Gaza in crisis
Since 2006, Gaza, the size of Philadelphia, has been under the control of Hamas militants and subjected to an Israeli blockade that has prevented economic development and people leaving. People are trapped in Gaza with virtually no ability to develop resources or means of exit. Rather than attempting to change this situation our government spends over three billion a year to support regimes in Israel and Egypt that maintain the blockade.
In response to devastating terrorist attacks from Hamas, the Israeli government has conducted extensive bombing and cut off supplies of food, fuel, and electricity to over 2 million Palestinians who are trapped in the Gaza strip with virtually no means of exit. Half of these Palestinians are women, about 50% are under 19, and some 500 are American citizens. Our government must protect Israel from Hamas. It must also protect innocent Palestinian civilians from Israeli military action.
Joseph de Rivera,
Brunswick
Electrical reliability
I am not a normal bystander on looking at Central Maine Power and Pine Tree Power. I live in Harpswell and had 17 long-lasting outages last year. A couple days ago, we had five outages lasting less than 10 seconds that killed all our house systems, that doesn’t count as an outage by CMP.
Maine’s reliability is 51st of the states plus DC. None of the other utilities owned by the owners of CMP are higher than 40th, and below the national average.
I have worked in the industry for 30 years as a regulatory consultant, a major utility auditor, operations and maintenance of power plants and audit manager over a $13 billion energy trading company.
I have seen all the ads against Pine Tree many times. I guess what I hate about them is everything in them is a lie. Yes, ONLY LIES. I can say that because I have more experience in the business than anyone on the board that owns CMP in Spain. Have they said anything positive they are doing? NO, because the objective is to get as much cash to Spain as possible!
Brian Johnson,
Harpswell
Vying for SAD 75 candidates
I am writing in support of four candidates running to fill four seats on the SAD 75 School Board for Topsham. Each has diverse skills and abilities essential to help our district meet its varied challenges. I provide some of their background below and strongly believe electing them is the best choice for SAD 75.
Mary Hobson (current board member) is a retired educator with over 30 years of teaching experience, the majority of which was in the SAD 75 school district. She has two degrees from UMaine, including a master’s in education. Mary has extensive committee experience including service on policy, transportation, finance, and multiple hiring committees. She is presently the chair of the curriculum committee.
River Khoriaty has a science degree from Bowdoin College and teaches at the innovative Next STEP School which is part of the Lewiston Public School system. River’s experience with marginalized and at-risk youth will be essential in helping the board find solutions to address student homelessness, the mental health crisis, and the socioeconomic challenges that many of our kids face.
Kim Pacelli (current board member) is an attorney specializing in education law who provides consulting services to school districts and universities throughout the United States. A University of Maine School of Law graduate, she also holds a master’s in education degree from Harvard University and a bachelor’s degree in government and legal studies from Bowdon College. Kim’s vast knowledge, experience, and skill will continue to be essential in helping to guide our district through complex policy and legal matters.
Mike Timberlake (current board member) grew up in Topsham, graduated from Mount Ararat High School, and is a graduate of UMaine, Orono. Mike is an account manager for a technology, software, and services company and is skilled in negotiation as well as financial matters. Mike is an active community volunteer and has actively mentored many kids on and off of the soccer fields.These are thoughtful people who will listen, lead, and do the hard work that it takes to support our administrators, employees, and most of all our students.
Jim Byrne,
Topsham
Comments are not available on this story.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
