quite simple: establish a well studied alternative system into which the residents of the Long Creek Youth Development Center are safely and effectively placed, then close the Long Creek facility.
While this concept is simple, it will entail a concerted effort to effect the alternative(s). So, the real question is does the Legislature have the will to do so? So far, it seems they do not since they passed a bill to close the facility without a fully developed alternative thereby rightfully eliciting the governor’s veto.
There is an old Texas expression for this situation: “Before stepping out of something, be sure of what you are stepping into.”
Keith Dunson
Belfast
Collins delivers on affordable housing
Affordable housing is such an important issue, particularly for low-income seniors in Maine. Here in Washington County, 26 percent of the population is 62 years of age or older, and nearly a quarter of them live at or below the federal poverty level. Food insecurity for this age group is rampant.
That’s why I’m so thankful to Sen. Susan Collins for her work in securing $3.2 million through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Section 202 Supportive Housing for the Elderly Program to renovate St. Croix Apartments in Calais. This 26-unit apartment complex previously provided HUD-supported low-income housing for seniors, and thanks to this funding, necessary repairs will be made so this property can again fulfill this vital role in our community.
Please join me in thanking Sen. Collins for believing in the importance of this project. It will undoubtedly benefit some of Washington County’s most vulnerable citizens.
Sen. Marianne Moore
Calais
Requiring vaccines
To prevent further spread of the coronavirus, we should require everyone to get fully vaccinated, (including a possible third dose) — unless exempted by a sincerely held religious belief or medical condition.
We should write to our legislators and executives at all levels of government.
Alvin Blake
Bangor
Clarifying FDA review process
Jeffrey and Sandra Morin’s letter, “Mandate questioned” in the BDN on Sept. 18 was both misguided and factually inaccurate.
Thalidomide was never approved by the FDA for use in pregnant women. This FDA decision protected U.S. consumers from the birth defects that elsewhere were associated with use of this drug. Multiple studies of Bendectin following its voluntary withdrawal from the market in 1983 found no significant correlation between its use and birth defects, and since 2013 it has been back on the market under a new brand name.
Neither of these examples provide any support for the contention that FDA-approved vaccines are not safe enough to be mandated.
Janice Parker
Belfast