Police arrested James Wieland, 27, of Lewiston, Nov. 12, 2008, after he stole private information from as many as 1,000 UMaine FirstClass accounts using a keystroke program attached to e-mails. Wieland began serving his sentence Sept. 24.

“Basically, what he did was that he had used a commercially sold program and used it to intercept and record keystroke data from other people’s computers, and he did so by accessing the internet mail system you have at the university,” Almy said. “It basically enabled him to track and see what other people were doing with their computers – who they were communicating with and it enabled him to see photographs that they may have sent over the internet or anything like that.”

The affected e-mail accounts belonged mostly to students. John Gregory, Information Technologies director at UMaine, said the university has implemented precautions that will help prevent against similar attacks.

“We blocked users’ ability to send an executable file, and the way he had distributed keystroke software with an executable file as an attachment. We had not blocked it [before] because we felt it was an academic courtesy to the community to allow them to do that,” Gregory said. “I can’t guarantee it’ll happen again.”

Gregory said the university requires FirstClass users to change their password every six months, a change that had already been planned prior to Wieland’s crime. The university has implemented an awareness program to teach people about the dangers of   e-mail attachments and malicious behavior.

“When they opened that file, it installed a keystroke capture software, which he could use to see anything they typed on their computers,” Gregory said.

The maximum sentence for Wieland’s crime — a class C felony — is five years.

“Very few people get the maximum sentence,” Almy said.

The court considered the seriousness of Wieland’s offense, his history and the impact of the crime on the university before reaching its decision, according to Almy. Wieland’s probation doesn’t prohibit access to computers.

“[He] told officer Mitchell that he had interfered and intercepted data from other computers, and then he came into court and pled guilty, and we had a recommended sentence,” Almy said.

“Since that happened … the FirstClass managers have installed precautions to make sure this doesn’t happen again,” Carr said.

The university has no further precautions it plans to take against such attacks, according to University Relations Director Joe Carr.

Wieland was initially arraigned on Jan. 30.

The Academic Program Prioritization Working Group, or APPWG, has been created and charged by UMaine President Robert Kennedy this semester to look at the academic programs the university offers and find ways to optimize them and make them more efficient. The work group was formed after the 2009 accreditation committee — following its annual review of the university — suggested UMaine take a look at its programs and find ways to restructure them to better serve the campus community.

“I think we have all realized we’re in what you might call a non-sustainable structure organization. The approach of endless tuition increases is not feasible; you are all very aware of the current economic climate … and so in looking at that we realize we have to take a sort of broader look at academic programs on this campus,” said Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost Susan Hunter. “I wanted to make the point, though, that we just went through our tenure reaccreditation process … [and] one of the areas they identified in their analysis of our campus is academic program prioritization.”

Kennedy charged the work group to present him with a plan by Feb. 26 to reduce Academic Affairs’ budget by $24.5 million to $28 million during the next four years. The written charge says, “The goal of this process will be strong support of our highest priority degree programs funded by a reduction in those ranked as our lowest priorities.”

Hunter said the work group’s primary focus is academics but that it also has a financial underpinning. The group consists of the college deans, seven faculty members, Vice President for Administration and Finance Janet Waldron, Director of Budget and Business services Claire Strickland and Hunter. Several other UMaine administrators are unofficially part of the group. The committee has met twice this year and during the following months it plans to meet weekly.

“This isn’t Lake Wobegone. Everyone can’t be above average, and there has to be a distribution,” said College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Dean Jeffrey Hecker. “My point is that not every program can be found superior, because if you’re rank-ordering things, something has to fall below something else.”

Hunter said the point of the group is not to find programs to eliminate, but to find those that the university needs to adjust or change in some way.

“I think it’s the right thing for the provost to do,” Hecker said. “I think, in some ways, the college stands to benefit from this kind of analysis. I think a lot of what we do here in the college is essential to the university, to the university’s success in every area. Every student, regardless of their major, regardless of what college they’re in, takes required courses in the college of liberal arts and sciences and I think a review like this will demonstrate that.”

