Oyster company would exploit natural resource for corporate profit
A few months ago, some Brunswick residents got a letter from the owners of the Mere Point Oyster Company that began and ended in a friendly enough way: “. . .We are . . . a family business that has been farming oysters at sites around Mere Point since 2015. . .”
Following that sentence were 460-plus words about the owners and their business. It ended with
“…We recognize that our farm sites are new additions to the water front and are committed to being the best neighbors possible to those in our Mere Point community. We would like to be open and transparent about the work we are doing and invite you to be in touch with us. . .”
Their openness and transparency didn’t include mentioning that they had submitted an application for a 10-year, 40-acre site to replace about one-quarter of an acre they had “farmed” since 2015. Forty acres are approximately the size of the Brunswick business district — all the blocks of stores along Maine Street as well as the mall — apparently necessary to support the floating factory required to produce a goal of 5 million oysters annually. The site will occupy a significant portion of Maquoit Bay and change life on, around, and beneath it. At any point the business with the lease could be sold.
The Department of Marine Resources — not local people, who get very little from the oyster production that may fundamentally change the waters in their front yard — will decide about leasing 40 acres of adjacent ocean. Support of modest family aquaculture is not the question; this is about using a natural resource for corporate profit. It should not happen.
P.H. Vaughn,
Brunswick
Lebida tactics unfit for Maine
Good grief. Any voter in Bowdoinham, Bowdoin and Richmond knows that neither of our Legislative candidates want our policemen and first responders to be stuck with hypodermic needles. I can’t imagine what is being dragged up to suggest otherwise, and I don’t feel like checking, as the flyer I received from the Lebida campaign on Oct. 16 would urge me to do. And this isn’t the first time this ugliness has reared its head in this campaign.
There are so many legitimate topics for debate; the citizens of our towns would do well to hear where Seth Berry and Guy Lebida differ on the public policies that matter in the lives we, our families and neighbors lead. I’m voting for Seth Berry because I’ve had a chance to see first hand the work he has done for our communities: he uses his keen intelligence to represent us well, matching what he hears at home to what others in Augusta are doing, with evidence of working across the aisle; he works for his constituents and others in Maine, including preserving insurance benefits; he works tirelessly to make sure the utility companies serve their paying customers. And Seth doesn’t participate in this kind of dirty politicking, which doesn’t belong in Maine and neither should Guy Lebida!
I’d like this campaign to rely on discussions of ideas, commonalities and difference and not the dragging up of obscure votes to scare voters.
Friend and neighbors, join me in voting for Seth Berry.
Ellen Baum,
Bowdoinham
Collins made the right call on Kavanaugh
I want to show my utmost and sincere appreciation for the actions of Senator Collins in the process of confirming Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. She was crucial not only in voting for him, but also in changing the social view of the entire issue. Her speech for the validity of the claim while also stating that the evidence was not indicative that it was Kavanaugh has done incredible things to the political scene.
Her defense of Kavanaugh was not without reason, as he has been a respected judge for 26 years. He is a husband, father, and honorable member of his community. Senator Collins made it clear that baseless allegations may be common in the world, but they do not abide by the standards to which the American judicial system is held.
I look forward to the job that Justice Kavanaugh will do, but I think that, while this narrative made fade to the back of our minds, the history of our nation was changed by the courage of one woman in the face of a mob that had no intention of letting go without a fight. Senator Collins stood firm, and I think that all American should look to her as an example for future issues.
Rebekah Mason,
Lisbon
Ankeles ready to hit ground running
One of the great things about Dan Ankeles is that he decided to get involved early. In 2013 several months before the birth of his first child, Dan asked for an appointment to the Town’s Recreation Commission.
Most often people get interested in serving on a town board, or running for council, long after they have identified some sort of problem. Or, once they have some spare time. As a result an awful lot of town business gets looked at in hindsight.
By contrast Dan wanted to get in on the ground floor well before he had kids using our ballfields, trails, or working summer jobs at Coffin Pond. He wanted to know what he could do now to plan for the future.
This sort of foresight will serve him, and the citizens of Brunswick, well on the Brunswick Town Council. In the five years he served on the recreation commission his family has grown again and Dan is acutely aware of the challenges facing a working person who has to pay a mortgage, keep up with taxes, and provide his family and community what each of them needs to thrive while still keeping an eye on the bottom line.
Please join me in voting for Dan Ankeles for the at-large position on the Brunswick Town Council.
Benet Pols,
Brunswick
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