May 12, 1969
Page 12121
Mr. MUSKIE. Mr. President, I have joined many Senators in raising my voice in protest over the precipitate and ill-conceived action of the administration in closing 59 Job Corps centers throughout the Nation.
Since the announcement on April 11, 1969, I have received hundreds of letters from concerned public officials, citizens, and Job Corps enrollees in opposition to the closings.
These letters speak an eloquent and often heartbreaking plea for continuation of a program which has held out hope for the severely disadvantaged young people of this country.
I ask unanimous consent that a representative selection of letters be printed in the RECORD.
There being no objection, the letters were ordered to be printed in the RECORD, as follows:
GEIGER BROS.,
Lewiston, Maine,
April 15, 1969.
Hon. EDMUND S. MUSKIE,
U.S. Senate, Washington, D.C.
MY DEAR ED: As a near neighbor, so to speak, of the Poland Spring Job Corps (my summer camp is on Middle Range Pond), I feel that I ought to express to you my opinion regarding the projected closing of this facility.
I was not much of an enthusiast when the Job Corps first established itself at Poland Springs, as you may remember. And until the water pollution problem had been attended to I grew less enthusiastic by the day.
But the situation has levelled off. We have found that our new neighbors do not really disturb the peace of the realm nor the beauties of the landscape. And it does seem to me that to close this functioning unit, now equipped to carry on without much further investment, is most unfortunate. It is unquestionably offering instruction, opportunity and hope to human beings who are desperately in need of them. It is a social asset for the nation, and an economic asset for the State of Maine.
Those of us who live within a stone's throw of Poland Spring are no longer in a mood for stone-throwing.We'd like to see the Job Corps continue in active residence!
Sincerely,
RAY GEIGER, President.
LEWISTON, MAINE,
April 17, 1969.
DEAR SENATOR: I am taking a moment to express my thoughts on the proposed closing of the Poland Spring Job Center.
Though the girls' stay has been brief it has enriched my family's life immeasurably. I have two high school teen agers and children of eight and ten. I have spent my life speaking of tolerance, compassion and understanding of the underprivileged and oppressed. We were very privileged to have made the acquaintance of several colored girls that gave us the opportunity to have my children see first hand since we do not have the opportunity to meet many colored people in Maine, that we are all the same, only that social conditions have made the difference.
My two teenagers had the opportunity to get together to try to organize some intersocial activities. Any white person was quite apprehensive about meeting in an all black surrounding but after doing so were enthused and impressed with their friendliness.
As for my two youngest, my wife and I, we've had girls invited for Thanksgiving, Christmas, several weekends and much of our time is spent visiting them. A great amount of mutual affection has developed between us through these visits and discussion. The girls have discussed problems and outlooks quite freely.
Our visits to the Job Center and their visits with us have shown us that this project has given them new hope and outlook on life and also that without this hope there is much ferment as there is among our own white youngsters, but with more justification. As I consider the black social problem as the most pressing one of our time I think it's very important every avenue of conciliation be pursued.
To sum up what I am trying to say is that the impact that these girls have made on us is going to have a far wider effect than on my own immediate family. I feel that my children will advocate, defend and promote better understanding to all that surround because they have a genuine love and understanding made possible by the contact with these girls. As for myself and my wife, we are always ready to talk to anybody that is receptive about the qualities and advantages of the Job Corps and its students.
In short I would deem it a very sad and grave mistake to close the center. Respectfully,
RAYMOND A. ANDERSON,
A Very Concerned Citizen.
HAVERHILL, MASS.,
April 14,1969.
DEAR SENATOR MUSKIE: I would like to register my complaint against the closing of the three Job Corps Training Centers in New England.
I know how much good they are doing by teaching a trade to the under-privileged as I know several Job Corps girls personally.
Please consider the future of these youngsters.
Thank you,
Mrs. R. ROSENGARD.
Senator EDMUND S. MUSKIE,
U.S. Senate,
Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C.
DEAR SENATOR MUSKIe: It was with a great deal of sorrow that I heard of the Job Corps closing at Poland Spring and Acadia. It seems to me from living in the area and having some knowledge of what they have accomplished, that we have helped these young people become useful citizens and they in turn have helped us to help the economy of Maine.
The millions of dollars at these two installations put into circulation in Maine is sorely needed and has helped our tax structure remain where it is. From the community point of view, the girls at Poland Spring Job Corps Center have done a great deal to alleviate the help situation in such places as Pineland Hospital, Mercy Hospital, in Portland, and the Central Maine General and St. Mary's Hospitals in Lewiston. They have also done a great deal in helping the school systems of Auburn, Lewiston and Poland in learning how to be Teachers' Aides and have given unstintingly of themselves in many other community project. I am sure if you will look up their record, you will be impressed with how much they have done so far as to help staff a child-care center for working mothers.
I urge you to use all your influence and your vote to help us maintain the Job Corps Centers at Poland Spring and Acadia. Very sincerely,
Raymond Bezier, Raymond Clifford, Mr. and Mrs. Clayton Monson, Joseph Wirthmore, Ervin Ward, Howard Lunt, Charles Sherman, Mr. and Mrs. Russell L. Sansbury, Mrs. Olive Grundy Curtis, Ruth Verrill, Laurence Dyer, Betty S. Dyer, James W. Logan, Miss Rene Morton, Mr. Lucien Fournier, R. F. Parsons, James T. Swoll, Daniel C. Wakefield.
INTERNATIONAL UNION OF OPERATING ENGINEERS,
Washington, D.C.,
April 10, 1969.
Hon. EDMUND S. MUSKIE,
U.S. Senate, Washington, D.C.
DEAR SIR: Recent news stories regarding proposed cutbacks in the Job Corps program have caused serious concern among the members of our union. Our membership of 360,000 has supported the concept of a "latter-day CCC" since first proposed in Congress a number of years ago. We were very pleased to see the idea become a reality, in the Job Corps Civilian Conservation Centers.
Not only have we supported the Job Corps in principle, we have supported it in action. Since 1966, our International Union has provided training as heavy equipment operators for sixty-five to seventy Corpsmen annually at Jacobs Creek, Tennessee. In July of 1968, we extended this program to the Conservation Center at Anaconda, Montana where we have a trainee census of about fifty. We have placed almost all of the Jacobs Creek graduates in union jobs across the country, and anticipate placing some one hundred more graduates from Jacobs Creek and Anaconda this summer. I am attaching typewritten copies of several of the many letters received by the Center staff from young men who have gone to work and become taxpayers instead of "tax eaters."
While not all Job Corps graduates can tell as significant a story, there is one overriding reason that this program should remain intact. About sixty per cent of the Job Corps Civilian Conservation Center entrants have reading achievements below grade level 3-5, making them – for all intents and purposes – functionally illiterate. Where will they go? Our society cannot afford to carry them forever and they are not capable of caring for themselves.
I earnestly solicit your assistance in maintaining the conservation centers so that we, along with others, may continue to help these youngsters who want to help themselves.
Very truly yours,
HUNTER P. WHARTON, General President.
CLINTON, IOWA,
April 11, 1969.
DEAR SIR: Do you realize what will happen by cutting out Job Corps? I don't think you do. The Job Corps has helped us a lot. Some of us didn't have a future until now. Some of us never had it so good. We are being helped to help ourselves and some of us are taking advantage of this opportunity.
You may have always had it made. I didn't. I had to fight for what I've received. You all ready somebody had only to ask. You never had to worry about where your next meal was to come from, the clothes on your back or a roof over your head. You have yours. Why not let us keep this chance to better ourselves. Not all of us came from a situation like the one I just finished talking about, but we all need a chance.
Job Corps is to help the nation as a whole. We, members of Job Corps, are being useful instead of being out on the streets trying to make a living without any education.
We want Job Corps to stay open. It is needed!
I am going to tell you about myself and how Job Corps has helped me.
My name is Shirley Ann Favors, I am 18 years old, I am from Georgia. I never lived with my mother. I was raised by my Great Aunts. All my life I was passed from one to the other until I graduate from High School. I wanted and still do to go to college but I couldn't go because my relatives refused to help me. I want to succeed in life, so I came to Job Corp. I am in Clinton, Iowa. I am in the Business & Clerical Department. I hope someday to be a secretary. That has been my dream. Being here is turning my dreams into reality. I have hope once again, if you do close Job Corps what would I do? Tell me what's going to happen to us. There are some centers that need to be closed but not this one in Clinton, Iowa. It's helping. Why not let the centers that are operating efficiently stay open? We, the young people need your help.
We want to be somebody, not a nobody. Please let us do our thing in Job Corps. "Do Our Thing In Job Corps."
We need your help. Thank you.
SHIRLEY FAVORS, Corpswoman, Clinton Job Corps.
ST. THOMAS CHURCH,
Camden, Maine,
April 12,1969.
DEAR SENATOR MUSKIE: I was stunned to learn of the closing of the Job Corps centers in Maine. I have written to Richard Nixon about this.
Please register the protest of many of us here in Camden.
Arbitrary "economic" cutting is going to badly hurt our nation not only in Maine but throughout the country and increase the tensions between "the haves" and "the have nots." While Vietnam appears as the #1 issue, I fear our Nation is going to be at a boiling point if unemployment and lack of concern for the racially deprived and economically needed are overlooked.
Please do all you can to pressure Sen. Gaylord Nelson's committee to act on these unwise moves.
Meanwhile here in Knox County, we in the clergy shall do all we can, by local efforts, to aid those in need – financially, morally and in spirit – by action as well as awareness.