When asked whether this process could possibly change the university’s general education requirements, Hecker said it could.

“I guess my opinion is I hope it will,” Hecker said. “My own opinion is that it’s time for this campus to do that, and it’s time to revisit the goals of general education and to evaluate them. How well are we achieving those goals, and are there other alternative means for achieving them?”

Hunter said the accreditation committee gave no example of what they felt the university should strive for throughout this process.

“There’s a lot of interaction across the spectrum on campus, and we have to be able to weight all that and make sure we’re appropriately accessing and valuing all that,” Hunter said.

Hunter said there will soon be a Web site containing the work group’s charge from the president, its criteria for analyzing programs and areas to follow and comment on the process. The work group intends to facilitate public comment on the process some time in the future, according to Hunter. John Rebar from Cooperative Extension is working with Director of University Relations Joe Carr to schedule those public comment sessions.

“It’s not about the people. It’s not about ‘Oh, this is a good faculty member and that’s a bad one,’ it’s not that at all,” Hunter said. “It’s really looking at the programs themselves and how they relate to the 21st century. … One of the things that I think that we’ve all talked about is … are there some interdisciplinary programs that we should be thinking of creating out of some of the units that we currently have that are perhaps disparately partitioned on campus.”

Currently, the work group’s 10 categories of analysis include the history, development and expectations of programs; their internal and external demand; their quality, size, scope, productivity, costs, impact on the university, and justification; and their overall essentialness to UMaine academics.

The group’s members have been asked to read a chapter of “Prioritizing Academic Programs and Services,” a book designed to provide a framework for measuring and evaluating classes. The book includes the 10 categories of analysis and ways faculty and administrators can create measurable criteria from them that fit UMaine.

“Our first task, either now or next week, is for smaller sub groups to come up with specific criteria — measurable criteria — that we could use to evaluate those 10 categories,” said professor of education Eric Pandiscio, a member of the work group. “The deans will probably have to present information about their own colleges.”

The other faculty members on the work group include professors Gail Werrbach, Aria Amirbahman, Judy Kuhns-Hastings, Mary Tyler, Michael Grillo and Francais Amar.

“A university should be always reinventing itself,” Hunter said. “It’s not that we’re outdated, but periodically, the same way you update your wardrobe … you have to update a university as well.”

The group hopes to finish its work by the mid-point of spring semester, 2010, Hunter said.

Owen Smith, director of new media, said the department has been working for two years to make the building a possibility. A bid to secure funding from the Maine Technology Asset Fund failed the first year, but after reviewing its proposal, the university went back a second time and secured money for the project.

“It’s a project that’s bringing together a number of different participants — the new media program is the lead — but it also involves the intermedia graduate program; it involves journalism and communication, and it involves the Foster center for innovation and it involves several businesses from around Maine,” Smith said.

The building will be an addition to Stewart Commons and will contain two new classrooms and equipment to test prototypes, in addition to its labs and sound stage. The project was approved by the system board of trustees in July; UMaine administration has approved the concept and location for the new building.

The project is expected to cost $5.6 million, according to Elaine Clarke, associate vice president for administration and finance. Two million comes from a gift from the Bank of America Inc., a 2007 bond and a campus project from 2008 that came in under budget. The remaining $3.6 million comes from the grant from the Maine Technology Asset Fund.

Stewart Commons, built in 1962, is a brick and mortar building. Clarke said a solar panel installation on the roof is another addition being considered for the project. Clarke said “the art department renovation is a very, very tight budget,” and that sharing the costs and benefits between the new media and the journalism and mass communication departments helps cut down on the financial pressure by distributing it among both. Clarke said the new addition will not intrude on the Stewart quad.

Construction on the new building will begin next year. Clarke estimates the building will be completed fall 2011.

“It’s difficult to predict this type of thing,” Clarke said. “It’s got good bones. It needs work, but it’s a good building.”

Smith said he has been working closely with professors Laura Lindenfeld, Nathan Stormer and Sunny Skye Hughes to accommodate the journalism and communication department and help draft the proposal.

