Letters to the editor Jan. 9

It’s our Union Station moment

To the editor,

In 1961, Portland’s grand and glorious Union Station was demolished by a wrecking ball. Despite the protests and letters to the editor, this beautiful granite complex was razed to the ground and replaced by a strip mall.

In 2007, the Biddeford Mill Clock Tower was chain sawed down, gutted of its clock and weathervane and left waiting for someone to bring her back. Waves of people and organizations worked to keep her with us. And because of all their efforts, we are getting a second chance to save her.

She is, without a doubt, the most historically significant piece of Biddeford’s industrial history. Her clock timed mill life for over 140 years. When she was built in 1853, few people had watches to tell time. They relied on her clock and bell to orient their lives and looked up at her beautiful weathervane to get a sense of where the wind was blowing. Prominent Biddeford citizens were proud to wind her clock and ring her bell.

1853 was when the population of Biddeford-Saco surged from around 5,000 to over 15,000. The mills were magical, brimming over with economic activity and life.

Biddeford was Maine’s “It City” and the Biddeford Mill Clock Tower was there.

2020 Biddeford is Maine’s It City once again and the Biddeford Mill Clock Tower is still with us, waiting for her resurrection. Thanks to all of the clock tower’s champions the last 13 years, we all have a second chance to save her.

On January 3rd, we moved her to the parking lot of the Lincoln Mill so she can rest on stable ground and so we preserve her as she begins her ascent onto the RiverWalk in 2020.

We can only do this with your help. Buy a brick that will be part of her foundation when she is put on the RiverWalk (contact the Heart of Biddeford) or contribute to our GoFundMe page on Facebook (Friends-of-the-Historic-Biddeford-Mill-Clock-Tower). Help us bring this iconic structure back into our community and into our hearts.

Turn our Union Station moment into a moment of triumph for our community! Let 2020 be the year that the Biddeford Mill Clock Tower rises again.

Louise Merriman
Chair, Friends of the Historic Biddeford Mill Clock Tower

Trump has civil rights too

To the editor,

Over the last century this country has spent a lot of its resources in forging the civil rights of everyone living In the United States. Lest we forget that we enjoy these civil rights due to the hard-working members of Congress.

One of these rights comes to mind this month, during the impeachment process of the 45th president of the United States. Clearly the man has demonstrated through his actions since January 2017, that he suffers from a neurological brain condition.

The man is 73 years old, and appears to be severely overweight. All of us, at one time or another, have had a senior member of our family, at a certain age start to decline mentally. This is the natural process of aging.

I find it sad, that the majority of us, including ALL the media have chosen to jump at the chance to report everything that this man says or does. None of us would make fun of our parents who have mentally declined due to the aging process. None of us would make fun of the mentally challenged among us. None of us would make fun of the inability of the disabled person among us. The question becomes why does the media feel that it must report everything that this man Tweets, who is obviously in a mental decline due to aging?

There comes a time when close family members should take action to prevent those family members who have demonstrated a clear neurological deficit, to see to it that they are not a danger to themselves or others. The president should never have been allowed to get himself impeached!

We should all look in the mirror and take a good look at ourselves, and ask “what kind of people are we to allow this to happen!”

In the November 2020 election we should remember what we have done, and make sure that we never let this happen again!

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