Levesque offers innovative ideas

To the editor:
    I first met Dan Levesque when I was representing Presque Isle in the Maine House of Representatives. At the time, Gov. Baldacci and rural legislators like me were working to find cost-effective ways to expand high speed Internet access to every corner of the state.
    It was essential to growing Maine’s economy, but the largest providers refused to lay the necessary additional cable.
    During this frustrating time, I got a call on my cell phone while I sat in meetings in Augusta. It was Dan Levesque, and he had an idea he wanted to share with me.
    That weekend, Dan and I met and drove to the peak of a hill just off the Parkhurst Siding Road. As we got out of his car, he pointed up at a cell phone tower, and then he handed me binoculars and told me to look miles to the West at another cell phone tower.
    He wanted to mount a transmitter on the first cell tower and bounce a high speed Internet signal to the western tower, then to another tower, and then to another.
    By using existing cell towers all over Aroostook County, he could ensure that almost every family and business would have access. It was an innovative solution to an important problem.
    Now, at this time of unprecedented challenges facing our state, Maine needs leaders like Dan Levesque in Augusta. We need leaders who understand these challenges and how they affect rural communities. Most importantly, we need leaders with innovative solutions.
    I know Dan Levesque, and I know he’s just the type of leader our state needs. I hope you’ll support his candidacy for the State Senate on Nov. 6th!
Hon. Jeremy R. Fischer
Portland