As a commuting student in Maine, I can be found bumping up and down major roads and highways year round. I have come to find that the potholes littering the roads of Maine are unreasonably large and unsafe.

One would think that the solution to this problem would be simple: fill them. However, this has not occurred. Many acquaintances of mine are victims of these monster potholes and have lost everything from hubcaps to undercarriages.

A particularly disturbing pothole I came across recently was one that spread all the way across the northbound lane on Route 26 in Gray. The lawns surrounding this pothole were covered in car parts and hubcaps as people were forced to bump through it to avoid traffic in the other lane.

Potholes are not only an issue on routes and roads; they are also an issue on two major state highways, interstates 295 and 95. These potholes are especially dangerous as they often aren’t visible until a driver is directly on top of them, and at this point there is nothing one can do while going 65 mph except wince and ride over the hole.

Potholes are not being filled, and if they are it is only occurring on holes that threaten to swallow people whole. Budgeting money to fill potholes would secure jobs in public works departments, ensure the safety of drivers, and beautify the state of Maine. Filling potholes would be a more effective use of state money than fighting over our state dessert or wall art and would appease commuters everywhere.

I’m sure that more people would be willing to come forward to give their opinion of the pothole predicament; however, most of these people are stuck in the bottom of monstrous potholes and are unavailable for comment at this time.

Kathryn Liziewski

Gray

 

Politicians should be held accountable when they lie

 

Your editorial defending political lies is not what I believe should be condoned in a democracy (“Misleading claims are part of politics, not libel” April 11). I very much appreciate news organizations that look for the truth and keep politicians honest as much as possible. To have candidates win after lies and exaggerations is dishonest and does not give the public the best representation.

Nancy Willard

Bryant Pond

 

Preachers don’t deserve constitutional protection

 

It’s become fashionable lately for anyone trying to sound important to bludgeon the rest of us with the Constitution at the drop of a tricornered hat. It seems today everyone is a constitutional scholar and the Constitution itself is omnipresent in every debate, whether it is truly relevant or not. Crying wolf is replaced with crying “unconstitutional.”

It makes one wonder whatever happened to applying the simple logic of right vs. wrong to find a solution to a problem.

Two recent examples of time-honored reason being turned off in favor of constitutional Monday morning quarterbacking relate to the Quran burning by Pastor Terry Jones and efforts to pass laws prohibiting protests at military funerals in response to the Westboro Baptist Church and its founder, Pastor Fred Phelps.

Both pastors are irrelevant charlatans desperately attempting to stretch their 15 minutes of infamy by committing outrageous acts purely for shock value, yet they are both somehow deemed important enough for constitutional protection at the expense of the suffering of innocents.

(Ironically, in a twisted form of accidental cooperation, by burning the Quran Pastor Jones will bring more Afghans into the insurgency, thus guaranteeing more military funerals for Pastor Phelps and his clan to desecrate.)

Americans love to debate what the Founding Fathers meant when they drafted the Constitution, but one thing I’m sure they never intended it to be used for is as a “Get out of thinking free” card for those wishing to avoid making tough decisions.

What both pastors are doing is undeniably wrong and a responsible society should stand up and stop them. Allowing such men to cower behind our Constitution is doing that great document a disservice and is in fact damaging the fabric of the American civilization it helped to establish.

Jeremy Smith

Old Orchard Beach

 

More to story on U.N. investigator’s statement

 

Your April 6 issue had a Washington Post column by Richard Cohen headlined “Israeli ‘war crimes’ report recanted.”

On April 3, the New York Times had a piece titled “Head of U.N. Panel Regrets Saying Israel Purposely Killed Gazans.” After reading the articles, it seems clear Richard Goldstone recanted, sort of, because he was ostracized by fellow Jews.

On the same page the Times had its Diplomatic Memo saying that come September, Palestinians seem poised to join the U.N. as a state. More than 100 countries are expected to vote Yes, and the United States can’t crush their votes with a veto. A Palestinian official has said the new state will re-examine its relations with Israel because, “The main sense about Israel is that we are fed up.”

The Cohen column said there were a “few villages where Israeli soldiers massacred Arabs during the 1947-48 period,” brushing aside what had actually begun its hellish history — the murder of U.N. special envoy Folke Bernadotte by the Stern Gang. It would be fitting if the vote to free Palestine came on Sept. 17, the date of his gruesome death by lethal Israel.

Marjorie Gallace

Camden

 

Shame to lose iconic Maine brand to Maryland

 

Does anyone else think it a shame that a premier brand and company named Maine Cottage Furniture is suddenly sold, lock, stock and barrel, to a firm in Maryland?

And that this firm intends to open a store in Annapolis, Md., closing the Maine store, and “maybe” hiring some of the Maine employees?

Did Key Bank give anyone in Maine an opportunity to keep the brand and business in Maine?

Did it check with the governor’s office on advice for keeping a Maine business here?

Is anyone in Augusta a little concerned about this?

To me it is like L.L. Bean taking off for another state!

Pamela Smith

North Yarmouth

 

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