Good luck to you in your dedication to good government.
Sincerely,
HARRY I. LAUER, Jr.
ARLINGTON, VA.,
April 12,1969.
DEAR SIR: As a VISTA volunteer, who spent thirteen months at a Job Corps Conservation Center, I am appalled at the closing of over half the Job Corps Centers in the country. Anyone who has been deeply involved with a Job Corps Center and the individual corpsmen cannot help feel that beneath the euphemisms of the Administration lies either ignorance of the program and the young men it serves, or a lack of commitment towards the disadvantaged youth of this country. In analyses of the Job Corps program, the assumption is usually made that the Corpsmen are generally residents of northern urban ghettos. This is not so. I know in the northwest, the majority of our corpsmen were southern Negroes. This is the biggest justification for the intention of a national residential program, for we were far more successful with the southern Negro than any other ethnic geographical group. By contrast one L.A. corpsman once said, "Man, why do I have to do all this. Man, I know a pimp at home with a third grade education, drives a Cadillac, wears diamond rings."
For the southern' poor' largely from rural Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina, Job Corps is almost the only poverty program available for those who want to do more than pick cotton for the rest of their lives. As stipulated by the 1964 OEO Act, the governor has veto power over each poverty project within the state – and consequently there are almost no N.Y.C. programs, few C.A.P.'s and no General Motors in the rural South. Oregon has 70 Vista volunteers; Mississippi has 0.
Of approximately 300 southern corpsmen who came in my thirteen months at Wolf Creek Job Corps Conservation Center in Oregon, four were reading above a sixth grade level. The medium level was second grade, and the mode fell in a beginning reading level. President Nixon, the roots of poverty are deep, far deeper than most of us can imagine. Learning a job skill is the easiest obstacle to overcome, for the same physical approach to life, coupled with intense hostility, which makes the disadvantaged youth so difficult to school and socialize, often makes him an excellent worker. Sure we spent $5,000 per corpsman but our corpsman needed extensive dental care which for over 80% of our corpsmen was the first care they had had in ten years. And these "dudes" must have a residential program, for, when you are from a family of nine, with an income of $2,700 (The Wolf Creek southern average) and your old man (if you had one) pulled you out of school in order to bring home some extra money, getting away from home can do you wonders.
One of Wolf Creek's more articulate corpsman stated his reaction to the possible closing down of centers eloquently. "Man, this country is evil. Look what they did to the Indians and to my people. Howard Hughes makes a couple of thousand bucks every minute and people go hungry in South Carolina. They spend billions of dollars to go around the moon and now they want to put me back in the streets."
Another corpsman in writing "True Story Are (of) My Life" concluded by saying, "Where there (is) a rope, there some hope." If the Administration is truly committed to bringing disadvantaged youth into society but contends Job Corps is too expensive, should not the alternative to Job Corps be functioning in all geographic areas before sending the corpsmen back to the streets.
From a list given in the Washington Post of April 12, no mini-centers are slated for the states of Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, South Carolina or Georgia. To cut the only rope that the poor Southern youth has now is heartless.
Yours truly,
JON GABEL.
DOWNEAST WICS, INC.,
RESIDENTIAL YOUTH CENTER,
Portland, Maine,
April 14, 1969.
Hon. EDMUND S. MUSKIE,
U.S. Senate, Washington, D.C.
Mr DEAR ED: I am enclosing with this letter a copy of a night letter that I have dispatched to Mr. Nixon. The contents are self-explanatory.
Since its inception, I have been personally aware of the Poland Springs Job Corps, and generally aware of the Arcadia operation. As a matter of fact, while I was Director of the Neighborhood Youth Corps, we cooperated with the implementation of Poland Springs by furnishing them with Neighborhood Youth Corps' enrollees, both from Portland and West Roxbury, to "dry run" its center for one week. From then on we have always, through Neighborhood Youth Corps, PROP, etc., had excellent relationships with this center. These contacts gave us a continuous insight into its operation. I therefore speak from personal experience and knowledge when I state that Poland Springs is a quality program. This also applies to Arcadia. For instance, when an Arcadia enrollee graduated into a higher train center, he was put on a bus which usually stopped in Portland, and at this time, the enrollee would change buses and return to Arcadia. They did a fantastic job in basic education and in changing attitudes.
It is regrettable indeed that the Administration is arbitrarily recouping $100,000,000 through the process of closing down programs in human resources at the expense of recouping $100,000,000 from the sixty billion dollars loss of revenue emanating from tax loop-holes now on the books.
What can we do here on the line to stem actions that once again will discard from society hard-core youth and pump down the drain the gallant and courageous experiments of OEO and other agencies before they can reach valid answers and conclusions.
In closing, I urge the support of your office to press for reconsideration of the Administration's drastic action (without consultation with Congress) – actions which will affect and create another generation of youth, another generation of welfare recipients, and another generation of young adults incapable of joining a truly productive role in the labor force.
You have been ever since I've known you, the champion of these people.
I hope and trust that your efforts will be successful.
Thank you.
Very cordially yours,
NELSON A. PEPIN, Executive Director.
APRIL 15, 1969.
Senator EDMUND MUSKIE,
U.S. Senate, Washington, D.C.
DEAR SENATOR MUSKIE: This letter is from an admiring non-constituent (now that this national election is over). I was immeasurably distressed by the recent news of impending Job Corps center closures. We can spend 30 billion dollars a year on poor, impoverished people 12,000 miles away; yet the administration reneges on spending 100 million dollars to assist our own country's flesh and blood in attaining a minimal academic competence and a marketable skill. I am sure, sir, that you are more than capable of illustrating this injustice to the less advantaged youth of our country.
My personal gratitude to you, sir, for what I am sure, will be your strenuous efforts to rectify this eminent social injustice. Sincerely,
GAIL E. REESE.
CLINTON, IOWA,
April 25, 1969.
Senator EDMUND MUSKIE,
U.S. Senate, Washington, D.C.
DEAR SENATOR MUSKIE: I am a Corpwoman enrolled in the Clinton Job Corps Center. I am sure the shocking news about our Center closing has reached you by now.
I am asking you not to let this happened. This is some of us last chance. Don't let us go back into a world of ignorancy. We want to be leaders of tomorrow. We want to do something worthwhile for our country in the future, but without the training, what can we do? Absolutely nothing; without training and skills, we are entirely to nothing that is worthwhile for us.
Here we are being trained in various vocations to obtain a goal. If the center is closed, what can we do?
As the saying goes which is very much true, opportunity knocks but once, and we feel this is our first and last chance. If this chance is passed by, we will have no other opportunity.
Please don't send us back into a life of poverty and ignorancy.
Please help us. Sincerely yours,
MISS HATTIE CLARK
CUMBERLAND CENTER, MAINE,
April 15, 1969.
DEAR SENATOR MUSKIE: I am writing to protest the closing of the Job Corp centers around the country, especially the two in Maine. I feel that these are worthwhile, well-run projects beneficial to the country as well as to the people they help. I feel that it is unfair to close them simply to save money. We will rally be losing if we allow the individuals involved to return to their former hopeless state unskilled and feeling discouraged and unwanted. We must let them know that someone cares about them, that their country does have a heart, that life really does offer them something beyond degradation.
As my government representative I hope that you share my feelings and will work to find a reasonable and fair solution to this problem. I realize that you are very busy, but I think this is important. Thank you for your time.
Sincerely,
GERTRUDE HICKEY.
APRIL 28, 1969.
Hon. EDMUND S. MUSKIE, U.S. Senate,
Washington, D.C.
DEAR SENATOR MUSKIE: I urge you to continue to oppose closing Job Corps Centers until adequate facilities are in operation to guarantee continuation of training programs for the hard core unemployed. As I understand, after July 1 it will be impossible to accommodate approximately 10,000 of the boys now in Conservation Centers. Are these boys to be abruptly sent back to the ghetto in the middle of their training without any consideration for their personal feelings?
I am somewhat familiar with the Acadia Center and know the educational program had improved greatly in efficiency and quality within the few months before the announced closing. Since this announcement by Secretary Shultz, the morale of the boys has fallen sharply and within two weeks time about fifty boys have given up and gone home. This is sad.
Sincerely,
Mrs. ROBERT C. BINNEWIES.
LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS OF MAINE,
Brunswick, Maine,
April 23, 1969.
Hon. EDMUND S. MUSKIE,
Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C.
DEAR SENATOR MUSKIE: The Maine League of Women Voters is concerned about the abrupt closing of Job Corps centers before adequate substitutes can be set up. For your information, you will find enclosed a letter which was sent from the League to Secretary Shultz explaining our position in detail. We know that according to the Washington Post of April 12 you telephoned the President to ask that closing orders be rescinded and we are grateful for your efforts in this matter.
Yours very truly,
Mrs. THOMAS P. RILEY, Chairman of Human Resources.
LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS OF MAINE,
Brunswick, Maine,
April 23, 1969. Hon.
GEORGE P. SHULTZ,
Secretary of Labor, Washington, D.C.
DEAR MR. SECRETARY: On behalf of the League of Women Voters of Maine, I am writing to urge that Job Corps Centers should not be closed until adequate and expanded facilities are in operation to guarantee continuation of programs to train the hard core unemployed and underemployed.
League members have supported the Job Corps because they feel that removing young people from environments holding little hope for improvement and placing them in residential settings where both job and basic educational training would be available is worthy of trial. To set up replacement facilities in 30 urban centers by July 1 seems unrealistic. Therefore the League opposes the abrupt closing of Job Corps Centers.
