Letters

Published
April 20, 2017

Letter to the editor: Bill would fund creation of drug treatment facilities

In 2016, my best friend died of a heroin overdose in Portland. He was an artist, he was a brother and son, and he was a great person. He is dearly missed. He is just one of the many people who’ve been taken from us. We all know someone or are someone who has been […]
Published
April 20, 2017

Letter to the editor: Congress must address U.S. involvement in Syria

I believe it is time for Congress to do its constitutional duty to vote on U.S. involvement in Syria. The president has been very secretive about where U.S. troops are stationed, how many troops are involved, the nature of their mission and the rationale for their presence. I recently learned about a close-quartered, deadly fight […]
Published
April 20, 2017

Letter to the editor: Productive farmland deserves to live on

I read with dismay about a proposal to develop Camelot Farm, Portland’s last remaining farmland (“Portland developer has big plans for city land,” April 17). I am a proud Portland native and a conservative, not a left-wing ideologue who is opposed to all growth. Intelligent growth policies improve the quality of life for inhabitants of […]
Published
April 20, 2017

Letter to the editor: Rejection of federal aid simply boggles the mind

How can this be? That was the first thought that came to mind in reading Richard Pollak’s Maine Voices column, “LePage administration forfeits almost $2 billion in federal aid to Maine” (April 18). In the late 1970s and ’80s, Joseph Brennan was governor and I was Maine’s health and human services commissioner. It was understood […]
Published
April 19, 2017

Letter to the editor: Change the perverse way that state funds school construction

As I’ve watched and participated in the debate over the bond to repair our city’s four most run-down elementary schools, it’s become clear that one of the primary reasons that our schools have been allowed to degrade so badly is the way the state distributes school construction money. The state provides roughly a quarter of […]

Published
April 19, 2017

Letter to the editor: T-shirt with Rosie in a hijab sends an important message

In response to Nicole Cox’s April 5 letter to the editor: For 75 years, Rosie the Riveter has proudly represented the contributions of women during World War II. However, looking at the original Rosie, I notice some things about her appearance. She is white. She is probably thought to be a Christian. She is not […]
Published
April 19, 2017

Letter to the editor: New members always a plus for Rosie the Riveter family

I read with interest the April 5 letter by Nicole Cox of Cumberland, which interpreted the depiction of Rosie the Riveter as a Muslim woman, in a hijab, by two girls at the Portland Arts and Technology High School as “infring(ing) on this American icon.” Women in Ms. Cox’s family worked in the shipyards during […]
Published
April 19, 2017

Letter to the editor: ‘The mother of all bombs’ is a bad term for destructive weapon

Leaving aside any questions about the appropriateness of the recent U.S. military action in Afghanistan, I find it outrageous that the destructive power of the chosen weapon is lauded as “the mother of all bombs” when “mother” represents, on the contrary, all that is life-affirming. Paul Oppenheim Pownal
Published
April 19, 2017

Letter to the editor: Gov. LePage sinks to new low with pardon decisions

After reading Bill Nemitz’s April 13 column, I was left dumbfounded. I didn’t think our governor could go lower. Thanks for unveiling how he “helps” to get people off welfare. Pardon a killer husky and refuse to pardon a woman (Sarah Whynaught) who has pulled herself up by her bootstraps? I love dogs and once […]
Published
April 18, 2017

Letter to the editor: From one dog to another, tell owner you want to be leashed

Ah, spring! All the good smells are coming back from the melting snow. Skunks, unearthed trash, year-old cat poop. The days are long, so there’s plenty of time for walks after the pack leaders get home from whatever it is they do outside all day! I love to hike and trail run with my pack […]