In Lamoine we are having a dispute about contributions to charities by the town. In the past, the people at town meeting have debated requests by various charities serving citizens of the town, and some have been funded.

The current Lamoine selectmen have decided the townspeople have to be protected from their generous impulses. The selectmen decided not to put the charitable requests to the town meeting this year, so that citizens would not be allowed to be so unwise as to help those who help those in need. About 140 Lamoine residents signed a petition urging that this issue be debated in town meeting as in the past.

During a recent selectmen’s meeting on this petition, appalling things were said. One selectman said that he saw no difference between “enforced charitable giving” and segregation in the South. Both, he said, were awful examples of tyranny by the majority. It is shocking that an elected official would equate generosity by the citizens of the town with the structure of governmentally enforced, second-class citizenship based on race that was segregation.

In these days of government down-sizing, there is a legitimate issue in all towns about how genuine human needs are going to be taken care of, with federal and state governments doing less and less. We must, however, find ways to do this by providing opportunities for discussion and debate, by listening to each other more and understanding our neighbors and their needs better, rather than simply resorting to inaccurate characterizations and name calling. Fred and Anne Stocking Lamoine