Tony Payne’s column comparing Maine to New Hampshire is an insult to the great state of Maine (“Maine should take lessons from its neighbor,” Aug. 1).

New Hampshire is a socially and morally bankrupt state. Its laws that permit the sale of fireworks while prohibiting their use in the state is an example of this. It has no income or sales tax, but extremely high real estate taxes. The state does not provide any aid to towns and cities.

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Memorial Bridge links Maine and New Hampshire but needs repairs. Maine's not the broken one of the two states, a reader says. 2009 Press Herald file

New Hampshire has never succeeded in providing an equitable education for its students. Students who live in a wealthy town get a quality education. Students who live in poorer towns do not.

Yes, the median family income in New Hampshire is significantly higher than in Maine. The higher incomes are concentrated in the southern part of the state where wealthy residents have left Massachusetts to avoid some of the taxes.

Many of these folks still work in Massachusetts. They still use Massachusetts roads, transportation, and cultural facilities — they are just avoiding paying for them.

My experience is that New Hampshire utility costs are actually 60 percent higher than those in Maine. Social programs are virtually nonexistent. A New Hampshire resident who needs assistance is shipped off to Boston. New Hampshire has been successful in attracting folks like Mitt Romney, who owns four $10 million properties there.

Encouraging citizen participation in Maine’s government is good. This has nothing to do with comparing Maine to New Hampshire.

Walt Tetschner

Falmouth

Pingree doesn’t deserve thanks for overspending

The phone rang. I was to be privileged to listen to a Chellie Pingree congressional town meeting. Apparently this is a nightly event with different folks getting the call; a bit of early campaigning with the taxpayer, you and me, picking up the tab.

An early question was from a young Portland woman, the sort who in school was the teacher’s pet. She gave Chellie a nice present: You’re such a wonderful leader on green issues. How can we bring green jobs to Maine, and how do we move that wonderful climate-change legislation (Waxman-Markey cap-and-trade) you passed forward in the Senate?

Awww.

Chellie noted that some 80 percent of Mainers burned oil for heat, and because of the green legislation she passed, we could be free from the awful foreign oil and the awful oil in the Gulf of Mexico. We would have windmills; in fact, we would have green jobs building windmills.

The only defense I can think of for such stupendous ignorance and stupidity is that it is shared by her bosses President Obama and Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and the lefty media.

The huge increases in energy costs Chellie voted for will mean that Maine will lose whatever manufacturing we have now; we will import those expensive windmills from economies with lower energy and labor costs. (China!)

Costly wind electricity can’t replace either base or peak capacity (you can’t count on the wind) and won’t heat our homes or run our cars. Man-made global warming is unproven, and “cap and trade” will cost (per U.S. Treasury) $1,761 annually per family (more in Maine) and produce millions of lost jobs, trillions in costs to the economy and huge payments to the Chinese, international corporations like GE and Goldman Sachs, lawyers and consultants. Please, Chellie, go away and let someone actually represent Maine interests.

David M. Brooks

Winthrop

Charity got boost from golf tourney sponsors

Jimmy Fund Golf extends a sincere thank you to the organizers and sponsors of the Jimmy Fund-Deering High School Classic held on July 9 at Riverside Golf Club in Portland. Special recognition and appreciation goes to William Goodman of Falmouth, who organized the event.

The dedicated sponsors, participants and volunteers helped raise critical funds to support lifesaving cancer research and care at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

This marks the 28th year of Jimmy Fund Golf (www.jimmyfundgolf.org), one of the country’s largest golf programs for charity. From traditional golf tournaments and country club member events to mini-golf tournaments and all-day golf marathons, volunteers create golf fundraisers that combine their love of the sport with their desire to support the fight against cancer. Each event is an incredibly rewarding and fun way to support a great cause.

The Jimmy Fund-Deering High School Classic was one of the many golf tournaments that will be held in 2010 to raise funds for the Jimmy Fund and Dana-Farber. American Airlines, Callaway Golf, Dunkin’ Donuts, Forty Seven Brand, the International Golf Club, and GateHouse Media New England are the presenting sponsors of Jimmy Fund Golf.

Nearly $74 million has been raised by these dedicated volunteers and sponsors since 1983.

Nancy Rowe

Director, Jimmy Fund Golf

Boston

Project raised questions, but answers harder to get

So I arrived in Maine and found that a road was built next to where I stay for the summer.

It is one of those homemade types, you know, with dirt everywhere, except that this one is elevated and has a rather steep grade from the steep entrance on Goose Rocks Road.

I didn’t pay much attention at first until I started to see huge semis heading back there with unknown payloads. Concerned about the sight of these large trucks ambling in reverse down an elevated, poorly made road, I contacted the Southern Maine Planning Commission, which put me in touch with some local planning board/development types who informed me that all permits were in place, etc.

So my question is: Is it just OK for developers to willy-nilly construct roads over the back country of Maine with no oversight about the prospect of the trucks tipping over, and the nature of their fill? What gives?

I know that many towns are stressed, as are developers with the real estate market so depressed, but does that imply a green light to all projects? When I called the Southern Maine Planning Commission back, the fellow curtly asked me not to inconvenience him anymore.

Message received!

John Carney

Kennebunkport

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