Waterfront Concerts deal sends terrible message about domestic violence
Letters submitted by BDN readers are verified by BDN Opinion Page staff. Send your letters to [email protected]
If you or someone you know is a victim of domestic violence and would like to speak with a lawyer, call 866-834-4357, TRS 800-787-3224. This free and confidential service is available 24/7 and can be accessed from anywhere in Maine.
Alex Gray enjoyed another professional triumph, with the state’s second-largest credit union as the naming rights sponsor of a place operated by Gray’s company.
This agreement sent a very dangerous message, and during Domestic Violence Awareness Month, no less, that it is apparently okay to allegedly criminalize your intimate partner. And that message was made possible by, among others, the Cumberland County District Attorney and District Judge who handed Gray a plea deal for a charge of aggravated assault, and eight Bangor city councilors (at the except Gibran Graham) who, after Gray’s initial guilty plea in 2017 (which he later withdrew), voted to extend the contract between the City of Bangor and his company Waterfront Concerts.
Yes, I can see why, according to Waterfront Concerts’ announcement of this new deal between her and the Maine Savings Federal Credit Union, Gray is “grateful.” But I don’t see why John Reed, CEO of the bank, is “proudâ€.
The person I would like to hear is the woman, according to police reports, whose throat Gray allegedly caught in the early hours of a Sunday in 2017, and whose head he repeatedly banged on the ground.
It takes a village to stop domestic violence, but it also takes a village to support it.
Patrisha mclean
President and Founder
Find our voices
Camden