I am sick and tired of people being called “right wing,” “left wing,” “liberal” or “conservative,” “Democrats” or “Republicans.” After Donald Trump and this pandemic, isn’t it about time we just became “Americans”? Then maybe we would be great again. Wayne Elliott West Bath

An estimated 88,000 people, approximately 62,000 men and 26,000 women, die from alcohol-related causes annually, making alcohol the third leading preventable cause of death in the United States. The first is tobacco, and the second is poor diet and physical inactivity. https://www.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/brochures-and-fact-sheets/alcohol-facts-and-statistics This is more than drug overdoses. I don’t think it is healthful for […]

COVID-19 is costing us all dearly. It’s painful, frustrating and deadly. We are all suffering economically too; some more than others and I get that. But these “Liberate your State” protests are unnecessarily dangerous. It’s one thing to protest for jobs – I’m not against that. But to totally disregard social distancing protocols is just […]

The news about the deaths of hundreds of Corona victims consumes all of us. We feel saddened and even depressed. Well, it is OK to think, feel, and grieve. Grieve for those who’ve died during this pandemic. The survivors have no opportunity for closure, cannot hug each other and weep and console each other. Grieving […]

When President Trump came to power, he did so on a platform of bringing power back to the people. And yet he was quoted recently saying, “The federal government has absolute power … .” Sadly, when it comes to managing a worldwide pandemic, he is right about this. Used effectively, there could have been no […]

It’s a bizarre situation that America’s governors, abandoned by the Trump administration, find themselves in during this pandemic crisis. Life-saving medical equipment is being denied them by a federal response that commandeers their own purchases, whose cost is already driven sky high by a profiteering cabal. Govs. J.B. Pritzker of Illinois and Charlie Baker of […]

What a contrast in reactions to the shutdown. On April 20 in Augusta, one of the protesters against the shutdown is upset because he can’t get a haircut and wants his barbershop to reopen (“Hundreds line streets of state capital to protest coronavirus restrictions,” April 21, Page B1). On Page B3 of the same edition […]

According to Bill Nemitz’s April 19 column, Gov. Mills conducted nine briefings with state legislators, online and by telephone. No public notification was given and no public access was allowed. No records were kept. The briefings were given to Democrats and Republicans, separately. There was zero bipartisanship. While governor, Paul LePage held a meeting of […]