Letters

Published
February 26, 2020

Letter to the editor: As Cape superintendent, Hawkins stepped up for faculty, staff

A longtime music educator at the high school recalls the courage of an administrator who had the right priorities.
Published
February 26, 2020

Letter to the editor: State affordable-housing boost leaves out homebuyers

The recent news that Gov. Mills has signed a bill to expand affordable-housing state tax credits – providing $10 million per year for eight years – is good news for badly needed affordable-housing development. Every day we read about serious housing affordability issues, and every day we read how states and communities are trying to […]
Published
February 26, 2020

Letter to the editor: Vaccines transformed families’ lives – vote ‘no’ on 1

Polio struck a friend of mine prior to elementary school. Every day I, or another schoolchild, would hold one heavy crutch while she labored to climb the eight steps to the first-floor classroom. She had heavy braces on both legs, and this unpleasant ritual took about 15 minutes each time. Once up the steps, she […]
Published
February 25, 2020

Letter to the editor: Vote ‘no’ to protect the most vulnerable

I strongly urge you to vote “no” on Maine’s Question 1 on March 3 to protect our new vaccine law. The new law should remain in place to combat alarming declines in vaccination rates. To avoid outbreaks of disease, we need to reverse the trend and achieve high levels of herd immunity to protect vulnerable […]
Published
February 25, 2020

Letter to the editor: Reject profit-driven vaccine policy – vote ‘yes’ on Question 1

Press Herald Staff Writer Scott Thistle, in a story published Jan. 31, wrote that Gov. Mills urges voters to uphold Maine’s new vaccine law. She argues that large pharmaceutical companies “hardly benefit at all from producing vaccines.” It is disingenuous for Gov. Mills to assert that there is no profit motive behind vaccine policy. The […]

Published
February 25, 2020

Letter to the editor: Childhood disease devastated entire family

Seventy years ago, there was, unfortunately, such a great number of communicable diseases that there were hospitals dedicated to their treatment. In the 1950s, 95 percent of the population had been infected with the measles by age 15, with 500 deaths annually. There also were special hospital units with iron lungs to manage those who […]
Published
February 25, 2020

Letter to the editor: If you support vaccination, vote ‘no’ on Question 1

The Press Herald should clarify what it means to vote for or against this 'badly worded' ballot question.
Published
February 25, 2020

Letter to the editor: Nonmedical vaccine exemptions drive up care costs, put lives at risk

As a physician specializing in infectious diseases who has spent the last 11 years treating and preventing life-threatening infections, I am writing to voice my strong opposition to Question 1. States with nonmedical vaccine exemptions are at increased risk of disease outbreaks in children. We have already experienced outbreaks of pertussis in Maine, and we […]
Published
February 24, 2020

Letter to the editor: President’s acquittal is an occasion to mourn

Since the Republican majority in the U.S. Senate actually acquitted the cruel, contemptuous and corrupt president of the United States, I find that I can barely lift my head off the pillow in the morning. I feel deep shame. I know that I must act. It is my responsibility as a citizen of this country […]
Published
February 24, 2020

Letter to the editor: Protect the community and vote ‘no’ on Question 1

Ten years ago, while training as a resident physician, a 22-year-old man in our intensive care unit died of complications of varicella (chicken pox) pneumonia after weeks on a ventilator. He had grown up in the 1980s and had never been vaccinated. I have also taken care of patients who became permanently ventilator dependent as […]

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Letters