Maine Audubon applauds the Scarborough Town Council for passing an updated leash law for dogs and urges residents to vote “yes” on Tuesday to protect endangered piping plovers and other wildlife. By requiring all dogs to be leashed, town councilors have ensured that people, dogs and wildlife can all enjoy the beach safely and responsibly.
With fewer than 2,000 piping plovers on the eastern seaboard, the species is in trouble. Like all wildlife, plovers face a number of threats, including sea level rise, development and habitat loss.
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Dogs are one of the threats that our communities can control. With only 44 pairs in Maine this past season, every plover’s life counts and is critical for the long-term survival of the species.
Scarborough has one of the least restrictive leash laws in the state. We regularly see plovers abandon nests because of dog activity, and staff biologists consistently document dog tracks in and around nesting areas on Pine Point and other Scarborough beaches. This occurs despite the posting of “no dog” signs and extensive community outreach.
It is not a coincidence that Pine Point (the beach where a plover was killed by an off-leash dog this past summer) has one of the lowest rates of chick productivity in the state.
Under this updated ordinance, dogs will still have access to beaches year-round, even during the sensitive nesting season – they will just need to be on leashes. Concurrently, the town will work to establish dog parks where dogs can run off-leash without worrying about hurting wildlife or bothering people.
If the ordinance is repealed, it will effectively annul the agreement Scarborough made with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and it opens the town to even greater fines in the future.
Please speak up for wildlife – vote “yes” on Tuesday.
Sally Stockwell
Director of conservation, Maine Audubon
Falmouth
So what is Tuesday’s special election in Scarborough all about? It seemed simple at first, but in truth it is difficult to explain. Dogs? Plovers? The feds? It is all of those things, but so much more.
In talking with so many of you through the petition drive and campaign, I think I have identified an explanation if we can just answer two questions. What kind of town do we want to live in? And what are our core values?
For me, it is this: I want to live in a town that exercises tolerance, acceptance, understanding, respect, personal accountability and responsibility, a town where we can disagree respectfully and not be judged on those differences of opinion.
Not everyone likes dogs, Not every dog owner is responsible. We understand that. But you cannot manage to the exception or you might as well put a dome around the town and restrict everything.
I grew up in Detroit, Mich. I saw what intolerance can do. Detroit was virtually destroyed because people could not accept each other’s differences. I do not want to see that happen here. “If you want to go fast, go alone. … If you want to go far, go together.” Let’s go far, Scarborough!
Voting, no matter which side of this you are on, is the most important thing you can do. If you agree that dogs need some time off leash and places to run, play and swim, then you must overturn the townwide, year-round restriction, and vote “no.”
Katy Foley
Dog Owners of Greater Scarborough
Scarborough
Freeport voters urged to withdraw from RSU
Freeport should withdraw from RSU 5. By withdrawing, the town will be taking the first step in reversing the damage.
The state’s ill-conceived idea of forcing towns to consolidate has brought questionable cost savings. Many towns have not only lost control of their schools – and thus the center of their communities – but they have had the further insult of escalating taxes. More importantly, forced consolidation has driven a wedge between towns that once worked cordially and collaboratively on many issues.
Though RSU 5 should be dissolved, we should examine what areas of consolidation have been beneficial. All three towns need to make the maximum use of tax dollars, and we should continue the sharing of services and costs where practical.
Freeport, Pownal and Durham students would continue to attend Freeport High School after RSU 5 is in the past, and it is in all of our best interests to make Freeport High the best school that it can be. Although the RSU 5 community is full of terrific students, great teachers and involved parents, we really need to examine why many parents (my wife and I included) have children going to high schools other than Freeport. What is missing? What can be done better?
The vote on Dec. 17 should not be considered simply a vote for Freeport to withdraw from the RSU, but a vote for moving the schools of all three towns forward again.
Freeport residents can set the stage for dissolution by voting to withdraw. After the withdrawal is approved, school and town leaders of Freeport, Pownal and Durham must work to create an even better environment than we enjoyed prior to the RSU.
Please vote to withdraw from RSU 5 on Dec. 17.
Bill Schmidt
Pownal
Senate’s Republicans at fault for change in rules
We should not be surprised that Sen. Susan Collins and her Republican colleagues in the U.S. Senate have decried the filibuster rule change allowing majority votes for future judicial and executive nominees. What is surprising is their inability to see it coming based on their total lack of respect for the rule in the first place.
The Republican minority has used the rule 72 times during the five years of the Obama presidency. Going back to the Eisenhower Administration, it had been used only 20 times in 58 years. Something had changed. It might have been the lack of reason and the unwillingness of the GOP to respect the rules of the Senate itself.
The reactions of Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. – “This is a bad day for the Senate”– and Collins, who called it “a terrible mistake,” call into question the ability of the GOP to read the writing on the wall.
The rule change might be “a bad day for the Senate” and “a terrible mistake,” but the GOP has only itself to blame.
Ted Malette
Cape Elizabeth
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