BANGOR – Before the first flight of troops walked down the ramp at Bangor International Airport on Wednesday morning, a handful of Maine Troop Greeters had removed all traces of Stephen King memorabilia traditionally housed in the greeters’ terminal room.

After a flurry of news reports regarding King’s statements made at the Library of Congress last month, greeter Wayne Desjardins said he and a few others took down two 8-by-10-inch photos of King’s Bangor homes, smaller snapshots of the residences and a newspaper article featuring King.

“It’s the right thing to do until Mr. King comes up with an apology,” Desjardins said about removing the items. “It’s not a very respectable thing to say about our men and women in uniform. I personally took it as an insult because I wore the uniform and I wore it proudly.”

During a writers symposium for high school students on April 4, King said, “The fact is if you can read, you can walk into a job later on. If you don’t, then you’ve got the Army, Iraq, I don’t know, something like that.” Blogger Noel Sheppard criticized King’s comments and aligned them with former Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry’s statements that if a quality education is not obtained then “you get stuck in Iraq.” King posted a retort on his Web site on Monday, which emphasized his support for troops, but described the war in Iraq as a “waste of national resources … and that includes the youth and blood of the 4,000 American troops who have lost their lives there and for the tens of thousands who have been wounded.”

Reacting to the troop greeters removing King-related items from their display, King said Wednesday, “It hurts me that people are putting my stuff away for political reasons.

“When people who are serving in Iraq and Afghanistan write to us for books, they get the books. I think the world of these kids.”

King’s personal assistant, Julie Eugley, said King has donated about 100 books a month to the Troop Greeters, who in turn hand them out to military members passing through BIA. Bill Knight, one of the founders of the group, confirmed Wednesday that King has donated books for five years. The books are handed out to troops who mention King and have a passion for his work, Knight said. The greeters have not handed out books recently because they had run out, Knight said.

When asked if the greeters would continue to hand out books if the stash were replenished, Knight said, “Right now I can’t say yes or no, but I haven’t got anyone telling me no.”

The troop greeters have several committee meetings scheduled for today, including one for leadership, where the topic certainly will arise, Knight said. The items are in Knight’s possession, and if the greeters decide not to redisplay them, they will be returned to the original owners, Desjardins said.

“All he needs to do is apologize for his misspoken statements and all will be well and end well,” Desjardins said. “We’ll continue to march. Forgive and forget.”

BDN staff writer Dale McGarrigle and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

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