Dear Editor:

I visited the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens yesterday and found a wonderful little book in the gift shop called “How To Hug A Porcupine.” It is great, a handbook for those who want to live their lives relieved of the tyranny of unpleasantness.

Having said that, I would like to respond to my friend Frederica McIlwain Luke and her Facebook friends. Let me begin by quoting, in its entirety, a sentence from an excellent article in the Boothbay Register entitled “It’s over — or is it?” which was written by Sue Mello. It goes like this: “Like late-night party goers who refuse to notice their hostess loading the dishwasher, Foundation stalwarts Patty Seybold, Jane Good and Margaret Jones Perritt aren’t going anywhere.”

At no point does she refer to the three of us as “unwanted hangers on.” Her analogy calls it exactly like it is: we have been at this party from the very beginning. Facets of the party may have ended and LCH who sees themselves as running the party may, indeed, be attempting to wash the dishes and call it to an end but we are having none of that. As Jane Good is quoted as saying “We have never stepped down ... why would we now?”

We find Sue Mello to be a gifted journalist. She is thorough in her approach and, frankly, she cannot be held responsible if some of her sources do not give her the whole truth. We, the Foundation, are completely open with her and answer her questions as fully and completely as we can, when we can.

Jane, Patty and I applaud Sue Mello and Joe Gelarden on their coverage of the news in the region and, in particular, their treatment of the issues surrounding the loss of services at St. Andrews.

Margaret Jones Perritt
Boothbay Harbor