Letters
to the Editor
Letter
to the Editor;
The
front page exposé in the last issue of The
Monument blasting a long standing Town employee, complete
with picture, continues to move The Monument further
down the road of self-serving interests and a level
of "yellow journalism" long gone from most
reputable newspapers.
Yes,
Mrs. Hill made a mistake. The mistake has been rectified.
But you knew this before you chose to "expose"
her so blatantly. Such an act violates the rules of
"Fair Play" and the culture that means so
much to so many of us who live in and love this Town.
As a member of the Finance Committee, I can attest
to the commitment and professionalism of this employee,
not to mention the many contributions she makes to
our Town above and beyond the call of duty.
As
a long time citizen of Gray I know, value and appreciate
the added value provided by our town employees and
especially those who have provided decades of dedicated
service to the Town. They deserve much better treatment
by those with the power to praise and appreciate rather
than to demean and deprecate. In doing such you devalue
my Town and I resent that.
Richard F. Barter, Gray
To
the Editor:
I
am a resident of Gray and a fan of your newspaper!
I look forward to reading it every week and I commend
you on a fine job of reporting the local Gray news.
Thank you for doing a wonderful job!
I
am writing today because I am terribly concerned about
a filler spot you ran in the April 29, 2004 edition:
page 4, the lower half of the page, a picture of a
mouse "crammed" into a jar. My concern is
twofold.
First,
I understand that people who are completely oblivious
to animal (mammals in particular) cruelty would find
this funny. It is not funny in my opinion. Cruelty
is never funny - neither cruelty to animals or humans.
Second, I am concerned that publishing pictures of
this nature might encourage children (or demented
adults) to try this themselves: stuffing a creature
into a jar. I trust this is not an activity you would
encourage.
I work in local media here in the greater Portland
area. I understand that decisions to print material
like this can be made casually. I'm sure someone thought
it was funny. But I would just bring my point of view
to your attention in the hope that in the future you
and your staff might be considerate of other options.
Thank
you for your time. And keep up the great work with
The Monument!
Sincerely,
Lissa Bradford, Gray
To the Editor:
Judging
by the SAD#15 public budget meeting last Wednesday,
Gray taxpayers should not hold their breath for any
decreases in the school budget.
The core curriculum of reading, writing and math is
to be beefed up by moving people around, turning a
computer technician into a middle school math teacher,
and having two of the teaching principals undertake
math remediation classes. But, we are to have a brand
new all-day Kindergarten, with 3.5 new teachers. What
does this say about the district's priorities?
The most sensible proposal of the evening was made
by School Board Chair Dan Maguire, who suggested that
rather than start an all-day Kindergarten at a cost
of $165,000 per year, they fully implement the programs
they had already started and conduct some assessment
of their effectiveness. He was addressing one of the
ailments afflicting our schools --a lack of evaluation,
consistency, and follow-through on programs.
Programs are brought in regularly. Teachers are trained,
sometimes at considerable expense, and new staff may
be specifically hired. Several years later, many of
those programs will have been replaced by other similar
programs, again with new start-up expenses. This would
be reasonable if the replacement programs had been
demonstrated to be more effective, but nobody does
any evaluation. This is usually driven by the administration,
not teachers. In fact teachers are often driven to
distraction by what they call "This Year's New
Thing".
The claim that all-day Kindergarten will eliminate
the need for remedial programs in early grades could
only ever be true if every child went to all-day Kindergarten.
Are we now going to make Kindergarten compulsory?
The best that can be said about research advanced
in support of the program is that it demonstrates
it's at least not detrimental to the test scores.
Only to the budget.
Alison
A. Brown
To
the Editor:
Your
article "Meeting the President" in the April
29 edition of The Monument, when paired with the paper's
slogan "Rock Solid Journalism" was pretty
ironic, even downright insulting.
Granted, the article in question could serve nicely
as a human interest story of the experience in itself.
But, under a banner of "rock solid" one
would think this local paper would be more responsible,
asking the hard questions, acting as the press should.
