Dear Editor:

We want to say thank you to all our customers who helped make Super Bowl weekend a very successful weekend for us here at Lori's Island Convenience Store.

As a small store, we struggle to offer good food and service at reasonable prices here on Westport Island.

The weekend push helped us out tremendously. While we are sorry for the Pat's loss, we believe our customers are real winners!

Thank you.

Jay Seigars

Lori Meite

Westport Island

Convenience Store

Dear Editor:

Coming on the heels of Super Tuesday, Maine's Democratic Caucuses this Sunday take on more importance than usual. 

Westport Island, Alna, Dresden and Wiscasset Democrats will all caucus at the Wiscasset Middle School starting at 3:30 pm. This is your only chance to voice your preferences and influence the final selection of party candidates. If you haven't registered yet, you can do so starting at 3 p.m.

It is surprising how many people in our area think the caucus process is not important.  Some think they will get to vote for their favorite party candidate in the June primary, anyway, so why bother with the caucus.  They forget that the primary is for our state candidates for the U.S. senate and house, our Maine Statehouse representatives and for  local issues.  Our only opportunity to pick our favored presidential flag carrier is Sunday's caucus.  

Westport Island Democrats are all invited to participate and play an important part in making the choice.  In addition to choosing a presidential candidate preference, caucus goers will pick our three delegates to the Maine Democratic Convention in May.

Your delegates will stand and vote for your chosen candidates.  You will also get to choose Westport Island Democratic Committee officers and will help shape the local campaign plans going forward to the November election.

See you at the caucus!

Dennis Dunbar

Convener, Westport Island

Dear Editor:

We have been using the Wiscasset Library since we bought property here and moved here to live and have a business twelve years ago. We have been using the library regularly and the ladies who work there have always been terrifically helpful, unfailingly professional, and are obviously proud of being librarians.

Whenever we are searching for a volume that doesn't happen to be in the collection they track it down and obtain it for us through an inter-library loan.

The Wiscasset Library is a goldmine for anyone in this town that needs it and everyone connected with its administration and operation gives the town the greatest value going. Long live the Wiscasset library and thank you ladies!

David and Marsha Brown

Wiscasset

Last week I had the pleasure of meeting Roger Bintliff, the developer of Davis Island - and for two and a half hours we talked about everything from how the Boothbay peninsula is losing market share to Camden and Bar Harbor to economic development opportunities for Westport Island. And of course the whole bypass mess.

Mr. Bintliff is a man of extraordinary intellect and insight. I've been studying the bypass for more than a year - and never once thought to focus on what he says is the root cause of their massive summer traffic tie-ups… a lack of adequate parking! Visitors wanting to try one of Red's Eats famous lobster rolls, or sit down for some of Sarah's soup, or browse antique shops, simply cannot find a place to park - so they drive around in slow circles hunting for one.

The other side of the summer congestion coin is of course pedestrians - who bring traffic to a standstill hundreds of times each day, as they mosey back and forth across Maine Street.

Now think… just like Wiscasset, in Camden U.S. 1 runs straight through the heart of town. Yet their traffic keeps moving. The difference? Ad e quate parking! Mr. Bintliff's 100 percent correct.

There's one other major aspect to the parking crisis, of which residents are keenly aware, namely the Post Office. It absolutely must be moved to a new, central location. Why not use some of that undeveloped land along Route 27 just up the road from the town office?

The solution to the downtown parking shortage is obvious. Instead of spending $80 million to build a bypass (which doesn't bypass the town at all and forces hundreds of people out of their homes) create a municipal parking lot with plenty of free parking. Where? Over water - directly behind Red's Eats - for a tiny fraction of what building a five-mile bypass would cost!

A few specifics: create a left-turn lane on Main Street, so east-bound traffic can pull into the new municipal lot; seasonally, ban all other left turns in downtown; and build maybe two handicapped-accessible pedestrian walkways crossing beneath Main Street.

Do all this, and you'll eliminate the notorious Wiscasset Bottleneck once and for all! And, it can be done in a year, and we won't have to wait 10 to 15 years for MDOT to build its god-awful bypass.

So, after 50 long years, there is an effective, economical solution! Thanks to Roger Bintliff.

Ed, Dale,* the ball's in your court, fellas.

John VanOrsdell

Boothbay

*The writer refers to Ed Hanscom and Dale Doughty at the Maine D e partment of Transportation.

Dear Editor:

It appears, according to the articles printed in the newspaper, our elected officials are overspending some accounts into the "red." Our school system is out of control "squabbling" between union teachers, four teachers in particular, and our school committee and superintendent. What direction is this community moving in if these facts are true? This has to be affecting the students who can't, and shouldn't have to, understand any of this. This overspending, and what some townspeople may consider asking of "unreasonable" demands from contracts, must come to an end so as to allow this town to move in a positive direction.

I don't personally, myself, know of too many companies, if any, in our area today that offers their employees 100 percent coverage of medical and dental benefits for insurance. I myself had to start contributing a deductible premium out of my paycheck quite a few years ago! When health insurance costs hit an all time high and never stopped rising year after year, companies started offering insurance coverage to their employees as a benefit, but required employees to pay a small deductible to help share in this astronomical expense to the company. This state and country has a universal health care cost crisis, so 100 percent coverage to no cost of employees is almost unheard of now-a-days.

As for the selectmen overspending accounts, I as a taxpayer hope to see no increased taxes or "dipping" into reserve accounts to be used as a method to rectify mismanagements of any budgets. We have a five-man board of selectmen and a town manager, what is going on is my question? Are we overspending or not? Harmony among a community comes, usually, with everyone pulling together in tough times. As we all know, everyone likes to share the wealth but we all must share the hard times as well when we are a community "unity" if you will.

We need to all work harder at being fair, spend thrifty, and getting along if we want to move this community in a positive direction.

These are my thoughts and opinions only, which everyone is certainly entitled to.

Community Citizen

Gertrude Perkins

Wiscasset