Having read Joan B. Saxe’s letter of March 28, “Mountain Division best used for trains,” I must say that I agree for the most part in what the Sierra Club of Maine advocates.

However, having spent more than 30 years in a railroad career comprised of marketing, sales and industrial development of both large and regional railroads across North America, beginning fresh out of the University of Maine, covering the Mountain sub-division from Portland to northern Vermont, I wholeheartedly disagree with her position that the Mountain subdivision of the old Maine Central Railroad “could be a key commuter line from Portland to Standish and rail freight beyond.”

It never made a profit when fully operational and if placed back in service, it will need perpetual public funding to the tune of millions of taxpayer dollars.

Let me quote from the Sierra Club’s own transportation policy paper: “Due to shrinking budgets, deteriorating roads, highways and bridges, the increased cost of oil, climate change and a severe lack of public transit options the chapter supports a Fix It First approach to highway expenditures.”

The Sierra Club also states that Maine roads and bridges in need of repair total 636 bridges (28 percent of the state’s total), 83 miles of interstate (27 percent) and, (pay attention to this number), 145,072 miles of other roads (48 percent).

Let’s not waste taxpayer monies for the benefit of the few while the general public is faced with making difficult fiscal choices on a daily basis.

Spend what funds are necessary to first take care of our deteriorating roadways that benefit all of us 365 days a year.

Speak up and keep the Mountain Division Trail as it is, a recreational corridor that once was a dream and now is a reality. Stop any taxpayer funding for a “train to nowhere.”

John McGinnis

Windham

That was an excellent article by Beth Quimby on the Mountain Division rail line and trail! But I have a few questions:

1. Just who is Sen. Bill Diamond working for — a few special interest groups or the general public?

2. Who will run this railroad? Pan Am Railways? The state of Maine? Some other entity? (Presently, Pan Am Railways runs a freight train to Sappi Paper only two to three times a month.)

3. Just what freight and products would be shipped and from what companies?

4. Seventy trucks a day in this area? What type of freight are they hauling? Wood pellets should be in the type of trucks developed in Bethel for bulk delivery.

5. The original acquisition was only for “rail and trail.” Why change now?

6. If economic development is the spark behind this idea, why have these communities not attempted to bring technology and bio-tech companies to the area?

7. Why not have all the groups listed in the article start a petition to vote on this subject in the next election?

Richard Davy

Portland

Dr. Dora Mills deserves prize as state’s top woman

I proudly nominate Dr. Dora Anne Mills for Maine’s Greatest Woman of the Year! She is a leader for public health safety in Maine and across the nation!

Ross Beale

South Portland

Forecasts of deficits turn world upside down

Kudos to Dwight Ely of Scarborough for his March 3 letter, a spot-on take of the nation’s finances and its plunderers.

The slash and burn crowd has apparently turned into a bizarro French Revolution where the mobs careen down the streets shouting, “More for the aristocracy! More for the aristocracy!”

Don Federman

Portland  

Don’t limit borrowing, this is the time to spend

At this point in Maine’s fiscal problems, it’s conventional to say that Maine shouldn’t borrow any more money by issuing bonds to pay for needed improvements like highway, bridge and rail upgrades.

In fact, there’s probably no better time to do just that. Interest rates on bonds we could issue right away are most likely lower than they will be at any time in the foreseeable future.

Furthermore, the jobs created to make these vital repairs and upgrades would put unemployed Mainers back to work, thereby increasing our state’s income and sales tax revenue.

It seems like a no-brainer: Issue more Maine bonds to fix up our deteriorating transportation system while reducing unemployment and improving state tax revenues.

Robert R. Wagner

Portland

Government can represent the best that is within us

Perhaps government by itself is neither problem nor solution. As a reflection of the governed, it can be either.

When government reflects the best in us, its accomplishments are great. Our generosity of spirit sparked the Marshall Plan that rebuilt Europe after World War II. Our compassion passed the Social Security Act and Medicare to protect the elderly and civil rights acts to provide opportunity where it had long been denied.

It also prompted programs to retrain those who lose jobs and to provide medical coverage and food for needy families, especially children. In kinder moments, we even realize that occasional “welfare cheats” should not doom such generous impulses.