Maine League members have been particularly interested in the conservation center at Arcadia and the women's center at Poland Spring both of which are slated to be closed. Our members in the Mt. Desert Island area have never reported anything but excellent relationships between the community and the trainees at Acadia. Living in the southern part of the state, I can speak from firsthand knowledge of what the Poland Spring girls have done for our state. If living in Maine has given them any insight into the value to one's total outlook on life of living in an environment of natural beauty, what the girls have done for our citizens in return is far more. The majority have been anxious to become a part of our community life. They have worked on fund raising drives, entertained throughout the area, joined in discussion groups particularly with students, arranged flowers for churches and visited in countless homes for weekends and special occasions. They have inspired those of us who had the luck to grow up in supportive environments by their unusual courage. They have impressed us with their determination to lift themselves out of a life of poverty and despair into a productive role in society.
Of course there have been exceptions at both centers in Maine, young people who are problems to the centers and to the state, but we feel that the numbers who have succeeded more than justify the money expended for this rehabilitation and training. It seems to us that withdrawal of promised assistance and opportunity will only make these young people cynical and disillusioned about the depth of the commitment the nation has to overcoming poverty and discrimination.
We believe it is possible that as urban "mini" skills centers are developed, they may prove better able to fill the needs of the severely disadvantaged. The League does not believe that immediate closing of Job Corps centers is in the best interests of the aims of our nation.
Yours very truly,
Mrs. T. P. RILEY, Chairman, Human Resources.
POLAND SPRING JOB CORPS CENTER FOR WOMEN,
Poland Spring, Maine,
April 14, 1969.
Hon. RICHARD M. NIxoN,
President of the United States,
White House, Washington, D.C.
DEAR MR. PRESIDENT: I am a staff member at Poland Spring Jobs Corps Center for Women and I am displeased that your Secretary of Labor finds it necessary to close our Center.
I have been at Poland Spring since June 1, 1966 and have seen many young ladies come and go. Most of the young ladies have learned many things besides educational and vocational skills. They have learned things that most adults in our country haven't learned yet and that's being able to live together, despite geographical, racial and ethnic differences.
For a President that is supposed to be so administratively qualified and excellent at setting up organizations, it seems to me that you haven't received all the facts about the Job Corps and have used Job Corps as a political football. You thought you had problems with cities before, but to turn back into the cities 15,000 young people without proper training – are you kidding?
I've worked in Community Action Programs, and other city based programs and they don't work. If young ladies are given proper training they will return to the cities and become better citizens, but to get training in a city and live in the ghetto is difficult and almost impossible because of all the deviant behavior and elements.
Please, Mr. President, I don't care about myself because I can get another job; but many young people need to have training that they will not be able to get in a nonresidential program. It seems to me that when the Labor Department decides to close Job Corps Centers that at least they could do is visit the Centers and talk to the staff and young ladies at the Center.
Mr. President, why don't you and Mr. Shultz visit our Center before you decide to ruin the lives of 1,100 young ladies.
HARRY LISEWSKI, Jr.
POLAND SPRING JOB CORPS CENTER FOR WOMEN,
Poland Spring, Maine,
April 15, 1969.
The PRESIDENT,
The White House. Washington, D.C.
MY DEAR Mr. PRESIDENT: I am very disappointed and dismayed that you find it necessary to close the Poland Spring (Maine) Job Corps Center for Women plus other centers. If you personally could witness what productive, creative things are happening at Poland Springs, I would judge that you would feel that the Center's advantages greatly outweigh its disadvantages.
A staff member at Poland Spring since it began in April, 1966, I testify to at least three pertinent factors: (1) A residential setting is more conducive to producing the necessary attitudes required by an employable person. (2) Poland Spring, situated in a rural area, contains more strengths than weaknesses when compared with a center in an urban location. (3) Corpswomen who are members of minority racial and ethnic groups find in Job Corps that some white persons do indeed exist who treat them like human beings.
Finally, the fact that most of the 1,100 Corpswomen at Poland Spring sincerely desire to remain at Poland Spring in the Job Corps represents a living testimony to the value of Job Corps training with its many rather intangible benefits.
Respectfully yours,
H. HARVEY HARRINGTON.
AUGUSTA HOUSE, Augusta, Maine,
April 14, 1969.
President RICHARD M. NIXON,
White House, Washington, D.C.
DEAR PRESIDENT NIXON: As the manager of the Augusta House and a conservative person by nature, I have observed the Arcadia Job Corps and Poland Spring Job Corps trainees with a great deal of interest. The Arcadia boys have stayed at the Augusta House when they attended socials at Poland Springs. The Job Corps officials wanted the boys having rooms forty miles away after the socials. I have given the lowest possible rate as I think these centers are doing a lot of good and have tried to help the program.
I have talked with a number of the boys and asked what the Job Corps meant to them. I almost always receive an answer that is very similar to other answers. "This is my last chance to be able to do some kind of work other than a common laborer." One boy said, "I get a job digging a hole, when they start to build the building I can't do anything so I get laid off."
Maine people are independent and very self sufficient. The trainees that associate with local employees that have "never gone on the town," a Maine expression of not accepting welfare, are being exposed to the type of thinking that will do them a lot of good.
I believe the Maine Job Corps Centers are two of the best and urge you to consider their merits when you curtail this program. My experience with the trainees would indicate that these people have been trained to support themselves when they graduate.
Very cordially yours,
RICHARD L. SCHENK, Manager.
KENNEBUNK, MAINE,
April 4,1969.
DEAR SENATOR MUSKIE: Please make every effort to keep the Job Corps Center at Poland Spring, Maine, open. This is a proven workable, and valuable center.
The Job Corps is for the disadvantaged as the G.I. bill was for the veterans of World War II.
I pray that you will be effective in helping to keep open the Job Corps Center at Poland Spring, Maine.
Thank you,
JEAN O'BRIEN PERKINS.
POLAND SPRING, MAINE.
Hon. EDMUND MUSKIE,
Washington, D.C.
DEAR SENATOR MUSKIE: I am writing you in regard to the proposed closing of the Job Corps Center for Women here at Poland Spring, Me. I have been one of the staff members since February 1966.
I have seen the program developed for the girls here and have watched with interest the way the girls have responded. We have taken great pride here on the number of graduates and the help we have been able to give to so many young women who needed help and guidance for a new way of life. I feel that these young people need such a program as is offered here and that it will be doing a great injustice if this center is allowed to close.
I hope everything possible will be done to keep this center open so that many more young women can obtain the education and help they deserve so very much.
Sincerely,
Avis M. BAIRD.
POLAND SPRING, MAINE,
April 15, 1969.
Hon. EDMUND S. MUSKIE,
The Senate, the Capitol, Washington, D.C.
MY DEAR SENATOR MUSKIE: I am a secretary at the Poland Spring Job Corps Center for Women and a native of Auburn, Maine. I feel very sad that the Poland Spring Center is on the list of Job Corps Centers to be closed because of a budget cut.
I have worked at Poland Spring for a year and a half and have enjoyed immensely my work and my contacts with the Corpswomen. I find that so many of the young ladies I have met are grateful for the opportunity to better themselves academically and they really want this second chance.
Please do all you can to help reverse the decision to close Poland Spring. Even though I do not know a large percentage of the Corpswomen or what they will do when they leave here (whether it means going back to their homes or being placed in another program) I cannot help but worry about the well being and futures of these girls when they had such a good chance here to make something of their young lives.
Yours sincerely,
Mrs. ROSE KEENE.
POLAND SPRING, MAINE,
April 15, 1969.
Re opposition to proposed closing of Poland Spring Job Corps Center.
Hon. EDMUND S. MUSKIE, U.S. Senate,
Washington, D.C.
DEAR SENATOR MUSKIE: First of all, you might call me partial because I am employed by Poland Spring Job Corps Center. Naturally, I stand to lose by the closing of the center, but I can always find other employment. With 19 years of experience, I feel I am qualified in my profession.
The main issue as I see it is the end of opportunity and hope for a brighter future for the corpswomen enrolled at Poland Spring Job Corps Center. I have seen thousands of girls come through this center in the 2½ years I have been employed here. Sure, we have had a minority of disappointments, but the great majority of these girls (black or white) have gained immensely and have been given an opportunity in life which they wouldn't have had without this program.
We have had corpswomen at our home and have found them to be very well mannered and ladylike. Too bad they are condemned on the whole by the actions of a few. Our local paper (The Lewiston Sun-Journal) is quick to print any wrong doing of a corpswoman (including her name) but seldom if ever is there anything mentioned about the good and generous actions of the corpswomen. Our three year old daughter attends the Job Corps Nursery School. We love her very much and certainly wouldn't trust her to incorrectables. Through the efforts of the corpswomen and their instructors, she has learned the equivalent of sub primary.
The above are but a few of the reasons I am strongly opposed to the closing of the Poland Spring Job Corps Center. If our government funds were expended on programs like this one instead of foreign countries and rocket races, our racial and poverty problems would diminish in proportion.
Very truly yours,
MARY C. AREL.
UNITED BROTHERHOOD OF CARPENTERS AND JOINERS OF AMERICA,
Washington, D.C.,
April 11, 1969.
Hon. EDMUND S. MUSKIE,
U.S. Senate, Washington, D.C.
MY DEAR SENATOR MUSKIE: We have been advised that a severe curtailment of the Job Corps Program is being considered.
