Letters From Our Readers

John Anderson, Dr. Hermann Haller, Jayne Ashworth

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR POLICY

We welcome letter submissions to The Bar Harbor Story; for details on our policy, please visit our about page and scroll down or just visit here.

The beliefs, opinions, and viewpoints expressed by the writers of letters to the editor and included here do not necessarily reflect the beliefs, opinions, and viewpoints or official policies of The Bar Harbor Story.

All the past letters to the editor can be found on the Substack site here.

---

A Pivotal Moment in American Science’s History

We are living through a pivotal moment in the history of American science.

Last Friday, the White House announced a proposal to slash the National Institutes of Health (NIH) budget by 40% and the National Science Foundation (NSF) budget by 50%. These unprecedented cuts would severely imperil our country’s ability to lead in biomedical research and innovation.

For an institution like MDI Biological Laboratory, which relies on these agencies for critical research support, the stakes could not be higher.

As President of MDI Bio Lab, I recently had the honor of testifying before the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee at the request of Senator Susan Collins, a long-time advocate for biomedical research and a champion of NIH and NSF programs that directly impact Maine.

The hearing was convened to underscore the vital importance of sustaining America’s global leadership in biomedical innovation. We were proud to participate because our mission is at the heart of that national conversation.

Our scientists study extraordinary animals like zebrafish and axolotl (Mexican salamander) that regenerate damaged tissues and limbs in order to discover new therapies for diseases such as Alzheimer’s, glaucoma, diabetes, and kidney disease—conditions that are not only scientifically complex but also deeply personal for so many Mainers and Americans.

At the same time, we are investing in the future by training the next generation of biomedical scientists and entrepreneurs by leading a network of 17 Maine institutions that has recruited and retained more than 50 scientists across the state and provided real-world scientific training to 3,000 college students.

These proposed budget cuts threaten both the research and training elements of our mission.

They would not only disrupt active research but also endanger our ability to recruit and retain leading scientists, dampen the aspirations of promising young people, jeopardize the development of cutting-edge therapies, and force reductions in our programs and personnel.

I am sad to say that we are already hearing from students who are reconsidering their futures in science and medicine. We cannot allow short-term budget decisions to cause long-term damage to an entire generation of innovators.

At a time when biomedical science is advancing faster than ever before, we risk losing the momentum and human capital we have worked so hard to build. And while larger institutions may have buffers—tuition revenue, sizable endowments—we do not. We already operate leanly. For us, federal funding is not a luxury; it’s a lifeline.

The consequences of these cuts would ripple far beyond the lab bench. They would directly impact the development and accessibility of future treatments for chronic diseases, many of which are already on the cusp of clinical application thanks to publicly funded research.

And they would hinder one of Maine's and the nation’s fastest-growing economic sectors: the life sciences. Biomedical research isn’t just about health—it’s about high-quality, high-paying jobs and long-term economic vitality in rural states like ours.

As a recent economic analysis demonstrated, the entire country should be concerned – not just because of setbacks in research and discovery, or in the development of lifesaving medicines, but because these reductions represent a setback for the entire U.S. economy.

Just a 25% reduction in public research and development spending, the study found, would reduce the nation’s gross domestic product by 3.8% - a pullback similar to that seen in the 2009 recession. The White House is proposing a 40% reduction in the NIH’s budget.

I am confident that the vast majority of Americans, our friends and neighbors, see perfectly well how short-sighted this policy is, and will not stand for it. The real question is: what can we do about it?

The answer is: Advocate for science. Support our mission. Invest in our future.

Now is a moment to let your voice be heard. Contact your elected officials. Write letters to the editor. Engage with us on social media. Have conversations with your friends and neighbors. Do whatever you can to share your concerns about the impact these proposed cuts will have on our health, our economy and our nation's future.

Your support of our mission has never been more important. With your help, we can continue our research, train tomorrow’s scientific leaders, and maintain Maine’s place on the national scientific stage—even in uncertain times.

