Webster must go

Any man who calls himself a Republican but who is actually a counterfeit politician or “Republican in name only” does not belong in the party, much less pretend to be a manager in charge of the Maine Republican caucus.

Chairman Charlie Webster needs to resign his position. The accepted compromise only aids and abets the problem here of failing to count all the votes submitted by voters who thought they could trust Mr. Webster.

The voters’ trust in this matter has been grossly violated. Mr. Webster must step down now. We a manager who isn’t afraid to get the job done right the first time and earn the trust of the much-abused voters.

Peter Carminati

Stonington

Charlie’s way

After having tried to restrict voting by backing the repeal of same day registration, then trying to restrict votes by backing a bill requiring voter IDs, Maine Republican Party Chairman Charlie Webster has finally figured out how to succeed. He simply counts only the votes that he agrees with. I don’t think that’s going to work in the general election.

Ken Huhn

Bangor

Meeting requirements of forest land

Does the 10.3 acre parcel Bruce Poliquin claims for a forestry tax reduction of about $5,000 per year legitimately meet the Maine Tree Growth Tax Law requirements for a 10 acre minimum of “forest land” (BDN story, Feb. 2)?

Forest land is defined as “land used primarily for growth of trees to be harvested for commercial use” and the law specifically excludes ledge and “similar areas that are not suitable for growing a forest product.” The diagram of the 10.3 acres included in Mr. Poliquin’s application clearly indicates the east and west property boundaries are the high tide lines. However, as much as 0.7 acres of the included area is ledge bordering the water (appearing white in the satellite images).

Another 0.2 acres is roadway, and there is an additional open area of 0.1-0.2 acres in the middle of the property which may or may not be too rocky for trees. If the validity of this plan is revisited by the Georgetown Board of Selectmen or others, consideration should be given to whether the 10 acres minimum was actually met.

Dave Lambert

Orono

Maine judiciary waking up

The Maine Law School held a groundbreaking conference on Maine’s post-conviction review process Saturday, Feb. 4.

Approximately 100 attorneys and academics, including the Attorney General, law court justices and the original Dennis Dechaine trial judge, Carl Bradford, were given a critical look at the process faced by defendants claiming innocence and seeking exoneration.

Descriptions of the post-conviction review process as far away as Finland emphasized the difference between places such as Maine, where the focus is often lopsidedly on procedural details — as illustrated by Dechaine’s retrial motion remaining unresolved after more than three years — and those where the emphasis is on fact-finding and the search for truth.

Prof. Christopher Johnson of the UNH School of Law described how Finland imposed no limits on the nature of admissible evidence. Dechaine’s attempt to bring before the court time-of-death opinions supporting his claim of innocence, plus the possibility of alternative suspects, would fare better in Finland than here in Maine.

Mary Kelly Tate, of the Institute for Actual Innocence at the University of Richmond School of Law in Virginia, described “wrongful convictions from the point of view of the harm they do to public confidence in the judiciary.”

One detail of interest emerged, that until sometime in the 1990s, Maine typically assigned post-conviction reviews to new judges in place of the original trial judge, presumably to avoid a conflict of interest such as that faced by Judge Bradford.

Maine is finally waking up. Maybe there’s hope for Dechaine and others potentially wrongfully convicted. Stay tuned.

Bernie Huebner

Waterville

Penobscot, Chesapeake bays

Penobscot Bay is heralded as the premier cruising and sailing destination in Maine. Another such destination that receives similarly high ratings from tourists, campers, sailors and sightseers is the Chesapeake Bay. Compare them and you find enough similarity to make it a worthy comparison.

Chesapeake Bay lays neighbor to Norfolk, Virginia which is not only the largest naval installation on the planet but also one of the integral intermodal cargo ports on the Eastern seaboard. This port is also home to one of DCP Midstream’s terminals, which is proposing a terminal in Searsport.

That being said, I don’t advocate making Searsport and the Penobscot Bay into this image; Virginia will never be Maine and I’m glad of that fact. The question that still lingers with me though, is how do these people drive to work without the fear of certain death? How does Chesapeake Bay still garner its raving reviews with such a neighbor? Why would tourists even consider coming to the Chesapeake Bay? This comparison, in my mind, reveals that it is possible to have a scenic view and the businesses it supports and industry cohabitating.

This opportunity will be a step toward throttling the flow of Maine’s youth out of this state. As a young Mainer just starting his career I can say that the push to leave our state for better career opportunities and the proverbial “greener pasture” is very real and very apparent. I hope the fear tactics used by some doesn’t slam the door on opportunity.

Michael Walker

Searsport

Health care law

All constitutionally valid laws of the United States are mandates. The recently passed health care law is no exception. The first article of amendments to the U.S. Constitution states: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” How requiring free contraceptives of all health-providing institutions violates the above constitutional “mandates” is beyond me.

The U.S. is a secular, not a sectarian, country. The above article of the Constitution mandates that as clearly as possible.

Sexuality and the full meaning of the freedom to control one’s own became largely available to the whole population of the country, not just the male half, without lasting ill effects of unwanted pregnancy with the birth control pill about 50 years ago.

Efforts to turn back the clock on half the population for sectarian causes is back-peddling of an unredeemable kind. We are a different country than when books and more could be banned openly in Boston.

John Lyman

Orono