Since May of 1968, we have had the opportunity of working very closely with the Job Corps Conservation Centers Program through the Department of Agriculture Forest Service and more recently with the Department of Interior in the operation of seven (7) Carpentry Programs, wherein we are providing related and manipulative experience to sixty (60) of the under-prepared and underprivileged youth in each of the seven (7) centers.
Although none of our programs have run the full cycle, we have already placed fifty two (52) young men that we were able to qualify into our apprenticeship programs throughout the country and we expect to place all of the young men now in our programs in the industry upon the completion of their program, some of which will be completed in June, 1969 and others in July, 1969.
Therefore, we request that serious consideration be given to the continuance of the Job Corps Conservation Centers in that we feel an excellent job is being done in the training and placement of young men in gainful employment who will take their place in their community as active citizens and workers in the industry who, otherwise, will be returned to their home community as unskilled workers and thus become a burden, as well as a problem for society.
If curtailment is essential of some of the Conservation Centers, it should be done on a selected basis after full investigation of the quality of training and job placement that has been accomplished at each center. Sincerely yours,
M. A. HUTCHESON, General President.
CAMDEN, MAINE,
April 12, 1969.
President RICHARD M. NIXON,
The White House, Washington, D.C.
DEAR MR. PRESIDENT: I am stunned by the announcement of your decision to close approximately 60% of the Job Corps centers. The intended substitution, as announced, of training centers for a smaller number of day students may be less expensive in dollars in the short run, but I cannot see it as a credible alternative to the present Job Corps program, and I predict that your economies in this area ultimately will become unbelievably expensive in terms of their social results.
Government spending needs to be cut, but the obvious place to make the cuts is where the spending is greatest, for the least return to society, namely, the military establishment. The "security" which our military system provides is indeed questionable in these times of mutual "over-kill" capability, while the obvious and immediate consequence of our military spending is death and destruction in Vietnam, and anguish for the families of our own casualties.
Preoccupation with the supposed danger of external enemies has helped this nation to ignore more dangerous domestic situations. Mayor Carl Stokes of Cleveland has expressed very effectively the need for rearranging our national priorities.
I know that it is probably easier politically to cut domestic welfare programs than to curtail the military establishment, but we need leadership in the presidency – a vision which goes somewhat beyond the common preoccupation with immediate profits. Sincerely,
RALPH E. COOK.
WARD BROS.,
Lewiston, Maine,
April 12, 1969.
Hon. GAYLORD NELSON,
U.S. Senate, Washington, D.C.
DEAR SENATOR NELSON: Many thanks for your letter expressing your views to do something constructive about the Poverty Program, especially in reference to the closing of the Job Corps Centers in many areas.
The decision to close the nearby Poland Spring Center was an irrational afterthought. This type of decision-making is irresponsible, and loaded with politics. It is based on emotional judgment and unfounded fact.
The total poverty program is sound. It is the only positive way to aid the young unfortunate youngster that has indicated his willingness to get out of his environment and do something for himself. But if the present Administration is going to make hasty decisions such as the closing of this particular Center, this alone adds to the "failure and rejection" aspect that these youngsters have been subjected to in their formative years. All they get is rejection.
As to the cost ... I froth with anger when I see billions spent on defense; on systems that "may not work"; on the immoral war in Vietnam. As a taxpayer, and a heavy one this year, I cannot justify paying my hard earned dollars for the kinds of defense spending that could be used toward helping our unfortunate citizens get a lease on life. The costs of poverty versus the costs of defense . . . who are we kidding?
Thank you for asking my views. I shall be happy to come to Washington and testify that these Centers should be increased, not eliminated. That the effort to make these centers more productive be tried, rather than disregarded. That more "good old American ingenuity" be used to think positively about these programs rather than drop them in the junk heap.
Senator Muskie is a dear friend. My qualifications, if needed, can be confirmed by a call to his office anytime. If I can be of further assistance by writing or phoning at my own expense, please call on me.
Thank you again. Respectfully,
LAWRENCE J. WARD.
TOWN OF POLAND, MAINE,
April 12, 1969.
Senator EDMUND MUSKIE,
Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C.
DEAR SENATOR MUSKIE: The Board of Selectmen of Poland were shocked to hear of
the decision to close the Poland Spring Job Corps far Women.
The "Center" has been well received by area people and we have observed many graduates who have benefited from both the school and the fine location where the girls have the opportunity to live and study in a quiet area away from the slums of the cities in which they were reared.
We strongly protest the manner as well as the degree of appraisal and thought exhibited by the Labor Department in making a decision of this magnitude without at least viewing the entire operation.
The decision to eliminate the largest women’s center in the United States will be felt by the minority groups, the inhabitants of Poland and the State of Maine and the students for many years to come.
The Poland Center makes approximately 400 jobs available to area people, and pays one-fifth of the taxes in this community of approximately 2,000 population.
Truly this is a severe blow to both the Town of Poland and the State of Maine. Your consideration of this matter will be greatly appreciated.
Respectfully yours.
BOARD OF SELECTMEN OF POLAND, R. A. WATERHOUSE, Jr., Secretary.
SEATTLE, WASH.
DEAR Mr. MUSKIE: I feel it is futile to write anyone in Congress. I'm writing anyway. Closing Job Corps is a tremendous mistake. Save on the military budget!
JERRY CAMPBELL,
An Angry Voter.
CUMBERLAND CENTER, MAINE,
April 13, 1969.
Senator EDMUND MUSKIE,
Washington, D.C.
DEAR Mr. MUSKIE: It is with concern for the closing of the Poland Springs Job Corp Center that I am writing.
Through our local church I have had the opportunity of visiting the Center, and have met some of the young women. Their enthusiasm is something that must be seen to be appreciated, and the majority will certainly "graduate" being useful citizens of our country.
It is almost inconceivable that such a thing as closing this most worthwhile way of helping some of our underprivileged class is happening.
Please consider me as one that is against it.
Very truly yours,
NAOMI MEADOWS.
FARMINGTON, MAINE,
April 15, 1968.
Senator EDMUND MUSKIE,
Washington, D.C.
DEAR SENATOR MUSKIE: I know of your alarm concerning the announced closing of the Poland Springs Job Corps Center and I wish to support you as heartily as one voter can, with the hope that this excellent program will be continued.
I have visited the center and recently have met several of the Corps women enrolled there. I hate to think of their fate if this program is eliminated. Certainly other economies can be effected – and I am for this, believe me, that do not deal so vitally with human rehabilitation. The center's achievement record does not deserve this action! Good luck! Sincerely yours,
SARAH K. PRENTISS.
ALFRED, MAINE.
April 12, 1969.
Mr. EDMUND MUSKIE,
U.S. Senate, Washington, D.C.
DEAR MR. MUSKIE: The announcement yesterday that Poland Spring Job Corps Center
is to be closed came as a great blow both to the staff and the 1100 girls who are here.
I have worked at the Center as both a Senior and a Resident Counselor for almost three years. The wonderful results of our program are well-known to me.
Many of our girls have gone on to both good jobs and to further training as nurses or in colleges.
Those girls who could not benefit from the program have been referred to the proper agencies either in their home cities or in their states. Perhaps they never would have received this help if they had not come to Job Corps.
Besides these wonderful results we have had, on the most part a wonderful experience in interracial living both among staff and the corpswomen. This is an important part of our program.
I am also thinking about the economic benefit the Center has brought to this part of Maine. Our state needs this Center.
Most sincerely yours'
Mrs. MARY T. STRAYER.
POLAND SPRINGS, MAINE,
April 14, 1969.
Senator EDMUND S. MUSKIE,
Waterville, Maine.
DEAR MR. MUSKIE: Enclosed please find a copy of the letter which I felt constrained to write to our President.
I feel, very deeply, the need for the Poland Spring Job Corps' and the others. For humanitarian reasons. For economic reasons.
A girl here is only one member of a tree which will grow in several generations to a larger number – perhaps to nearer fifty than one for the country to support on welfare.
Looking at it this way the money spent on a girl at Poland Spring is quite small indeed.
I have seen hundreds here graduate with a vocation and perhaps a G.E.D. high school diploma. Good, quiet girls who never made the papers by disorderly conduct.
This action to close some centers may be a wedge to close others – one by one.
For a thousand girls to be sent home is one thing but the greater thousands that will need Job Corps to keep them from nothingness is another.
Yours truly
Mrs. GERTRUDE E. MACLEOD.
POLAND SPRINGS, MAINE,
April 14, 1969.
TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, MR. RICHARD NIXON.
DEAR SIR: There is great consternation among the young girls at the Poland Spring Job Corps Center.
In my three years here I have not seen one of them so stunned unless it was on account of news of a death in the family.
Some say that they cannot possibly return to the intolerable conditions at home without a vocation to help them gain a foothold on life.
I believe that if they opened their hearts and lives to you you would bend every effort to save them, in so far as possible, from their personal and private despair.
Prose really doesn't lend itself to the tragedy that I see in some of these young faces. These words come into my mind although I have not wit nor time to improve the form.
"Orphans of Humanity
Step-children of Life
Return to your troubled homes
Return to your strife.
Young Black, Young Spic
Young Poor white Trash
Don't be so bold – so brash
As to think America holds for you
A first or second chance.
Return without a thought, or care
To a lifetime of reliance
Upon your Country's welfare."
This could cost up to $190,000.00 for welfare and $35,000 loss in taxes to the Government per girl.
We have not been able to help every girl who came to us. Psychological causes have made it impossible for light to penetrate many a misguided soul or warped mind.
