Letters

Published
June 3, 2015

Letter to the editor: Spectators and veterans missing on Memorial Day

Was May 25 considered Memorial Day? A day set aside to honor our fallen veterans who died for our country? Where were the spectators of 25 years gone past? Where were the participants of years gone past? Marching in the parade with my Veterans of Foreign Wars post color guard, I could not observe those […]
Published
June 2, 2015

Letter to the editor: Assisted-dying clinic clients undergo meticulous vetting

Having just read M.D. Harmon’s latest commentary on assisted suicide (“Assisted suicide, euthanasia betray any standards of decency,” May 29), I am compelled – from personal experience – to make a correction to at least one of his claims. When he states that Switzerland’s Dignitas accepts “the depressed and the ‘weary of life,’ even those […]
Published
June 2, 2015

Letter to the editor: Safety course could cut paranoia about carrying concealed guns

The Maine Senate and House have given initial approval to the bill (L.D. 652) to allow constitutional carry of a concealed handgun without a permit. The Senate and House realized that Maine citizens are not children and deserve the same rights and privileges afforded other states. They have no need to be controlled by out-of-state […]
Published
June 2, 2015

Letter to the editor: Encouraging all to own guns is circular thinking

At a time when there is considerable uproar as to whether trained police officers are good judges of when to use lethal force, Maine is about to encourage all of its citizens to carry firearms – the extreme instruments of lethal force – presumably because citizens should expect occasions to have to use them, since […]
Published
June 2, 2015

Letter to the editor: Financial news prompts query: Where’s the money?

In the May 17 Portland Press Herald is a brief article about the closing of Sweet Briar College in Virginia for financial reasons (“Nation Dispatches: College’s closing criticized by commencement speaker”). Thinking about this prompted me to consider agency and governmental financial problems. Given what we’ve seen regarding the finances of the University of Southern […]

Published
June 2, 2015

Letter to the editor: Topsham senator’s flip-flop on clam flats protection destroys trust

What’s with the flip-flop by Topsham Republican Sen. Linda Baker? She supported L.D. 435, a bill that would have extended protection of clam flats, a bill vital to her constituents in the coastal towns of her district, a bill supported by the Maine Clammers Association. She voted for L.D. 435 twice on the Senate floor. […]
Published
June 1, 2015

Letter to the editor: Elderly urged to advocate for childhood vaccinations

Mainers should take note that bills regarding childhood immunization have been referred to the Joint Standing Committee on Health and Human Services. That committee has had its public hearings, but there is still time for Maine legislators to make the right choice and eliminate the philosophical exemption from childhood vaccinations. As our state considers this […]
Published
June 1, 2015

Letter to the editor: News of jihadists’ brutality calls to mind Bible passage

The three articles in the May 23 paper about the Islamic extremists in Palmyra are truly depressing (Page A2: “Extremists execute purge in Palmyra”; “On the ground, a complex strategy”; “Brutalization of women, girls called ‘central’ to jihadists”). It seems as though humans are never going to become civilized. One article quotes Zainab Bangura, the […]
Published
June 1, 2015

Letter to the editor: Fears of identity theft, voter fraud thinly veiled racism

A recent letter writer who believes there is some sort of link between identity theft and voter fraud fails to take into account the obvious (“ID laws should expand to halt voter fraud,” May 28). I’m willing to bet that most, if not all, identity thieves are not so much motivated by politics but by […]
Published
June 1, 2015

Letter to the editor: Decision to close Mercy Recovery Center sad for recovery community

It is a sad day for the recovery community with Mercy Hospital’s decision to close the Mercy Recovery Center and Mercy Addiction Medicine. For those of us who worked there – 14 years for me – we know that it is much more than brick and mortar. It is a place of hope and redemption. […]

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Letters