I am appalled that our governor is backing a bill requesting a federal permit to allow incidental trapping of protected Canada lynx while in the process of trapping coyotes.

Maine’s wildlife department is paying hunters and trappers to kill coyotes. Their reasoning is that it will help the deer herd, which is struggling. This is uneducated thinking.

The truth is:

1. The northern herd was decimated by the severe winter of 2009-2010. Deep snow was to blame, not coyotes, who, by the way, control their own population by not mating or having one to 13 pups according to the availability of prey. Ask any biologist about this.

2. Clear-cutting a deer yard is very devastating as deer will not leave their home ground, which is one square mile. All this trapping isn’t necessary.

Gov. LePage, please don’t throw our lynx under the bus like you are doing to the people of Maine.

What’s next? Eagles?

Pete Gendreau, aka Soaring Hawk

Saco

DHHS cuts will push costs to those who can’t afford it

I met a young woman this morning as I was walking to my favorite breakfast place. She asked me for directions, and I discovered she had just graduated from a state-funded rehabilitation program for people with substance abuse issues. She was looking for a job.

I invited the woman to breakfast, and she told me she’d left a bad relationship and had gone through detox on her own before getting into the state program. She had worked hard in rehab to understand herself, and she was going to AA every day. I would bet a lot of money that she will succeed in beating her addiction and living a good life. In fact, the restaurant we had breakfast in offered her a part-time job on the spot.

Reading about Maine’s proposed DHHS cuts made me wonder what would happen to people like her who need more help than their families can provide. The cost savings from these cuts will fall on low-income and middle-income families. How many people will have to quit a job to stay home and care for an elderly parent or disabled adult who used to live in a group home before it was closed? How many addicts and people with physical or mental illnesses will end up homeless or in jail because they can’t cope on their own?

I think people should stand on their own two feet, but sometimes they need a hand to pull them up. This morning I was proud of a young woman I’d only just met because she was steady on her feet and determined to make a fresh start. I was also proud that the state has a program to help someone like her overcome tough obstacles. I see that program as an investment in people.

Beverly Wood

North Berwick

Jobless veteran an example of nation’s economic ills

I have become a microcosm of America’s problems.

I retired from the Navy in 2008 and had trouble finding a job, only to begin reading daily headlines about the financial meltdown and soaring unemployment rate. While employers dithered, I emptied my savings to pay the mortgage. After five months, I secured a high-paying job that took me to Baghdad.

With a daughter in college, I was grateful for the big paychecks, but I’d became an indentured servant to higher education.

Back from Iraq with two daughters in college now, I’m looking for work, but the unemployment compensation system is making life difficult.

Being an overseas employee, my former employer paid into the federal system. But states pay unemployment checks. I applied in Maine, but Maine didn’t have my wages. My employer says the wages were paid to Virginia. I applied to Virginia, but Virginia can’t find my wages and suggests I talk to Maine.

My employer points to the government, the feds point to the states, the states point to each other and back at my employer. It’s a bureaucratic circle worthy of Dante. Meanwhile, every day that passes without a phone call or email from a prospective employer points me at my refrigerator and bills.

Despite 22 years of work history, two master’s degrees and adequate skills, I’m underqualified (or perhaps too old, or my name too Latino-sounding) for a decent salaried position, but overqualified for hourly jobs that would help as I continue to search.

Meanwhile, as Congress fights over Medicare, Social Security and other entitlement programs, I see that if not for my military retirement pay and retiree medical care, my family and I would be in serious trouble.

Something is very wrong, and I’m far from alone. What are we doing about it?

Luis M. Luque

Brunswick

As a difficult year ends, look ahead with confidence

The end of the year has come; time to mourn what was lost and celebrate what remains.

This has been a difficult and troubling year for many whose faith and beliefs promised insulation from troubles and hardships, longevity for loved ones and safe passage through the transitional points of life. Our national identity is evolving and for many this is too painful, as if the past automatically determines the future. But our belief and trust in a providentially good presence in the world says something more significant than our fears and uncertainty. We are not alone as we live, as we progress forward.

The faith traditions and cultures around the world vary in their beliefs and practices, as their national heritage influences and affect these lifestyles.

The Eastern spirituality would focus on the inner journey; contemplation and intentionality being the root and branch for the tree of their beliefs. The Western spirituality would focus on the practicality; what works and ushers in the journey toward a brighter future for everyone, along with the progress of industry and technology.

But all these share the hope, the trust and assurance that the journey through life is neither solitary nor purposeless.

The journey through life is worth the effort because of our faith in God and humanity.

As we exit the old year and welcome the new year, let each one look to their core spirituality; does it serve to comfort or condemn?

Life is still sweet, a present to be enjoyed not endured — till the end. The changes in our society and around the world are painful, but necessary. Our faith and beliefs will be sufficient to face these challenges. We will be aptly equipped by life, to survive, to adapt and overcome with one another — hand in hand and arm in arm. This is the promise of tomorrow — endless possibilities and potential because of our faith.

Enter the new year with confidence. Pax

James A. Weathersby

Augusta

Snowe should be taken to task for Iraq war support

Your Dec. 16 issue had an Associated Press report on the Iraq war, “Nine years later, an anticlimactic end.”

It said that besides having brought about the killing and wounding of hundreds of thousands, the war against Iraq (sometimes called Bush’s War) had drained more than $800 billion from the U.S. Treasury.

In its last paragraph the report quoted one of the prime pushers of Bush’s war, Sen. Olympia Snowe, who had ignored the pleas of many constituents, including mine, by voting to start it and keep it going. As shown by the written record of hearings in Congress, she swallowed all the baloney fabricated by Bush’s gang of warmongers.

Having inflicted Bush’s War and its misery on the people of Iraq, instead of showing shame she now has the gall to boast she’ll “press for strong ties” with Iraq’s government from her position on the Intelligence Committee.

It seems that the last thing Iraqis would need or want is more meddling by blunderers like Snowe.

Marjorie Gallace

Camden

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