It’s nice to have such a short commute to work during the week. No hustle and bustle dealing with bumper-to-bumper traffic at 65-plus mph.

We are a hockey family and travel to Massachusetts and New Hampshire nearly every weekend. Fortunately, we travel before 9 a.m. on Sundays to get to the games. This past Sunday, I went to Massachusetts to catch my son’s game.

Within the first 10 minutes on the road, I was passed by 40 or 50 cars screaming toward the border. I noticed most were Massachusetts drivers and the unnerving part was watching them weave in and out of all three lanes to get home faster. Did I miss the start of the Cannonball Rally race?

As I went through Scarborough, doing the speed limit, I began to keep score. By the time I passed over the bridge to New Hampshire, 47 Massachusetts drivers had passed me, along with three from Rhode Island, four from New Hampshire, three from Maine, one from New York and one from Iowa.

I passed 16 Maine cars, four from Massachusetts, two from New Hampshire and one each from Pennsylvania and New Brunswick. Imagine not being passed by a Canadian!

I wondered where the state police were. I don’t blame them for not being out there — it was dangerous.

Coming back over the bridge into Maine is always a great feeling. Less traffic and a lot less stress, “The Way Life Used to Be.” Ten miles into Maine I saw the blue lights. They are out here keeping us safe!

Two troopers were running radar northbound. One trooper had a car stopped, and it was from Maine!

Fifty-nine cars passed me on the way out of Maine. If the average speeding ticket was $150, that equals $8,850 of lost revenue.

Sunday in the mid- to late afternoon, everyone is in a hurry to get out of Maine. Just a thought for those guys in the blue cars.

Brian Linscott
South Portland 

Regarding the recent spate of letters on “turtles versus hares” on the highway: I have driven in traffic from California to Georgia to Maine, and driving around the country convinces me that the vehicle of choice should be an armored car.

If you don’t want to end up with your tush in traction, it is prudent to hesitate before heading into an intersection. Traffic lights have become passe.

The green light has come to mean, “Crank it up or get out of my way, I want to make the next light.” Yellow has become a complementary color that follows the green and hovers before the red light, which translates to, “Stomp on it! Every man for himself.”

While waiting on the corners of Broadway and Cottage Road in South Portland, I’ve seen as many as three cars blast through a single red light, and yeah, we turtles hesitate to stick our necks out.

This turtle doesn’t have the time or inclination to be scraped up off the pavement.

And while I’m at it, to further protect valuable tushes, stop opening your door into a thoroughfare without checking traffic, and stop walking between parked cars into the road without looking — especially clothed in dark colors at dusk and after dark.

Marlee Hill
Cape Elizabeth 

Maine Heritage alumni get varying appraisals 

The appointment of Stephen Bowen as commissioner of the Department of Education is consistent with Gov. LePage’s conservative, tea party agenda. The opposition presented by the State Board of Education was lukewarm at best, directing attention to important and valid concerns.

But even had Mr. Bowen possessed those experiences with which they were concerned, the issue with Mr. Bowen is that he has so many predisposed ideas based on his conservative stance that I suspect his listening to educators throughout the state will be nothing but a show.

After all, a dog listens, but it doesn’t necessarily understand, and is unlikely to change its nature based on it. It rewards its owner with tail-wagging, licking and a seeming “smile.” It’s a show, not serious attention.

If the Board of Education did go to the Maine Heritage Policy Center’s website and review some of Mr. Bowen’s documents and still had nothing else to say regarding his status, then perhaps there needs to be a review of the board’s membership.

I realize that I hold prejudiced views; that I have a political stance; that I have evidenced-based as well as anecdotal information regarding education. But I also have a doctorate in educational psychology and considerable teaching, administrative and research experience at the local and federal levels. But it’s not about me.

In the position of commissioner there needs to be a comprehensive educator sensibility by which to view statewide programs, not a political perspective; there needs to be an openness to approaching the task of re-establishing the Maine school system at all levels as one that is a model to be the envy of the nation.

It won’t happen under Mr. Bowen. His political, not educational, intentions are clearly stated in his Maine Heritage documents. Wow — are we in for it.

Mark Schwartz
South Portland 

In his March 3 column, “Taking stock of a sudden rise to power,” Bill Nemitz attacks the views, credibility and motives of someone he disagrees with — because he is young!

Don’t get me wrong, I also disagree with many or most of Tarren Bragdon’s positions, but it’s not because he is “the ripe old age of 35,” “looks more like a State House intern,” can be compared to “Robin the Boy Wonder” or the fact that his “entire adult life” is not as long as someone else’s work experience.

Obviously, it’s easier for a writer to cleverly twist a phrase to make someone look bad than it is to do real work, investigate facts and present thoughtful ideas.

Maybe if this self-described leading editorialist weren’t a lazy middle-aged liberal who apparently has never done any real work other than punch a typewriter key, we’d have more meaningful dialogue about issues.

See what I mean about easy shots?

Frankly, I applaud Tarren Bragdon for having principled beliefs, clearly articulating them and working toward achieving them.

Perhaps, if we focus on problems, solutions and finding common ground rather than defaming people, we can move our state forward.

Curtis Mildner
Kennebunk 

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