I agree completely with Zoo Cain’s assessment of the problem with parking tickets handed out in the city of Portland (Voice of the People, “Portland parking rules need change,” Jan. 10).

For those of us who live in neighborhoods within a 15-minute walk of the Old Port, it is especially frustrating.

Friends and family hesitate to visit me for fear of getting a ticket because the parking sharks circle constantly in this residential neighborhood.

I understand the need to keep cars moving in the shopping district, but there’s no reason certain (poorer) neighborhoods should be targeted with this punitive treatment.

It appears that we who don’t have driveways are punished repeatedly, between moving our cars twice a week for street cleaning, which rarely happens, and the two-hour parking limit for guests.

It’s downright dispiriting to discover a ticket on one’s windshield when parked in front of one’s own home when the street has not even been cleaned.

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Betsy Beecher

Portland

Gun rights must co-exist with right to criticize NRA

When Portland Press Herald editorial writer M.D. Harmon retired, I’m sure many objective readers heaved a sigh of relief.

But lo and behold, Harmon is back, now as a retired journalist, spewing his right-wing commentary on how proud he is to be a lifelong member of the National Rifle Association (“NRA defends Americans’ ‘blanket’ right to own guns,” Jan. 13).

Harmon goes on to criticize Warren Roos, who told this paper that he was resigning from the Spurwink Rod and Gun Club because NRA membership was a requirement to belong.

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He also felt that the NRA’s stand on allowing purchase of high-capacity ammunition magazines and semi-automatic guns was wrong.

Good for Mr. Roos! Too many people are needlessly killed by “recreational gun owners,” along with many others who have been gunned down by the irresponsible “Wild West” mentality of some gun-toting members of society.

I have only praise for Mr. Roos, who stood up against what he believed is an indefensible requirement for membership in the NRA.

Petros Panagakos

Portland

Nothing is worse than a bully. Especially a bully with a gun. And a column to fill.

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The tone of M.D. Harmon’s column (Jan. 13) seems to be that because he and the National Rifle Association have weapons, they, and only they, are perfectly right 100 percent of the time. And everyone else is “misinformed.”

This doesn’t strike me as a balanced, journalistic perspective.

From his interview, it seems, Warren Roos is a gun owner and a former member of the Spurwink Rod and Gun Club. He just didn’t want to be required to be an NRA member.

He was perfectly entitled to his opinions. As is Harmon.

But it seems a bit unfair that Harmon was able to attack Mr. Roos from the bully pulpit of a six-column-wide, bylined “commentary.”

Stew Vreeland

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Gray

Child gets to the heart of gay marriage debate

We would like to add another view to the recent series of letters debating same-sex marriage (Rev. Frederick Guise, Meghan Gaven, Philip E. Kennard).

The 10-year-old’s perspective, free and unadulterated by the political and religious controversy, is a from-the-heart question (“If being gay is a sin, why does God make them that way”). She has the clearest understanding of the Greatest Commandment (Matthew 22:37-39), that we should love our neighbors without judgment because they are children of God.

It really is that simple.

The comment about “joyful ex-gays” would be funny were it not so sad and ignorant. It reflects an all too common lack of insight into human sexuality.

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Individuals whose safety and quality of life will be determined by the outcome of this debate are depending on voters to take responsibility for being educated. Please don’t let them down.

Maddie Akeley

on behalf of the Reconciling Ministries Education Group

Thornton Heights United Methodist Church

South Portland

Closing Guantanamo would be step in right direction

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The Rev. Jill Saxby did not go far enough in her opinion (Voice of the People, “Guantanamo undermines U.S. ideals,” Jan. 11) advocating the closure of Guantanamo Bay Naval Station.

More than closure, the United States should give this land back to the people of Cuba.

In 1901, the United States forced Cuba to lease this section of their country to the United States. What was to be a “coaling” station for U.S. war vessels has proven to be a thorn in the side of the Cuban people ever since.

Since the so-called Spanish-American War, by way of the Platt Amendment, our government has sought dominion over Cuba.

One particularly offensive provision of the Platt Amendment guaranteed the United States the right to intervene at will in Cuban affairs. Much of Cuba’s history is excluded from our history books but it is known in Cuba and throughout Latin America.

Guantanamo is a glaring symbol of American hypocrisy around the globe. For more than 100 years, the U.S. occupation of this island nation has reminded the world of our government’s interventionist military posture.

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Where is it written that the United States must be the world’s police force?

It is past time that we, the American people, return this military enclave back to the Cuban people.

Just maybe, such action will lay the groundwork for renewed relations with this island and possibly even mend our strained relations with other countries in the Western Hemisphere.

John J. McGinnis

Windham


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