Over the past few years I have started to pay a little more attention to the direction our state is going in. For starters, Maine is now and has been one of the highest tax burdened states in the union. It is obvious this is not going to change unless our communities realize the true intentions of the political powers in Augusta. One of the sore spots with me is the powerful push of the environmentalist and their ties with our state and local governments. It is no secret that environmentalist all over the country are pushing to protect all the land they can get there hands on.

More land has been cut off from hunting, fishing, ATVs and just plain access. Instead of prioritizing and solving the real issues of Maine, the governor’s administration has been sneaking their real agenda in the back door. The state needs to bring in more jobs and utilize the resources of our communities so that we can compete against other states for new business and tourism. We should be opening up new areas for recreation and making it easier for businesses to come here not restrict it more.

The governor has been funding the conservationists through grants that should be going to job creation, lower taxes. Not only are we funding the conservationists with grants we are buying the land for them to protect it from us. So we pay for land that they want protected with our tax dollars? Who is the governor working for? How are the restrictions supposed to help? Meanwhile no work is being done to help create any new jobs or help our local communities thrive in the future, just more environmental restrictions, higher taxes and less land to take my son fishing on. Land for Maine’s Future is costing us way more than just tax dollars.

Joe Davis

East Millinocket