Best and brightest

Charles Gilbert writes well about Maine’s loss of our best and brightest (BDN oped, April 1). The “brain drain” he calls it and rightfully so He focuses accurately on Maine’s problems but offers few if any solutions. He talks of the state’s lack of highly skilled jobs, of professional jobs, the lack of opportunity here, the lack of infrastructure and little or no technology opportunities.

Many of Maine’s serious thinkers well know these problems but it appears little has been done to address them. Therefore, is it not time to seek some answers, some solutions?

Is it not time for action? For starters, Gilbert could use his good name and his good will to persuade Gov. King to become fully involved.

Why not call on the governor to appoint a Blue Ribbon Commission to study this issue and lard the commission with a panel of top-notch citizens, educators and some of our more affluent summer residents who are well-established captains of business and industry?

Such a commission might very well come up with some new ways and means to bring bigger and better-paying job opportunities here and surely this will help to stem the loss of our best and brightest. Perhaps I am a dreamer but at least I offer something tangible, “something beyond wringing our hands over their departure,” to use Gilbert’s own words.

John Jay Hanlon

Brewer