Letters to the editor

To the editor:
The Selectmen of the Town of New Sweden, after more than six months of careful consideration of all information available from; The Maine Department of Education, School Union 122, the New Sweden School Board, The Regional Planning Commission, Maine Municipal Association, numerous superintendents and concerned citizens, have concluded that joining the Regional School Unit (RSU) is the best alternative and is in the best interest of our students, our tax payers and the town as a whole.     As representatives for the town of New Sweden we believe a ‘Yes’ vote to the RSU (consisting of New Sweden, Woodland, Stockholm, Westmanland, Caribou, Limestone, Fort Fairfield and Caswell) Plan on January 27th will allow us to keep our school open, provide quality education for our students, and provide the most stable tax base.
Taxes are likely to increase regardless of the voting results due to many reasons, including state cuts in funding, valuation adjustments, and revenue short falls. We felt that the New Sweden taxpayers would be better served using the RSU model in light that no viable alternative plan has been provided. Even if an alternative plan were presented, our superintendent has made it clear that in order to operate next year our school system would require a 3- to 5-mil increase in educational funding. Standing alone would require more funding and effectively close the school because the taxpayers probably would find it hard to vote on such increases. If the New Sweden school didn’t get the increase then curriculum and staffing would have to be cut.
In Commissioner Susan Gendron’s letter dated Jan. 16, 2009, she clarified that “The law indicates that units must vote in the affirmative on a reorganization plan by January 30, 2009. Until there is an affirmative vote, the penalties will apply.” We do not feel it is in the best interest of our town to test these waters, which in our current budgetary situation the taxpayer would be better served to join.
The RSU model is a tool to cut out extraneous overhead in operating expenses and administration costs that should provide long term cost savings for the New Sweden resident, state and local taxpayers. We therefore, unanimously endorse the proposed Regional School Unit and recommend that New Sweden voters vote “Yes” to accept the plan at the town office January 27th 2009.

To the editor:
On Jan. 27, 2009, there will be a referendum vote in Caribou and in the surrounding communities of Caswell, Fort Fairfield, Limestone, New Sweden, Stockholm, Westmanland and Woodland about reorganizing our schools into one larger system known as a Regional School Unit (RSU). This vote is in accordance with a new state law that requires schools throughout the state to consolidate their administration into units serving between 1,200 and 2,500 students.
The ultimate purpose of this legislation is to save taxpayers’ money at a time when schools face declining student enrollments and budgetary challenges. This is likely the most important educational decision Caribou voters will be asked to make in their lifetime.
Although many of us on the Board of Education were skeptical as this law was forced upon us with a rapid, seemingly unrealistic timeline for implementation, we have become convinced that we must embrace the plan and provide leadership to ensure that all students in Caribou and our neighboring communities will receive the highest quality education possible. In December, we voted unanimously to support this reorganization plan.
While we recognize there will be expenses in the initial development of a new RSU unit, we anticipate that, in the long run, savings to the taxpayers in each of the affected communities will be substantial. Those savings would result from having just one superintendent; consolidating office staff, accounting and bus maintenance; bulk purchasing; sharing specialists and so on. Estimated savings are expected to approach $447,894 in the first three years.
On the other hand, each community voting against this effort to regionalize will be financially penalized, required to continue efforts to regionalize and placed at the lowest priority if/when new building projects are needed. For example, Caribou will be penalized $209,380 in the first year, and that penalty is expected to increase each year thereafter.
The Caribou School Reorganization Planning Committee and the Regionalization Planning Committee have worked tirelessly on this project for the past two years and developed the reorganization plan that was submitted to the Department of Education.
For more information, we invite all interested parties to attend the Public Forum on Wednesday, Jan. 21 at the Caribou Performing Arts Center. Information and a summary of the Reorganization Plan, including a Microsoft PowerPoint presentation, are also available on the Caribou School Web site at www.caribouschools.org. These Web site materials are provided to the public so that all concerned community members may obtain more information, have the opportunity to ask any questions they may have and formulate an informed opinion on the issue prior to the vote on Tuesday, Jan. 27.
We urge you to vote in support of this Referendum.

