Liquor law enforcers

An article in the Feb. 8-9 Bangor Daily News indicated that, in an attempt to balance the budget, many public safety jobs are slated for elimination. The article stated none of those positions included state police officers. Perhaps this is an attempt to make the public feel their safety is a primary concern.

The governor and the chief of the Maine State Police have proposed to eliminate the entire Bureau of Liquor Enforcement. This bureau also consists of well-trained law enforcement officers, some of whom have more than 20 years of experience. Whoever guides the governor on these issues has no idea what these men and women do, or what a huge loss this bureau would be.

These officers know when and where kids hang out. They monitor stores and bars for sale of liquor to minors. Many of them also make themselves a presence in our schools and communities, speaking at school functions to educate our children about the laws and dangers of alcohol and drugs.

My husband is a liquor enforcement officer and he fields phone calls every day from schools, parents, concerned citizens and even kids. It is not a 12-hour-a-day job and it cannot be duplicated by dividing duties between state and local agencies. Without this specialized agency, consistency in enforcing the liquor laws will suffer.

I would much rather receive a phone call saying my child had used false identification to buy liquor than one saying my child was involved in an alcohol-related accident. The security of having enough state troopers to investigate those accidents is not compensation enough for me, and it shouldn’t be for anyone else.

Beverly Thomas

Washburn