Thank you Senate District 34 voters
To the editor,
As we head into Thanksgiving and the holiday season, I want to take a moment to extend my gratitude to all of the voters in Senate District 34 for your support of our most recent elections. The voter turnout was awesome and our local voting officials did a tremendous job in managing the process.
Win or lose, please be sure to congratulate all candidates for their willingness to step up in hopes of assisting you as a legislator in your community. As the senator-elect in District 34, I want to first recognize and thank Mr. Robert Foley for his many years of service in the Maine Legislature both as a representative and senator. Bob also served Wells as a selectman prior to the Legislature. I wish him well in his next endeavor.
Thanks to all that I met during the months leading up to the election as well as those of you that worked on my behalf. I look forward to working with you as a team to address and advance the issues of importance to our communities.
I know it’s been a tough year for a lot of folks. Please be sure to reach out to me in the event you need assistance, as I am committed to do all I can for you and your family.
Stay safe and thanks in advance for your anticipated support.
Joe Rafferty, senator-elect
207-590-9902
Kennebunk
What’s next, mandated menus?
To the editor,
Heart disease is the number one killer in this country. Many times it is preventable through proper diet and exercise.
Will this be the next reason that authoritarian governors in this country, mostly Democrat, use to mandate their rules to the restaurants that somehow survive? Perhaps they should mandate the menu to be served to customers based upon their favorite foods. Or maybe they should have to erect gyms on their restaurants so that customers are required to get the proper exercise after their approved meals.
If that does not put them out of business, then these governors will be sure to fine them out of business. Who cares about the lost tax revenue? That can always be taken from those who are still fortunate enough to have a job.
The saying, “Freedom is not free,” has never had more meaning than now.
Susan Kamuda
Arundel
Flag concerns have been addressed
To the editor,
In response to Attorney Robert Powers’ Nov. 27 letter in which he details a violation of the U.S. Flag Code at the First Parish Unitarian Universalist Church of Kennebunk. Mr. Powers shared his accurate observations and shared corrective measures in an email sent to the church administrator at 3 p.m. on Friday Nov. 13. When he failed to receive a response by Monday Nov. 16, he sent in the letter to the editor.
I can assure Mr. Powers that as a faith community that includes veterans and veterans’ families, this breach of American flag etiquette is not a sign of disrespect. Upon seeing the letter to the editor we took action to correct our error. Please note that several factors, including part-time administrator gone for the day, email going
to the spam folder, limited building use due to pandemic precautions served to preclude a response to that one and only correspondence.
I have contacted Mr. Powers to address his email and his concern. Thank you for your letter Mr. Powers and, yes, I would like to “elevate the situation” as a message
for our community that these unique and trying times will be remembered for the difficulties, but they could also be remembered for how we showed our better side and looked out for each other.
Wayne White, co-chair, board of directors
First Parish Unitarian Universalist
Kennebunk
Constitution should matter more
To the editor,
Flag etiquette matters. The constitution matters more.
A local writer wants us all to notice that the U.S. flag on a local church is misplaced relative to a Black Lives Matter banner, his words assigning the flag more importance than the constitution it represents. Millions of our Black brothers and sisters are being denied the rights and protections we should all enjoy under this founding document.
The finer points of flag etiquette are nice to know, but waving the flag to distract us from its unfulfilled promises is not helpful.
The constitution matters more.
Dan Lyons
Kennebunk
Famous quote origins
To the editor,
Regarding the Nov. 12 guest column by Orrin Frink, I must make a correction. His attribution of the famous quote “We have met the enemy and he is us” to Charlie Brown in the Peanuts comic strip is incorrect.
This famous quote belongs to the comic strip character “Pogo” by Walt Kelly. Pogo was lamenting the accumulated garbage left by people in the strip’s characters’ home, the Okefenokee Swamp. The quote appeared on a poster in 1970 and in an actual strip in 1971 to commemorate the first and second Earth Day.
Charlie Brown had many memorable lines – but that wasn’t one of them.
The quote did not originate with Walt Kelly. Its origin apparently goes back to 1813, uttered by American Navy Commodore Oliver Perry. The original version was “We have met the enemy and they are ours,” regarding the defeat of a British naval squadron during the War of 1812.
Aside from that, Mr Frink is entitled to his opinions. But sir, you might want to rethink your use of that “… kill and take scalps” line. Maybe you don’t want that attribution.
Susan A. Bloomfield
West Kennebunk
New administration ready to tackle issues
To the editor,
Americans should be proud to have elected Joe Biden. Joe has been in government for 47 years and received 51 percent of the votes, much better than the 1 percent he received in his last quest for the presidency in the 2007 Iowa caucus.
His tireless campaigning and frequent press conferences finally paid off.
He and his son Hunter have extensive experience in the Ukraine and China and he and President Obama were the first to send critical MREs and blankets to Ukrainians while they were being invaded by Russia.
Despite the constant coverage by the main stream media and big tech about Hunter’s laptop, the Biden family’s fortunes and Joe’s female accusers; Tara Reade, Lucy Flores, D.J. Hill, Amy Lappos, Ally Coll, Caitlyn Caruso, Sofie Karasek, and Vail Kohnert-Yount, the #MeToo movement was unsuccessful with their support for them.
Joe will finally tackle the climate change issue. The United States only covers about 2 percent of the earth’s surface and has some of the cleanest air and water in the world but it’s incumbent on us to pay for the pollution other countries are causing.
Joe also picked a capable vice president. Kamala Harris received a good high school education in Canada. After graduating from college she eventually found her way to California and under the tutelage of the infamous mayor of San Francisco, Willie Brown, he was 60 and Harris was 29, she began her successful career as the first Black attorney general.
In an effort to clamp down on truancy, she passed a law making it a criminal misdemeanor for parents to allow their children (kindergarten through eighth grade) to miss more than 10 percent of school days, without an excuse. The parents or guardians of truant children could face a $2,000 fine or up to one year in jail.
In just three years as attorney general, Harris increased convictions of drug dealers from 56 percent to 74 percent and built her career out of delivering tragic legal blows to nonviolent offenders.
As the most liberal senator she should be a big supporter of a socialist agenda.
Fortunately now that President Trump has not be re-elected, our cities are safe from the burning and looting that would have occurred by Antifa, BLM and other anarchists.
Bill Case
Kennebunkport
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