The New Gloucester Public Access Cable Committee produced a forum with state Senate candidates John Cleveland and Lois Snowe-Mello.

Cleveland calmly demonstrated his exceptional capability. Unfortunately, Snowe-Mello either misunderstood or mischaracterized her own bill, which reduced the time within which the state must bring legal action against environmental violations from 10 years to six.

She said it would speed up cleanup but, in fact, it is literally a statute of limitations that shrinks the window of opportunity to hold environmental polluters accountable.

Her original bill suggested a still smaller window of five years, with a budgetary impact assessed as a loss of up to $100,000 yearly from lost penalties and fines.

While both candidates were civil, Cleveland’s answers showed considerably better understanding of the issues and a more intelligent approach to creating solutions in a bipartisan manner.

Penny Hilton, New Gloucester