Bangor Daily News

State Board Resumes Talks On Help for Gambling Addicts

AUGUSTA - Assistance for people with an addiction to gambling was among the issues discussed last week by members of the Maine Gambling Control Board. Making sure such help is available is among the board's charges. Work to that end began several months before the November opening of Hollywood Slots at Bangor, the state's first casino-style gaming establishment.

Combat Wants to Recruit You As a Volunteer

Our organization, the oldest consumer advocacy agency of its kind in America, has relied on good Maine people to volunteer to help us get important work done. Since our creation in 1972, we have done key casework and mediation services for our business and individual members as well as serving as a resource for the general public. This has been done, almost exclusively, with dedicated volunteers.

Focus On Energy

Focus On Energy Q&A

Q: Since my hot water tank is heated by propane gas and since I cannot wrap it, how may I make it more energy efficient? I have placed insulation wrap on the hot water pipe that leads out of the tank. What else may I do? - Barbara Waters, Millinocket A: Gas-fired water heaters contain a flue through which the combustion gases pass, giving up their energy to the surrounding water. Under steady state conditions, about 70 percent of the energy in the propane will be transferred to the water. Whe...

Hands Off Acadia

A behind-the-scenes struggle involving the National Park Service is reaching a climax. Its outcome could affect the future of Acadia National Park, valued as Maine's greatest natural treasure.

A Rising Tide

In a recent New York Review of Books, environment writer Bill McKibbon reintroduces the nonscientific world to James Hansen, who 17 years ago warned the public of the presence of global warming. Mr. Hansen was subsequently vilified and heralded, his work as a NASA scientist refuted then supported. Seven years after his testimony before the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, more than 1,000 scientists supported his conclusion that the Earth was warming due to the greenhouse effe...

Public Sector Salaries

It is sad to see that the Bangor Daily News does not seem to employ any fact-checking editors for local columnists. A lot of the statements that are presented as true in many columns are in fact unsupported by any data. An example is Renee Ordway's column of Jan. 6. As she elucidates on the duties of a Bangor policeman she writes that he would be making more money in the private sector. This is totally false. If she and her editor would have consulted the figures produced by the Maine Departm...

Bush Abuses Power

I fully agree with James Scroggy's letter, "Call for impeachment" (BDN, Jan. 5). I wrote a letter to Sen. Susan Collins and asked her to take a line from former Sen. William Cohen's playbook in the early '70s when Richard Nixon was president. Cohen said, "[My] president is a crook," meaning Nixon. She did not reply to my letter.

Concerned in Searsport

Of the 457 organized communities in Maine more than half have adopted comprehensive plans, a majority of which include a zoning or land use ordinance to support their plan. Other towns, faced with the reality of box stores and strip malls creeping their way, are suddenly aware of the need for a comprehensive plan and ordinance to help them deal with the impact of random development. They are under pressure and running out of time to properly consider issues such as police and emergency servic...

Maine's Rino Senators

Our two GOP senators have consistently voted with the Democrats on pro-abortion and anti-oil exploration in Alaska. Olympia Snowe voted against making tax cuts permanent. Recently, she and Susan Collins opposed cutting government spending to reduce the budget deficit. Now they are clamoring for more government spending to subsidize fuel aid. Snowe and Collins have been identified as two of the top 10 Republicans In Name Only (RINO).

Overseer of the Family

The pictures of the Bangor trolley cars in the Weekly section of the Jan. 5 edition of the Bangor Daily News reminded me of a bit of family humor. My maternal grandfather, William Pelkey, a.k.a. Belonie Pelletier, was employed at Bangor Hydro as a carpenter. These men kept the cars repaired as they were mainly constructed of wood. Whenever my father, with hammer and nails in hand, attempted some project, my mother stood in command of the job because - to quote her - "I should know how to do t...

Year-End Statistics for Hollywood Slots

According to the year-end report for Hollywood Slots at Bangor, which opened its Main Street gaming facility to the public on Nov. 4, 2004, a total of $60,252,671 has been wagered so far on the facility's 475 slot machines. The report shows that Hollywood Slots' net revenue for its first two months of operation was $4,155,653.