Invest in our future. Philanthropy has long played a vital role in bridging the gap, and in fact, nearly 50% of our operating budget today comes from private donations. But in the face of these federal challenges, we must now rely on donor support in an unprecedented way.

Without it, we face the very real possibility of downsizing research programs, limiting student training opportunities, and losing some of the most promising minds in science to better-funded institutions abroad.

We need your voice. We need your partnership. And we need your belief in what science, and MDI Biological Laboratory, can achieve.

With gratitude,

Hermann Haller, M.D.
President
MDI Biological Laboratory

*This letter first appeared in a special MDI Biological Laboratory’s e-newsletter this morning. It is reprinted here with permission.

---

Thanks to the Police Force and the Community

Dear Editors,

Sometimes it seems like it is easiest to emphasize the bad things that go on, the horrors in the wider world, the difficulties in one’s own life. One forgets the kindness and basic decency of others—the very things we should celebrate.

Two weeks ago I had one of the loneliest periods in my life. My wife was away looking after her father who has cancer. The phone rang, and, to make a very long story short, I made the mistake of answering it. What followed was four days of being “catfished” by some very skillful psychological manipulators who tried to convince me that they were from the Drug Enforcement Administration, that there was a warrant out for me in Texas, and that unless I followed their instructions precisely, I would be arrested. Those instructions included both a terrifying amount of my personal information—I had clearly been hacked—and orders to check in with them every three hours while not letting anyone know what was going on. At one point I asked how I could know whether I was speaking to real government agents or the hackers themselves. They offered to “put me though to the Bar Harbor police” and then transferred me somewhere, where I spoke with someone who identified themselves as being on the police force and gave me their badge number.

Things got bad and things got worse, and I finally did what I should have done at once and went in person to our police. There I was treated with enormous kindness and respect by a real police officer.

When I got to the part about being connected with an officer, he smiled and said that yes, the person who I had spoken to was listed as being on the force, but “John, this is Bar Harbor, we don’t HAVE badge numbers.”

I could feel a wave of relief sweep over me. I had been fooled but I hadn’t (quite) been really foolish.

I feel so terribly lucky to live in a small town with wonderful police who will sit and listen to the wildest tales and offer comfort and council. The officer showed me how to maximize my online security, made suggestions about further actions I could take.

When I went to my bank and said how concerned I was that someone had stolen a lot of my information and might try to withdraw our savings, they said “John, we know you and your wife, we aren’t going to let strangers near your money.”

Folks, I am From Away. I have lived in Bar Harbor longer than I have anywhere else in the world, and even after nearly 40 years I am still a “transplant” but I love this town. I love the kindnesses we show each other. The feeling that we always have someone’s back.

Years ago, when one of my sisters visited from California, she asked me how I could live in a tiny town on an island. I said to her, “Well, if either of my kids ever gets lost on Cottage Street there are dozens of folks who will know “oh, those are the Anderson Children” and give us a call. That wouldn’t happen in California.

It is still true. Happy Easter to all and a special shout-out to our wonderful police force.

All the best

John Anderson

Bar Harbor

---

An Appeal to the Coast Guard

Dear United State Coast Guard,

I write today to comment on the proposal to remove navigational buoys from ocean waters along the east coast of the United States.

A wise person I count as a friend, Genevieve McDonald of Deer Isle, Maine, has posted on FaceBook about this proposal:

“This is a terrible idea and goes against everything I’ve ever been taught about navigation—never rely solely on electronics. Removing navigation buoys is reckless.
There’s a world of difference between navigating by plain sight and staring at a screen. Every kid who grows up on the water learns to steer by aiming at a buoy. Crew members asked to take the helm—especially in an emergency—need visible reference points. Many recreational boaters either don’t have electronics or don’t know how to use them. Even experienced mariners get disoriented in the fog.”

I do not often find myself upon our waters in a boat, but believe that if enacted, the result will be dangerous to all who use our waters, will increase work for members of the USCG who have to attempt to rescue those who are unable to use electronic navigation, and may cost lives. Please leave the buoys in place.

Thank you.

Jayne Ashworth
Mount Desert Island, Maine

---