I returned to Maine recently to protest the possible loss of Kittery’s Wood Island Life Saving Station. The landmark is at the mouth of Portsmouth Harbor.

After two days waving our banners in the Kittery traffic circle, our group visited various attractions including a show at the Ogunquit Playhouse. What a pleasant interlude! It had been decades since I was in Maine.

In years past, I had taken jobs in Maine: as a reporter at a Norway newspaper, a cook aboard a Camden schooner and running a sea urchin boat out of Bailey Island. None of these ventures met with much success.

After these trials, I left Maine. The dismantling of the iconic schooners Hesper and Luther Little in Wiscasset followed shortly after. I took jobs in New York and Vermont before returning home to New Hampshire.

But of late, Maine reappears on my radar. I set my Google News search engine to “demolish” and “historic.” Maine keeps popping up.

Waterville’s St. Francis de Sales church was razed. Lewiston’s St. Joseph’s church is to fall for a hospital parking lot. (St. Joseph’s is the third Lewiston church to be lost.) Maine’s iconic Waldo-Hancock suspension bridge was replaced. And the Wood Island Life Saving Station.

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With the loss of heritage, Maine loses its identity and its image. Why visit a place that doesn’t care about its past? Isn’t this what draws us in, as well as the lobster dinners?

Maine’s slogan goes “the way life should be” — not “the way life is.” We come to Maine for a way of life replete with culture and heritage, as well as the splendor of nature. We came to appreciate the veneration you once held for the past.

Does Maine want its legacy to disappear into the mists of memory, like the Hesper and Luther Little?

Steven W. Lindsey
Keene, N.H.

Adult ed facility is lacking, but pupils, teachers are tops

I was happy to see that former Portland Mayor Thomas Kane (“Letters to the editor: Cathedral school best place for adult education classes,” June 13) agrees with so many staff members at Portland Adult Education: Our program needs a home.

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I’ve taught English as a second language at PAE since 2008. In spite of the modest pay, lack of benefits and my own long commute, it’s the best job I’ve ever had. The immigrants who attend our classes are positive, hardworking, intelligent people; the staff and administration are talented, caring and supportive.

So the roof at 57 Douglass St. leaks, the windows are permanently fogged, and the street out front turns into a lake every time it rains. We teachers have put up with these things and more because we know we’re doing important work.

We know, as do members of the school board and City Council, that adult literacy has a direct impact on children’s education and well-being. We know that this program — including work force development classes held at Riverton School — makes Portland a better place to live. Its loss would be devastating.

We staff members and students aren’t asking for much: just a place to continue teaching and learning, supported by an office and by a community that recognize the value of lifelong learning.

Gail Lemley Burnett
Springvale

Portland Adult Education is a community school that helps immigrants and native English speakers who are trying to get high school diplomas and GEDs. Many people who lost their jobs want to improve their job skills and their education.

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At Portland Adult Education, some of the people who never finished high school can get a GED. I have a positive feeling in these classes. Many people are taking classes. For example, some families are working on job skills and trades.

It is so difficult to come to class at the same time as working full time. Portland Adult Education teachers make them so comfortable. Even if students are busy, still the school offers volunteering so you don’t feel bad or left behind from society.

The building is 27 years old and is falling apart, with leaks, mold, no ventilation and no good heating system. We need to have a new building with enough classrooms, and after this summer, 240 people are still on the waiting list to register for a class.

When city officials help students in this school, the city benefits because the students will contribute to taxes and the community.

I am grateful for getting my education until now, and I hope to continue learning and growing in the future.

Ayan Said
Westbrook

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Gov. LePage demonstrates he’s not suited to his job

As a result of Gov. LePage’s latest crude and outrageous outburst (“LePage draws fire for sexual remark,” June 20), I think it may be time to consider Article V, Part First, Section 15 of the Maine Constitution, also sometimes referred to as the “bananas clause.” This says that if a governor is mentally (or physically) unfit to serve, he can be removed by the Legislature.

I have known seven governors over the years, and not one has ever exhibited the crass behavior and ignorance that the current occupant has.

He is an embarrassment to the state of Maine and its people and is in no way qualified to serve as our leader.

Kathleen Watson Goodwin
Brunswick

Is there no way to muzzle the Blaine House Bully? While he’s been making inappropriate comments since his campaign, I’m not sure he’s been on record with the degree of vulgarity and personal insults that he spewed recently.

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I work in the private sector. If I were to make similar vulgar and insulting remarks for all to hear in my workplace, I’d almost certainly be disciplined and would likely lose my job. And I’m guessing that anybody in any position on the state of Maine’s payroll would suffer similarly.

Why, as citizens paying his salary, can we not fire Paul LePage from his job? Immediately.

Tim Pinette
South Portland 

Regarding Gov. LePage’s most recent vulgar remarks — enough is enough.

LePage lacks the moral fitness to be governor. He is an embarrassment to the state.

It’s time to begin proceedings to remove this unfit man from the office of governor. Two more years is too long to wait.

Donna Brown
Pownal

 


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