But even the campaigns of Evangelist Billy Graham, whom I honor, cost vast sums of money and great physical toll. Yet he is grateful to God that some seed falls upon receptive soil.
And Jesus said the poor were always with us. He also gave His disciplines directions for catching the greater supply of fish.
This letter is from an ingrained Republican who grieved when you faced heartbreak and rejoiced in your victory!
Sincerely yours (and my Country's),
GERTRUDE E. MACLEOD.
MECHANIC FALLS, MAINE.
SENATOR MUSKIE: I am writing to protest the closing of the Poland Spring, Maine, Job Corps.
The Center, as you probably know, is located in a most scenic location and I feel that its environment, good air, the many opportunities to learn, can do much to make the Corps girls feel that they really have, and will desire to have in their future, a brand new and better way of life through learning and earning. I sincerely feel that Poland Spring is an ideal place for this type of center.
It goes without saying that the economy of this area will be strongly affected if the Center is closed. Neither my husband nor myself is employed at the Center but we feel strongly that it should be allowed to continue in operation.
Maine can help these girls and these girls can help Maine!
We ask for your efforts toward the continuance of the Poland Spring Job Corps. Thank you.
Respectfully,
Mr. and Mrs. F. V. CURTIS.
WEST POLAND, MAINE,
April 13, 1969.
OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Washington, D.C.
DEAR MR. PRESIDENT: I hope you accept my apologies for any error in protocol in the writing of this letter, but I felt that the matter at hand warranted its writing, regardless.
I wish to speak of the closing of the Poland Spring Camp Job Corps Center for Women at Poland Spring, Maine. I cannot in all fairess to the Center, the girls, the towns nearby, the State, or this nation, say that this action is in the best interest of all concerned. As a staff member of that center, I have seen for myself the faces of the girls when they heard the news of the action taken by the Department of Labor to close their center. For most, it was the first time in their lives that they were treated with any dignity. For all, it was the greatest chance they would ever receive to make it in this life.
I would like to ask what you intend to do this summer when these girls, and countless boys from the other Job Corps centers, are back on the streets of the nations cities, with the thought in their minds that no one in this world cares whether they live or die, and an incident like the closing of the centers is all the proof they need.
Take a look around you, Mr. Nixon, and look at the lines of tension being pulled tighter and tighter. Take a closer look at the racial prejudice that strains them even more The cause of such prejudice? Its source? Ignorance, Mr. President. Sheer ignorance. Aside from educating the underprivileged youth of this nation, each Job Corps Center has, by its mere existence, brought about a racial harmony in the youth of America that most adults still need the key to. Through my work at the Poland Spring installation, I have achieved a much greater understanding of the negro and his problems than any ten Presidential Commissions.
If saving money is really your first concern, as is only right when that money doesn't belong to you, then why not consider the cutting of funds allocated for the military, or to foreign aid. You are not blind, Mr. Nixon. You know what the South and Latin American nations REALLY think of the United States. We have for too long, punished ourselves and felt guilty for being the richest nation this world has ever seen. We say, "I'm sorry I'm so rich, but give me a chance, and I'll give it all away as soon as possible." What possible use is the salvation of the world, if we as a nation can't save ourself?
The Job Corps program is even more valuable when you look at it in the aspect that for every girl or boy that graduates, there is one less person on the welfare lists of this nation. There is a better than likely chance that his or her future husband or wife will be much more capable of raising a family that will not be on welfare. So you can see that the Job Corps program is self-eliminating as it eliminates welfare at its source – poverty. In fact, with the number of graduates from the program who assumes the responsibility for their own welfare, there are more tax dollars coming in than going out to welfare programs over a long period of time. By any means of reason, the Poland Spring Job Corps Center, by virtue of its being the largest, could be run much more effectively and efficiently and at much lower cost than two or three smaller centers scattered throughout the country. Not to mention the savings in operational costs, personnel payroll, fuel and electricity, foodstuffs, plus the advantage of size in the Poland Spring complex. The Center is located a relatively short distance from Lewiston and Auburn, which makes it convenient for the girls' work programs, for shopping trips, for recreational purposes, and the accessibility of supplies for maintaining the center. The Center is large enough to easily accommodate 1200 girls, but small enough to provide the individual attention each girl needs. It is not too close to any major metropolitan area (such as "Cleveland", New York City, Washington, D.C., etc.) but there are airports and bus routes to them. This, it would seem, is ideal, since the emphasis is on avoiding the tensions of the city, and to concentrate on individual development and education. Show me the practicality of closing this center.
It may be important for you to know that I am only 19 years old, I am white, and that I am not poverty stricken. It should be more important for you to know that I am sincere in everything I have said. Job Corps has done wonders for this community in which I live, and in the surrounding communities where I attend college. Through my work at the Poland Spring Job Corps Center, I have grown considerably. This is supposed to be the common reaction, of nearly every staff member working with these girls. I wish you would at least come, and see for yourself the tremendous value of this program before making your final decision. Who knows, you might even change the minds of those who continue to condemn this program without knowing what it is really all about!
Thank you for your time. Sincerely,
GREGORY A. KEENE.
KEZAR FALLS, MAINE,
April 18, 1969.
Senator EDMUND MUSKIE,
Washington, D.C.
DEAR SENATOR MUSKIE: We are greatly disturbed by the announcement that the Poland Spring Job Corps is to be closed.
We have visited the Job Corps at Poland Springs and have been amazed at the variety
of trades the girls were learning and doing extremely well so that they might go out into the world as useful citizens rather than being turned back to their old environments to squalor and ghetto living and rioting and hopeless futures.
So far as Poland Springs is concerned the Job Corps certainly cannot be tagged as a "flat failure".
Setting up new centres to absorb the boys and girls from those being closed would not be much, if any, saving to the Government as the present facilities are already set up, well equipped and, as far as Poland Springs is concerned, turning out girls who are neat, polite and in a position to live respectable lives and to hold the job of their choice.
Yours very truly,
MARGARET STROUT. INA N. EMERY.
WPNO, Auburn, Maine,
April 17, 1969. Congressman
WILLIAM D. HATHAWAY, House of Representatives,
Washington, D.C.
DEAR BILL: Many thanks for your kind note of the fourteenth.
Believe me, if the challenges to the Youth Commission prove to be as vast as they seem to be, I will most certainly be calling upon you for valuable advice.
Incidentally, I would like to be on record as opposed to the closing of the Job Corps Center at Poland Springs. I am not really familiar with our other Job Corps facility, but I have been closely associated with the facility in Poland and feel that while this may not be panacea to our economic ills and ghetto problems, it is at least better than what has come before and better than nothing.
Again, my thanks for your kind note of the fourteenth.
Best regards,
JAMES M. AIKMAN, Station Manager.
PORTLAND, MAINE, April 14, 1969.
Hon. KENNETH CURTIS,
Governor of Maine, Augusta, Maine.
DEAR GOVERNOR CURTIS: The State of Maine has been struck with very sad news upon hearing of the closing of the Poland Spring and Acadia Job Corps Centers. I am very much interested in what we can do to combine our forces in an effort to see the reversal of this decision by the Nixon Administration.
The black, the hardcore and the very poor, which is the very backbone of these Centers, must have all the support we can give them. If I, in my capacity as an officer of the New England Regional Conference NAACP can be of any service, please feel free to contact me.
Sincerely yours,
GERALD E. TALBOT, Third Vice President, New England Regional Conference, NAACP.
APRIL. 14, 1969.
The PRESIDENT, The White House, Washington, D.C.
DEAR MR. PRESIDENT: The news of the closing of the Poland Spring and Acadia Job Corps Centers at Poland Spring and Bucksport, Maine, come as a surprise and very sad news. Some of the very people who have put you and your administration into office with faith and trust in the future will be hit the hardest and will feel it the most. People who are trying to learn a better future for themselves so that in turn they will benefit the community and State in which they reside. People who are trying to forget that in the past too many promises by the peoples of this country have been broken, and the people themselves hurt.
To be frank, Black people who are struggling for their self respect, manhood, a place in society, things we shouldn't have to wait until now for, will be moving backwards in a society that stresses progress.
I, in behalf of the New England Conference, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, urge you and your administration to take another deeper look into this most costly decision and reconsider. Sincerely yours,
GERALD W. TALBOT, Third Vice President, New England Conference, NAACP.
SEAL HARBOR, MAINE,
April 24, 1969.
Hon. EDMUND MUSKIE,
Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C.
DEAR SENATOR MUSKIE: I believe that most thinking citizens agree as to the importance of maintaining those elements of the Poverty Program that have proved constructive in lessening poverty and in building greater social stability.
Although some reorganization in the administration of the Job Corps may be indicated, the sudden discontinuance of the Job Corps centers, as recently announced, is a severe blow to the long-range goals of the Poverty Program.
The purpose of the Job Corps is linked with the rehabilitation of individual boys and girls whose chances in early life have been minimal. In countless cases, young people, through their experience in the Job Corps, have entered into a new era of hopefulness. The cutting off of a hope before realization is often more dangerous to an individual than the absence of this hope. Our nation is made up of individuals, and social turmoil can result when too many people face bitterness and frustration.
I trust you will use your influence to prevent the implementation of the plan to close the centers.
Sincerely,
ISABEL DUNHAM.
ERIE, PA.,
April 12, 1969.
Senator EDMUND S. MUSKIE,
U.S. Senate,
Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C.
DEAR SENATOR MUSKIE: In all sincerity, I ask of you, do not become a party to President Nixon's dismemberment of the Job Corps program. The need for this program, and other programs such as this, is today desperate and will become ever more so in the days to come.
