Every weekend, I travel from Westbrook to Bangor to visit my elderly mother. I enter the turnpike at exit 48, take the Falmouth spur to I-295 and re-enter the turnpike at the Gardiner barrier. I return via 295 and take the Falmouth spur back to the turnpike. The round trip costs me $5 in tolls, which I pay in cash, handing the payment to the toll takers along the way.

A casual user like myself would save so little by using E-ZPass; the only reason for using one would be for the convenience of not coming to a complete stop at the toll booth.

Additional Photos

A toll collector waits on a driver at the Maine Turnpike barrier in West Gardiner. A reader advises casual turnpike travelers to forgo E-ZPass and keep a Mainer in a job. 2011 Kennebec Journal File Photo/Joe Phelan

I’m pretty sure that the toll takers are not getting raises when the turnpike doubles the charges for E-ZPass users, nor are the workers who maintain the road. Personally, I’d rather come to a stop, open my window and keep a hardworking Mainer in a job. It doesn’t cost me anything but a few seconds of my time and a few cents out of my pocket.

And for you conspiracy theorists, not using an E-ZPass removes one piece of data tracking your movements. Just saying …

Bill Barker

Westbrook

As an E-ZPass holder, I received a letter last week from the Maine Turnpike Authority outlining the recent toll increases approved by the board in August. While I followed developments closely this summer and expected a significant increase, I was shocked to learn that the Commuter Plan is no longer available and my rate to travel the turnpike has more than doubled!

As a commuter who travels from Cape Elizabeth to work in Portsmouth, N.H., my quarterly cost to travel the turnpike will increase from $127.50 to $277.56 (based on an estimated 36 trips per month).

The Associated Press article in the Press Herald on Aug. 17 detailing the new rate plan (“Turnpike’s directors OK Nov. 1 toll increase”) stated that Maine E-ZPass rates would increase 1 cent per mile. By my calculation, I will be forced to pay an additional 3 cents per mile.

For those of us who commute daily to work on the turnpike, a rate increase of this amount is both painful and unreasonable. With the last increase in 2009, what can we expect in 2015?

Peter Boland

Cape Elizabeth

Loss of classical station pains longtime listeners

How can “they” do this to us? Their thousands of loyal listeners in the Portland area — the most densely populated area in all of Maine — are in a state of shock. The only classical station available to area listeners. And now it’s gone! I feel like I’ve been abandoned by a longtime cherished friend. WBACH is now dead in Portland.

And who are “they”? Try Nassau Broadcasting, who say they are bankrupt. Yet they continue to broadcast on two other FM frequencies in Maine, in the midcoast and Down East. Unfortunately, my FM radio does not receive their signal.

Oh, yeah, “they” say that WBACH can still be heard over the Internet. Big deal! Part of my enjoyment was to wake up and punch pre-set No. 2 to hear the news and classical music from my bedside radio, as well as from two other household radios and two car radios. Sorry, Nassau guys, but the Internet simply does not work in these venues.

So, 104.7 FM for lovely music is now gone. And gone — for me and thousands of others in this listening area — are the personable Scott Hooper and Jay Lundstrom. I will miss them as “audio” friends.

What do we have now in replacement? A loud-mouthed announcer on a station that is playing jazzed-up Christmas music. And we’re only in mid-September. (I’ve just deleted pre-set No. 2.)

Well, it’s done, life goes on and that past cannot be recaptured. So my only question now is “where is Bill Nemitz when we really need him?”

John Hartley

Scarborough

I am writing to express disappointment at the closing of WBQW. It seems a shame for a city like Portland to be without a full-time classical station. I know we had it on virtually all day.

In addition to the music, we miss “Classic Jazz” with Arnold Olean, “The Paul Parent Garden Club” and other features. I hope someone will see the opportunity to fill the void and give Portland back classical music.

David Farrar

Old Orchard Beach

CMP rates spiral up, and so do the ads in our bills

As a retired educator living on a modest pension, I find it increasingly galling to sit down every month and write a large check to Central Maine Co., an ostensibly low-profit public utility company that bombards us with written claims of what a great bargain we, as captive customers, are getting.

It’s painful enough that rates continue to rise (despite CMP claims that prices are going down) without having CMP add insult to financial injury by enclosing its propaganda along with its bills. Of course, the thousands of dollars spent on these ads are emptying the pockets of its customers.

I believe it’s time to hold CMP accountable for its actions. Contact CMP at cmpco.com and let them know how you feel!

Petros Panagakos

Portland

Close, Struthers deserve greater respect from paper

Regarding a photograph in the Sept. 14 Portland Press Herald: Please, don’t ever let your photographer John Ewing near me with his camera!

If he could not take a more exemplary photograph of the beautiful actress, Scarborough resident and (with her husband, David Shaw) first-ever Maine Creative Industries Award winner Glenn Close, he might consider applying for a job taking driver’s license photographs.

And then, front-page news! You had to put on the front page in the column for the second story (in order of importance) a disparaging account of the beloved actress Sally Struthers. What is the point of that?

Ever hear of St. Francis and his philosophy: “Let there be peace on Earth, and let it begin with me”? Is that concept simply thrown under the bus when it comes to publishing a newspaper?

Bonnie Tallagnon

Biddeford

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