When it was needed, the land trust did nothing 

The Times Record Sept. 6 article, “Land Trust to Celebrate 25 years of conservation” suggests that in 25 years all the Brunswick-Topsham Land Trust is celebrating is Crystal Spring Farm. They own it, we know that.
The trust needs a reality check and they need to look at their own history prior to the past 25 years. This land trust began in the 1980s, a period when a handful of developers had acquired large amounts of Brunswick real estate, farmland and fragile habitats, for one purpose, to make money. That was the time for the land trust to become very outspoken in their opposition to development but, they did nothing.
Today in Brunswick we have another group of developers buying up any available land that is left for one reason, to make money. But the Brunswick-Topsham Land Trust just applauds their ownership of Crystal Spring Farm while Brunswick becomes nothing but traffic congestion and ugly buildings.
Farming has “played a pivotal role in this community for generations” but the Brunswick-Topsham Land Trust has done little to recognize those farms or to speak out against development. But, they own Crystal Spring Farm and they will celebrate that.
Jeanne Johnson,
Juniper Edge Farm,
Brunswick 

 

---

More tree clearing equals less clean air 

 I read a letter printed in The Times Record questioning the cutting of trees on Route 1. I am dismayed that another large area of trees are now being cut.   

More trees are imperative next to busy highways to absorb pollutants and carbon dioxide. Trees are the filters of our use of gasoline.  What happens to all that wood? Chipped or sold for lumber?
We worry about what the fires in the Amazon are doing to the future of the world. The long-term consequences of tree and undergrowth loss in the Amazon and HERE is very dire.  The community needs to recognize and change to protect against destruction done here. Clearing land as near Cooks Corner on speculation and looking for a tenant over a year or for other imagine needs, are not more important than clean, breathable air. 

Marji Greenhut, 

Brunswick 

 

---

The pitfalls of surprise medical billing 

Insurance companies create “networks” of doctors and hospitals. If we see a doctor that’s “out of network,” we pay more for that visit and the doctors, paradoxically, get paid less. Insurance companies happily pocket the difference.
It’s hard to believe such a scheme is legal, but it is. It’s called “surprise medical billing” and it gives insurance companies every incentive to narrow their networks in order to maximize their profits at the expense of patients, doctors and hospitals. The problem is especially bad for rural hospitals and doctors that are already on financially shaky ground.
Congress should eliminate this practice entirely, financially protect patients and insure the survival of hospitals and doctors in communities that need them most.
Sarah Sandlin, 

Falmouth 

Comments are not available on this story.