Bangor Daily News

Flags of Honor Blue Hill Residents Fly the Stars and Stripes to Counter Anti-War Display

BLUE HILL - A red pickup truck puttered in reverse Wednesday morning along Route 172 in downtown Blue Hill, stopping at every utility pole along the way. At each pole, a group of five hopped out of the back and went to work with pit crew-like efficiency. Within a few brief moments, a 3- foot-by-5-foot American flag was suspended high over the sidewalk while the crew moved along to the next pole.

Mainer's Legacy Lives On Sinclair's Forest Policies 'Still in Place Today'

FORT KENT - The light in John Sinclair's eyes twinkled with a sharp brightness, and memories of decades of the Maine woods spilled from his tongue as he sat on the porch of Rose Nadeau's camp on Eagle Lake the last three summers. His love of the Maine woods and rivers, which were a big part of the more than eight decades he spent on Earth, were always on his mind, and he spoke lovingly and openly of both to anyone who would listen.

Web Site: Millinocket Will Be Hot in '07

MILLINOCKET - As tourist destinations go, they all just roll together right off the tongue: Kailua, on the island of Oahu. Macon, Georgia. Vail, Colorado. Millinocket, Maine. Eureka, California. Yeah, you read that right.

Baldacci Budget Targeted in Debate Gubernatorial Candidates Clash Over State Finances, Partisanship

ORONO - The five candidates for governor kept their final televised debate a cordial affair for the most part Wednesday night, clashing only occasionally over state finances and partisanship in Augusta. When criticism was leveled, however, Gov. John Baldacci, seeking a second term, most often took the brunt of it from the other candidates in the race. At the debate's outset, independent Barbara Merrill and Republican Chandler Woodcock took the incumbent to task for mishandling the state's fin...

Migratory Horsefeathers

The Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918 is entirely clear about the possession of a robin's feather.t ttIt is against the law for those without specific permission "to pursue, hunt, take, capture, kill, attempt to take, capture, or kill, possess, offer for sale, sell, offer to barter, barter, offer to purchase, purchase, deliver for shipment, ship, export, import, cause to be shipped, exported, or imported, deliver for transportation, transport or cause to be transported, carry or cause to be c...

Edging Toward Chaos

Last week, the White House jettisoned the phrase "Stay the course" to describe its strategy for Iraq. Tactics change all the time to respond to the enemy, has become President Bush's new mantra. What the changing rhetoric misses is that the overall policy in Iraq is failing and that no amount of tactical changes can save it. By the military's account, Iraq is steadily moving toward chaos. A slide used during an Oct. 18 classified briefing by the U.S. Central Command shows that based on more t...

Thanks for Stopping

Hopefully the people who hit my Yorkie puppy on Oct. 14 on Route 222 in Levant see this. I so much appreciate your stopping and letting me know you hit her and did not keep on driving. More people need to take that responsibility because animals are indeed people's "children."

Don't Protect Killers

During World War II, under President Franklin Roosevelt, America would accept nothing but unconditional surrender from our enemies, Germany and Japan. During the Korean and Vietnam wars that were fought while we had Democrats in the White House, the philosophy changed to that of containment. We didn't fight to win, but to contain the enemy. Now, 60 years later, we are dealing with a belligerent North Korea.

Salute Is Appreciated

Traveling through the reconstruction of U.S. Route 1 in Sullivan, there are signs of the strong patriotic feelings and respect we have for our troops and veterans in Maine and across the country. While passing though the Sorrento intersection a few times in September and October, I encountered a "flagger" of a different kind. Without fail, she spotted my veteran status license plates and saluted me as I drove by. After her salute I was always reciprocal.

On Free Expression

It's disturbing when you witness a journalist like Tom Weber having a hysterical nanny moment ("Songwriters' expulsion warranted," BDN, Oct. 28-29). Here is a man whose very being depends on the First Amendment willing to deny persons use of free expression.

Holiday Inn First Rate

Progress always comes at a price. We need to look no farther than the closing of the Holiday Inn on Main Street in Bangor to have the point driven home. During my 18-plus years at Bass Park, the Holiday Inn often played a vital role in our ability to "make events happen." Whether they were welcoming families in town for the tournaments, finding accommodations for a famous country act or catering a sit- down meal for 500 in the Civic Center, we could always count on "Main Street" to do a firs...

Readers Write On Election Issues Re-Elect Da Geoff Rushlau

The voters of Waldo, Knox, Lincoln and Sagadahoc counties have been fortunate in having as their elected district attorney Geoffrey Rushlau. Geoff possesses all the qualities necessary to being a competent and effective prosecutor. He has taken a leadership role in the Maine Prosecutor's Association in drafting and shepherding through the Legislature major criminal legislation which has toughened the laws on child sexual assault, violence against women, domestic violence and drunken driving.

Readers Write On Election Issues Changed Mind for Snowe

I've read the articles in the Bangor Daily News, the editorials, letters to the editor; I've watched the televised discussions and I've studied the candidates' Web sites. A few weeks ago I would have said that I could not and would not vote for Olympia Snowe for U.S. Senate because of her continued support of the Bush administration's policies and actions in Iraq. But just during the past few weeks she has expressed that "staying the course is neither an option nor a plan." When asked about D...

Readers Write On Election Issues Merrill the Best Candidate

The BDN series on candidate questions and answers was great - helpful and informative. It introduced me to the attributes of Barbara Merrill, independent candidate for governor. Her views on employment, energy, TABOR, Sears Island and education are right on target. I contacted her campaign for road signs (they only go on private property, in line with Merrill's vow to not clutter the environment - would that all candidates had kept to the same agreement) and am proud to display them in my yard.

Readers Write On Election Issues No Need to Fear Tabor

One who watches the TV ads and reads the newspaper articles assuring us that TABOR will singlehandedly cripple our police forces, fire departments and school systems might assume it to be some omnipotent bureaucrat with evil intentions. TABOR is simply a budgetary instrument. Maine has a representative form of government, and there is, therefore, a reasonable expectation that those whom we elect function as figurative extensions of us and our families. Since the average wage-earner in Maine d...

Blaming Humans First

Contrary to an opinion printed in the Oct. 25 letters, the United States at 300 million is not overpopulated nor does this milestone spell doom for the planet. The commentator repeats an oft-cited statistic that Americans consume a great deal more per capita than people in developing countries. What that statistic leaves out is that Americans also produce much more per capita than people in the developing world and that what we do produce is of great value not only to ourselves but to the e...

Readers Write On Election Issues; Voting No in Lincolnville

What you need to know about the proposed new Lincolnville Municipal Building: 1. The cost of this project is $2.3 million. The purpose of this project is to add fire and police facilities to an expanded town office.

Readers Write On Election Issues Baldacci has Been There

Before John Baldacci was even elected our governor he had an established and successful record of fighting for the working people of Maine. Since his election as our governor, he was instrumental in restarting the bankrupt Great Northern Paper mills in Millinocket and East Millinocket. They may not employ as many people as they once did, but more than 500 people have jobs there today because of his efforts.

Readers Write On Election Issues Woodcock Is Just Right

In the editorial, "Baldacci for Governor" (BDN, Oct. 21-22), it's stated that Sen. Chandler Woodcock "showed himself to be on the far right..." I've spent some time with Woodcock and as a moderate, if not a liberal Republican, I do not share your assessment. I was present when former New Jersey Gov. Christine Todd Whitman, chair of the moderate political action committee It's My Party Too, announced her endorsement of Woodcock for governor in Augusta on Oct. 14. Woodcock was one of fewer than...