Every semester I do a letter to the editor lesson with my English Language Learning class. It is my opportunity to teach writing as well as the value of using your voice to express opinion. This semester I have another fabulous group of students who are learning how to express their ideas, give their viewpoints and experience freedom of the press. Enjoy their letters. Thanks for reading.

Sincerely,

Rosemarie De Angelis,

Adjunct Professor

Southern Maine Community College

Drugs a growing problem

One of the ideas that I want to talk about is the local issues that’s a concern to the people of Maine. One of them is an article that I read in the paper entitled, “Maine drug agents seize $275,000 worth of marijuana.” The story is about a man name Jay Dandreo, who is 50 years old and charged with aggravated marijuana cultivation after raiding his pot from York County. Drugs are becoming a growing concern in this state, and the people should be aware of it. We should write a letter to the governor of Maine about the drug abuse or cultivation of it and get an investigation going so the law enforcement officers become more aware of where and when the crime is likely to be committed.

Jay Dandero is from Lynn, Mass. He was on the run for nearly two weeks when the police showed up at a marijuana patch.They say he was tending in the backwoods in Limerick, Maine. Later he turned himself in to the police. He was charged with marijuana cultivation.

Maine’s growing issue now is becoming drugs. Drugs are now expanding even more and people are becoming aware of it, and if it becomes noticed, people will be peer pressured by the dealers into trying it and that would be devastating for the people in Maine.

Drugs are gaining recognition in the state of Maine, but it’s also important to know what those drugs are, and what they do, and what are the effects. Knowing the answers to these questions will help you know how dangerous these drugs are and how harmful it is to the body. So it’s important to educate ourselves about drugs and what it does, because it will helps us very much in the future. A good way to start educating ourselves about drugs, is joining a drug awareness programs, or going out and talk to your friends or family who is affected by drugs or not and talk to them about the dangers of drug abuse or encourage them to join you in the awareness programs, join a class at a school that teaches the dangers of drug abuse. Drug awareness is all around us now it’s at schools, social events, publics places , libraries, movies, and more. This is a great advantage to take to learn more about drugs and help you in your long term goals. Remember drugs cause corruption so let’s keep the children safe from them.

Ahmed Ibrahim

Somalia

Police, immigrants working together

Obviously the state of Maine’s population has demographically increased for those last five years by mosaic minority. This minority is constituted by immigrants, refugees, and international students.

A quick reminder is to remember that Maine is one of the states located in northeast. It is one of the peaceful and safe places to live and to raise children. That is why we see a lot of people move to Maine from others states and overseas.

However, there are now some issues related to people coming from different places and having different backgrounds. For many years, the police department has been working with people from Maine and they have mastered how those people live. Now, they have to learn other lifestyles and different perspectives.

The significant issues are communication, anxiety, diverse culture. In fact, members of the police department have to deal with people who don’t even speak English. Therefore, the police department is currently hosting a new recruitment. It is especially seeking in communities that are underrepresented in law enforcement, minority members of the community, the immigrants and refugees who can bring experience and skill to the police department in Maine.

The department police goals are to decrease anxiety between officer and minority, to decrease suspicion and misunderstandings when a minority arrest is happen. We all know that Maine is a vacationland but it is also important and positive once the state of Maine has the reputation of multicultural as view.

As a member of minority, I hope this idea will succeed and encourage the minority to join the police department, to get knowledge at school in order to become active and to improve life efficiency in our community.

Arnold Kampoto

Democratic Republic of Congo

Choose authenticity over fast food

There are many authentic restaurants in Maine. The main restaurant that I want to talk about is Indian. They have many spices that are good for your health and some of those spices can cure some diseases also.

The advantages of traditional food are cheap, easy to buy, and a good way to attract tourism. Most of the local restaurants make their food fresh and they don’t get the frozen food shipped from their warehouse. I know this because I worked at a chain food for a week before and I know that they don’t make anything fresh it’s all frozen. I also worked at a small local restaurant and every single thing that they make is fresh.

Fast food contains more salt, fats and calories than the home-cooked meals do. Eating fast food once in awhile, that is once or twice a month won’t matter at all, but having a habit of eating this kind of food can lead to serious consequences and obesity.

Most people already know chain restaurants change their fryer oil every week when they are suppose to change their oil every single day.

Large quantities of cheap unhealthy food that get us attracted makes us sick and we can have expensive procedures in hospitals and we might have to buy massive amounts of medicines that don’t make us any better and sometimes sicker. There are many ways you can eat healthy and still not spend a lot of extra. There are few good authentic restaurants like Taj Indian & Indo-Chinese Cuisine right next to Olive Garden near Maine mall.

Here are some advantages of healthy food: low cost, natural, and tasty too. Consider this. You can accomplish a lot if you eat fresh; you can eat local, stay close to home and support local economy.

Sai Guntaka

India