Letters

Published
August 20, 2014

Letter to the editor: In wake of Ferguson, let’s hear from our local police chiefs

In the days and weeks since the police shooting in Ferguson, Missouri, I have expected to hear and read about more interviews with local police chiefs to assure us that those scenes cannot happen here: “Our police see themselves in our communities, and our communities see themselves in our police.” I have expected to hear […]
Published
August 20, 2014

Letter to the editor: Seismic testing for oil, gas off coast will bring unacceptable risks

On July 17, after months of staunch opposition from leading ocean protection organizations like Surfrider Foundation, the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management announced a decision to proceed with seismic airgun testing for oil and gas resources off the Atlantic coast. While testing is not planned in the North Atlantic, we will feel the ramifications. […]
Published
August 19, 2014

Letter to the editor: Pro-corporate philosophy is bad for Maine’s economy

Maine’s lagging economy is being blamed on everything but the truth. Maine’s wealth is its people. They possess outstanding work ethics and always have. Maine lacks the funds to fix potholes, bridges and roads, fund schools or care for our disadvantaged because Maine has mostly become a service-sector economy. Seventy percent of Maine’s economy is […]
Published
August 19, 2014

Letter to the editor: Sen. Angus King needs new view on wind energy tax credits

The Production Tax Credit allows owners of wind projects to take a tax credit of 2.2 cents per kilowatt-hour for the first 10 years of a project’s operation. Many wind development companies admit that without this and other taxpayer subsidies, their projects would not be viable. Consequently, developers like First Wind and Iberdrola and powerful […]
Published
August 19, 2014

Letter to the editor: Party polarization benefits independents

We’re headed into the season of Democratic-Republican polarization. It’s where both parties charge to their base values (versus core values), establish a monolithic strategy and marginalize their moderate members. Political parties, Democratic or Republican, think there is a duality to politics: You’re either one or the other. However, the last time I checked the voter […]

Published
August 19, 2014

Letter to the editor: Eliot Cutler gave weak reason for skipping school budget vote

Rep. Janice Cooper’s letter to the editor (“Failure to vote shows Cutler’s civic commitment,” July 21) caught my eye and set me to wondering: What if Eliot Cutler’s prediction about the June 10 election in his town had been wrong? Would Mr. Cutler regret not having had time to vote if his vote would have […]
Published
August 18, 2014

Letter to the editor: Debate would spotlight candidates’ cognitive agility, social skills

Is it really important to see and hear gubernatorial candidates debate as we consider who will be our next governor? Debates serve many purposes beyond conveying the positions of candidates. We have many sources of information on the positions of the candidates. But a debate provides many layers of information that we cannot get otherwise. […]
Published
August 18, 2014

Letter to the editor: Must bear hunting be difficult?

The primary argument of those supporting the bear hunting referendum is that trapping, hounding and baiting are unsporting, or in other words, not difficult. Can we set aside whether that is correct, and question why it matters? The Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife manages wild species to maintain a sustainable head count, not to […]
Published
August 18, 2014

Letter to the editor: Baiting has impact on bear behavior, disease, conflict, population size

The Wildlife Alliance of Maine reports that Maine is the last state to allow all three practices of bear baiting, hounding and trapping. Maine is the only state to allow the trapping of bears. Bear baiting is legal in only 12 states. Wildlife biologists warn at www. wildlifealliancemaine.org that “baiting alters bear behavior by habituating […]
Published
August 18, 2014

Letter to the editor: Analysis ignores benefits of higher minimum wage

Although granted a very large space on your editorial page, Ben Michaud’s Aug. 5 column (“Maine Voices: Raising the minimum wage is self-defeating for Maine, bad for business”) can be summed up in one short sentence: Raising the minimum wage hurts profits. As an example, he gives a detailed analysis of the hit that a […]

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Letters