As the wife of a retired Navy master chief with 36 years of dedicated service, and as a Mainer, I feel I have earned the right to speak out for our state and its people.

A lot of our Navy time was spent in Brunswick. The churches, schools and local communities there were very supportive of the military, and I am sure they still are today.

A good media attention-getter has migrated from our state in stories about teachers in Maine who do not support, and are even against, our military dependents. My question as to the source of the rumor is, who, what, where, when and why? Why do the accusers not have to present the facts? I understand they don’t want to incriminate anyone, so instead they incriminate all Maine teachers.

Quit blaming the state Department of Education, as well as all our schools and communities for incidents that no one seems to be able, or is willing, to explain. This has been nothing more than a nasty rumor that has mushroomed and hurt a lot of good teachers in an education system that is better than most. My respect goes to all our military families, our teachers and the state of Maine.

Delia Gray

Ellsworth