Dear Editor:

As a lifelong Maine resident, our family has resided in Alna for 14 years, and we consider ourselves fortunate to raise our three young children in this beautiful town. A few of the things we enjoy about our community are the Wiscasset, Waterville & Farmington Railway Museum, the Alna General Store, Old Narrow Gauge Farm, the beautiful Sheepscot River near historic Head Tide, Ames Hardware Store, and the local Wiscasset Little League.

I was raised and educated in our Maine public schools and universities such as China Elementary School, Erskine Academy, the University of Maine at Farmington and the University of Maine. I taught history at Gardiner Area High School and understand the strengths of the public school system. Before receiving a master of arts in teaching from the University of Maine, I taught children with physical and emotional disabilities in the Gardiner public school system.

As a combat veteran, I deployed to Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2004-2005 and provided humanitarian support and security to the Kurdish, Sunne Arab, Chaldean and Assyrian populations in Northern Iraq. I led an engineer task force to conduct Katrina Relief Operations in the Gulf Coast region in 2005 and Hurricane Irene Relief Operations in Vermont in 2010.

I am a strong supporter of first responders such as firefighters, paramedics, and law enforcement. I understand and appreciate their importance to the community because I worked as a Combat Medic in Waegan, South Korea. In the early 1990s, I had the opportunity of providing Emergency Room and clinical care to military and local South Korean families. I will make every effort to support the Alna Fire Department and its hardworking volunteers.

Thank you to the hardworking families of Alna for your overwhelming support and encouragement. I am committed to fostering a strong sense of community, mutual prosperity, and friendship as selectman.

Shanon Cotta

Alna