Bangor Daily News

Smokers Set Jan. 1 Quit Date Brewer Couple's Finances, Health Behind Push to Kick the Habit

Gil Merchant was just 39 years old when he had his first heart attack. He has suffered two more in the past couple of years, and he's only 50. He has smoked cigarettes since he was 16. "Heart attacks run in my family," Merchant, of Brewer, said matter-of-factly during a recent interview. "My doctor's been on my butt for years to quit smoking."

Barrett Reflects On 2 Decades As Bangor Manager

BANGOR - Ed Barrett looked down at his desk inside his third- floor office at City Hall last week. He could see the wood grain for the first time in a long time. Nearly 10 years' worth of computer files - ordinance changes, budgets, comprehensive plans and other documents - were crammed onto a 2-inch flash memory drive. His time in Bangor had whittled down from months, weeks and days to hours. After nearly 22 years as Bangor's administrative leader, Barrett will depart for Lewiston shortly af...

Woman, 45, Charged in Homicide Troy Man, 63, Fatally Stabbed at Suspect's Skowhegan Home

SKOWHEGAN - A Skowhegan woman has been charged with murder in the Christmas Eve stabbing death of a Troy man at her apartment. Karen McCaul, 45, of Skowhegan, has been hospitalized since the evening of Dec. 24, hours after she called investigators to her 36 High St. apartment, according to Stephen McCausland, spokesman for the Maine Department of Public Safety. Officers from the Skowhegan Police Department found Richard P. Howe's body in McCaul's apartment at about 2 p.m. McCausland said poli...

Healthy Strategy

A health care reform bill likely will pass Congress, so an analysis of the strategy that led to its success is appropriate. After all, a comprehensive federal management of health care was first proposed by President Theodore Roosevelt, and raised again and again in more recent Democratic administrations. So politically speaking, what worked, what didn't and why? The key goal of the reform effort was to reduce the collective cost of health care we all bear. Expanding coverage is part of that ...

Clickback On Top Stories

In this last week of 2009 - and of the decade - ClickBack seeks editorial page reader comments on the top stories of the year (or decade), the terrorism threat against Americans, the fate of casino gambling in Maine and our state's ties to Atlantic Canada. To participate, visit bangordailynews.com and select ClickBack from the Opinion menu.

Energy Exaggeration

I admire Tom Walsh's enthusiasm for his solar energy system ("A backyard power trip that saves us cash," BDN, Dec. 26-27), but his math is a bit fuzzy. He says he uses about 10 kwh per day, which is approximately 3,650 kilowatt-hours per year. His solar photovoltaic system generates about 2,000 kwh per year, so his net grid use is 1,650 kwh per year. With his electric bill at about $35 per month, the cost per kwh is roughly 25 cents.

Search Us All

The latest attempt to blow an airliner out of the sky reveals serious flaws in our transportation security process. Efforts to improve it have been hampered by concerns about profiling and personal privacy. My own experiences have convinced me of the need to put these concerns aside and take a fresh look at security screening. I am a 61-year-old white law-abiding citizen, a polio survivor, so I travel with crutches and wheelchair.

Too Many Piles

It was Dec. 28, 42 degrees and a lovely day for a walk. As we did our laps on Sidney Boulevard and Wilbur Drive, we counted 22 piles of dog excrement. Although this is better than last year (34 piles on one of our walks), it is still too many! If you have a dog or walk dogs on our streets, please be considerate and pick up after them. What they leave behind is unpleasant and unhealthy. Take pride in our development and our community. Make our area a pleasant place to walk.

Time for a Change

Every year it's the same old thing - cut funding, cut education, lay off nonessential persons who might be the only people doing any work. All this to balance a budget that is full of gimmicks. I am one of many who don't like raising taxes, but face it, folks - if they were raised by a penny or two, would it be that bad? I recently traveled to the Midwest and down South and there is more than one state with a sales tax higher than ours.

Supports Public Option

We are now poised to achieve national health reform, but there is one big sticking point - the public option. The most apparent reason for opposition to the public option is that it refutes free market values. A government-run health care system would supposedly create unfair advantage and weaken insurance companies' chance to compete.