BEACON
THE SOUTHERN MAINE COMMUNITY COLLEGE STUDENT NEWSPAPER | Volume 8 • No. 3 • OCTOBER 9, 2012
Cynthia Dill and the US Senatorial Race
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By Dawn Smith and Rik Sawyer ynthia Dill does not have an easy month ahead of her. In her bid to replace the highly respected Olympia Snowe as the next Maine Senator, she faces tough competition. Her opponents: Maine Secretary of State Charlie Summers and former Governor Angus King, have large leads over her, but she is gaining ground. According to the Washington Post, recent polls show Dill is gaining considerable ground. She has risen to 17% from 11% in just a couple of weeks. People are starting to take notice of the underrated State Senator. Cynthia is a resident of Cape Elizabeth who is also an adjunct professor at SMCC. She has served in both the state Senate and state House of Representatives, along with the Cape Elizabeth Town Council. Dill helped champion the “Three-Ring Binder Project,” an effort to create greater broadband access to rural and underprivileged areas of the state. She has also been an outspoken proponent for gay marriage. Aside from her political career she is a civil rights attorney with her own practice. She is also Director at the Common Cause Digital Democracy Project. Recently Cynthia took time out of her busy schedule to talk with us about her the issues and her campaign. Among the topics that we talked about, controlling higher educational cost, the Balanced Budget Amendment, replacing Olympia Snowe and the perceived role of being the spoiler in a three candidate race. Of all the topics that we covered, educational cost should be at the forefront of every one’s mind here at SMCC, simply because we are either starting our post-secondary educations, or are solidly a few years into it, with the likelihood that many of us will be transferring to a 4 year institution. The fact remains there are concerns about paying for education and the ability to access future funding that need to be addressed. “Clearly, affordable education for everyone in America is just critically important to jobs and income security. When it comes to college education in particular, Pell grants, not only do I support the distribution of Pell grants, but also tying
them to inflation so that they will increase over time and keep their importance and relevance. I also support the GI Bill.” She also pointed out that there is legislation currently pending that would enable students to pay back loans based on a percentage of what they earn in salaries. This could provide incentive for people to get into public education or professions that don’t necessarily pay a lot, but are ones that people are passionate about. We asked about student loans and the current exemption from being cancelled out in bankruptcy. “I think that under some circumstances they should. I don’t understand why student loans were exempted from discharge-ability in bankruptcy. It strikes me that it’s not quite fair.” Affordable education and the ability to pay back loans are major decisions students face when they decide on pursuing a college degree. Knowing where our candidates stand is important when choosing our next U.S. Senator. When asked about jobs, and the employment market that students face entering, or re-entering after their postsecondary education, Cynthia advocates for re-prioritizing things in Washington. “I think by taking smart course of action that includes reforming our tax codes so that super-wealthy people and big corporations pay their fair share as well as reducing some unnecessary spending will free up revenue that should be directed towards fully funding, adequately funding, quality education from early childhood through adult education.” Mrs. Dill views our combined need to rebuild our infrastructure, roads and transportation as a long-term viability for jobs. Education is the tool to equip students for the job; supporting President Obama’s Jobs bill would do a lot to build out a lot of the infrastructure projects and fund research and development. It could have the potential to create over a million jobs, but it still is sitting in Congress without action. “I am committed to the people of this state, that, should I have the honor of becoming Maine’s next United States Senator, I will fully back the President’s Jobs Bill.” When asked about the Balanced Budget Amendment
and her record of speaking out against it, Cynthia states, “I should state clearly that I’m all for balancing the budget; it's Congress’ job to balance the budget. As a State Legislator, I presided over votes that reduced state spending for many years. I voted to support balanced budgets, but the current debt and deficit were caused by three things: the Bush tax cuts, unfunded wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the collapse of Wall Street. I think we need to address those three things.” Following up on the impact that market has had on the recession, Cynthia believes that we should hold Wall Street accountable. “I propose what’s called a ‘Financial Transaction Tax’ which would be a very, very, very small tax on the trade of stocks that would contribute to the domestic programs that we all need to really thrive as a community.” She adds that she is currently the only senatorial (continued on page 10)
Giving the Gift of Life: Blood Donations at a Glance By Mary-Alice Mercier ith Maine’s blood supply at stable low blood drives have been increasing and Red Cross phone calls have been a little more frequent. The question that should be asked is why? Last Thursday, October 5th, I took a few moments to speak with a member of The American Red Cross to answer this inquiry. “The reason why Maine is low on our blood supply and donations is mostly
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IN side: 2 Hiring Process 158 Pickett Street 3 Free Money 4 Elemental Distress Smoking Effects 5 Soul-Making Bump in the Night Tour de Cure Lipton Tea 6 -7 Op-Editorials 9 Sustainability Greek Yogurt Music Reviews 10 Pumpkins & Poetry 11-12 Sports
Ashley T. enters the donor bus
because people do not have a very large initiative to do so.” they explained, adding, “during the summer months our supply gets really scarce and low because it is simply that, summer, no one wants to donate on a nice day when they could be enjoying the time they have away.” The tone of this brief conversation was really interesting. There was a sense of worry, and with good reason considering if Maine were to have a natural disaster we could be in a bit of trouble because of the shortage in our state. “When some are asked why they do not donate the response has often been, ‘Well, I was never asked.’ Well. We are asking.” The Red Cross representative would say as a final sentiment. The information I received here is very interesting; such as, blood that is donated gets sent to Massachusetts to get processed before it comes back to Maine, 90% of that blood given stays in Maine the other 10% is distributed between Vermont, Massachusetts and New Hampshire and so on, and two pints of your blood can save up to three lives! I spoke with a few donors and asked them why they donated, “I want help the cause and save a life.” Said Tim
Johnson. “I donated once when I was in basic training but had a hard time donating again because of tattoos and some other things.” Johnson ended his statement there and it was not long before another Timothy donor would come Johnson to answer the same excitedly question. going to donate “It is something I do to give back,” began Bryan Bonin, while another donor waiting to help the cause continued, “this will be my sixth time donating blood. I started a few years ago when I was seventeen, I had learned about the blood supply and how much my blood could help. It is and was an easy way to give back for me, and I would be very happy if I were in the hospital and was saved by someone’s blood.” He ended on that note, a good outlook for anyone considering donating blood. I also had a chance to speak with got a chance to speak with a ten times blood donor, Kristina Hoch, who has a very interesting blood type. “I have Type O, which is a very universal blood type. I get asked a lot to donate because of my blood type, though I donate at least once a year because I feel it is very beneficial as well as, a very good way to give back.” A little more information from redcrossblood.org about Type O is that it can be donated to any of the blood types. Not everyone that goes to register gets to donate
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