Bangor Daily News

Gop Adds Mills in Race for Governor

AUGUSTA - Maine Republicans will have at least two choices for governor next June after state Sen. Peter Mills officially announced Tuesday he will seek the GOP nomination for the Blaine House. "I've got a plan for Maine," Mills said. "I've got a 12-point plan, and I want to get elected on the basis of it so that people will say: 'We have to do this plan because that's what he ran on.' I want a mandate to get something done."

Maine Man Witness to Struggles in Sudan Darfur Refugees Desperate for Food Aid

NORTHPORT - Stan Stalla can watch lobster fishermen tend their traps from his coastal home, but his job takes him across an ocean to a world where he sees starvation. A veteran aid worker, Stalla, 54, spent four months earlier this year in the Darfur region of Sudan, Africa's largest country, and in neighboring Chad. He's scheduled to return next week.

Correcting the Record

A story in Tuesday's State section about the vessel Raw Faith's impending sail from Rockland to Jonesport misattributed two sentences related to the work on the ship, restrictions on its travel and the weather. The comments were made by Lt. Daniel McLean of the Coast Guard's marine safety office. --

Lobster Molt Delays Catch Prediction

A midsummer molting season for lobsters off the coast of Maine so far has prevented professionals in the industry from predicting how the yearly catch will turn out. Lobstermen and scientists alike are curious to see whether 2005 will resemble 2004, when a late-season flurry of lobster landings led to a record annual statewide harvest of more than 70 million pounds.

Hazy Climate Gains

Environmental groups were quick to criticize a six-nation climate pact as too little, too late. They are right, but bringing China, the world's fastest growing emitter of greenhouse gases, to the table to talk about climate change is an important step. The key will be quickly following the Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate with actions to reduce the emissions of climate altering pollutants, especially in the United States. The Bush administration announced last week th...

Luther Springer's Life Lessons

Ask almost anyone in Ellsworth or Hancock about Luther Springer, and you'll get a smile and a flood of memories about a man who became a local legend among sportsmen and among three generations of Mainers who rode the school buses he drove for 27 years regularly and until his late 70s as a relief driver. Mr. Springer died July 22 at the age of 81 after a courageous fight with cancer. A number of fellow golfers skipped a tournament the next day to join a capacity gathering for his funeral at U...

Kindness to Creatures

I agree completely with Jan Beckett, of Milford (BDN letter, July 30-31), who wrote that making tigers jump through flaming hoops at the Bangor State Fair is cruel treatment of noble animals. Anyone who has a household pet cat knows. Cats - clean, graceful, quiet, easy to care for - are often surprisingly affectionate and companionable, but they have minds of their own, and don't do tricks on command or even come when called, except when they want to, or it starts to rain or it's mealtime for...

Best Bridge Placement

Have the business leaders and citizens of Calais been duped? An article in the July 29 Bangor Daily News reports that the business leaders in Calais are concerned about the third bridge site. It seems these leaders are concerned that the "proposed" location in Milltown would "take tourist traffic away from retail stores and restaurants." It is time these leaders opened their eyes to this exploitation by a select few concerning the third bridge placement. The business leaders and citizens of C...

Goodbye, 'Tug' Foley

It seems that only the big names, or the "Cadillacs," as William "Tug" Foley would call them, get all the praise and accolades after they have left this life, but Tug was the best of the best - one of the good guys. Some leave behind their monuments of steel, concrete or stone, but Tug [who died last week] will always be remembered as a kind, gentle and generous man and tough, if he had to be, as he walked his beat [as a city patrolman] in some of the tough sections of Bangor, especially Exch...

Christians Have Rights

Gay and lesbian students aren't the only minority to experience prejudice at the hands of the teachers and fellow students in Maine's public schools ("Gay, lesbian students silent Maine minority," op-ed by Paul Knowles, BDN, July 30-31). Christians are regularly denigrated, and their beliefs attacked as hateful or ignorant. If diversity is to be true, then it must embrace the rights of Christians, too.

Ptsd Can Be Treated

I was pleased to see that Congress has increased the amount of money available for health care to veterans. I have been privileged to treat people who have served our country from World War II, Korea, Vietnam and Desert Storm. My patients have had post-traumatic stress disorder, and I have seen them make good use of the treatment available to them.

Correction