Bangor Daily News

Fema in Maine to Assess Flood Damage 4 Teams in County for Emergency Aid

Federal officials began the assessment process Monday to calculate damage across Maine from last week's heavy rain and flooding. Federal Emergency Management Agency officials will assess damage to private homes and businesses in Aroostook County and to roads and other public infrastructure in the midcoast area, said Lynette Miller, spokeswoman for the Maine Emergency Management Agency.

Vivid Picture of Murder Scene Painted As Ellsworth Trial Begins

ELLSWORTH - Tad Howard was the victim of a "literal execution" carried out by John J. Turner, a Bangor man who owed him significant drug debts, a prosecutor argued on Monday. But Turner and Howard were not the only two people at the scene of Howard's death last summer on a rural road in Amherst, according to a defense attorney.

Correcting the Record

An article on Page A1 of Monday's paper about flooding in Fort Kent misidentified the Catholic bishop of Maine. He is the Most Rev. Richard J. Malone. A story on Page A2 of Monday's paper about the GOP state convention held in Augusta over the weekend contained errors. Ann Robinson, a Portland lawyer, is the first woman to chair the Maine Republican State Convention. National Committeewoman Karen Raye, state Chairman Mark Ellis and likely incoming national Committeeman Rick Bennett are expec...

Clickback with Candidates

This week, ClickBack asks readers to submit questions they would ask candidates in the 1st Congressional District primary races. The 1st District seat has been held by Democrat Tom Allen for 12 years; Rep. Allen is challenging Sen. Susan Collins for a Senate seat in November. Six Democrats - Michael Brennan, Adam Cote, Mark Lawrence, Steve Meister, Chellie Pingree and Ethan Strimling - are seeking their party's nomination. On the Republican side, Dean Scontras and Charlie Summers are vying fo...

Bangor Home Companion

It may have been a quiet week in Lake Wobegon, the fictional hometown of "A Prairie Home Companion" host Garrison Keillor. But in Bangor, where Mr. Keillor broadcast his weekly radio show live from the auditorium Saturday night, it was anything but quiet. The popularity of the public radio show, which has been on the air since 1974, was confirmed in Maine when tickets for the Bangor broadcast sold out shortly after becoming available in October. On Saturday night, the audience embraced the Mi...

Micmac Dispute

Maine media has covered stories on the rights of the Maine native people. We've read about LD 2221 and the importance of a tribe's right to self-governance. The Aroostook Band of Micmacs requested to be omitted from the bill because of the tribe's internal governing instability. Allow me to explain. In May 2007, our tribe held its biennial elections and elected a government of its people in a record number of voters; however, it was thwarted by the interpretation of our tribal laws by outside...

Required Reading

The BDN is to be commended for publishing Katrina Bisheimer's April 28 column, "Don't shift the cost of war to Iraqis." It's a complete clarification of all aspects of the Iraq war, instigated and carried on for more than five years by the Bush-Cheney regime. Her final paragraph should be required reading among our present "ruling class" in Washington, D.C.

Ld 1 Override Pitfalls

In response to the BDN's April 23 article on Palmyra's vote on LD 1: As everyone is aware, LD 1 sets a financial limit for each town in an attempt to control spending and therefore keep taxes down. I took special note of the statement that Palmyra might be on a "slippery slope" if it approved the override to LD 1, as it would be expected to override it year after year. Voters in any town should remember those words. The first year that LD 1 was in effect, the voters of Dover-Foxcroft overrode...

Science and Religion

The "Voices" column by Brenda Norris (BDN, April 26-27) is a good testimony of faith and the wonder of the universe but is misguided in several places. The child's report, "Why Organic Evolution is not Scientific," is itself not scientific as is most if not all criticism of the theory of evolution stating it to be false. For more background on what evolution does and does not say, see "Science, Evolution and Creationism," National Academy of Science, 2008.

Put Councilors in Barn

As a Bangor taxpayer I was shocked and angry over the conditions of the horse barns at the Bangor raceway. The city makes millions of dollars every year on the backs of business and property owners and they would be the first to cite either for such an outrageous violation as the condition of these barns. Perhaps it's time for the horse owners to pull their horses out until the city can correct the problem. Maybe it's time for each city councilor to be charged with cruelty to animals or be ma...

The Lesson of Vietnam

In the recent aborted assault on Shiite militias directed by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, 1,000 Iraqi policemen and soldiers, including scores of officers and commanders, refused to fight. Certainly this is not the first time the Iraqi military has proved undependable. These desertions recall Vietnam. There, too, the U.S. propped up a local army that often preferred not to fight. Now, as then, we support a corrupt, unpopular and incompetent government that knows no matter how bad it screws...

Names in the News

Katahdin Trust Collects Funds for Flood Victims

Katahdin Trust Co. of Patten has volunteered to serve as a collection point for local residents to make donations to the American Red Cross for the relief and benefit of flood victims throughout northern Maine. The bank has made a $10,000 donation and will match its employees' contributions in the relief effort. "Many of the hundreds of people affected by the flooding are those who can least afford to face such a disaster," said Jon J. Prescott, president and CEO of Katahdin Trust. "They are ...