“My expectation … is that the lab spaces over there … would be used for digital media production,” Stormer said.

Stormer said classes such as CMJ 351 and 451, which cover broadcast journalism, would likely use the laboratories and sound stage for media production. He said The Maine Channel will be allowed to use the sound stage as well.

“It’s not meant to be exclusive,” Stormer said.

Smith said he and professor Michael Socolow communicated on various aspects of the building as well. He said the bulk of the work of this project has been done by Smith.

“Journalism students … will be working on top-class machines with state-of-the-art software [in the new building],” Stormer said.

“The university will send a request for qualifications to secure an architect for the project next weekend,” Clarke said. Firms will have approximately one month to submit an application to bid for the project.

Despite these precautions, some students don’t seem to be worried.

“I’m not really worried about swine flu. I think the media and officials have over-hyped the cause for concern,” said Elizabeth Gerard, a fourth-year international affairs student. “Thirty to forty thousand people die every year from the seasonal flu, but there isn’t constant coverage of that. I think I’m healthy enough to fight it so I try not to worry about it all.”

“I am not that concerned about it,” said Brett Harris, a fourth-year sociology student.

This nonchalant attitude is what the university is trying to fight. Wayne Maines, Director of Safety and Environmental Management, heads the team that will respond in case of an outbreak.

For now, the university has created an H1N1 Web site to provide information to the UMaine community. It suggests protecting yourself by covering coughs and sneezes with a sleeve or tissue; washing hands thoroughly and regularly; avoiding contact with eyes, nose or mouth and trying to avoid contact with sick people.

Although Gerard and Harris aren’t concerned with catching H1N1, they are taking precautions.

“I’m washing my hands like I normally do, but nothing crazier than usual,” Gerard said.

“Whenever I see a hand sanitizer dispenser, I use it,” Harris said.

Ben Sanford, a fourth-year history student, is taking the same action.

“I’m washing my hands more often and drinking more water then usual,” he said.

The university is asking students who are sick with flu symptoms — including fever, chills, sore throat, coughing, nausea or vomiting — to stay home until 24 hours after their symptoms fade. They are also asked to voluntarily report their symptoms to the H1N1 Web site so the university can be informed.

There have been 13 people who have reported symptoms — six on-campus students, five employees, one off-campus student and one employee at a remote location.

“We don’t know if any of them are H1N1, they are just reported symptoms,” said Joe Carr, director of university relations.

These kinds of cases are what really bring concern to students on campus.

“If someone I knew close to me came down with H1N1, I would probably take better precaution,” Gerard said.

Harris said he would be concerned “if people that I am in consistent contact with begin to contract it.”

High risk groups include people who are pregnant, and people who have asthma, cystic fibrosis or diabetes, but everyone in the UMaine community is still at risk. The university is encouraging concerned community members to contact their healthcare provider or Cutler Health Center if they feel they have flu symptoms.

Although the vaccine for the H1N1 virus has not been released yet, Cutler Health Center is now providing seasonal flu vaccinations for employees. H1N1 vaccines will be made available in November.

Some students feel H1N1 will come to UMaine anyway.

“I think it is inevitable that we [will] have an outbreak. Being in a colder climate, the normal flu spreads more easily,” Harris said. “I hope other students are taking similar [flu] precautions.”

“I think the swine will get to campus … but as long as people wash their hands regularly and stay healthy, I don’t think we should panic just yet,” Gerard said.

“If it broke out in Orono, I’m sure there would be a lot of people staying home,” Sanford said.

The Sustainability Solutions Initiative will facilitate the connection between research and action in order to strengthen Maine’s economic, social and ecological future. Funded by a $20 million National Science Foundation EPSCoR grant, the initiative is characterized by close collaboration between research faculty, partners, stakeholders and students from across the state. The grant will bring Maine to the forefront of sustainability science and will provide the framework for between 200 and 300 jobs during the five-year initiative. Recognizing Maine’s commitment to sustainable development, the UMaine’s Senator George J. Mitchell Center for Environmental and Watershed Research is the initiative’s headquarters.

