The plan now in place to phase out the Farmers Home Administration’s Van Buren office this summer is unwise for at least two reasons, namely, the loss of service to the Farmers Home clients in this region, and a direct loss to FmHA because of the efficient facility it enjoys in Van Buren.

I am a recent FmHA client. I was renting a home, building no equity, and had no way of coming up with a down payment to make a purchase….

I can attest that the present local FmHA office staff has been and continues to be professional, accommodating, and effective in servicing client needs. I know my case presented demands upon them, because I was pushing hard to get into my new property. The local FmHA office went out of their way to help speed up processing, and I feel that I was helped in many ways by the cooperation I received from the close support of the local FmHA office. I understand that an FmHA streamlining plan to close the Van Buren office this summer has been recently activated. I am very much against such a plan.

The FmHA plan continues the operations of the Caribou, Fort Fairfield, and Presque Isle FmHA offices, all within 12 miles of each other, emphasizing the need for close contact to the people being served. As proposed, our local people would have to travel either to Fort Fairfield or Fort Kent, distances in excess of 70 miles round trip, with the attendant costs of time and dangers of travel, particularly in the wintertime. I know I could not have completed my loan with FmHA under such time and travel requirements. Certainly this plan does not serve the needs of the people in this area.

I ask that all concerned readers of this letter voice their support. There is a petition being circulated at this time. Please be certain to sign it to stand for a continuing office presence of the FmHA in the Van Buren area. Also, if you wish to correspond, please direct your letters to Nate Churchill, State Director, Farmers Home Administration, P.O. Box 405, Bangor 04402-0405, and to Richard Heath, District Director, Farmers Home Administration, P.O. Box 489, Fort Fairfield 04742. All should be made aware that it is unwise for FmHA to continue on this planned course of action. Marie G. Deschenes Cyr Plantation