Back in the mid-1970s, I was chairman of the road and sidewalk commission in Old Orchard Beach. Christopher Kent was our town manager, Mr. Schlatter was assistant town manager and E. Emerson Cummings was council chairman. Council meetings were held at Loranger School gymnasium.
There was an adult liquor establishment on East Grand Avenue where women would serve adult beverages to customers topless.
Attending a council meeting, I was supposed to see the ladies sodality at the meeting. The ladies wanted the business to close its doors. I sat next to the assistant town manager.
We knew the council wasn’t going to take action that evening. We thought it would be better to go to referendum. Chairman Cummings agreed. The ladies weren’t pleased at the time.
We wanted the community to get involved, and the assistant manager and I felt Old Orchard Beach citizens were good people, and that’s why the referendum was a good idea. The voters voted to shut down the topless bar. Everybody was happy.
Does our council chairman want to accomplish something like Chairman Cummings and let the voters decide about medical marijuana in our town?
Are we going to have a medical marijuana bakery in town? The Food and Drug Administration doesn’t approve.
How can it be effective? Pharmacies won’t sell it as a medicine. It doesn’t have medicinal value. People who buy it will want stronger drugs.
Let the voters decide.
Conrad Boisvert Old Orchard Beach
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