David Hart, Director of the Senator George J. Mitchell Center and leader of the initiative, introduced King. UMaine President Robert Kennedy took the stage and said the initiative “has the potential to dramatically affect the way we do things in Maine.” Kennedy expressed the need for “creating a sustainable future. … It’s clear to us at the University of Maine every day.”

“[The initiative] is going to help us solve some real world problems,” Hart said. “and will improve the scientific practice of sustainable development. We can’t afford one goal to the exclusion of others.”

Hart recalled a conversation in which King once said, “I just wish we had a program like this when I was governor.”

King continued this sentiment after taking the stage and mapping out his ten-fold plan for the involvement of higher education in the initiative. From offering graduate students who have completed their undergraduate degree in Maine in-state tuition, to providing a data-driven public policy process, King highlighted the need for fresh, forward thinking and urged universities to be “knowledge factories.”

King referenced the Morrill Act of 1862 as a blueprint for the intellectual change Maine needs. The Morrill Act revolutionized 19th century higher education by incorporating “trade colleges” like medicine, agriculture and engineering into the curricula of many U.S. universities, including UMaine.

“I would suggest a similar period,” King said. He cited the need of a “wholesale effort to grab education by the throat and pull it in a relevant direction. … We need to do the intellectual equivalent of the Morrill Act for 2010.”

King also spoke of a university’s cultural duty to its region.

“Cultural amenities turn out to be powerful economic tools,” he said.

Using Rockland’s Farnsworth Museum as an example, King spoke of the fundamental changes a region can undergo due to cultural attractions, like the Collins Center for the Arts, and how cultural amenities play an important role in a region’s allure.

The need for fresh, forward thinking in King’s version of the role universities play in sustainability was emphasized by the rapid nature of modern life. As proof, King reminded the audience that in 1850, approximately 90 percent of American people engaged in agriculture and now that has fallen to approximately 3 percent. He spoke of the economic, geographical, ecological and social changes that have taken place since then.

“The next transition will be 10 to 20 years. We don’t have 150 years,” King said. “The era we live in is so fast.”

King’s political character and message rang true in the ears of audience member and student senator Nate Wildes.

“I think [King’s] always been a great independent, proactive voice in the state,” Wildes said. “Getting everybody to work together [is what’s important]. If you leave anybody behind, there’s no guarantee for success.”

The UMaine counseling center organized the walk, which has taken place in Bangor in years past. It was held at UMaine in hopes student participation would increase. The gatherings are held annually nationwide to raise funds for research, education and programs that assist in helping those in distress. More than $7,500 of proceeds raised by Sunday’s walk will go directly to the event’s creator: The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP), a non-profit organization exclusively dedicated to understanding and preventing suicide.

Despite consistent rain, thick cloud cover and the occasional gust of wind, the counseling center met its hope for increased student participation. Close to 300 participants, a majority of whom attend the university, arrived at the event’s starting point on the mall in front of Fogler Library, where a large tent was pitched.  Inside, those taking part had a chance to make a donation, register if they hadn’t already done so online, buy T-shirts and raffle tickets and purchase trees that could be planted as symbols of hope. Before the walk got underway, the crowd was addressed by those who helped in organizing the event; included in the address was Rep. Emily Cain of Orono, and Jason Charland of the Maine Youth Suicide Prevention Program. The crowd listened to a performance by Renaissance, the women’s a capella group on campus, who sang “Not Too Late” by Norah Jones and “Let It Be” by the Beatles. The performance saw a host of different reactions ranging from smiles to tears. Once under way, the procession covered five miles around Orono where bystanders could see participants wearing T-shirts and stickers that honored family and friends.

“The walk is important for so many reasons. Suicide is happening, but it really isn’t being talked about as much as we would like to see. It affects a lot of people, and the event is a way to confront it in a very public way,” said Bethany Asquith, a UMaine alumna who helped organize the event for the counseling center. “We want people to know there are ways around the distress and depression that could potentially lead to suicide. There are so many programs and places that anyone can turn to for assistance.”

