Wage questions
Should the city of Bangor allow Councilor Joe Baldacci to move forward with efforts to circumvent our state and federal democracy before demonstrating a real effort to work within the framework of these great democracies?
Baldacci boasted at last Monday’s City Council meeting about all his efforts to override state and federal minimum wage labor laws, but I find no records where he has made equal efforts to work with our state and federal elected officials.
To ignore our state and federal constitutional process is to undermine the very democracy we the people have put in place.
James C. LaBrecque
Bangor
Planned Parenthood exposed
The Bangor Daily News’ July 30 editorial regarding Planned Parenthood’s video exposure attempts to defend the partially tax-funded agency from a perceived attack on their privacy and integrity. It wrongly assumes that the outpouring of concerns being expressed are only about the profiteering possibilities in organ distribution from the killed and dismembered babies, or fetuses.
If the decision to have an abortion is “gut wrenching,” as the editorial says, is it possible to presume that the public has reacted similarly when seeing these videos? The words “the horror, the horror” profoundly sum up what is sweeping our nation in response to the illumination of Planned Parenthood’s activities, regardless of the destination of their harvest.
Susan Mendell
Palmyra
Police violence
I am frightened by the picture of police in the country that has been emerging over the past two years. The number of violent, unjustifiable episodes of police violence against black men, and sometimes women, seems to be escalating. Even if this perception results from better reporting because of wide video capability, this violence seems less of a phenomenon and more of a possibility in all our minds.
As Charles Blow, columnist for The New York Times, said, “Whom do I turn to when the cops become the criminals?” No one is safe in a society in which one group of people is so disrespected. Again, Blow’s words: “How little must an officer think of the person at the other end of the barrel to shoot him in the head when, per the video, there appears to be no threat?”
The police in this nation are given the power of life and death over citizens, and in too many cases, they are proving unworthy of the trust. We must not be silent in the face of this danger.
Blow finishes with these words: “This environment of death and distrust is a threat to the fabric of society and to democracy itself.”
I agree.
Carolyn Bower
Surry
Leave the dog home
It’s been another hot summer filled with horror stories of toddlers and babies, dogs and even police dogs, dying in hot cars. In my opinion, people have to be living under a rock not to hear or see the stories about how a living thing can die a horrible death locked inside a hot vehicle.
I drive around every summer with posters plastered all over my car warning people of the dangers of leaving dogs in a hot car, and yet still every time I visit Wal-Mart or Hannaford, there they are, and off I go to try and find the owner of the car in which another dog is locked in their rolling oven.
One day I thought to myself, people carry coolers so their perishables won’t spoil, and ice to keep their beer cold on the beach. They know that potato salad will go bad if left out too long, but for some reason, they think their dog won’t die if left in the same conditions without a cooler or ice to keep them cool.
People should leave their pets at home when they go to the fair, the folk festival, Wal-Mart or the baseball game. And if they insist on being ignorant, they should put on a winter coat, crack the windows an inch and see how long they last before wanting out of the car.
Vivian Axmacher
Carmel
Support the park
The time for change in Millinocket, East Millinocket and Medway was when the mills were up and running. I was one of many who asked how will we keep our schools, hospital and businesses if those mills go down for good? A little vision and preparation would have gone a long way in preventing the kind of economic collapse we are seeing in the region now.
The mills have been lost, the jobs are gone, the economy is stalled and the taxpayers are on the hook for millions.
The fastest, most obvious way to get this economy moving again is through tourism, which is why we need to get the national park and national recreation area in place as quickly as possible. The park will put people to work and pour money into the region.
In order for this to happen, we need our leaders to lead. Sen. Susan Collins, Sen. Angus King, Rep. Chellie Pingee and Rep. Bruce Poliquin need to get involved and get this economy moving before we lose everything.
Tourism is part of the answer. Visitors to Acadia National Park spent more than $221 million last year — imagine how quickly even a fraction of that amount would stabilize this region.
John Hafford
Medway
Singer obituary
I applaud the writer of the July 30 obituary for Colleen Sheran Singer for his honesty and courage. The government was created for all the people, including people with disabilities, medical issues, lack of employment opportunities, all religious affiliations, genders and sexual identification. If we do not take care of the least of us, if we do not give them a chance to be the best they can be, we are all damned.
The ruling political mentality wants us to focus on blaming the less fortunate so that we don’t see or remember corporate waste and financial finagling that benefits the powerful and wealthy. It looks like despite many problems, Singer made attempts to control her demons, but the medical and governmental support system that would’ve helped her was denied by Gov. Paul LePage and the very less than Christian right wing of the Republican Party.
Carol Latta
Rockport