Local Letters to the Editor

Food Cupboard
appreciates support

To the Editor:
    The United Methodist Ecumenical Food Cupboard would like to extend a heartfelt “Thank You” to our area business owners and private community members for your generosity in creating a partnership during the recent food drives in the greater Milo, Brownville and Lagrange areas.

    As a result of the continued kindness of all involved, the funding both in food and monies resulted in the UMEFC providing Thanksgiving and Christmas baskets as well as food once a month for many of our neighbors in need.

Lou and Hope Dyer
Milo

E-W Corridor
opponents to address Somerset
commissioners

To the Editor:
    Arguments opposing a utility corridor from Canada to Canada through rural Maine will be presented to the Somerset County Commissioners at their next regular public meeting on Wednesday, July 17 at 4:30 p.m. Five-minute prepared commentaries will be given by eight Somerset County residents followed by open discussion among all who attend.
    The eight topics addressed by Friends Of The Kennebec Watershed’s Speakers Bureau are as follows: “The Real Wealth of the Maine Landscape,” “Projected Net Gains and Net Losses of Jobs,” “Rail as the already-in-place East-West Corridor,” “Traditional Use of Land in Rural Maine,” “Vulnerability of the Unorganized Territories under the new LUPC Law,” “Environmental Impacts of a Major Corridor Project Transecting Maine,” “Property Values, Eminent Domain and Condemnation Blight,” and “Economic Realities of the East West Corridor.”
    The presentation will occur following regular business at the Commissioners’ meeting and will run about one hour, including open discourse between presenters, the Commissioners and the public following the commentaries. As is customary, all County Commissioners’ meetings are open to the public. Please come and engage in this vital discussion with regional elected officials concerning a privately-funded and shrouded “proposal” by Cianbro — a Trans-Appalachian Private Corporate Corridor that would pass through Somerset County.

Sidney Mitchell
Dover-Foxcroft

Pride and accomplishment

To the Editor:
    When much ado and public pomposity ensues, there is usually a liberal behind it. So has been the case in the resurrection of the remnants of Roger Katz and the Pretentious Eight. Sen. Katz has made his name and call to fame by publicly disparaging the Governor and undermining the efforts of the Republican Party to protect the people of Maine from burdensome tax increases. It seems the “Honorable” senator from Augusta gets the shivers every time the Governor gets grumpy.
    Yes, the Governor’s words were uncalled for. We know that. He knows that. But let’s compare the records of these two men — their accomplishments and what they take pride in:
    It is well documented that the Governor has a street fighter’s mentality. He has a tenacity and rough edge that is born from the sidewalks and alleys of Waterville and Lewiston. It has served him well as he has scrapped his way up through the business ranks to now be the executive of the state of Maine.
    When he held the majority, he passed many sweeping reforms in Maine. He enacted the largest tax cut in Maine’s history, cutting $150 million in the first two years and $500 million over four years. He removed 70,000 of Maine’s lowest income families from the tax rolls, increased the death tax exemption, and allotted $31 million to relieve the tax burden on job creators.
    He paid $248 million to the hospitals on the huge debt owed them by the state. He passed LD 1 and reformed Maine’s dysfunctional regulatory system. He reformed health care insurance, allowing competition across state lines.
    Now with a minority, he has held the line on tax increases and government overreaches by sustaining some 18 vetoes of the Democrats. He has stood his ground against Justin Alfond and the Democrat majority and forced them to pay the hospital debt.
    Roger Katz comes from an entrenched Democrat political family in Augusta. He has gained some notoriety from publicly criticizing the Governor’s crusty personality. Perhaps Mr. Katz operates a finishing school that he would like the Governor to attend.
    Sen. Katz is known in Augusta as the one Republican that the Democrats can rely on to help circumvent Republican tax reform attempts. His latest accomplishment is organizing a betrayal of Maine residents by helping to pass a Democrat purposed budget that increases taxes on Maine people, despite the veto of the Governor, then writing an editorial touting it as a victory, while railing against the Governor, again. Roger Katz is consistent if nothing else.
    What Mr. Katz has done is deepened the divide between the northern and southern Maine interests. Rural Maine can no longer sustain the “marginal” tax increases that Mr. Katz advocates. It’s just a matter of time before its small businesses and its tenuous fiscal structure become insolvent.
    But it doesn’t matter to the “Honorable” Mr. Katz. He has a political coup for his resume and he lives in Augusta, buried in the political machine. There he will stay, sipping the nectar of the tax revenue his maneuverings have procured.
    Their perspectives are completely the opposite. Their accomplishments speak for themselves. The Governor believes in the people. The Senator believes in government. Each takes pride in defending their beliefs. Still, in the end, it is We The People who pay the price and who must decide whose accomplishments we take pride in.

Andy Torbett
Atkinson