In the sense of decency and fair play, which you have displayed on many occasions in the past, I ask of you, not only to fight strongly against this cut in the number of Job Corps Centers, but to fight even stronger to have the number of these Centers increased.
Yes, there have been some flaws in the operation of these Centers, but to take a second look at the record, one can readily see that the good that has come out of them far overshadows the bad.
But the biggest fallacy of all is this so-called plan to set up training centers close to, and within the cities themselves. The reason for these Job Centers in the first place was to get these young boys and girls away from these cesspools of crime and violence. Now the powers which be, feel that they can be trained in these same environments. Who is kidding who?
The training in many of these Centers includes courses in carpentry, auto mechanics, the handling of some heavy duty equipment, etc., along with the working towards a high school equivalency diploma. This varies from Center to Center as well I know, because I have visited a number of them.
With moves such as this, by the Administration in Washington, can so many almost hopeless Americans be blamed for the "long, hot summer?"
Sincerely yours,
GUIDO A. MANCINI, President, Local 1680, United Steelworkers of America, AFL-CIO.
LEVANT, MAINE,
April 13, 1969.
Senator EDMUND S. MUSKIe,
U.S. Senate, Washington, D.C.
DEAR SENATOR MUSKIE: I am sure that the average American, rather than being apathetic, is inarticulate and hesitates to make his feelings known. He is afraid that he may not express himself well. As one of these average Americans the events of the past few days have jolted me enough so that I am forced to try to express my beliefs and opinions to a source that may be able to express them better than I. I am shocked at the callousness of the Administration in closing the Acadia and Poland Springs Job Corps Centers as well as about fifty others. While the President speaks piously of reducing government spending, he advocates the deployment of an Anti Ballistic Missile system that most of the experts don't think will even work. This is at a cost of some six to seven billion dollars. Based on the spiraling cost of the C-5 transport this could easily run to fifteen to twenty billion dollars. By closing the Job Corps Centers he saves some one hundred thirty million dollars at the price of hopelessness and despair on the part of those trainees who were beginning to see an end to the chain of poverty.
I am sure that the President and his advisors have toured the Centers but I don't believe that they have really seen them. They haven't seen the look in a young man's eyes who has just been accepted by the U.S. Marine Corps when two years before he could neither read nor write and couldn't even be drafted. This has happened not once but many times at the Acadia Center and I am sure that Acadia is not unique in this respect. In visiting Acadia I was impressed by several factors. First, the permanent staff is competent and dedicated. I know that some of them were working as much as one hundred hours a week with the trainees. Secondly, the feeling of hope engendered in the corpsmen was contagious. You could feel it. Thirdly, and not the least important, this outdoor experience in a Conservation Center was the first for many of the ghetto kids. They had found that there was something to life other than concrete and asphalt. This the Nixon administration would take away.
A good many of my tax dollars have gone into the preparation of these Centers and now when the cost of training a young one is beginning to get within reason they want to shut them down. I have been told that it now costs about five thousand dollars to train a Corpsman to a point that he is either ready to assimilate advance training or is ready to become a useful member of society. It costs the tax payer this much each year to maintain each inmate of our State and Federal institutions (penal). Where Senator, are the savings if young men and women that we could train and develop in Job Corps Centers are denied this opportunity and wind up as habitual criminals or perennially on welfare rolls.
Lest you think I am some sort of a do gooder nut. I would like to give you a little of my background. I am a retired Army Artillery Officer with some experience in Nuclear Delivery System, both conventional and missiles. While in the Service I served for several years with the 11th Airborne Division in both this country and Europe as an Airborne Artillery Operations Officer. In Korea I served as an Adviser to the South Korean Army. I have been wounded three
times in two wars and have been decorated for gallantry in action once, if you call being so scared that you couldn't run gallant. My wife who classifies herself as a Muskie Republican, as an Army Nurse in Korea did some of the early applied work with the Artificial Kidney.
After retirement, I attended the University of Maine and graduated with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Forestry. Since that time I have been employed as a Service Forester, working with small landowners in the management of their woodlands. In working with these people and with the men who cut the wood I have run head on into the bone grinding poverty that we have not only in Maine but throughout the rural areas of America. This has become even more apparent to me as a member of the Penobscot County Technical Action Panel, which as you know works toward Rural Area Development.
At the risk of sounding maudlin, Senator, I love my country. I feel that it is the finest place in the world to live and raise my children. I have been given the opportunity for education and service and to find fulfillment in not only one but two rewarding careers. I sincerely believe that our country will not realize her full potential until these same opportunities are available to more of our underprivileged, and in fact may be in grave danger if we don't. It is obvious that the Job Corps is a tool by which many of these youngsters can be reached and helped.
I understand that a man must do what he must do and that you must be guided by your own conscience and knowledge. However, I urge that you oppose the Anti Ballistic Missile System by all possible means and work for the retention of the Job Corps as a viable weapon in the fight against poverty.
As an aside, is it not possible that Maine is being spanked quite publically for having the nerve to produce such outstanding public servants as Smith, Muskie, Hathaway and Kyros. After all to a Californian, nothing can be much good unless it comes from the land of Fruits and Nuts.
Sincerely yours,
KENNETH H. HENDREN.
HARTFORD. CONN.,
April 19, 1969.
Senator EDMUND S. MUSKIE,
Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C.
DEAR SENATOR MUSKIE: It has just been brought to my attention that a proposal to close the Poland Spring Job Corps Center has been brought forward for question. This letter is to ask you to urge Congress for the continuation of the Job Corps program at Poland Spring.
As a former employee of the Center (I worked there last summer, 1968), I feel that I have been fortunate to view the Center and its workings from the inside, and to receive a special insight into many of the problems of our girls through a mutual confidence and respect. For these reasons I wish to promote an effort against the closing of the Job Corps.
I would like to emphasize the fact that the girls are from some of the least desirable environments of this country, and that the Job Corps is possibly their last hope either of leaving those environments or of working to improve them for themselves and their families. The educational opportunities offered by the Job Corps to its participants are exactly what are needed to win the battle against the intolerable poverty that is smothering human beings in this country. I cannot passively support or accept the abolition of a program, the effects of which I feel can and will rescue those innocent children, hungry and cold, who live in filth.
The race problem in this country is one of the main issues involved with and affected by the Job Corps. Through the education offered by the Job Corps, the black American can take his rightful place in society, as a working, tax-paying, law-abiding citizen, and can raise a family, providing all necessities and, hopefully, some luxuries. With the job training provided by this program, the black man can do for himself, without becoming the object of continual public support, which can lead, and not without reason, to public scorn, thus creating further tension. In effect, to cease offering the program which provides the black American with a means of making his own way is to provoke that tension between the races.
I attended the August, 1968 graduation ceremony at the Poland Spring Job Corps Center, at which time approximately fifty women were graduated. I sincerely wish that you, Mr. Muskie, could have seen the faces that I saw that day: I would almost say that light was radiating from them. Those girls were so happy, anxious, proud, and – best of all – ready, that I cannot see this opportunity taken away from them. They truly felt, and still do feel (I have visited several graduates since then) that they did and are doing something not only for themselves personally, but for all of those who have been trapped by the same fate that almost trapped them.
Please urge Congress, Mr. Muskie, not to cut back on the Job Corps program. An abolition of or a cutback on the program not only would affect those who most need the opportunity for self-betterment and self-respect, but also would affect those of us who have been fortunate enough not to be born into those "humbled masses," in that we would be deprived of more self-reliant people. And we must not forget that our children will be affected also: I do not want my children to experience the utter frustration that I have felt, in realizing that this society of plenty can let human beings feel the pangs of hunger, cold, and filth. We are two hundred years late already: let us not be any later.
Thank you.
Most sincerely,
BRUCE HARMON.
BANGOR, MAINE,
April 22, 1969.
Hon. EDMUND S. MUSKIE,
U.S. Senate, Washington, D.C.
SIR: In behalf of the League of Women Voters of Bangor, Maine I urge you to oppose the abrupt closing of more than one-half of the Job Corps centers. The League feels that these centers should remain open until adequate and expanded facilities are in operation to guarantee continuation of programs to train the hard core unemployed and underemployed. The League is concerned that the sudden closings will have a detrimental effect on the attitude of the under- privileged who need to know the Nation has a depth of commitment to overcome poverty and discrimination.
In Maine we are particularly concerned as two excellent facilities at Poland Springs and Bar Harbor are among those designated for closing.
The League sincerely hopes you will actively continue your opposition to these closings.
Respectfully,
SHIRLEY WHITTAKER, President, Bangor League of Women Voters. .
POWNAL, MAINE,
April 21, 1969.
Hon. EDMUND S. MUSKIE,
U.S. Senator, Washington, D.C.
DEAR ED: In this letter, I wish to express my concern about the scheduled closing of the Job Corps Training Center' at Poland Spring.
I fully appreciate that the program there, perhaps as elsewhere, has come under criticism in certain quarters and that the per capita expenditure is considered extravagant by some people.
Be that as it may, we have trained girls from the Job Corps Training Center, during these past couple of years, and I am very much concerned that precipitous dissolution of the program nationwide will have unfortunate repercussions, particularly if no other program simultaneously is being developed to take its place by July I.
I think the administration owes the public an explanation for its decision and particularly what the alternatives are.
You know, from my previously expressed concern to you, we owe, particularly the black population in this country, some form of substantive compensation for the abuse it has suffered in the past 2½ centuries. This, to my mind, is one of our most urgent and immediate obligations that we must not shun any further.
