September 19  OUR OPINION: Rangers' safety can be improved
without firearms  State forest rangers, worried about their
safety when patrolling the vast Maine woodlands in what they see
as an increasingly dangerous world, are pushing hard for the
right to carry firearms.  But arming rangers would be a major
change for the forest service, and it's not clear that it would
make them safer, or that it is warranted by the risks they face.
It is time, however, to re-examine what forest rangers do, so
that they are focusing on resource management and the job is
made as safe as possible.  A task force is considering the
issue, though this is not the first time the Legislature has
taken it up. A measure arming rangers passed in 1999, but the
effort was not funded, and in 2000 lawmakers revoked it. A bill
revisiting the issue in 2001 was not successful.  Rangers
returned to push the issue again in the last legislative
session, but the bill stalled. Gov. Paul LePage, seeking more
information, established the task force, w