Letter to the editor: Recommending Pinny Beebe-Center for Maine District 93

Thu, 02/19/2015 - 10:30am

To the Editor:

At the AIO food pantry and emergency assistance where I volunteer, we hear so much bad news — 150 or more households a week coming in with stories they need to tell. So when good news pops up, we notice.

What joy we felt when Anne (Pinny) Beebe-Center was nominated to fill Maine's vacant District 93 seat representing Rockland and Owls Head! Can this be true? Is the perfect person for that job willing to run?

No one could know more than Pinny about people's needs in Knox County. She managed this region for Penquis for five years, working with community leaders to identify needs, form partnerships, find solutions.

She has served on many boards, often as chair — tackling every sort of serious problem: Knox County Health Coalition, Knox Home Energy Committee, Teens Safehaven, Women Offender Case Management, the Homeless Coalition that created the new case-management version of Hospitality House.

I've known her best on the board of AIO. She's a walking rolodex who understands and can explain every issue and knows everyone who is making a difference in Knox County.

Reading her resume is exhausting, but I must include her knowledge of the workings of government (especially regarding jobs) — her eight years elected as Knox County commissioner, her service on the Maine Jobs Council Policy Committee, the Governor's Intergovernmental Advisory Group, the Eastern Maine Development Corporation's board.

Even if you don't live in Rockland or Owls Head, you know people who do. Electing Pinny Beebe-Center to Augusta is an opportunity to bring greater understanding of Knox County's realities to government deliberations. In my view, it would be tragic to miss this chance.

Please spread the word. Remind people on March 10 to go vote. This matters.

Sherry Cobb

Union