Saving Norway the right way

To the Editor:

What can we do to revive the Town of Norway? Maybe we should think outside of the box and not in the box.

Think of the geographical map. Route 302 runs up through Bridgton. The Town of Bridgton is surviving. Ask yourself why — location, location.

Route 4 is Auburn and Turner. They will survive. Route 26 comes up through Poland. Poland is wanting to put in an industrial park. The Town of Paris is wanting to do something to survive.

These three towns, South Paris, Oxford and Poland are all on the main artery of traffic. Norway is a side street. What can we do to attract business into Norway that no one else has?

There are 25 or more fast food places in Norway and South Paris. Now think outside the box. How many businesses in the Town of Norway have survived for 10 years or more.

What can we do to bring business into this beautiful flower box. We are wanting to restore downtown Norway to keep its beauty and draw business.

The Roberts property was brought for research and development and what has happened there?

The Cummings property was bought and we were going to do so much with the Cummings Property. We had such big dreams. We were going to put in stores and apartment house. What happened?

This is the moral of the story about the teapot that I had at the town meeting on Thursday.

The teapot is all I have left of the Old Town Farm. At one time it was a beautiful teapot. Now all I have left is one old teapot, the Opera House.

How many government grants do I get to restore this old teapot? How many old buildings do we restore? Who is going to pay for restoring these old buildings — taxpayers.

I am for seeing a nice town with historical buildings. But where do we draw the line at restoring buildings at taxpayers cost? The landlord should have full responsibility.

Maybe we should consider a walk in health care clinic. If you have a sore throat and need a doctor right now, the doctor's office will tell you they can not see you until next month.

They send you to the ER and you have no insurance. It is $300 just to walk through the door and to see your doctor is $75 or more. So if you had a walk-in clinic you could be seen right away.

Maybe we should think about a dental clinic. A lot of people do not have dental insurance so if we had a clinic it might be good.

John Seilonen

Norway