Also, I feel that we should give top priority to training those (particularly young) people who are presently considered unemployable because of their educational and social status, regardless of whether they are black or white.
Knowing of your own convinctions, I am sure that you will do everything possible. I am, with warmest wishes,
Sincerely,
PETER W. BOWMAN, M.D.
GORHAM, MAINE.
Hon. EDMUND S. MUSKIE,
U.S. Senate, Washington, D.C.
DEAR SIR: The enclosed petition is to ask you to do everything you can to see that Poland Spring Job Corps Center be kept open.
Gorham students have been tutoring at Poland Spring for two years now; and the young ladies from Poland Spring have been to Gorham for various activities or just to spend a weekend. People can learn a great deal from one another if they can first meet and get to know each other.
Please do all you can to keep Poland Spring Job Corps Center open. Thank you. Sincerely,
WILLIAM M. SIMS. PETITION
[List of petition signers omitted]
WALNUT CREEK, CALIF.,
April 21, 1969.
Hon. EDMUND MUSKIE, U.S. Senator,
Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C.
DEAR SENATOR MUSKIE: It has come to my attention that President Nixon has decided to close several Job Corps Centers, including the Camp Parks one in Alameda County.
It has been my opinion since this program was initiated that it took kids from eighteen to twenty-one off the streets in our impoverished areas and gave them a trade and taught them how to use it to make their lives useful. Are we to let these kids down? Are we to let these kids go by the way-side because they have not learned a trade and cannot find a job? the answer to these questions, of course, is NO! We must give these kids a chance to live a life equal to the rest of Americans. We must make having a job a right for everybody and not a privilege for some, as it is, now.
It is time we started to make sure that everyone has three meals a day in his stomach, a roof over his head and a job to make the first two things possible. With the Job Corps, maybe we can make a start at this. Sincerely yours,
DAVID C. STARKIE.
POLAND SPRING, MAINE,
April 15, 1969.
DEAR SENATOR MUSKIE: There is good and bad in all. No one thing has all good in it. Poland Spring Job Corps is the same way. We have the good in with the had. But it seems the bad always gets noticed more than the good.
If you came to Poland Spring Job Corps in Maine, you would see a beautiful countryside away from noisy disturbances. If you stayed here day after day you would see girls working hard to finish a vocation, girls graduating month after month and girls getting along in activities. Then again you would notice some trouble makers. There could be something good for the majority of girls if Job Corps was left open.
The expense of closing Poland Spring Job Corps down could be much more to the public than 5.8 million a year. Girls may be left out on the streets, some put on welfare and some working in low paid jabs. Some may go back to school but it won't be the same opportunity as they had in Job Corps. I don't know how to express my feelings on this, but it is sort of a magic ecstasy about this place that makes you want to work hard. That is why we are asking your help to keep Poland Spring open.
Sincerely yours.
MISS ILENE STANLEY.
BROTHERHOOD OF PAINTERS, DECORATORS AND PAPERHANGERS OF AMERICA, AFL-CIO,
Washington, D.C.,
April 15, 1969.
To all Cabinet Members, all Members of the Congress:
I previously wrote to many of you in a much happier vein, informing you of our joint participation with the Job Corps in preparing disadvantaged youth for gainful employment in the Painting and Decorating Industry, with the ultimate goal of fitting this group into the mainstream of our society as employed taxpayers rather than having them face a future as recipients of welfare doles or prison rehabilitation. This appears to no longer be the goal of this Administration.
It saddens and alarms me to see that we are again turning our backs on a major segment of our population; for while we do not like to believe it, we still must recognize that this hardcore, disadvantaged youth group does exist.
We must not stand idly by and see our most precious resource, the youth of this country, wasted from lack of opportunity. It is my studied opinion that one of the very best and most practical ways to refine this flow of undereducated, disadvantaged, raw youth into our machine of progress is through the Job Corps Civilian Conservation Centers Program. This is practical on the job training for a practical job and no substitute has ever been found for this method by any administration since the dawn of the world.
Now is the time to search our conscience as representatives of our people and ask ourselves some basic questions. Is it really more costly to prepare a youth for employment than to keep him in prison, or on the public welfare rolls along with his future family and their future families ad infinitum? I know what my answer and the answer of the membership I am privileged to represent is to this, and hope that you are of the same mind.
Therefore, on behalf of the 210,000 members which I have the honor of representing, I ask that you exercise your influence to have this most critical decision on the part of the Administration either rescinded or modified. I would indeed hate to see the Great American Dream be turned into a nightmare for these now forgotten and disillusioned youth. With best personal regards, I remain. Sincerely,
S. FRANK RAFTERY, General President.
SOUTH WELLFLEET, MASS.,
April 25, 1969.
Re Job Corps reorganization.
Hon. EDMUND MUSKIE,
U.S. Senate, Washington, D.C.
DEAR SENATOR MUSKIE: Mrs. Law and I have been spending three mornings a week for the past two years at the Wellfieet, Mass. Job Corps Conservation Center which is one of the centers proposed to be closed by the Administration. We are opposed to the closing of this center and believe that the change from rural conservation centers into urban areas is a serious mistake. Our opposition may best be illustrated by the two following examples.
There is a boy now at the center from your own state of Maine. He is 16 years of age, grew up in a town on the seaboard, attended public school, and was carried along from grade to grade but never learned to read or write. I would guess that he is about second grade in these skills.
Obviously he needs the individual attention and encouragement which all of the boys here receive from the volunteer tutors. Coupled with the real effort which he himself is making we are convinced that he will advance considerably if allowed to continue for a year or two. The closing of this camp in all probability means that he will return to the vicinity from which he came even more discouraged than when he arrived.
The second boy came originally from South America, lived in New York City for about a year, where he attended the Hughes High School on 18th Street. His problem is to learn a new language and I might add that this is true of practically all of the Spanish speaking boys who come here. A recent article by Joseph Alsop in the Boston Globe stated that 40-50% of the pupils at Hughes were experimenting with heroin. I quote a paragraph from this article,
"Just for school kids," said Gales bitterly, "the damn pushers break the regular $5 bags down to $2 bags. Then four kids pool their lunch money – 50 cents apiece and share the bag between them instead of eating lunch."
This boy came to Wellfleet about two mouths ago to escape from this environment. We are of the opinion, based upon our past experience, that he can learn our language adequately in from six months to a year if allowed to continue here.
These are both fine boys and I only select their cases from many others, both black and white, because they are in the camp right now, we have worked with them, and we are somewhat familiar with their background.
The proposed change of emphasis in the overall setup of the Job Corps from conservation to vocational training overlooks the basic fact that the need is first to raise the literacy level of the trainees to a point where they can go on to the so called "skill centers" to be trained for specific jobs. You have to be able to read simple directions. Whatever system is eventually planned must teach these fundamentals if it is to succeed.
Perhaps Wellfleet has been unique in having had a voluntary program such as I have described above but I see no reason why it can not be duplicated in other areas and why should it be abandoned here where it has been a success?
Very sincerely yours,
MALCOLM C. LAW.
POLAND COMMUNITY CHURCH,
Poland, Maine,
April 21, 1969.
Hon. EDMUND S. MUSKIE,
Senate of the United States of America, Washington, D.C.
DEAR SIR.: This is a note to express my own concern and that of many members of my congregation upon hearing of the Administration's proposal to close the Job Corps center in Poland Spring. We here in Poland who are directly affected by this decision feel that it is an unfortunate one. And I personally feel that it represents the present administration's hypocritical approach to solving the problems of the budget ... cutbacks should come from the military, the hair-brain ABM System certainly should not be deployed and the oil depletion allowance should be lowered or dropped entirely (Since the oil companies seem bent on not letting Maine have a piece of the pie, why should we be paying their taxes?).
Is the cut-back in the Job Corps program going to be another example of the triumph of the military-industrial complex (a cliche by now?) over the needs of individuals? I sincerely hope not, for time is running out for Washington. The average American citizen is rapidly reaching the limits of his endurance.
With deep appreciation for your courageous views, I am
Sincerely,
Rev. JAMES W. FLETCHER.
ORRINGTON, MAINE,
April 19, 1969.
Senator EDMUND MUSKIE,
Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C.
DEAR SENATOR MUSKIE: I am very disturbed by the closing of the Job Corps Centers in Maine. The Job Corps is a valuable tool of our economy. It is taking unemployed and unemployable youth from poverty situations and making most of them (80 %) employable. While the cost may seem high, it will be repaid several times over in taxes which these youths will pay from earnings.
Closing of the Job Corps Centers in Maine will leave no place for rural youth to be trained, unless they are sent to the proposed mini-centers in the large cities. Since these are not in existence now, the interim period will leave these youths with nothing and without hope of anything.
I feel that the Job Corps has already given many youths a chance for a better future, that they will be beneficial citizens in our society. The youths, themselves, are upset and concerned over the proposed closing of the centers. How can we not be?
I know that you are using your influence for the retention of these centers and hope, that by voicing my opinion along with other interested citizens, we can reverse the decision to close the Centers.
Very truly yours,
Mrs. ALTON N. VARNUM.
BANGOR' MAINE,
April 21, 1969.
Senator EDMUND MUSKIE,
Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C.
DEAR SENATOR MUSKIE: I am writing to you as a concerned citizen over the move to close the Job Corps centers in Maine and elsewhere in the country.