One such program is Touchstone, which has an outreach office located in the Memorial Union. According to Asquith, who is a Touchstone coordinator at the counseling center, the university program has benefited in the past from the proceeds generated by the AFSP. The organization helped Touchstone set up a screening area online that allows students experiencing depression to anonymously talk with a counselor to determine what can be done to alleviate and reconcile their situation.

According to a report updated July 2009 by the Maine Center for Disease Control, suicide is the second-leading cause of death for young people ages 15 to 24, and it claims the lives of nearly 32,600 U.S. citizens every year. The same report states Maine has the 24th highest suicide rate in the nation.

“If you look at the numbers, Maine is average, and we would like to see that number continue to decrease. What we are doing with the walk and programs like Touchstone is about prevention. We want to set an example and be at the forefront of developing measures to help curb suicide in the state and in the country,” Asquith said.

Jackie O’Brien, Lauren Arsenault and Sarah Snow — all students at UMaine — volunteered at the event, working with Touchstone as student support peers. The trio unanimously agreed that there are a host of options for those experiencing distress.

“Many of us at Touchstone have training in suicide prevention. We urge anyone who needs someone to talk to about anything to come in and see us. Just look around — there is a network of support, and this walk shows that the community cares. There is always a better option; just call us or look into any programs like ours. We want everyone to know there are a lot of options out there,” Arsenault said.

In a pamphlet provided by the AFSP, 90 percent of all people who die by suicide have a diagnosable and treatable psychiatric disorder at the time of their death.

In addition to Sunday’s events in Orono, there will be others held in the state, including one in southern Maine as well as a national walk that will take place in Chicago. The efforts in Chicago will be metaphoric in nature, as participants will literally walk out of the dark and into the light with an all-night procession ending at dawn. The AFSP Out of the Darkness Community walks are the largest events in the country to raise funds and awareness for the issue of suicide. The UMaine counseling center has plans to bring the walk back to campus next year.

The Community Service Corps, a group of work study students employed by campus security, provides an escort program for students and faculty needing to walk to their dorms or vehicles in the dark. The program is designed to keep people safe and to provide comfort to anyone who has to walk alone.

“Our goal is to keep people safe, and help keep the campus safer,” said Cathrine Smith, a second-year art education and anthropology student and member of the Community Service Corps. “It’s a service [campus security] decided would be great just to help people feel comfortable.”

Those who would like an escort can call 581-WALK and, until midnight, students from the Community Service Corps will walk with them to their destination. After midnight, campus security guards or members of public safety are available to walk with anyone who needs an escort. Escorts can drive people to their destination if traveling across campus or in inclement weather, but try to walk when possible.

“The idea is safety, not convenience,” said Jim Dalton, security supervisor and creator of the Community Service Corps.

Dalton and the members of the Community Service Corps want to assist students and faculty, but have to maintain the rest of the program. Members of the Community Service Corps are essential to the security program at the university, but the escort program is only a small part of their overall purpose.

“We patrol buildings, campus, check call boxes to make sure that they’re functional … and pretty much augment and aid the security force,” Smith said. “I think it’s a really great program.”

Members of the program must undergo a basic security officer course and become familiar with the campus.

“You learn campus so much better,” said Brittany Pierce, a fourth-year mechanical engineering student and Community Service Corps project manager.

Dalton said the members of the program are critical because of limited security staff.

“My officers know what the value of these students is,” Dalton said. “We do [our job] and we do it fairly well, but we also have the luxury of being able to augment with the Community Service Corps students to assist us on patrol. But they have other things to do other than just escort duties.”

The Community Service Corps hopes the escort service gains more exposure so that people feel comfortable asking for an escort. So far this semester, few people have used the service.

“We’ve had a couple people,” Pierce said. “A lot of people will repeat once they figure out that they can use it. It’s not very well advertised.”

“I think for the most part, this campus is pretty safe,” Smith said. “I know a lot of people fear walking alone. Some of my friends walk alone at night … I was talking to them about the program and they said that they wished they knew about it.”

