I am a long-term international kayaker with many friends who love the sport of kayaking as much as I do, and as soon as Rob Mitchell completes his “recreational water park,” they will flock here to share in this “fantastic vision” (“A passageway for fish, why not for kayakers?” May 1).

As a student of local history, I look forward to being able to travel down this very historic section of Maine.

Additional Photos

Stu Johnson of Lewiston kayaks the Saco River in 2008. A reader endorses a proposal to create a passage for kayakers at the Saccarappa Falls on the Presumpscot River in Westbrook. 2008 File Photo/Fred Field

Kayakers have money to spend and they will gladly spend, and that will do a lot for the local economy in many ways.

There are thousands of adventurers who are going to be watching the development of this project and cheering Rob Mitchell on!

Jake Sawyer

Portland

Many neighbors support re-use of Portland church

Tom Bell recently wrote an excellent article on the Williston West adaptive re-use project (“Altering Portland church elicits emotional response,” April 26).

It was stated that the neighbors were opposed to the project. I would like to point out that many, many neighbors are in fact in strong support of this creative re-use of such an important historic building.

Williston West is on the National Historic Register and is important to our neighborhood, as well as to the city at large.

Our group, Friends of Williston West, has been working hard to get the correct facts and information out to everyone in the Western Prom neighborhood.

We have lived at 52 Neal St. for almost 30 years, a block away from the church, and Frank Monsour’s project will be a wonderful way to preserve these historic buildings.

Jil Eaton

Portland

Public display lets pieces of history be appreciated

I can appreciate Thomas O’Connor’s concern regarding the relocation of the HMS Boxer cannon from the confines of a closet in City Hall to a highly visible location at the Maine Maritime Museum in Bath, which will soon open an exhibit dedicated to the War of 1812 (Voice of the People, “Cannon’s departure big loss for city,” April 28).

Earlier this year, the museum was able to rescue from an obscure storage area at the Maine State Pier the silver service presented to the crew of the cruiser USS Portland CA-33 on its inaugural visit to its namesake city in 1934.

The silver service is prominently displayed at the museum’s current “Port of Portland: A Ship-Shaped History” exhibit.

I, for one, would rather have an opportunity to view these historical items on public display than have them languish in some remote storage area out of sight and consequently out of mind.

I commend the Maine Maritime Museum for giving these items the long-overdue and justifiable exposure.

Pete Bramhall

Falmouth

Legislature should return ‘found money’ to taxpayers

Regarding the article “Lawmakers weigh what to do with new money” (May 1): Here’s a great idea that neither the Republicans or the Democrats have thought about, according to the article: Give it back!

Legislators forget that tax dollars are not the government’s money, they belong to the citizens who pay the taxes. And when the times are tough, the very first thought the Legislature ought to have is who needs the money more, the government or the people who pay the taxes?

Clearly, this is “found money” and should be returned as unanticipated income.

A $50 million shot to the Maine economy will work far better wonders than socking it away in the state’s rainy day fund.

Skip Simonds

Newagen

Chef wearing shoes atop counter not appetizing

I can’t believe I looked at John Ewing’s and Gordon Chibroski’s lovely photos for “Perfect match” (Food & Dining, April 25) and my first thoughts were, “What perfectionist chef would sit on a food prep surface wearing shoes, or at all? What innkeeper would allow her dog into the salon where patrons eat?”

I operate a small farm-stay B&B on the midcoast. To ensure the comfort of all our guests, I keep my five dogs in the carriage house, where my husband and I reside, away from the guests.

We never assume that people love our animals as much as we do.

Furthermore, we change our clothes and shoes when we leave the barn to work in the B&B so that the smell of farm animals stays in the barnyard.

We believe that guests who have no interest in animals need have no interaction with them.

I suppose a photo of a chef wearing shoes on a kitchen surface might convey a rebel thinking outside of the box, but I can’t help but hope that she jumped off that counter after the shoot and disinfected that surface!

I have no doubt, after reading the article, that The Danforth will be wildly successful, but those photos just might be a turnoff for people with obsessive-compulsive disorder (like me) who also consider themselves perfectionists.

Lisa D. Lane

SpinnAcres Alpaca Farm Retreat

Waldoboro

Stricter immigration law fine with some of the ‘we’s

In the April 30 editorial (“Court should overturn Arizona immigration law”), a lot of “we thinks” indicate a group of people who feel the federal government is the end-all be-all to things that need to be “fixed.”

“Illegal” or “undocumented,” whatever you call them, these people have no rights!

Racial profiling? Assault on personal freedoms? Laws repulsive to “American values”?

These do not apply to people who sneak across our borders in the dead of night.

If you look like a Mexican, speak Spanish and don’t have any ID, how is that racial profiling?

The last sentence says “we” hope the justices strike down this offense to American values.

Those “we”s are sure not part of the group I belong to. Those 11 million undocumented “workers” need to go back!

We don’t want to support them.

Richard A. Aspinall Sr.

Scarborough

Related Stories