I have worked closely with people in Job Corps and I have seen first hand the value that this program has given to deprived citizens or our country. To close these centers would only bring increased hardships on those that now have an opportunity. I also feel that these people will become a burden to our communities when we could make them assets.
The proposed programs to replace Job Corps will not solve the problem but only add fuel to a raging fire. Positive steps must be taken to maintain this worthwhile program.
I urge you to support to the best of your ability the retention of these centers. Let us continue to produce assets to our communities.
Yours truly,
GLENN PAYNE.
FARMINGTON, MAINE,
April 20, 1969.
Senator EDMUND MUSKIE,
Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C.
DEAR SENATOR MUSKIE: I am distressed at the possibility of closing Maine's Job Corps centers for economy.
Take away subsidies from private airlines. They can stand up alone. Job Corps young people cannot ... without our support. Yours sincerely,
DARYL A. CONDIT. APRIL 24, 1969.
POLAND SPRING, MAINE,
April 23, 1969.
MY DEAR SENATOR MUSKIE: I am just one of the many young women who feels that our
Job Corps Center is a victim of unjust discrimination. It is my opinion that our Job Corps Center is one of the best Centers in the United States of America.
I am aware that there may be some prejudice involved in my statement but any one who is a member of any organization that strives for self-improvement tends to show some form of favoritism.
This is not my intended reason for requesting that the Poland Spring Job Corps Center remain open.
I, as so do every other corpswoman stationed here in Maine, feel that our center should remain unclosed. This is our road to future success. Or should I say survival? Sincerely yours,
LINDA F. CATHEY, Corpswoman.
Hon. EDMUND S. MUSKIE,
U.S. Senate, Washington, D.C.
MY DEAR SENATOR MUSKIE: Job Corps for Women is a very wonderful thing for us young people today. I think it is unfair of you all to even considering closing Poland Spring Job Corps Center. So I ask you good people to try and keep it open. Thank you.
Sincerely yours,
HAZEL GRAY. APRIL 23, 1969.
MY DEAR SENATOR MUSKE: I would like to ask you to help us keep Poland Spring JCCW open. Because there is a lot of girls here that is trying to make something out of themselves and I guess you know that if this center closes, there will be more innocent young teenagers out on the street, with nothing to do. There really is a lot I can say to you, but the most important thing is, "Please help us keep Poland Spring JCCW open." The girls here and our parents, I'm sure would really appreciate it.
Sincerely yours,
JOYCE HOWARD, Co-chairman of Student Government of Poland Spring JCCW.
P.S. Please help us! Please, answer me back.
APRIL 23, 1969.
MY DEAR SIR: I am writing to stress the importance of Poland Spring Job Corps. As a corpswoman here, I can only stress it's importance to me.
Now I myself have dropped out school, not knowing it's great importance. I admit this was my stupidity, but I am trying to make it up by trying to further my education at Job Corps.
I feel as though you are trying to deprive me of this opportunity. Not only me but many, who are trying to make something and someone out their lives.
So if letters mean anything to them I ask you why?
Sincerely Yours,
MISS JUDI COVINGTON.
P.S. Don't Close Poland Spring. POLAND SPRING J.C.C.W., MAINE, April 23, 1969.
MY DEAR SENATOR MUsKIE: I want to finish my vocation and education. Please, keep Poland Spring Job Corps Center open.
I know that this center has a very good rating, and therefor it wasn't in the list to close, and just because a personal reason it's closing now, but we are trying our best to change Mr. Harry's mind about the idea. Sincerely Yours,
GLADYS PEREZ. APRIL 23, 1969.
DEAR .SIR: As being one of the thousand of C/W here in Poland Spring I think it was very unfair to us because we were rejudge the wrong way, we had a good rate and the others had a bad rate. Do you think it's right. Please help us to remain open.
I don't have much to say but please help us to remain open.
Sincerely Yours,
PATRICIA D. PEEPLES,
A Chairman for Garrison Hall. POLAND SPRING, J.C.C.W., Poland Spring, Maine, April 23, 1969.
Hon. EDMUND S. MUSKIE,
U.S. Senate, Washington, D.C.
MY DEAR SENATOR MUSKIE: I sincerely hope that this center don't close. Because it gives each person an equal opportunity to better themselves. This center gives everyone a chance to meet new people as well as to learn ways of other people. I don't think that our rating was unfair. We did pass. So I will close now saying I hope and pray that this center stay open.
Sincerely yours
SALLIE GILLIAM.
POLAND SPRING JOB CORPS, MAINE, April 22, 1969.
Hon. EDMUND MUSKIE,
U.S. Senate, Washington, D.C.
DEAR MR. MUSKIE: As a representative of the Poland Spring Job Corps Student government and as a corpsman I am very much concerned as to the future of this centre.
Most of us here at the centre are very appreciative of the opportunity given us and are therefore taking advantage of it. Most of us have greatly benefitted from the program which we call our second chance. It helps us to get along with all kinds of people in different situations. In all the training given us helps to mold us into good citizens.
As a result of the above statements we were very much distressed when we heard that our centre was among those to be closed. We believe that the government is robbing us of the opportunity to better our condition.
We are sincerely hoping that the decision to close the centre will be reversed because believe me we are really doing something worthwhile at Poland Spring.
Thanks for reading. Yours faithfully
MANDLYN LEWIS. POLAND SPRING, JCCW, Poland Spring, Maine, April 17,1969.
The PRESIDENT,
The White House, Washington, D.C.
My DEAR Ms. PRESIDENT: I am a Student at the Poland Spring Job Corps for women. We don't want to go home. We like Maine. But the people don't like the girls. We want to stay in the Job Corps. The girls want to get a good education and training. We don't want to go back to the ghetto. We don't have homes and families to go to. What will you do with the girls? I will like to see Job Corps stay open. Please don't close Poland Spring down. You have shown great concern for foreign policies on poverty. But what about your own country and your oath of office? ... have Kid back home. Who want the Kid to get a good education to. If you personally could come to Maine to see the Job Corps. I want my Daughter to go to Job Corps. What about People of need money back for food and clothing.
Respectfully yours,
CYNTHIA PRESTON. APRIL, 14, 1969.
DEAR SENATOR: My name is Betty Kathleen Jones and I'm in the Job Corps at Poland Spring. The course I’m in is veterinary assistant. I like my course very much. It takes from six months to one year, tell me how I can finish my course, when I won't be finished till next year?
Mr. Senator put your self in my place and try to see my point of view. How would you like it if you weren't finished with your course and they said they were closing down Job Corps. I know that you would feal like I do rite now very sad indeed. The course that I'm taking well there’s only one other Job Corps that has got it and it is closing down. (which in Omaha, Nebraska.)
Please Mr. Senator try to keep this Job Corps at Poland Springs open. Because the Job Corps is a very good program for young people that have quit school and that are not going back like me. Mr. Senator even if you can't keep it open then Please put the Job Corps under the department of Labor.
Mr. Nixon said that the Job Corps at Poland Springs was going to stay open for another year. Why did he say that if he didn't mean it.
Sincerely yours,
BETTY KATHLEEN JONES.
P.S. Please try, and keep this Job Corps at Poland Springs open. Please!!!!! POLAND SPRING JOB CORPS CENTER FOR WOMEN.
DEAR SENATOR MUSKIE: I am presently enrolled in Job Corps and I am writing to let you know how I and a thousand other girls feel about President Nixon closing sixty-five Job Corps centers.
I am twenty-three years old and have been in Job Corps for two years now and will be graduating shortly. So you can see that the closing of this and other centers will not affect me personally.
However, I feel much regret, shock and distress for the girls who are in the program and for those who would be considering on joining Job Corps in the future.
Before coming to Job Corps the future held little meaning for me. I was a shy, quiet and rather an insecure type of person who was unconsciously afraid to face whatever the future had in store for me. I felt beaten and defeated by life and society before I had turned sixteen. Coming to Job Corps has changed my whole outlook on life completely and it has enabled me to develop a wholesome and healthy outlook for everything and everyone around me. Instead of being afraid of the future I now look forward to it and can hardly wait for the next day to come. I have been trained in the field of commercial art and my future financially speaking is very secure.
I shall be getting married this year and I plan to live in Maine. I realize there aren't too many good paying job opportunities in this field open in Maine, but nevertheless, I love this State and hope to use my skill in a way which will benefit the people of Maine however small it should be.
I don't feel President Nixon is fully aware of the poverty situation is this country. These girls on this center are here because they are sick and depressed of the living conditions of their past, of discrimination, poor housing, and schools and of low paying jobs. We didn't come here for a handout – we came to better ourselves so that we may better serve the country we live in – for our future and our children's.
President Nixon wants more effort and money put into the Headstart program – well all I can say is this is a marvelous effort but I hope he doesn't forget that it will be people of our age group who will be the backbone of our country in the very near future.
We are also very aware of the amount of money spent each year for the Job Corps program – and we are also well aware of the fact that the United States Government spends that much alone for one particular kind of bomber plane. How can any country be proud of the fact that they spend billions of dollars on warfare but hesitate to spend just one billion dollars toward a peaceful end, to help her own people so that they can learn to help themselves and others.
There is so much more I could say for Job Corps but I realize your time is valuable and I think my letter speaks enough on how I feel. We all at Poland Springs Job Corps Center appreciate your efforts in trying to keep open the Job Corps centers and our hopes and prayers are with you.
Sincerely yours,
MARSHA STEWARD.
P.S. This past election was my first chance to vote and my vote was for you.
Thank you for not letting me down. Sincerely yours,
MARSHA STEWARD.