An officer on foot patrol stopped a black Nissan Altima with his flashlight when he saw the car driving around on the sidewalk in front of Fogler Library at 10:57 p.m. Sept. 23. He informed the driver, Blake Miller, 19, Bangor, that he was driving on sidewalks, not roadways. The officer could smell a strong odor of burning marijuana, but Miller and his two passengers denied smoking. When the officer asked Miller if he had any drugs in the vehicle, he turned over a baggy of marijuana. The officer asked them to exit the vehicle while he searched it. Passenger Michael Delahanty, 19, Bangor, indicated that the backpack in the back seat was his and the officer “would most likely find marijuana in it.” The officer found a small baggy of marijuana in the front pocket. Another baggy of marijuana was stuffed in the front passenger-side door, where Jacob Veilleux, 19, Bangor, had been sitting. Delahanty, Miller and Veilleux were issued summonses for possession of marijuana.

Stolen scales

Faculty members of Deering Hall reported Sept. 24 that someone had stolen a set of digital scales from a lab sometime over the past two months. The Ohaus Precision Pioneer digital scales have an estimated value of $649.86. The case is under investigation.

Seven-minute steal

A staff member left his golden Rally M80 mountain bike outside the University of Maine football office at 9:30 a.m. Sept. 22 and returned seven minutes later to find it missing. The bike’s estimated value is $1,100. The case is under investigation.

Lost and found

A student reported his bike had been stolen from outside Oxford Hall at 1:45 p.m. Sept. 22. Later that day, he called to report he had found the bike on the ground outside the Memorial Union.

Bike recovery

An officer found an abandoned bike on the ground on the mall at 10 a.m. Sept. 21. The Schwinn mountain bike, valued at $200, had been reported stolen on Sept. 15. Police contacted the owner, who identified the bike.
Discarded documents

A custodian walking in the East Annex Parking Lot noticed vehicle registration documents on the ground at 9:42 p.m. on Sept. 24 and suspected a vehicle burglary. The documents belonged to a university 2007 Ford F150. Police found the passenger door unlocked. The interior looked rifled through but nothing had been taken.

Pancake panic

Residents evacuated the Baumann-Nelson House of the Doris Twitchell Allen Village in response to a fire alarm at 8:12 a.m. Sept. 24. University police and Orono Fire responded and learned burnt pancakes had activated the smoke alarm in a second-floor apartment. Forty minutes later, the alarm was reset and people were allowed back in.

Many viewpoints have been heard. Some people oppose gay marriage for religious reasons and some support it because of religious reasons. Some simply support it for reasons of freedom. My opinions are quite different from most that we’ve heard.

Though not a party member, I usually will support Republican candidates and policies. But I am frustrated with the GOP on social issues. Many Republicans of other generations had a more libertarian viewpoint. Barry Goldwater, a Republican senator from Arizona from 1969 to 1987, was nicknamed “Mr. Conservative.” However, Goldwater took the position that abortion was a matter of personal choice. He took a position against the “don’t-ask, don’t-tell” policy in the ’90s, saying “You don’t have to be straight to be in the military, you just have to shoot straight!”

The Republican Party has long been one of personal freedom, but I believe the infusion of hard-line religion into the party has changed it for the worse. People like Pat Robertson and the late Jerry Falwell have been vehement opponents of any reasonable cultural standards. These people and their cronies have pushed Republicans further to the right with their loony points of view. The party has done nothing to criticize these people because they have large followings.

Gay marriage has become the latest crusade for conservative religious groups. Many cite community standards as the reason for their objections. They say marriage has been between a man and woman for eternity and to change that would lead to the moral decay of society. I have heard this, and I disagree. Community standards are not set by history. They are set by the community. About 5 percent of Maine’s adopted children have two gay parents. Is it a hard lesson for parents to educate their kids that one of their friends has two mothers or fathers in those rare cases?

