Where is the outrage?
To the editor:
Last November, voters in Maine Senate District 2 had a choice between Michael Carpenter, a proven public servant with unquestionable integrity and sound character, and Michael Willette, whose flawed character has recently been displayed through his Facebook postings of racist, hate-speech, inciting violence against a major religious group in this country, and the president of the United States. The election is over: Willette won; Mainers, in District 2 and beyond, lost.
The embarrassment of this tawdry episode has been widely reported in the media, including Willette’s half-hearted apology in the Senate Chamber. Statewide petition-signers and multiple letters to the editors have condemned Willette, many calling for his resignation. However, Willette’s Republican party leaders have not responded, beyond saying that the tepid apology is good enough for them.
The 127th Maine Legislature needs to take a loud and public stand stating that this racist hatefulness has no place in our state government, and that racist legislators will be held accountable.
I believe that Senator Willette should resign, either on his own, or with assistance. If not that, he should be stripped of his committee chairmanship, or publicly reprimanded or sanctioned by his fellow senators. Perhaps he should be required to come back home and face his constituents in a publicized town meeting without prescreened questions.
The silence of the Republican leadership is deafening. If this mess goes on unanswered, no one in the Senate, regardless of party, comes out smelling like a rose.
Can anyone ever imagine Michael Carpenter stooping to such depths as Willette? I cannot. There will be other elections.
Gail Maynard
Woodland
Celebrating FFA
To the editor:
On behalf of the Caribou FFA chapter, we cordially invite you to the 85th annual Caribou FFA chapter banquet, to be held on the evening of April 2, 2015. The social begins at 5:30 p.m. and dinner is at 6 p.m. in the Caribou High School cafeteria. Immediately following, an awards ceremony will take place in the Caribou Performing Arts Center.
The awards ceremony will celebrate the success of our chapter members and recognize individuals in the community who have contributed to our chapter’s success throughout the past year. We would enjoy having the public there to help celebrate these achievements.
Banquet tickets are $2 and will be available at the door and include a spaghetti dinner and a chance to win the door prize. There will also be an opportunity to enter our FFA raffle. All money raised from the raffle goes back into funding the Caribou FFA chapter.
Along with the awards, there will be an iMovie presentation for your entertainment. Please join us for a special evening commemorating the many successes of our FFA chapter. Please contact Mrs. Casey Cote, our adviser, with the number of people that will be attending. You can reach her by phone at 493-4270 or by email at casey_cote@rsu39.org.
Tyler Raymond, president
Caribou FFA
Re: Taxing non-profits
To the editor:
As president of Katahdin Area Council, Boy Scouts of America (BSA), I am writing to express our great concern and opposition to Governor LePage’s proposed taxation of real estate owned by non-profit organizations.
We, like a lot of other non-profits, are financially fragile. The proposed legislation would have a devastating effect on our mission of giving 3,000 youth each year the opportunity to reach their full potential as responsible adults.
Non-profits, in general, provide a valuable service to society/community far exceeding their impact on municipal services. Non-profits provide a unique way to deliver services more efficiently and effectively than government entities with volunteers.
Nationally, Scouts provide more than 17 million hours of service each year to their communities. Based on National Volunteer Hour Value, that is more than $377 million in service.
Taxing non-profits would be setting a dangerous precedent. The unintended consequences of beginning to tax real estate, at any level, could be the slippery slope that eventually causes many non-profit organizations to fold operations, leaving the public governmental entities to fill the void.
So in the long run, what has been accomplished? Taxing a non-profit organization that delivers a service at no cost, raises private support, represents people who don’t have a strong voice and through their mission bring common good to the community is a bad idea and should be rejected.
William Lucy, president
Katahdin Area Council BSA
Verona Island
Support for caregivers
To the editor:
There is a group of people in Maine who frequently go unnoticed and underappreciated. They are the nearly 200,000 unpaid caregivers who provide assistance to family members or friends who can no longer take care of themselves.
Family caregivers play a critical role in care transitions, especially as their loved ones move from hospitals to rehabilitation centers and back home. Today, nearly 50 percent of family caregivers perform medical/nursing tasks, often with little or no explanation or guidance. Simple, yet profound changes can be made to support family caregivers so they can safely care for their loved ones at home and prevent unnecessary hospitalizations or re-hospitalizations following surgery or treatment. Presently, statistics show that one of every eight Medicare beneficiaries is readmitted within 30 days due to the lack of proper transitional care. That’s why AARP has embarked on a multi-state effort to advance commonsense legislative solutions to provide some basic support for family caregivers that will make big responsibilities a little bit easier.
AARP Maine is working with Rep. Drew Gattine (D-Westbrook) and a bipartisan group of co-sponsors on LD 666, the Caregiver Advise, Record, and Enable (CARE) Act. This act is designed to directly support caregivers who help loved ones remain in their own homes and we are urging all legislators to support it. Under the CARE Act, the hospital would record the name of the patient’s caregiver, the caregiver would be informed when the patient is being discharged from the hospital, and the caregiver would be given detailed instructions on how to best care for their loved one before discharge.
This is an important step in our efforts to give family caregivers the recognition they deserve and I urge you to contact your legislators and ask them to support this bill.
Dr. Erica Magnus
AARP volunteer
Windham
Calling all (marching) band members
To the editor:
Calling all musicians! I am a retired director of the United States Air Force Academy Drum and Bugle Corps and I am looking for musicians. Along with some other marching band members, I am trying to see if there is interest out there to march in an All State Marching Band.
We are in the planning stages and want all the input we can get. Our tentative plans are to have rehearsals in different areas of the state, then combining the groups for performances. There appears to be much interest in having a marching band for parades and festivals throughout the state and we would love to fill that void.
We anticipate starting rehearsals in April and marching in parades this summer. What we need now are musicians! We are looking for junior high, and high school students who need the experience and practice, rusty musicians who want to get back in shape and just about anyone who can play an instrument and can march. We’ve done this before and it is fun.
If you are a musician and are interested give me a call. We also need more instructors and some support people.
Ken Tyler
West Gardiner
marching@roadrunner.com
207-592-4536
Ask to support LD 868
To the editor:
Please call your state representative and ask them to co-sponsor and vote for LD 868, a bill that will recognize a concealed handgun permit issued to a person by that person’s state of residence if that person’s state of residence honors a permit to carry a concealed handgun issued under Maine law.
This change to the current law will mean that Maine residents traveling to other states for the winter will be able to carry their concealed handgun in that state if that state recognizes our permit. It does not in any way change the current requirements to acquire a concealed handgun permit in Maine.
The key is that we allow residents of that state to carry their handgun in Maine if they have met all the requirements in their own state such as Florida. If the state of residence of a person carrying a concealed weapon and who has a permit from their own state but that state does not recognize the Maine permit, then their permit will not be valid in Maine.
Currently we have driver’s licenses that are recognized in every state in the union and we recognize all other states’ driver’s licenses. This bill would grant the same recognition for the carrying of concealed handguns if the other state recognizes our Maine permit.
If you agree with this position, please contact your state legislator and ask them to support LD 868, an act pertaining to reciprocity for concealed handgun permits.
Neal A. Williams
Greenville
