Your April 10 story about Ogunquit’s Cliff Walk (“Beat the crows to Ogunquit’s Cliff Walk”) brought to mind a perennial thorn in the side of virtually all dog owners and I would guess a fair amount of others.

To the best of my knowledge, Ogunquit has the strictest anti-dog ordinance in the entire state, and probably anywhere else. Simply put, it’s “No dogs permitted from April 1 to Sept. 30” on all beaches and town properties.

They’re not even allowed in parking lots at the beach, which means if an elderly handicapped person takes a ride down to the beach with a tiny, unobtrusive dog, to simply park there to look at the waves crashing in the twilight of their lives, the parking lot attendant turns them away!

Without exception, every other beach in the area allows dogs on beaches, sometimes with time-of-day restrictions, sometimes requiring a leash. So how Ogunquit gets away with this flagrant violation of dog owners’ rights is beyond me, but get away with it they do.

Welcome to the friendliest town in Maine, just leave your dog at home in a cage where he belongs. But we own our dogs all 12 months of the year, not just six.

Bill Thomas

Sanford

GOP 2012 budget ideas as seen from two sides

I cannot believe that anyone is taking Rep. Paul Ryan’s budget proposal seriously. A budget reduction proposal that offers only minuscule cuts in defense and reduces revenue by lowering tax rates for the wealthiest and for corporations, all the while depending on magical thinking about unemployment to make even its pie-in-the-sky thinking possible, is not a serious document. Even Ryan acknowledges that, saying, “This is not a budget. This is a cause.”

But to propose cuts of $4 trillion that the poor, elderly, and particularly children will have to absorb as rising health care costs far outstrip the fixed government subsidies that are allocated to pay for them, while the wealthy gain and gain, is simple callousness, avarice and cruelty covered in a thin skein of self-righteous political philosophy.

It is not a budget; it is a cause, and the cause is greed.

Jeffrey Thomson

Farmington

Republican Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin has submitted a budget proposal designed to deal with the current budget impasse.

Democrats, predictably, have come apart at the seams. Let me address just two of their favorite themes.

1) This proposal is a “War on seniors!” In a state like Maine with a lot of elderly people like me, this is indeed a loaded charge.

But the fact is, under Ryan’s plan, no current seniors and no one 55 or older will see his or her Medicare change at all.

2) “Big breaks for big oil!” It would lower tax rates for oil companies in America to compete with other industrialized nations and it would allow oil companies to do more drilling on American soil.

Would this result in more profits for oil companies? Yes. What is wrong with that?

More drilling means more domestic oil, therefore less dependency on foreign oil. More American people go (back) to work. If there is one nation on this Earth with more stringent controls on drilling than America, I would like to know which one it is.

Here’s some breaking news: Businesses hire people to work to make a profit from their labor while producing useful products.

What is wrong with that?

Terence McManus

New Sharon

Why vote again on casino for York County community?

I am a lifelong harness racing fan and my business sponsors races in Maine and New York. Hollywood Slots has helped invigorate Maine harness racing, an industry that puts millions of dollars into the economy through services such as feed, training, veterinary and of course gambling revenue. This is an industry worth saving.

New York, Delaware and Pennsylvania have all approved racinos at harness tracks and have seen a resurgence in growth of the harness racing industry and revenue to their respective states.

Biddeford Downs was approved by a large margin. Voters have already approved a “racino” in southern Maine. There is no need for yet another referendum. With the expertise of the owners of Scarborough Downs and Tom Walsh of OPL, this is the right project at the right time for Maine. Mainers, reinvesting in Maine.

This is not just another casino, it is a complete entertainment complex that will support over 500 jobs that average $35,000 per year. Biddeford Downs is consistent with the voters’ approval of the expansion of gambling in southern Maine. Not only will there be jobs but Maine’s harness racing will be further invigorated and we will see more farms and open space protected as purse monies increase.

Open space offers the protection of farmlands being destroyed in other states. Horses require pastures and they need hay. Biddeford Downs will help protect Maine’s open space and farms and keep revenue home.

Tell your representative to help get this project moving. If “Maine is open for business,” let’s get people back to work now. Tell your representatives that we do not want another referendum, we want jobs.

Rick Skoglund

Waldoboro

New restaurant reviewer perfect for reader’s taste

Kudos to your paper for the new Dining Out Maine restaurant review in the Sunday paper! It is refreshingly well-articulated, compared to the reflux of N.L. English’s Taste ‘n Tell columns.

English, ironically named, was no mistress of the English language. In search for information on a particular restaurant, faithful foodies were perpetually obliged to slog through her misplaced modifiers, dangling participles, mixed metaphors and flowery vernacular. And who could forget that annoying overuse of the verb “hold”? Everything held everything.

Again, my heartfelt congratulations for a breath of fresh air in the dining section. I hope it’s permanent.

Penny Conti

Freeport

Millions for Japan could be better spent at home

I’m watching the CBS News. We (the United States of America) are contributing $47 million to Japan and their tragedy.

Why can’t we spend a fraction of that money on the “hungry, starving” people right here in the United States, let alone the state of Maine?

We have the same situations right here on our own land, without an earthquake to cause this. Japan hasn’t even asked us to help them.

And, we wonder why our government is facing a debt crisis? Take care of our own. It’s as simple as that. Call me mean. But that’s just my opinion.

Troy McDougal

Fort Fairfield

Mainers more concerned about nature, not economy

Mr. Harry White of Scarborough in his recent letter to the editor suggests that Maine people would opt for the economy rather than the environment. Mr. White is completely wrong.

Brownie Carson served 27 years as executive director of the National Resources Council of Maine. Along with other people who sense the importance of protecting all our natural gifts, he has done everything legally, financially and reasonably possible to assure future generations will continue to treasure and enjoy the gifts of nature we have. Carson will continue his efforts to assure our primitive lands remain as they are and not be ravaged by the urge to develop them and increase the power of those who see money far more important than beautiful land and forests.

Mr. White might be wise to think before he demeans another. What he says about others reflects far more forcefully on himself than the man he is demeaning. I suspect and hope he will awaken in the night and rethink his unkind remarks.

Katy Perry

Hallowell