To the editor:
The State Ethics Commission will hold a hearing on January 29th in Augusta on an ethics charge filed by John Martin, former Speaker of the Maine House, against me — the Republican congressional candidate — on Halloween eve. The charge claims that my radio and print ad “The Three Amigos”, which linked the incumbent Mike Michaud to Governor Baldacci and Mr. Martin, was an attempt by by me to defeat Mr. Martin in the recent election, in which he ran unopposed.
The satirical radio ad, which can be heard at www.fraryforcongress.com, stated that Martin, Baldacci and Michaud were “The Three Amigos of the North Maine Woods”, and that the policies advocated by the three men in tandem were directed at enriching themselves while “Maine’s economy burns,”
Martin, who was unopposed in his election, claims that the ad was directed, in part, at electing his opponent. Baldacci was not on the ballot, and was not a Clean Elections candidate in 2006. Michaud, and all federal candidates, have no Clean Election option.
This is astonishing. The legal advice I have received to date is that if this concerns something I did in my Congressional campaign, then the legal response is simple: the Commission has no jurisdiction over federal candidates. Black letter law. Simple and straight forward. I invite all my friends to attend the hearing. I wouldn’t miss it for the world.
The hearing before the State Ethics Commission will be Thursday, January 29th, at 9 a.m. at the Public Utilities Hearing Room, 242 State Street in Augusta. It is open to the public.

To the editor:
I was surprised when I read the article in the Jan. 12 Bangor Daily News in regard to Life Flight landing sites set for snowsled trails. As a member of a snowmobile club, I agree it’s one heck of a project with a lot of work to do. I was surprised to read that the clubs are willing to do it and all clubs are really working hard on this.
The article stated that the project is two-pronged. First, local snowmobile clubs will work to establish landing zones at (appropriate) locations along the trails. Second, Life Flight crew members and local rescue personnel will train snowmobilers on how to report a serious accident and how to set up a landing zone in the event a local rescue is not available.
In Aroostook County for many years we have had many ways to report snowmobile accidents and we are well prepared to act if one happens. Most snowmobile clubs have rescue sleds already for accidents. Presently I do not believe that Life Flight crewmembers can improve the way we report serious accidents. I recommend that clubs do not establish too many landing zones until they know where the accidents are going to happen. If the Life Flight site is built in the town of Houlton and the accident happens 30 miles back in woods near the town of Portage, that would not be an (appropriate) location.
The only way this very expensive program could work, would be to build a landing zone while Life Flight is coming to pick up the victim. Life Flight is a wonderful program but for moving an injured person from a snowmobile trail to the nearest hospital, it appears to me that an ambulance is much more economical.

To the editor:
The family of Kimberly Lagasse Desjardins wishes to thank all those who were involved in making the benefit concert in December such a huge success. The hard work done by the Rev. Ron Rosser to put the concert together is greatly appreciated. His words of comfort and his prayers have meant so very much to us.
Thank you to all the members of the band, “The Good Ole Boys”. The music was fantastic and the gift of all of their time and talent was surely a blessing upon all in attendance.
To everyone who ventured out on a cold winter’s night to share time, thought, prayers and generous donations with us — thank you from the bottom of our hearts.
The success of the benefit has enabled us to move on with the expansion of our home. May God bless you all.

