The Sun Journal editorial of July 28 makes the point that Maine’s state parks “belong to us,” the people of Maine. That is to whom the land constituting the state parks was conveyed and given by Maine people. My great-grandfather was one of these people, and he took great satisfaction from the creation of Mt. Blue State Park in Weld.
The current challenge is that officials in the Department of Conservation believe that they own the state parks and can do with them what they wish. The department wants to construct a “communications tower” on the summit of Mt. Blue — the focal point of the state park — consisting of a tower, antennas, observation deck, solar panels, a storage building and a landing space for helicopters, all to be done with little notice to the owners of the park.
To take such an important and beautiful state asset, visible for many miles, and desecrate it with such an inappropriate structure would be a tragedy.
The Department of Conservation should be about preserving the natural beauty of Maine’s mountains and state parks, not about destroying those features.
The Department of Conservation and Eliza Townsend, commissioner, should cancel that project, now.
Rand N. Stowell, Weld
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