My wife and I had an unexpected visit from the police last year. There was no emergency. Making a long distance call, I had inadvertently pressed 9, and then 1, realized my mistake and, after getting a new dial tone, began again with 1. I was still on the phone when the police arrived.

Because the message had been sent to 911, they were at our Lewiston home in a matter of minutes. When the two officers were confident that all was well and left, my wife and I marveled at the sophistication of this system and the quick response of our police.

Though we are property owners, will we be voting for the tax cap this year? The answer is resolutely no, for these and other reasons (high among them the impoverishment of our schools).

Had there been a real emergency that day last year, why would we want to risk the possibility that fewer policemen, or fewer firefighters, could have responded to that 911 emergency because their own numbers had been decimated?

If the tax cap is passed, we will be years in repairing the damage to the lives of the men and women who protect us, who educate our children and who provide the necessary services that make life better for us all.

There’s a better way.

Question 1 is a shortsighted plan that we will regret when an emergency presses, when many children get left behind, when our neighbors lose their jobs.

Paul Baribault, Lewiston