Donnelly is qualified to serve

To the editor:
    I am writing in response to a letter in last week's issue written by Carl Lord Jr. Carl seems to be continuing his mission to get Brian Donnelly to step down from his position with the Houlton Town Council. He also wrote a similar bit in the Bangor Daily News a week prior. I feel that his continual public bashing of Mr. Donnelly stems from the fact that Brian soundly defeated him in the 2008 election. Maybe he just wants this "no-name" to become well known.
    I do not agree with every decision Brian has made in his life, however I support him 100 percent in representing myself as a taxpayer of Houlton on our town council. I have known Brian my entire life — being that he's my uncle and all — and I feel he has the best interests of our town in mind every day. I especially feel he has a strong interest in our youth. I have two young children, so this is important to me.
    Getting behind the wheel after you've been drinking is always a bad decision. Is Brian Donnelly the first person to ever do this? No. Will he be the last? No. Is he the first elected official to have an OUI conviction? No.
    In fact, in recent years there have been multiple people who hold top positions in their respective fields of work who have been caught drinking and driving. People whose jobs are paid for with taxpayers’ money. Have they lost their jobs? In the cases I can think of off the top of my head, they have not. Lawyers, commissioners, superintendents, the list can go on and on.
    Does it give Houlton a bad image? Some would argue it does. I would agree it’s not the greatest thing to have happened. Brian himself would agree to that. However, this happened over a year ago. Brian has dealt with it. Brian continues to deal with it every single day of his life. He made a public statement last April. It's time to put it to rest and move on.
    I don't always agree with the town council. I don't always agree with the opinions of the individual town councilors. However, Houlton doesn't seem to have the problems many of our surrounding communities are having and have had over the years.
    How many times do you open the newspaper and read about a town manager being suspended for this thing or that thing? Or how many times have you read that certain towns are missing money, missing receipts, or other similar things? Houlton doesn't seem to be having these problems.
    If I felt Brian's choices were affecting his decisions as a town councilor, I would agree with Carl that he should step down. If Brian showed up to a council meeting under the influence, I would say he should step down or be removed immediately. This is not the case. Brian is definitely a qualified and competent member of the council.
    When Brian's term as a member of the town council is up, he may or may not chose to run again. If he was running against the same people he ran against last time, I would still fill in the arrow next to Brian A. Donnelly.
John White Jr.
Houlton