Economically, I also believe this bill would help Maine. A study conducted by University of California, Los Angeles in June 2008 said that same-sex weddings and the tourism associated with those weddings could generate $60 million in additional spending in Maine over three years, creating 1,000 new jobs. Half of the state’s gay couples would likely marry in the first three years of the bill, driving the number of marriage license filings up. That would mean more marriage licensing fees would come in. Maine needs more money and more jobs. This would not hurt our state at all.

I don’t agree with all the proponents of gay marriage on some issues. I think a vote by the majority on the rights of a minority is perfectly legitimate and is the manifestation of democracy in its purest form. I believe the legislature of Maine should not have tried to rush this through without input. The vote was not representative of the public. I will, unlike many people, be surprised if gay marriage is upheld in November. There are many out there on both sides of the political aisle who disapprove. California saw this with Proposition 8, and they are usually a very liberal state.

A people’s veto on this law, in my opinion, would be too bad. I believe in the freedoms granted by gay marriage, even though it makes no difference to me personally. I’m a straight conservative. The new law won’t affect me at all. I’ve simply heard much better reasons for gay marriage than against it. I hope the Maine voters make the choice to uphold the law for reasons of liberty and economics. I just don’t know if we’ve gotten to that point yet.

The state’s roads barely get enough money to be repaired these days, and yet a voter referendum initiative on November’s ballot aims to do away with a good chunk of the revenue that funds those repairs.

With TABOR II, the referendum on gay marriage and another on legalizing marijuana, there is one other voter initiative that seems to have gotten lost in the debate: the excise tax. The citizen initiative on this year’s ballot would decrease the tax amount some vehicle owners pay when registering their vehicles.

The official ballot question states, “Do you want to cut the rate of the municipal excise tax by an average of 55 percent on motor vehicles less than six years old and exempt hybrid and other alternative-energy and highly fuel efficient motor vehicles from sales tax and three years of excise tax?”

Fifty-five percent? That’s crazy. According to Catherine Conlow, Orono’s town manager, the lack of an excise tax would cost the University of Maine’s hometown $260,504 each year. Old Town would lose $509,241 per year. That’s thousands of dollars that’s not going to road repair, because the excise tax is slated specifically for public road maintenance. Orono’s mil rate, the number it uses to figure out what level to set property taxes, would rise by 0.62 percent.

Proponents of the initiative say it will offer approximately $80 million in tax relief, but towns like Orono will be forced to raise property taxes without the added revenue in order to make up the difference. Do people just not know how to do math these days?

The money for road repair has to come from somewhere, and if it’s not coming from the excise tax, it’s coming from the property taxes. Maine already has some of the highest property taxes in the United States. According to The Tax Foundation, a nonpartisan tax research group based in Washington, D.C., Maine’s property taxes in 2006 made up 38.08 percent of its total tax revenue. The national average was 30.04 percent.

Do Mainers want to make it to 40 percent or more? It’s doubtful.

Orono’s road maintenance budget is more than $1 million, so obviously it doesn’t get all of its money from the excise tax. The same can probably be said of other state towns and cities, but even being a portion of that budget, the revenue the excise tax brings in is still a large chunk of financial support. Proponents argue towns’ road maintenance budgets are often less than their excise tax revenue, an argument Orono doesn’t lend itself to – its budget is greater than its excise tax revenue.

The excise doesn’t just pay for roads either. Technically it is set aside for “public works” projects, which can include other publicly used items the town maintains.

Orono’s town council plans to hold a public information session Oct. 19 about both the excise tax initiative and TABOR II, to inform people about how both will impact the town and the state. People should attend so they can make an informed decision this November.

People are sick of taxes, but they’ve forgotten how much good taxes do for them. The state government is not a bunch of evil, pot-bellied, cigar-chomping politicians who laugh maniacally whenever taxes are filed. They are a group of public servants who try their best to meet the needs of the people as a whole, and as individuals — goals that can sometimes clash, but often times complement each other.

Vote down the excise tax citizen initiative this November, and do yourself and your car a favor.

Dylan Riley is news editor for The Maine Campus.