Letters to the Editor

Friends of Rachel Carson calendars available

To the editor,

Greetings. We at the Friends of Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge have been keeping busy with various activities in supporting the refuge and its staff, and plan to have a winter 2023 newsletter edition. However, you can always keep up-to-date on Friends’ projects and activities by visiting our website or following our Facebook and/or Instagram pages.

In addition, with winter slowly arriving on our doorstep, it may be time to think about 2023 and a new calendar. Please consider ordering a Friends of Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge wall calendar and spread the word in your circle of conservation-minded friends and family.

The Friends 2023 calendar is the final product of our Sense of Wonder Photo Contest and is filled with lovely photographs of the refuge taken by visitors throughout the year. It makes a great holiday or New Year’s gift and helps propel conversations about our beloved Refuge and the important conservation work being done on its behalf.

All proceeds, beyond the costs associated with the calendar, will be used directly in our mission to support the refuge’s preservation of land for migratory birds and local wildlife.

You can now pre-order your calendar(s) at www.friendsofrachelcarsonnwr.org . All pre-ordered calendars began shipping on Dec. 16 with any later orders being shipped daily after Dec. 16.

Wishing you a healthy holiday season and a fantastic 2023,

Bill Durkin, president

The Friends of Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge

Ocean Park

Disheartened by actions of board

To the editor,

Members of the Kennebunk Select Board: My experience speaking with each of you as individuals ranges from comfortable and informative to stern and disengaged; but speaking to you as a group is daunting. Why? Because as a group you are unpredictable – in a way similar to a gang. When one gang member catches a whiff of power and decides to act on it, all hell can break loose. That’s what happened at the select board meeting on Dec. 6. And when a gang rules the street, it does not take a large number of gang members to create havoc – after all, they rule. Facts and truth don’t matter. Hurting, shaming, humiliating, doing harm becomes sport. And this sport is enabled by witnesses who do not call for it to stop.

I say these things to those of you who led the charge against Mr. Costin.

Ms. Nedeau you must take responsibility for defaming John Costin and setting the stage for inappropriate, caustic, and unfounded personal slurs and characterizations; and you hammered those points over and over. Each time someone said something positive of Mr. Costin, you returned to hammer away with your personal opinion, all while trying to sell us that you were representing the voters. No one shared your opinion that you were representing the voters.

Ms. Pratt you must take responsibility for giggling your way through something as important as a nomination. The nominee you proposed, Mr. Cluff, spoke that night acknowledging that he had pulled papers to run for a commission seat but did not file them because he came to the realization that he could not make the commitment. Subsequently, he said at the meeting that he had been begged by Ms. Nedeau to allow his name to be put forward for appointment, but still he did not want the job nor could he make the commitment. Further, and significantly, Mr. Cluff offered support for candidate John Costin.

Ms. Carpenter you must take responsibility for your puerile assessment of Mr. Costin saying he would not work well with others and/or listen to various opinions. Ms. Carpenter, in fact, the two points that you made against Mr. Costin are the best evidence that you have not worked with him.

All tolled there were members of the public present who spoke favorably for John, members of the newly-elected commission who spoke favorably for John, and members of the commission who had just moments before been appointed who spoke in support of Mr. Costin’s appointment. These testimonies were specific and articulately detailed the strengths, experience, and talent that Mr. Costin would bring to the commission – including a set of skills that no other elected or nominated member possesses. Among the many, I will echo in this moment, as others have said before me, his gift of integrity.

Despite all of this, the gang persisted, led by Ms. Nedeau, with its unfounded personal vitriol against the most qualified candidate on the roster and proceeded to elect someone who does not want the job and has already made clear they cannot make the commitment.

Not only is this confounding, it is also despicable. Ms. Nedeau claimed that the appointment of Mr. Costin would be a disservice to townspeople. Somehow, if that statement were not so crude and disrespectful, and utterly unfounded – it might be laughable. Indeed, the select board has done a grave disservice to the citizens of Kennebunk:

1.) by engaging in dreadful conduct and discussion; 2.) by selecting someone who openly said they could not commit and did not want the appointment; 3.) by repeatedly refusing to objectively consider the most experienced and skilled candidate on the roster for appointment.

I am extremely disheartened and, quite frankly, sickened by the actions of the select board on Dec. 6. As witness, via livestream, I will not be silent.

Marie Louise St. Onge

Kennebunk

Thanks for the insight

To the editor,

Special thanks to Susan Bloomfield for giving the voters of Kennebunk insight into the sabotaging of John Costain’s efforts at the Dec. 6 meeting held for the Charter Commission.

John has spent many years working for the betterment of Kennebunk, and should be respected for his complete knowledge and understanding and experience in our community. And to think that these newbies on the political scene would disparage his remarks is obscene.

They need to learn respect and abide by the code of ethics required to even attend and be in the same room. They sound like a group of high school peer group vying for approval. When in fact they should be paying attention to an honorable devoted town official about getting it accomplished.

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