Melvin Williams, a dairy farmer of 35 years, has thrown his hat in the ring to represent House District 91.

A Waldoboro Republican, Williams will vye with Abden Simmons, also of Waldoboro, in the Republican primary on June 14. Williams and his wife Carol farmed commercially for 35 years. Now mostly retired, Williams still retains a few cows and some donkeys, after losing his leg to diabetes three years ago.

He has been active in Augusta because of his involvement with the Maine Farm Bureau, which lobbies the legislature on agricultural issues. WIlliams has been a state director for 12 years and a member of the bureau’s executive board.

“We need someone in Augusta who knows what’s going on with small farmers,” he said. “I’m opposed to term limits because you lose a lot of good people that way. The power of the vote limits legislators if necessary.”

Williams said he has a plan in place to do away with the income tax entirely for Maine and reduce the sales tax to two percent, but it would be applied to everything — food, fuel, and services, items not currently covered by the sales tax.

He insists the sales tax won’t injure the poor.

“There could be no exemptions for this to work,” he said. “It would be fair for everyone.”

Williams said he has been informed that, if elected, he would work on the Agriculture Committee. “I’d also find the Judiciary Committee very interesting,” he said.

“We all know something has to be done,” he said. “We are taxing the working man out of existence,” he said.