There is a thief in Dover-Foxcroft. It currently exists in the proposed revision of the town charter and it's ready to steal away your right to vote all the budgetary warrant articles presented on the ballot at the June municipal election. That's right! If you approve the revised town charter appearing as a referendum on this June's ballot you will effectively lose the ability to vote by secret ballot on any budget-related item except a "bottom line" budget total.

Taxed enough already? Well, yes and no. In our last letters we discussed taxes levied by the State of Maine. About 50 percent of their revenue comes from regressive sales taxes and another 40 percent comes from (very) mildly progressive income taxes (the rest from licenses and other taxes).

The Forest Society of Maine (FSM), a land trust serving Maine’s North Woods, holds nearly 1 million acres of forestland in conservation easements. A good portion of the conservation easements we hold surround the Moosehead Lake region and extend to the north, west and east including many mountains, lakes and rivers. The conservation easements typically allow for continued sustainable forest management and the landowners, who still own the land, continue to pay taxes on the land. The public benefits from the permanently assured public access and the conservation of wildlife habitat, special natural areas, recreational assets, and scenic beauty the easements ensure.

Stop trying to fool us, Angus. I'll admit, you are a talented salesman. You have built a carefully crafted image over the years, and have created a very successful personal brand. You have used that mythos to make quite a career for yourself. But what you have built is a phony house of cards, and it is time to just come clean with the truth about who you are. Enough already.

Aren't town charters developed to be a kind of rule book to which town administrations and town residents can agree to adhere? Shouldn't one be able to assume revisions of that charter would be undertaken in the interest of these residents and in an effort to achieve maximum transparency by the town's government? Well, the currently proposed (revised) Dover-Foxcroft Municipal Charter appears to do just the opposite.

On behalf of our lovely community and the Moosehead Lake Region, I want to thank the People's United Methodist Church for the wonderful spaghetti suppers they have on Wednesday nights. They are delicious. Also the Thanksgiving dinner every year. We appreciate all the work church members do in preparing these lovely meals.

The spring that never was, at least that's the prediction as of late from the weather prophets. As we dream of warm spring air and fear it may never again appear through the snow drifts, the maple sugar industry is just wishing the sap would run. It’s awful hard to boil sap without any sap.

Have you ever heard of certificate of need? Neither had I, until a few years ago when I began to learn more about the health policy environment in Maine, and just how backward it has been.

Single payer health care, sometimes referred to as “Medicare for All”, is the 900-pound gorilla sitting quietly in the corner during health care discussions. Fifty-eight percent of us support it. Now that the American Health Care Act has been put on hold, maybe even more people will be open to taking a look.

Now that House Speaker Paul Ryan has affirmed that the Affordable Care Act is the law of the land for the foreseeable future, Republican and Democratic lawmakers have the responsibility to come together to fix what’s wrong with it and work together to expand its benefits to all Americans.

I am deeply saddened and alarmed by President Trump's recent executive order to dismantle President Obama's program to fight climate change. Climate change is one of the most significant threats that challenge our earth today.

Monday, I had the pleasure — and I say that with a fairly substantial amount of sarcasm — of attending the public hearing that was being held on five bills that seek, in a variety of ways, to deal with the 3 percent tax surcharge passed by referendum last fall.

To the Editor; SAD 4 is facing another tough budget ahead.

Taxed enough already? If you are a working family, yes! And we are taxed on the wrong things.

After reading my last two articles, some may view my thoughts on this matter of the marriage license as a capitulation from my past stance on Traditional Marriage.

To the Editor; Good morning from the shores of beautiful Moosehead Lake on this cold late-winter morning, as we anticipate another winter storm.

It’s time to get rid of annual vehicle inspection requirement Tired of being forced to have your car inspected every year? Do you think the only beneficiaries of Maine’s inspection program are car mechanics and government bureaucrats? We all know how it works.

I read with interest a recent opinion piece in the BDN authored by Sen.