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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Good morning all,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Below is the brief press release which I read
yesterday and fowarded to our prees contacts.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Have a great day!!!!!!</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Sincerely, </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Skip</FONT></DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message -----
<DIV style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; font-color: black"><B>From:</B> <A
title=skipg@midmaine.com href="mailto:skipg@midmaine.com">skipgreenlaw</A>
</DIV>
<DIV><B>To:</B> <A title=skipg@midmaine.com
href="mailto:skipg@midmaine.com">skipgreenlaw</A> </DIV>
<DIV><B>Sent:</B> Friday, October 17, 2008 6:08 AM</DIV>
<DIV><B>Subject:</B> Filing of our petition to repeal the school consolidation
law</DIV></DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Press Release- Embargoed until 10 AM, Friday,
October 17, 2008</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Maine Coalition to Save Schools</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Contact: Skip Greenlaw</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>367-2738, 460-1260</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Augusta- Today, we filed our citizen
initiated petition to repeal the school consolidation law with 61142 certified
signatures, which is 6055 more signatures than the law requires. 552 Maine
residents and 57 Maine professional circulators have worked hard for one year to
collect these signatures. However, our effort pales in comparison to that
of the members of the regional planning committees who have spent thousands of
hours trying to implement the </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>school consolidation law.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Our message is quite simple. The Governor,
the Commissioner of Education, and some members of the legislature</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>told us that school consolidation would save us
millions of taxpayer dollars. Having worked with the law for a
year, we now know that there will be no <U>net </U></FONT><FONT face=Arial
size=2>savings. In fact, school consolidation will cost local taxpayers
millions more in increased property taxes. In such </FONT><FONT face=Arial
size=2>stressful economic times, why are our elected leaders in Augusta so
adamant about imposing a law which costs </FONT><FONT face=Arial size=2>more
than it saves? This insanity must stop. The law must be
repealed.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I wish to thank several people for the work they
have done to make this filing possible</FONT><FONT face=Arial size=2>.
First, to all the volunteers who have worked so hard and who are committed to
protecting the education of our children, we say a huge "thank
you".</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I wish to thank Carolee Hallett of Mars Hill, Vice
Chair of our organization for her wise counsel. I wish to thank
Judy</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Sproule of Trenton, our Treasurer, who has kept the
financial records and filed the required state reports. I wish to thank
Lauren Romain of Glenburn who has kept track of all the petitions and
accompanying paperwork. Judy and Lauren have spent countless hours
reviewing petitions, collectors' certificates, and voter registration
cards to ascertain that they comply with the law. I wish to
thank "Bucket" Davis, 1st Selectman of East Machias, who made so many contacts
with town officials to raise most of the funds necessary to pay our
expenses.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Bryan Dench, a lawyer with the firm of Skelton,
Taintor, and Abbott of Auburn has provided us with excellent legal work, advice,
and counsel. Bryan and his former associate, Jennifer Thompson, worked
skillfully witht the Attorney</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>General's office to determine that we would not
have to initiate a new petition after the legislature amended the law in
April. We thank Bryan and Jennifer for their superb work.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Dick Dyer, owner of Dyer Associates, Winthrop came
to us last December to assist in the collection of signatures</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>with his cadre of professional circulators.
Although we did not have sufficient signatures to file our petition last
January, Dick and his circulators remained true to our cause. Without
their efforts, we would not have sufficient</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>signatures to file the petition today. Thank
you, Dick.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Finally, we wish to thank Melissa Packard, Director
of Elections, for her willingness to answer our questions on many
occasions. Melissa is one of the busiest employees of state government,
but she always returned our calls and answered our endless list of questions
cheerfully and competently.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>We trust that the members of the 124th Maine
Legislature will enact our petition and repeal the school consolidation law as
soon as possible.</FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>