Who’s in control now?

Well folks, it’s Dec. 22, 2012, and the world has not ended yet. ?My biblical friends have believed for thousands of years that if we keep ticking God off, the end will come. I have no idea what is left for us heathens to do.

We gave people the right to vote regardless of the color of their skin. We have accepted the fact that sex before marriage does not qualify the public stoning of the culprits. When we think of a happy family, we now have accepted (and made legal) the fact that the family can be a man and woman, a man and man, or woman and woman.

Within a decade, if not sooner, we will be able to smoke pot and not get arrested. And the other day, while spending money at Walmart to celebrate the birth of Jesus, I saw a lady at Dunkin’ Donuts breast-feeding. I was amazed; no one even cared.

So, with all these terrible sinful things taking place, why are we still here? What else could we possibly do to put God over the edge? Could it be that we are all evolving into a society that lives our life by what our hearts say is right rather than what people who want control over us, say is right? And could that actually be making God happy, rather than ticking him off?

Jack Freitas

Standish

Buy local?

At a recent meeting at the Windham Town Hall, it was discussed by a representative for the Sebago Lakes Region Chamber of Commerce that whenever we are buying, we should consider buying local.

When I questioned Windham’s economic development director Tom Bartell if the Town of Windham always bought local, his answer was, “whenever we can.” Well, in my mind, that leaves a lot of questions.

Now, I’ve been a businessman in Windham since 1974, offering my services to all those that need them, and have enjoyed many of the businesses within the town that take advantage of those services. However, when the gas prices in this town are 11 to 17 cents per gallon higher than surrounding towns, and I’m trying to stay within my budget, why should I buy gas here?

Recently, I wanted a pound of hamburg and went to one of the local stores and bought a package for $3.69 a pound for 80-percent lean. I can buy in Gorham and Scarborough 90 percent lean for $3.18 a pound. So I ask, why should I buy local?

Our restaurants here in town are what I’d call fair-priced by comparison. Although I don’t eat out that much today, I can get a better meal in Portland, South Portland and Yarmouth for a lesser amount than what I can get in Windham. I realize that this is in conjunction with a man’s taste.

When I buy canned products that just about every family around buys, like Campbell Soup, 11 to 24 cents less in one store than another, where do you think I’m going to shop?

“Competition makes for a better product,” was an old adage for a worldwide company, but today with the economy being what it is, anyone who is frugal shopper and is watching their pennies is also watching the prices of their groceries and their gas for their car that they have to drive on a daily basis just to get to work or a ball game for their kids.

I have asked numerous people, why are our gas prices so high in Windham, but no one has been able to answer that question except for the stock saying which is, if you don’t like the prices here, buy it somewhere else. Well, that is not buying local. I just wonder how many other people feel the same way as I do about buying local?

Ken Brann

Windham