Reaching Out

This is a fearful time for many following the election. Brunswick Friends Meeting (Quakers) would like to encourage everyone who is dismayed by intolerance to join us in reaching out to asylum seekers, immigrants, Muslims, minorities and the LGBT community. Members of our Meeting will be looking for contact information for these groups and writing notes that simply say: You are welcome here and you are woven into the fabric of our society!

Please take the time to brighten a life. Find a contact name and address and send that simple message.

Julie Zimmerman

Clerk,

Brunswick Friends Meeting

Be Wary What You Read — A Response

Thanks to Bruce Brandt for alerting me to my error in attributing the Cloward-Piven Strategy to Saul Alinsky. The fact of the matter is that all three authors are Socialists. Their goal is to hasten the fall of capitalism by overloading the government bureaucracy with a flood of impossible demands, thus pushing society into crisis and economic collapse. This is neither bogus or nonsense. And I would expect that people who share that same disastrous ambition would be right on board with them. The ultimate goal for them is power and the overthrow of the United States Government. The eight levels of control that I listed are well underway in this United States; it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to realize this. As for the Times Record letters editor checking out future letters on Snopes, BE VERY WARY of what you read on Snopes! I would recommend an alternate source for checking facts.

Gail Card,

Bowdoin

Downeaster schedule shortchanges Freeport, Brunswick

Heavily promoted economic benefits of extending Amtrak Downeaster passenger service north of Portland have taken a step backward. An original impetus for getting the train to Freeport (and leading to further extension of the route to Brunswick) was to enable day-trippers from Boston and intermediate points to enjoy a Maine shopping experience.

The revised schedule recently implemented by the Northern New England Passenger Rail Authority lists the first northbound train arrival in Freeport at 4:10 p.m., barely allowing for a convenience-store stop before the last southbound departure at 5:35 p.m. Travelers seeking a same-day train trip to Brunswick are faced with an even more pressing, 55-minute time constraint, 4:25-5:20 p.m. Perhaps NNEPRA marketers had the local overnight lodging establishments in mind.

On the other hand, they clearly were thinking of big-city sporting and entertainment attractions, scheduling late-evening weekend departures from Boston that encourage visiting Mainers to boost the Massachusetts economy. Is there any doubt that the flow of continuing economic benefit from the “Downeaster” is decidedly southward?

What about all the transit-oriented real-estate improvements that supposedly accompany the introduction of rail service? The train actually followed such development in Freeport, and though Brunswick has a nice new station complex, none of its occupants is dependent on rail travelers. Two restaurants simply moved from other locations into new quarters, and the nearby inn reports few guests utilizing the train.

The main purpose of the new schedule appears to be positioning trains for overnight occupancy of Brunswick’s massive new maintenance and layover facility, making the town a regular destination for equipment if not passengers. The obvious irony is that Freeport and Brunswick are being short-changed by this paltry return on a committed investment of more than $70-million. After four years, the transformative economic stimulus envisioned by the “Wouldn’t it be nice to have a train?” crowd can only be described as an expensive hoax.

George C. Betke, Jr.,

Newcastle