One of the big questions in need of some real attention is the Plum Creek proposal. Why is the company’s proposal having such a difficult time? They have revamped and redrawn at every turn. They have given the environmentalists every consideration. Now they are offering thousands of acres to The Nature Conservancy and other groups in appeasement. Still not enough.

Let’s evaluate – the state with help from the environmental groups has managed to hogtie the residents by taxes and regulation until we are continuously losing ground.

Once upon a time we had woolen mills, a shoe industry and a chicken industry. They fled, but we always had paper mills, up until now. The paper industry is on the same path as all our other industries – overtaxed and overregulated.

Tourism is still with us – but barely. It could be the next to go. Our legislators are cooking up new taxes for tourists. Besides, we only want them here for a week or two. We certainly don’t want people settling in our vast North Woods.

Plum Creek has a modest, workable plan. We need to encourage and work with them if we want Maine to grow and flourish. Plum Creek can be a powerful influence in our history if we only wake up and work with them. If we want to keep our tourism industry as our only industry, we need to encourage longer stays, owning property for summer or year-round use, and becoming taxpayers.

We won’t have any children to educate if we don’t encourage young people to come to Maine, and encourage those already here to stay. Our woods are our biggest asset, trees keep growing if managed properly, and I know Plum Creek believes this truth but also recognizes we need people as well.

If we are not careful we could return to our origins. If you remember how we began, let’s not regress to Massachusetts.

Catharine K. Lebowitz

Bangor