Provides information about members of Congress, State Legislators, cities, towns, law enforcement, schools, media, courts, census bureau, economic, and population estimates. County seat located in Bath.

Elected county officials, codes and ordinances, policies and other data provided by the National Association of Counties.

Genealogy assistance, research information, query page, lookups, and resources for towns in Sagadahoc County.

Most wanted list, tip hotline, community policing calendar, and information on the D.A.R.E. program and crime prevention.

Campaign against the death penalty is announced by Bishops
___________________________________________________________________________________



Washington.
March 22, 2005



The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops announced a renewed campaign against the death penalty
Monday, launching an education program and expanding its advocacy efforts in Congress and state
legislatures.

"We cannot teach that killing is wrong by killing,"
Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, archbishop of Washington, said at the National Press Club.
"We cannot defend life by taking life."

McCarrick said that while the bishops' conference has opposed the death penalty for 25 years,
the new efforts will bring greater
"urgency and unity, increased energy and advocacy, and a renewed call to our people"
to continue the fight to end the death penalty.

A survey of 1,785 Roman Catholic adults of all demographics
shows a general trend away from support of the death penalty,
said pollster John Zogby.

"In past surveys, Catholic support for the death penalty was as high as 68%,"
Zogby said.
"In our November survey, we found that less than half of the Catholic adults in our poll
now support the use of the death penalty."

The survey also found that the more often Catholics attended Mass,
the less likely they were to support the death penalty;

that younger Catholics (18 to 28 years old) were less likely to support capital punishment;
and that a third of Catholics who once supported the death penalty now opposed it.

The poll has a margin of error of 2.8 percentage points.

The bishops' announcement sought to emphasize the church's commitment to support
victims of violence and their families as a part of the campaign.

Bud Welch, whose daughter, Julie Marie, was killed in the 1995 bombing of the federal building
in Oklahoma City, said that at first he wanted vengeance.

He was angry with God.

But he started thinking about what his daughter would have wanted.

Then he met the father of convicted bomber Timothy J. McVeigh, who was executed in 2001.

Welch called McVeigh's father "another victim" of the bombing.

"There was nothing about that process that brought me any peace or relief,"
Welch said of McVeigh's execution.

"More violence is not what Julie would have wanted. More violence will not bring Julie back."

McCarrick said that the campaign was also about providing justice to individuals
who were wrongly convicted and sentenced to death.

Kirk Bloodsworth, who in 1993 was the first person to have a capital crime overturned
because of post-conviction DNA testing, spoke of the injustice he had faced.

"I spent eight years, 11 months and 19 days behind bars before DNA testing proved my