Dear Editor:

It has been five years since the beginning of the war in Iraq. Please join together with your friends and neighbors on the Damariscotta/ Newcastle Bridge this Saturday, March 15 from 1 - 3 p.m.

There are many reasons to come together.

1) To express a desire for a rapid end to the war.

2) To support our men and women in uniform.

3) To mourn the almost 4,000 American soldiers who have died in Iraq.

4) To ask for more support for our psychologically and physically wounded veterans.

5) To request that funding for the war be cut off.

6) To mourn the death of the estimated 1.2 million Iraqis.

7) To mourn the 308 deaths of members of coalition forces.

8) To express outrage that America has spent $500 billion on the war so far. Maine's share is $1.4 billion, Lincoln County's share is $37 million.

9) To express dismay that the war has been paid for by borrowed money that will burden our children and grandchildren, while the most wealthy Americans enjoy tax cuts.

10) To request that war funding be redirected to domestic spending.

11) To show our patriotism by demonstrating America's freedom of speech.

This gathering on the bridge is only one of many events being held across the state and coordinated by "From Every Village Green," which is sponsored by over 30 groups from Maine including Bridges for Peace, Pax Cristi Maine, Alliance for Democracy, Peace Action Maine and Veterens for Peace.  For further information check the Web site www.everyvillage-me.us or call Grace Goldberg, 529-5386 or Gretchen Hull, 563-5416.

Hope to see you on the bridge.

Grace Goldberg

Bremen

Dear Editor:

I'd like to take the opportunity to clarify several misunderstandings the public may have, in regard to the Nequasset Bridge project currently underway on Route 1 in Woolwich. The town of Woolwich gave MDOT permission to use the George Wright Road as a temporary detour, so a portion of Route 1 could be closed, to facilitate the necessary repairs to the bridge. I've been confronted numerous times recently with the question of why the town allowed this.

The popular misconception is that it would have been a better choice to keep the bridge open, utilizing alternating lanes of one way traffic during construction. A temporary signal light would have been installed, resulting in stop and go traffic. Construction would have taken twice as long to accomplish and traffic back ups would occur daily through the work zone, not to mention, the close proximity of traffic would threaten the safety of workers. It was also quite obvious that the George Wright Road (and possibly the Nequasset Road) would have been used anyway, in an attempt to bypass the congestion.

We wouldn't have any of the benefits, such as continual monitoring of the road by the sheriff's department, repairs and maintenance of the road performed by MDOT or the temporarily reduced speed limits we currently have now. Additionally, the MDOT has agreed to pave the George Wright Road once the project is complete!

I know this has been a real headache for everyone, especially for the residents of George Wright Road. I truly sympathize for the disruption, but the work must be done. I feel that this option was the most expedient, controlled and beneficial possible. I encourage everyone to please be patient. May will be here before you know it and this will all be behind us!

Jack Shaw

Road Commissioner

Town of Woolwich

Dear Editor:

The Wiscasset School Committee's recent letter to the editor said that "….teachers rejected a strategy of doing less for the community in hopes of the community giving more to them." Wiscasset teachers do not see it the way the school committee has reported it.

The truth is that we have always given more to our students and worked longer hours than our contracts have required us to do. Our commitment to education and our professional work ethic motivates us to do so.

We are asking for a fair increase in salary so that we might keep up with the rising costs of living. Doing extras for a stipend does not make us more professional than the teachers who have chosen to work to contract, as was otherwise implied by the school board in their recent letter to the editor. The financial need for some is immediately greater than for others.

Wiscasset is most fortunate to have retained a staff of highly qualified, experienced, and dedicated teaching professionals. We teach here because we believe that we make a difference in the lives of our students, the Wiscasset community, and ultimately the world beyond us.

As teachers we have consistently incorporated innovative and creative ideas into our daily planning and teaching. Willingly, we give of our personal time, extending our workdays well beyond what classroom responsibilities require. We provide real-world opportunities and experiences for our students. We have competently and enthusiastically performed our best for the children. We were hired because we were the best matches for Wiscasset. In return, we gave more, not less than our contract asks us to give. We have been a solid investment for this community.

The questions then seem to be, why has our dedication, competence, excellent work ethic, and historically sound educational track record been forgotten? Where is the support that we are told we have?

In tight financial times like these a grateful community might have banded together in an effort to preserve, rather than destroy, the educational system it had assembled over the years. A proud community would make its quality educational system the priority. A proud and grateful community would praise professional dedication and acknowledge rather than dismiss and tear down the good that its teaching professionals have accomplished. This community might have chosen to fight to maintain the status quo in the name of educational excellence.

Every program and course that our schools offer the children is important, necessary, and potentially life changing. As teachers we have learned that with time, our impact does reveal itself. We also know that the very subject/course/experience once resisted by a student may indeed prove to be the catalyst for positive change and somewhere down the line become a new lease on life. In education, nothing is more important than variety. We rely on our training and experience to guide us. We trust the programming, the process, and our collective purpose to provide the children with the best education any town could offer.

Our teaching contract does not require us to chaperone dances or ball games. It does not stipulate that we must create educational field experiences and then volunteer to chaperone them even when they extend beyond the school day, into the weekend, or take place during summer vacation. Yet we do these things. Our contract does not require us to hang numerous art exhibits or to host the many concerts that this community has grown accustomed to. Our contract does not determine when or if we should assist and support this community when it is in need. When the need is present, we support. We volunteer at special events and help with fund-raisers and relief efforts without our contract telling us that we must. Our salaries do not compensate us for the "extras" we perform.

Make no mistake; in this system, it is the teachers who have established this history of giving above and beyond our contracted workday responsibilities. We set the "extras" bar by which this community now judges our worth and value. We are worth the cost-of-living increases we are asking for.

We appeal to the Wiscasset community to show their support and appreciation by petitioning the school committee to accept the fact-finding report. We would all be free then to move on with the business of delivering and enjoying the continuation of the community's sound educational investment in us and the educational excellence we deliver.

Debbie Gray

Barbara Wyman

Sue Townsend

Fran Clark

Linda Hazard

Bill Carr

Donna Barnes

Carole Drury

Roger Whitney

Sue Lippert

Georgi Thompson

Cheryle Joslyn

Libby Frye

Sue Kistenmacher

Brion Controvillas

Lisa Henry

Linda Cailler