Letters

Published
February 18, 2017

Letter to the editor: Prohibition of opioids fails, so let’s try new approach

We have an opioid crisis in Maine, as evidenced by the number of overdose deaths. President Richard Nixon declared “The War on Drugs” on June 18, 1971. That’s over 45 years ago! It didn’t work. It didn’t work for Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan (“Just say no”), George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. […]
Published
February 18, 2017

Letter to the editor: Spotlight bill for commission to probe Russian involvement in election

It’s been quite a week for the Russian military: Last Friday, Russian military jets buzzed the USS Porter; on Tuesday, a Russian spy ship was spotted off the coast of Delaware, and there has been confirmed movement of banned advanced cruise missiles within Russian borders. While this saber rattling is front-page news, I don’t see […]
Published
February 18, 2017

Letter to the editor: Lockman USM controversy shows how words matter

At the University of Southern Maine last week, Muslim students called us together to talk about the local impact of the recent executive orders on immigration. At that event, an administrator advised students to cancel study abroad plans unless they had U.S. citizenship. A few days earlier, a colleague’s elderly Iranian mother-in-law had been blocked […]
Published
February 18, 2017

Letter to the editor: Lockman’s proposed bill would ensure compliance with immigration law

Re: Rep. Larry Lockman’s speech at the University of Southern Maine: • The hard left is made up of Marxist revolutionaries (“The issue is never the issue; the issue is always the revolution”). • There is an unholy alliance between the leftists and Islamists (also known as the “Red-Green Axis”). • In his book “Catastrophic Failure,” former intelligence […]
Published
February 17, 2017

Letter to the editor: Droughts end sometime, but no one seems to let us know when

Whatever happened to the drought we were having? A drought seems to be like a chronic disease. Once the authorities have informed us that we have it, it never goes away. Mere water is not enough. We can experience rain for 40 days and 40 nights, and Noah’s Ark may have been sighted in the […]

Published
February 17, 2017

Letter to the editor: Tired threats from wealthy on new education tax surcharge

In the Feb. 9 Portland Press Herald, Giovani Twigge, corporate vice president at Idexx Laboratories – a company worth over $1 billion – said of the 3 percent public education tax surcharge for anyone who makes over $200,000 a year: “This tax sends the message, very strongly, that the successes of innovation and entrepreneurship are […]
Published
February 17, 2017

Letter to the editor: Tiny lodging tax increase a non-issue for Maine visitors

The Maine Tourism Association apparently believes that Maine cannot absorb a 1 percentage point increase in the lodging tax and remain competitive with New Hampshire, Vermont and Massachusetts, as if people planning vacation destinations look at the lodging tax as a major deciding factor. People look at the overall cost of a vacation. Lodging taxes […]
Published
February 17, 2017

Letter to the editor: Politicians are blind to crucial need for health care coverage

I have grown weary of reading about our politicians’ “alternative belief” that the Affordable Care Act is ineffective, expensive and generally bad for people’s health. I was privileged to work at the Biddeford Free Clinic for close to 20 years. During that time we provided care for hundreds of York County residents who made too […]
Published
February 17, 2017

Letter to the editor: Don’t kill board working to hold down Medicare costs

Your readers might want to look at what is behind the recent full-page ad (Feb. 9, Page A5) by the Health Leadership Council, asking your readers to call Sens. Susan Collins and Angus King and have them vote to repeal the Independent Payment Advisory Board or risk cuts to Maine seniors’ Medicare. Before making that […]
Published
February 17, 2017

Letter to the editor: Student’s column on purpose of rally was smart, thoughtful

Wow! I was so impressed with the tone, attention to detail and insights in Kaspar Wilder’s Feb. 8 Maine Voices column regarding the Portland High School rally. The background information that she shared, and her thoughtful responses to concerns about the rally by Jason Savage, Maine Republican Party executive director, both spoke to a sincere […]

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Letters