Collins’ Contribution To Healthcare Dilemma: Anxiety

By her vote to pave the way for repeal of the Affordable Care Act, Sen. Collins contribution to our health care dilemma was to increase the anxiety for the millions insured under the ACA. Senator Collins couched her vote by saying she was assured by the senate leadership that there would soon be a better plan to replace the ACA. One would think that 6 plus years of ACA experience would have provided ample time to come up with viable alternatives to what Republicans see as flaws in the law, and not plunge ahead with this solely politically motivated premature repeal.

I have seen the benefits afforded under the ACA. A family member was stricken with a life threatening health crisis that required surgery. She, being 22 years old, a student and working part time, had no insurance, but fortunately was covered under her parent’s health plan, thank’s to the ACA. I know others with precondition health issues who, without the ACA, would be unable to afford insurance.

Republican repeal of the ACA won’t negate President Obama’s place in history as having made the valiant effort to improve our cumbersome, inefficient, and costly health care system. Now the onus is on Sen. Collins and the Republican Party to improve the nation’s health care system, with the goal, I hope, of providing affordable, equitable, quality health care insurance for all.

Carl Zeis,
Bath

Bennett Right About Collins

I am writing to commend Douglas Bennett from Topsham for his excellent commentary that appeared in the Jan. 13 issue of The Times Record. I agree with all the issues he raised and how Senator Susan Collins’ votes in the Senate in the coming weeks and months could be critical in shaping the future of our nation. I also agree that it is not just the responsibility of Susan Collins and our other elected officials, it is the responsibility of each and everyone of us to be informed and to use our voice when issues of concern surface. To quote Mr. Bennett, “We all bear responsibility for what happens next in the great story of this grand old republic.” Actually the entire paragraph which includes that quote is well worth reading again if you still have a copy of the paper.

Nancy D. Bliss
Brunswick

Butt Blight

One of my favorite Brunswick rituals is my weekly walk down Maine Street on Saturday mornings to shop at the Fort Andross farmers market. A newly designated

National Historic District, Maine Street is looking better than ever, with lively businesses and full storefronts, many looking especially spruce with façades recently renovated thanks to the Brunswick Downtown Association’s façade improvement matching grant program.

There is just one thing that mars this otherwise delightful experience — the profusion of cigarette butts littering the sidewalk. While this scourge is present to one degree or another up and down the street, there is one block that is particularly infested — the western side of Maine Street between Cumberland and Lincoln Streets. The problem there is due almost entirely to patrons of Aki Restaurant and its My Tie bar. Cigarette butts are particularly thick right out front, but they can be found up and down the block in front of daytime businesses whose customers clearly bear no responsibility for this blight. Even the otherwise attractive tree enclosures near the bar are teeming with scores, possibly hundreds, of cigarette butts.

I encourage owners of all downtown restaurants, bars, and late-night businesses to be aware of the damage their patrons can do to downtown’s environment and to implement plans and procedures to tend the space outside their establishments or, better yet, take measures to see that the cigarette butts don’t end up on the ground in the first place. Maine Street springs to life early every morning, and it’s important for businesses to figure out ways to see that sidewalks are clean at all hours. I know it can be done. If my walk this morning is any indication, Joshua’s Tavern, another popular late-night place, has figured it out. The section of sidewalk in front of that bar was one of the cleanest on the whole street.

Emily Swan,
Brunswick

Bean Broke the Law

My problem is not with L.L. Bean as a company. Leon Gorman was a fantastic business person, a real pride for Freeport, and the state of Maine. It is only with Linda Bean a board member. Linda formed a Political Action Committee and under federal law could only donate up to $5,000. She broke the law and donated $30,000. She should go to jail for this.

Linda bean also owns a lobster company, and years ago she had her employees totally dismember live lobsters by tearing off their claws and tail section and leave their bodies to die on their own. She sold a lot of lobsters to China. Multi-millionaires can do what ever they want with their money, I do not care, but at least be legal about it, and do not lie about the outcome in trying to defend yourself. Typical tea party Republican millionaire, it’s all about them and them only.

Bill Perreault,
Brunswick