Our responsible stewardship of Spaceship Earth birthed the Clean Air and Clean Water acts, impacting rivers like the Presumpscot. Remember having to hold your nose when approaching it? I do. Now we can breathe deeply and watch fishermen on the bridge.

Our thirst for knowledge funded an educational system that researched vaccines and antibiotics much less expensive than Big Pharma’s, that landed men on the moon and rovers on Mars, that trained engineers to build a great highway system and supply drinking water safer than most of the world’s.

So if government is the problem, shame on us. Shame on fear that leads to loss of liberty, torture and wars we cannot afford. Shame on greed that supports a tax system which rewards amassing personal wealth at the expense of community.

Shame on fanaticism that demonizes and thirst for power that won’t work with “them.” And shame on hypocrisy that decries bequeathing financial indebtedness while passing a budget that prohibits the EPA from even gathering and disseminating information about a potentially catastrophic eco-debt, climate change. For shame!

Pamela B. Blake

Freeport

Recently M.D. Harmon opined in the Press Herald that the significant differences between conservatives and liberals could all be summarized by answering the question of whether one felt government’s purpose was to control citizens and should be feared and resisted, or whether one felt that “the government is us” and its purpose was to protect us.

Before considering where one comes down on this issue, it would likely be helpful to consider what life was like for the average citizen prior to the age of significant government intervention in our lives.

An excellent resource would be to read K. Downey’s biography of Frances Perkins, “The Woman Behind The New Deal.”

Perkins, a Maine native, was FDR’s secretary of labor, the first woman to hold the post. She is felt to be largely responsible for developing the social and labor reforms of the day.

Twelve-hour work days, six days a week, in often unsafe and unhealthy environments, child labor, no way for workers to redress grievances, collective bargaining largely illegal, etc. were the norm.

This is not ancient history. The last decade of my professional life was spent in geriatrics. In taking life history information, I frequently talked with folks who were ashamed of their limited formal education.

They told of fathers dying at work and having to leave school to help support the family, or mothers dying in childbirth and having to leave school in the sixth grade to keep house while the father worked, or of husbands being maimed in industrial accidents and never being able to work again so the children had to be sent to orphanages because the mother couldn’t earn a living wage.

If you have older family members or friends, take the time to talk with them about what life was like and what they remember hearing about related to those times. This is the world Republicans have been trying to get back to ever since.

Ann Morrill

South Portland

Gov. LePage and numerous legislators have pledged to close the gap between spending and revenue, and state employees and retirees are in the spotlight as an expense that can be controlled.

The argument made by the governor and his counterparts elsewhere is that state employees are too numerous, too well paid, and too well cared for in their retirement — like they’re a special class of people.

Like employees anywhere who work in large companies or organizations public and private, state employees had the right to unionize years ago — mostly because the state would not pay them adequately, would not improve their working conditions, or improve health and safety to acceptable levels.

Unions in Maine and elsewhere exist for good reasons. The right to collective bargaining is inherent in any union contract. Without it, the union ceases to represent the workers. There is a perception that state employees have unfairly benefitted, or have gotten too rich through union representation.

If that is true, which it isn’t, then why propose eliminating collective bargaining? Why not bargain better? The process is in place; use it, instead of vilifying state employees.

The table has two sides. Let’s use the level working field we have and conduct honest bargaining and treat everyone as fairly as possible.

State employees are taxpayers, too. The resolution to the budget problems are not four- or eight-year fixes.

We need bipartisan long-term planning without the politics du jour or finger pointing. Get it done, Augusta!

Tim Schmidt

Pownal

Family very grateful for help from strangers

Imagine arriving after dark at the Portland Jetport after a lengthy and very delayed flight from Florida, only to find a flat tire on my daughter’s car in the pickup lot. It was a cold, windy and dark night.

Then imagine a wonderful father and son who were parked by chance next to our car, who took the time to change the tire for us.

They appeared without our asking and generously helped us get on our way while delaying their own return home.

While they would not accept any payment beyond our heartfelt appreciation, we hope that they might see these words of thanks for an act of kindness that will never be forgotten.

Nancy Richards

Palm Coast, Fla., and Brunswick