President Bush has a great deal to answer for, from
his dubious election to the war in Iraq, or, as is
particularly ironic of his Earth Day visit, his big-polluter,
corporate-friendly "environmental" policies.
Many questions were left unasked. If he's such a swell,
ecologically-mined president, why were there protesters?
What was Bush's message? Why is it so ironic that
the president arrived in an SUV on Earth Day? Mr.
Malaheris' article represents to me not a light, enjoyable
read, but a missed opportunity. Your paper seems to
have immediately dismissed the pledge "we will"
to "tell the truth. No matter what, always tell
the truth" in the gross lack of substance in
this article.
In these crucial times citizens need thorough, scrutinizing
journalism, not light, fawning celebrity fanfare.
Which, I ask you, is "rock solid?"
Michael
Connor, Windham
To
the Citizens of Gray and Friends,
It seems that no one can agree on a tax reform package.
Municipalities are already predicting the effects
of a tax cap. Businesses are calculating the impact
of local and increased sales tax. There are new demands
on education. People are concerned that they will
have to move because of rising property taxes. Republicans
and Democrats can't agree on a plan. The House and
Senate can't agree. The Legislative Branch can't agree
with the Executive. Even the Judicial Branch can't
agree that a plan is constitutional.
With all of these debates about tax reform, there
is a group of people who can agree on one thing. The
political parties in Gray believe that we need open
and honest debate and public information. The Republican,
Democratic, and Green Parties are presenting a series
of Community Tax Forums. The next forum will be on
May 16th at 1:00 in Stimson Hall. This Forum will
be a presentation of the Tax Cap proposal and the
Maine Municipal Association proposal. Following the
presentations, our elected officials will join them
for a panel discussion and public question and answer
forum.
Another thing that we can agree on is that our officials
are elected to represent you. To do that, we need
to hear from you. Please take some time to come, get
some straight information and let us know your thoughts.
Sincerely,
Bill Getz, Chair, Gray Republican Committee
Donnie Carroll, Chair, Gray Democratic Committee
Sam Pfeifle, Chair, Gray Green Independent Committee
To
the Editor:
I
was a bit surprised to see my name listed as one of
the major donors to the Bunker for 109 campaign.
Why would anybody run against the nicest, most sincere
and kind-hearted person in Gray? I mean that genuinely.
Sue Austin is a lovely person with good intentions
and a history of public service. I truly like and
respect her.
But Steve Bunker has the chutzpah it takes to stand
out in the crowd. Steve Bunker isn't driven by party
politics or special interests. He's a small business
owner himself, a history buff, intensely curious and
intelligent, and always forthright. He's not your
typical polished candidate.
I have no doubt in my mind that if Steve were in the
legislature last term, Gray would still be one district.
I have no doubt in my mind that is Steve were in the
legislature last term, we'd be moving forward with
the bypass. I have no doubt that if Steve were in
the legislature last term, citizens of Gray would
be kept informed of the real issues instead of the
minutiae.
Sincerely,
Sarah McCleary, Gray
To
the Editor:
My
mother was a very blessed woman in many ways. The
most important was having friends like you Elizabeth.
We thank the Lord each day for blessing us with positive
and wonderful people who enrich our lives. You have
become one of those people and we are thankful to
have you for our friend. Thank you for your special
tribute to my mother that was in today's Monument.
[4-29-04]
You
are a very talented writer and the town of Gray should
consider your talents a privilege.
God
bless you,
Pam Mundy
To
the Editor:
Every
motion and vote at the New Gloucester town meeting
was offered discussion by the voters except for one.
When the Motion was made to move article 18 and seconded,
the moderator offered it to a vote without discussion.
There were many more citizens that wanted to express
their opinion and were not allowed because the motion
to 'move the question' passed.
I think that there were more people who wanted to
discuss the issue and that the move the question came
through too quickly. It was not explained well. It
is sad that the moderator felt that time was more
important than the
Voter's opinions.
Brian
Whitney, New Gloucester
