The editorial titled, “Hollywood Slots revenue could be better used” (Aug. 22), was absolutely correct in saying, “Maine’s top priority should be developing good jobs.”

Question 1, on the November ballot, will allow a four-season resort casino in here in western Maine. voting “yes,” voters have the opportunity to bring thousands of good-paying jobs to Maine, including more than 800 construction jobs. This is an opportunity too good for Oxford County to ignore.

I have previously opposed casino initiatives, but this one is different and so are the times. This development is headed by local Maine business leaders with a proven track record and will be one of the largest privately funded projects Maine has seen in years.

It is not the be-all and end-all for economic development; it is simply a much-needed shot in the arm for Oxford County, a region of our state in dire need of jobs and opportunity.

While the budget deficit is projected to be nearly $1 billion, Question 1 will provide tens of millions of dollars in new revenue without raising taxes. Almost $30 million will fund K-12 education programs. Millions more will support scholarships to our state universities and community colleges.

It’s time for casino naysayers to rethink their positions and say “yes” to creating good-paying jobs while generating tens of millions of dollars in new revenue without raising taxes. I’m voting “yes” on Question 1.

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Roy Gedat

Norway

Lewiston cemetery vandals outweighed by hockey team

After hearing about and then seeing the damage caused by the three lost souls who vandalized the cemetery in Lewiston, I could only ask why? Haven’t they lost loved ones? Don’t they have any respect for those that paved the way for them to exercise their right to be idiots?

After seeing the bewildered elderly gentleman on TV whose family plot had been vandalized, I was moved to tears. But you know, too often in life today we focus on the bad guys and the pain they cause and too little time on the good guys and gals and their newsworthy stories.

When I saw that the Lewiston Maniacs hockey team came to the rescue and helped put the monuments back in their proper places, I was once again moved. This is an extraordinary story and the head coach and his players should be extremely proud of their random act of kindness.

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When folks do the right thing let them know we appreciate their character. I will be taking my family to our first Lewiston Maniacs game this fall and I hope other families will show their support as well.

Jon Evans

Bridgton

Bangor Senior Little League in world final with no story

I have been an avid reader of your Sunday paper for many years, and while I understand that the majority of your readers live in the Portland area, I was extremely disappointed that you did not have anything covering the Senior Little League World Series held in Bangor Aug. 15-21.

Since you missed the biggest Maine sports story of the year (so far), let me clue you in. The Maine District 3 champ gets an automatic bid to this World Series and is usually the team the four best U.S. teams beat up on. This district has never won more than one game in this global event.

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This year’s team, comprised of players from Bangor High School, not only won a game, it won its way to the World Series final by defeating the defending world champions from Houston, Texas (who had 10 returning players) and defeating a very powerful team from California.

This ball team had made its way to the World Championship! ESPN thought enough of this global classic to televise the game live. I will not tell you who won the game between Bangor and Aruba. I will let you, and your readers, get that information from ESPN.

John LeBlanc

Bangor

Several decades ago you changed the name of your Sunday paper from “Portland Sunday Telegram” to “Maine Sunday Telegram,” giving us the impression that you might cover events and stories that occurred in northern and eastern Maine.

On Saturday, Aug. 21, the Senior League World Championship was held in Bangor before an overflow crowd on sun-drenched Mansfield Stadium. The championship game featured Aruba vs. Bangor — the first time a host team has been in the final game. And you missed it.

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I suggest that you either revert back to calling yourself the “Portland Sunday Telegram” so as not to confuse us way up here or start covering important events such as this.

By the way, Aruba won 8-1.

Paul W. Newman

Bangor

Must ‘honest’ abortion stories all end with a baby’s death?

Re: “Friday Night Lights shows its mettle by telling honest abortion story,” Aug. 8: Is it “mettle” to condemn a defenseless innocent person to death, for the sake of a woman’s convenience?

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Is it “zealotry” to insist that the unborn child is a person, who should be protected by the same laws against murder that protect all other persons?

Is it “responsible” to choose to kill one’s child, rather than allow the child to continue living; especially knowing that it was not he who asked to be conceived?

Should there be no consideration at all given to the person in the womb who is killed by abortion?

Should we show “sympathy” to a woman who makes this “difficult” choice to have her child “legally” and professionally slaughtered?

Planned Parenthood’s Gloria Feldt appears surprised by the “backlash” to the pro-abortion movement. The backlash was caused by the same disregard for people that she shows to a great portion of her reading audience — those of us who know that a child who is killed by abortion is a whole living human person; those who know what really happens to a child who is aborted; those who know that abortion isn’t merely a “medical procedure” but is butchery of a little child; those who know that this is not about “reproductive justice” but it is about human dignity denied.

Find out what abortion is. Find out what it does to the baby. Find out what it does to a woman who wakes up to the reality that she has killed her own child.

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Then tell me that you still support a woman’s “right to choose.” And finish the sentence: Right to choose — what? It’s not whether or not to continue her pregnancy, it’s about deciding whether she wants her child to live, or if she’d rather he or she be dead.

Nancy Uhde

Peru

An article by a former president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America contained comments that are false and fact-free.

My response is that the pro-life movement has helped women.

For all of us, our right to control our bodies ends where we start infringing on someone else’s rights. For example, our society recognizes that we must curtail wife beating, child abuse, sexual assault and drunk driving. We even curtail the “right” of someone to smoke in a restaurant because of the effect of second-hand smoke on others!

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Coerced abortion is an internationally recognized human rights abuse.

A majority of women facing abortion are not counseled on the risks of abortion (67 percent receive no counseling.) Most post-abortive women surveyed suffered post-traumatic stress disorder (65 percent).

Abortion is the silent killer in America. More than 1.2 million babies are killed by abortion each year. That’s more than 135 abortions each hour.

Americans are becoming more and more educated. We have seen firsthand the devastation of abortion. We have seen the suffering of post-abortive women, as well as the pain of fathers, grandmothers and husbands who have forced women to take the life of their unborn baby.

There are over 600,000 loving couples who seek to adopt. Adoption is a compassionate choice.

Abortion is not a right. Abortion is a wrong — for everyone: the mother, father, child and our society.

Rob Poissant

Gorham

 


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