Bath RR crossing not done right

In the not too recent past, maybe last fall, the railroad crossing at the bottom of Centre Street in Bath was dug up because it was a pretty rough crossing. It seemed to be okay for a while.

But in the past couple of months, it’s become rougher than ever. Now if you don’t slow down to about 5 miles an hour, your car creaks and groans and heaves.

What’s going on here? Who were the people who tried to repair it last fall — the owners of the tracks or the city of Bath?

Usually, if work isn’t done right, whoever paid for it can go back to the contractor and ask that it be fixed. So who do we contact to get it repaired correctly?

This is important because Amtrak may be extending passenger service next spring from Brunswick to Bath to Wiscasset and possibly Rockland.

Advertisement

Paula Gibbs McKenney,
Woolwich

Thanks to Russia, McConnell, America a house divided

Russia appears to have succeeded. It seems that their attempts to divide us have worked. “United we stand, divided we fall” is a phrase that dates back to pre-revolutionary days. It appears we are falling as a “house divided.”

Our elections continue to be at risk from foreign interference. We should be rising up together against this threat. Instead, our Senate Majority Leader has blocked bipartisan bills intended to increase election security from being considered. Why? Every American deserves to know.

Look at our country now! It feels like we’re in a civil war, with neighbor pitted against neighbor. How did we allow this to happen? Social media has turned out to be a powerful tool to sow false information and plant seeds of doubt on factual evidence. Snopes.com and factcheck.org can help separate fact from fake.

Meanwhile, the need for further evidence and witnesses in President Trump’s impeachment trial is clear. Subpoenas were ignored during the House investigation, and requests for information were stonewalled by the White House. The inescapable conclusion is there’s something to hide. The allegations of election interference, and attempted interference, should deeply concern any American, regardless of party, and yet the impeachment trial is blatantly partisan. Why? Does Russia have a role even here?

Advertisement

We should all be pulling in the same direction to get to the bottom of the allegations against our President until we all learn exactly what happened and what did not. We must reach out to each other, face to face, and bridge the current divide by rediscovering all the many things we have in common. We cannot let the Russians win.

Lucy Hull,
Arrowsic

Good Christians cannot follow Trump

Many evangelicals take great pride (one of the seven deadly sins) in steadfastly supporting Donald Trump. Why is this, since his actions are decidedly unchristian and his words often hate-filled? Some will say they forgive him, but according to the Bible, does God forgive a person who is neither repentant nor following the ways of God?

I was raised Catholic and as a young adult became a born again Christian. Everything I learned from both of those experiences completely opposes the actions of this administration. When I asked an evangelical minister why he voted for Trump he said it was because of his stance on abortion, and now he regretted his vote. Of course, like every other stance Trump has made, his stand on this matter has not been consistent, so perhaps believing him was a mistake.

Fewer than a million women a year have any kind of abortion, including those that are medically necessary. However, 37 million people lack enough food, 500,000 find themselves homeless, 38 million people have no health insurance and 45,000 die each year from a lack of health care. Trump’s administration turns away immigrants and refugees by the thousands and incarcerates and abuses many others, some of whom die in custody for lack of proper care.

Advertisement

Jesus Christ, whom Christians purport to follow, never said one word about abortion. But He said plenty about feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, healing the sick, and welcoming the stranger.

There are those who say that abortion, even medically necessary abortion, is killing and “Thou shalt not kill “is one of the Commandments. I don’t buy that story from any Christian who also supports the death penalty or war. War kills not only the soldiers but also thousands of women and children, and causes millions to become refugees. You can’t have it both ways.

But, if abortion is such a big issue, why not allow people the education and contraception needed to avoid pregnancy and consequently reduce the number of abortions? Also, how about prosecuting rapists instead of electing them to political office, as we have seen happen? Either Christians believe in the moral and ethical tenets of their faith or they don’t. I agree with Mark Galli who wrote in the December issue of Christianity Today, “If we don’t reverse course now, will anyone take anything we say about justice and righteousness with any seriousness…?”

If Christians believe what their churches teach them about their Saviour, then they can not possibly, in good faith, follow any leader whose actions and words contradict everything Christ stood for.

Susan Chichetto,
Bath

Comments are not available on this story.

filed under: