“That money talks, I’ll not deny,

I heard it once: It said, “Goodbye.”

– Richard Armour

Lane/Tommy: If you think we are ripped about Maine’s high taxes, don’t discuss with us gasoline prices at stations in the Windham area. Why are we being singled out for significantly higher gas prices? Where is Maine’s Attorney General when we need him?

Tommy: I traveled to Massachusetts two days last week and noticed substantially lower gas prices, some as low as $2.74 a gallon. Please remember we call that state Taxachusetts while we live in Taxationland. While pumping gas costing $2.97 a gallon at a station in North Windham last Sunday, I spoke with a family of a dozen people in several vehicles. They were absolutely furious about being victimized by Windham’s sky-high gas prices. I quote what one person said to me, “Myself and my family will never, ever travel to Maine again. I will encourage all my neighbors to do the same.”

Lane: It appears to me that a few businesses in Windham love to sock it to the tourists during the summer. Well, guess what? When that happens they are also sticking it to the citizens from Windham.

Lane/Tommy: A good place to go for gas prices is the Web site for WCSH (Channel 6) as they list the 10 lowest prices for gasoline in Maine. Some of the lowest prices in Maine on Sunday, Aug. 27 varied from $2.66 to $2.69 a gallon. The price of $2.66 is 31 cents lower than North Windham prices the same day. If that isn’t gouging, what is? A quick check on gas prices in Windham the same day ran from $2.97 to $2.99 a gallon.

Lane: My wife travels to South Portland on Sundays. A Mobil station on Forest Avenue in Portland had a price of $2.82 a gallon. Gasoline at a station on Broadway was $2.86. Even those prices put Windham to shame.

Lane/Tommy: Now we are going to respond to Central Maine Power’s response to our previous column about their usage of pesticides. The spokesperson from CMP stated that the herbicide used is nontoxic to mammals and birds so why are they careful to avoid wells and other water supplies?

Tommy: I live on the Cook Road in Windham. For those of you not familiar with the Cook Road, it runs downhill its entire length. Herbicide was sprayed in the drainage ditch that runs beside Cook Road. Stormwater runs downhill through a couple of small ponds and eventually into the Pleasant River.

Lane: What exactly is the herbicide being used? Was a material data sheet sent to the newspapers so it could be printed also? Inquiring minds want to know! By the appearance of the dead plants it appears that this herbicide is either extremely deadly to plants or it wasn’t sprayed sparingly. Tommy has free range chickens that could wander onto the areas sprayed on the Cook Road. We all know that chickens love to peck for insects. Enough said.

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