My buddy Gordon and I spent many a delightful hour in a vacant lot, drilling each other with ever-loaded cap pistols until our mothers called us for dinner. At a popular summer camp, we fired 22s at targets in hopes of winning sharpshooter badges. The dinner summons always won, and besides, we were hungry. We […]

Regarding two-bit actor and one-trick pony, Gianni Russo, being given the VIP treatment in your newspaper, we quote one of our Roman ancestors: “Et tu?” (“‘Godfather’ actor doesn’t refuse offers from new Maine friends,” Nov. 6). However, we are not surprised. Mario Puzo’s pulp novel and Francis Ford Coppola’s allegedly “classier” adaptation created one of […]

“The Former Guy,” in his bellicose, historic Nov. 6 performance on the stand in his fraud case, repeatedly tried to invoke a “hail Mary” legal defense, the “worthless clause” disclaimer, which had been dismissed previously by the judge hearing the case. As an argument, it was just that, worthless. To quote Judge Arthur Engoron in […]

Amid all the horrific news recently, Ben McCanna has produced some outstanding photography, uplifting readers’ spirits and giving cause for appreciating the wonders that can be found everywhere around us. The first that really caught my eye was “Sliding Into the Week.” It looked almost like a totem presenting the beauty in Portland. Then, “Do […]

Deer in the Maine woods and the hunters who hunt them are safer than families at a bowling alley or patrons at their local bar. Maine state hunting law limits semi-automatic rifle magazines to five bullets. Deer can escape while a gun is being reloaded. People facing a magazine containing 50 rounds or more don’t […]

A recent article (“A warming Gulf Stream is edging ever closer to shore,” Oct. 23) reported findings from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute that, since 2001, the Gulf Stream has warmed 2 degrees Fahrenheit and moved six miles closer to the eastern continental shelf. Scientists from the Gulf of Maine Research Institute have warned that […]

Although I am by no means a scholar of the Constitution, a few things I do know. The Constitution is an imperfect document that can be amended when citizens see fit. It has been amended 27 times. There are sometimes limits to the rights covered by the amendments. For example, everyone knows you cannot yell […]

In April, I called members of our congressional delegation to ask each of them where they stood on assault weapons. To my shock, Rep. Chellie Pingree was the only one in favor of banning assault weapons. I wrote a letter to the editor with these results. Soon after, a middle schooler in Yarmouth, Leif Hellstedt, […]