To the editor:
Beginning last summer the City Council began speaking to us about a “contract for services” between the CCC&I and the city. We have drafted a plan (call us, come in and get a copy). At this point the city has written in a clause which would essentially be a termination clause where either party might terminate the “contract” with six months’ notice. The suggestion has also been made to eliminate a three year “term” or agreement between the two entities. The following is our “argument” why a three-year agreement would be beneficial.
Beneficial to city
Three years should be the minimum term considered for an agreement of this scope because of the nature of the partnership between CCC&I and the city. It would be wasteful for the city to review bids and proposed agreements for potential economic development partners on a more frequent basis.
This continues the existing partnership between CCC&I and the city of Caribou. The CDC and the Chamber were merged with the intention of maintaining a close working relationship between the two entities. If the city feels the relationship needs to change or be tweaked, let’s agree to continue under a three-year term and continue the dialogue while maintaining the current level of services to the community.
Close coordination between CCC&I and the city maximizes each entity’s impact on economic development. Since city and Chamber work so closely together, they have the potential to combine each entity’s assets to support development projects (for example: DHHS, other recent building transfers in 2008).
CCC&I is already established as a focal point for businesses and economic development in Caribou. High visibility presence in Downtown Caribou. Acts as a contact point for people interested in commercial activity Caribou — often a first stop for people new to Caribou. Close partnership with the city means these leads are discussed with city government close in time to the visits at CCC&I.
The CCC&I has experience and expertise with providing the annual functions that Caribou is known for – Arts & Crafts Fair, Winter Carnival, City-Wide Yard Sale, Caribou Cares About Kids, etc. This provides for a high degree of visibility for the city and the projects proceed smoothly.
If the city is looking for a different partner than CCC&I, it is going to be very hard to attract someone without a three-year agreement because there will need to be time to transition between CCC&I and a successor, and the successor will need to train up its people to fulfill the role.
Beneficial to CCC&I
Without city support, the dual mission of CCC&I as a Chamber of Commerce and an economic development agency would wither. As a chamber of commerce, it is not self-sustaining without support from the city. It could continue alone with reduced visibility as an economic development office without city support (independent loan fund and income), but who picks up the Chamber piece?
A three-year agreement needed to attract qualified directors. It is difficult to expect CCC&I to attract directors from the community willing to give of their time to manage this non-profit without same commitment by the community to the CCC&I. A three year agreement that is terminable only for cause will be important for recruiting new board members.
Similarly, three-year agreement needed to be able to recruit and train qualified staff to support the CCC&I mission. We want people who are going to stay and help grow CCC&I’s economic development portfolio and put on smooth-running community functions. It will be impossible to do this with people who won’t have any assurance of continuing employment.

To the editor:
Caribou has access to loan pools which are unique to all other single service communities in the state: USDA funds, Finance Authority of Maine funds, a city revolving loan pool, and a Caribou Chamber of Commerce & Industry loan pool. The CCC&I is the “owner” or steward of those funds for the city of Caribou.
As a GAP financer, we support and fill in the literal “gap” those businesses which do not otherwise qualify for “traditional” commercial financing. We often make provisions for clients who are having difficulties meeting their obligations with their primary lenders. We have over $2 million out in loans right now.
Gap financing becomes increasingly more important to small businesses in times of economic belt tightening. It is not uncommon for a small business to secure gap financing as part of a larger financial assistance package, and often occurs in coordination with other traditional community lenders providing service in the area. It is higher risk lending, by its very definition.
We have had eight loans since 1995 which were written off (as bad debt) by either ourselves, or the city of Caribou. We have made 68 loans (lending more than $4.5 million). Only eight loans out of 68. Three of those loans were written or charged off before 2001. Five were charged off since then, and four of those five have been completely recapitalized (we’ve replaced the monies back into the loan pool). We recapitalized those loans back to our available loan pools not because we were required to, but because we chose to. We chose to over several years.
We have made choices to not spend our administrative fees on our operating expenses, but rather to put the money back to the loan pools: so we can provide a service to our businesses now and in the future. Our bad debt losses with the USDA are less than .001 percent of our overall portfolio. Our bad debt losses with FAME are at 2.5%. We lent $765,000 in 2008 in new loan funds to Caribou businesses. We leveraged (the banks put in 80 percent for instance, and we put in the 20 percent) $1,310,000 in 2008. Since 1995 we’ve leveraged just over $10 million with other commercial lenders.
We are audited every year by an independent auditor, and we are audited every year by both the USDA and FAME. Our receiving more funds from FAME is contingent upon our responsible stewardship of our existing portfolio.
We believe our GAP financing provides opportunities for our small businesses which would otherwise not exist but for our assistance. I hope you share our belief in this organization, and encourage anyone with questions or concerns to stop in our offices anytime.