Maine news, sports, weather from Portland Press Herald / Maine Sunday Telegram, Portland, Maine

July 5, 2012

Letters to the editor

There's an option for aging drivers

On Friday , an 88-year-old Scarborough man was driving north in the southbound lanes of Interstate 295 in Portland. A state trooper quickly acted and set up a head-on crash to stop that driver. Two days earlier an 83-year-old South Portland man did a U-turn in Portland, killing a motorcyclist.

Both incidents could have been avoided if these drivers had chosen to stop driving and seek rides from ITNPortland, which provides affordable rides 24/7 for any purpose within 15 miles of Portland to seniors and the visually impaired.

Aging affects our driving ability in a variety of ways: vision and hearing problems, lessened depth perception, ability to focus, slower reaction time, impaired judgment and other issues exacerbated by medications.

If the senior can't make the decision to limit or stop driving on their own, a family member, friend or doctor should initiate that conversation.

Seniors in Greater Portland are fortunate to have a very convenient transportation alternative, ITNPortland. Visit www.ITNPortland.org or call 207-854-0505 for more information.

Bob Dunfey

executive director

ITNPortland

Westbrook 

I would like to thank Maine State Trooper Douglas Cropper for his act of bravery for putting his life on the line by driving in front of a wrong-way driver, last Friday on 295. The life he saved could have been mine. I was just minutes away from being involved in a life-changing accident. Trooper Cropper should be given the highest praise the state of Maine awards! Thank you.

Thomas Brown

South Portland

Outing Cape's gas war led to higher prices. Thanks!

I just wanted to take a minute and thank you and your whole newspaper staff for the article you ran about two weeks ago now about the price of gas in Cape Elizabeth and why it was so much less than what everyone else was paying ("Gas price war comes alive in Cape Elizabeth," May 25).

Well. I'm happy to report that your article succeeded in getting the price changed and everyone in the area is now paying more than everyone else. Job well done. Too bad you're not as good at reporting on real news.

For this reason, I hope other people will join me in not buying your paper again.

Donald McDuff

South Portland

Taxpayer-paid health care not just for politicians

Seriously, whenever someone is against the Affordable Health Care Act, I ask them what type of health care they have, and invariably they have good coverage. It's like, "I have it, too bad for everyone else, I don't want to share." Just look at all these politicians who are against it; they have incredible coverage – and who pays for that? We do – the U.S. taxpayer! It's good enough for them but not for the rest of us.

Health care should not be about making a profit from someone who is sick and sending people into bankruptcy. When people go to the ER as their only source of medical care and don't have insurance, we all pay for that through our insurance rates.

My husband works for himself and our family of four pays about $15,000 per year for health insurance. We have high deductibles and out-of-pocket expenses; my salary goes to pay for health insurance.

I've worked overseas and in countries that have nationalized health care systems and they may not be perfect (ours is far from it and we outspend every other country in the world) but at least people didn't stay awake at night worrying that they might lose their house because they got sick and couldn't pay their bills.

(Continued on page 2)

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