Letters

Published
July 11, 2015

Letter to the editor: WIC program deserves support as a vital lifeline

As manager of a local food pantry, I see firsthand the difficulties low-income families face trying to provide adequate nutrition for their children. I have been in apartments where cupboards and refrigerators are virtually empty, where the primary food is day-old bread and other inexpensive, starch-laden foods. However, there is a valuable federal program that […]
Published
July 10, 2015

Letter to the editor: Wabanaki not fully served by kinship family benefits

Having been a grandfather in a successful kinship household, I appreciated your July 3 editorial on the subject (“Our View: Maine’s kinship families deserve greater state support”). However, I was disappointed to see no reference to the influence of the Indian Child Welfare Act on this topic, nor to the great work being done here […]
Published
July 10, 2015

Letter to the editor: ‘Swatting’ is not a prank, calls for harsh punishment

Re: ” ‘Swatting’ hoax stuns Standish family as armed police swarm home” (July 6): The state of Maine should enact legislation making the act of “swatting” (making a bogus emergency call) a felony with severe punishments. The terror and trauma visited on the Lent family of Standish, especially the young children, is no “hoax,” but […]
Published
July 10, 2015

Letter to the editor: LePage hurting Maine by ignoring renewable energy

Gov. LePage must be psychic: Apparently he can tell that the cost of gas will stay low and the cost of renewables will be going up or remain flat. But history has shown us that the cost of fossil fuels will be rising over time and the cost of renewables will be going down. If […]
Published
July 10, 2015

Letter to the editor: Trump deserves ridicule, but Sanders is thoughtful

Though Kathleen Parker rightly ridicules Donald Trump’s self-aggrandizing and racist “alternate universe” in Tuesday’s column (“Sanders, Trump put one in mind of alternate universes”), she trivializes Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders’ thoughtful positions. Bernie Sanders directly addresses the issues that confront us. Of greatest significance is the vast discrepancy in income between the richest fraction of […]

Published
July 10, 2015

Letter to the editor: Congress can help protect youth against e-cigarettes

Youth use of e-cigarettes tripled from 2013 to 2014, and the product is now used by kids more than regular cigarettes. But the House Appropriations Committee – of which Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-1st District, is a member – is considering grandfathering in e-cigarettes, little cigars and other products at the request of the tobacco industry. […]
Published
July 10, 2015

Letter to the editor: Media should call out obvious racists

While watching the news recently, I heard a reporter ask what I thought was one of the dumbest questions ever asked. She asked the politician who she was interviewing: “Are you a racist?” The answer given, not surprisingly, was “No.” In spite of recent remarks made by the politician that were clearly motivated by bigotry, […]
Published
July 10, 2015

Letter to the editor: A backyard once full of birds is strangely silent this year

Where have all the birds gone? Today, I sat in the yard and was enjoying the view when I realized that something was missing. I hadn’t seen a single bird all afternoon. The cherry trees were bearing ripe fruit, and usually the birds have eaten most of the cherries by this time. I looked, but […]
Published
July 8, 2015

Letter to the editor: Portland’s ‘paper street’ policy leaves landowner in a fix

I would like to respond to a June 30 letter to the editor, “Portland should make plans to pave ‘paper streets.’ “ In 1975, I inherited land in Portland on an “unacceptable” city street (Luke Street, aka a dirt road right in the city of Portland). At that time, I decided to retain this property […]
Published
July 8, 2015

Letter to the editor: Let quiet Holocaust hero guide compassion for locals

We recently read of the death of Nicholas Winton, an Englishman who risked his life to help 669 children, most of them Jewish, escape from Czechoslovakia and the Nazis on the eve of World War II (“Holocaust hero Nicholas Winton dies at 106,” July 2). He did not speak of his efforts until his wife […]

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Letters