On the front page of the Sun Journal on July 19, Gov. Paul LePage is reported as supporting the town of Madawaska’s consideration of tying some welfare benefits to random drug testing. If the standard for random drug testing is receipt of government benefits, then random drug testing should be much more widespread. For example, […]
Letters
Letters to the editor of the Sun Journal.
Posted inLetters
Monument not a good idea
The proposed Maine North Woods National Monument includes some 186,000 acres of mostly clear-cut and a river that runs through it. As proposed, it would abut Baxter State Park. Roxanne Quimby has offered to donate thousands of acres of land and a bundle of money to the proposed park, but Quimby will not let the […]
advertisement
Posted inLetters
Three-month vacation? Ridiculous
This is in response to a story in the Sun Journal on July 20, in which the head of the teachers’ union reacted to news that Lewiston’s Superintendent of Schools Bill Webster is planning to take an extended vacation — a three-month vacation — during the school year. That is ridiculous. My big question here […]
Posted inLetters
Get the facts before voting
I have been reading the comments, pro and con, about the merger of Lewiston and Auburn. I have seen a few of those committees through the years that never reached fruition. Finally, we have a committee that has worked hard to gather information and put forth a charter that will be presented to the communities […]
Posted inLetters
Newell offers vague generalities
In her June 9 letter, Mary Jane Newell frets about what is wrong with America and adopts the Trumpian approach of vague generalities and outright untruths: She says a “course in civics doesn’t appear to be available; world history is a joke.” Fact: Maine mandates education in four social studies disciplines — civics and government, […]
Posted inLetters
Morrison obsessed with merger
Shame on Chip Morrison and Elliott Epstein for their criticisms of Auburn Mayor Jonathan LaBonte and the Auburn City Council. Morrison, in particular, should particularly be condemned for publicly calling for a “recall” of Auburn’s elected officials. What is the great crime committed by the Auburn officials, according to Morrison? They dared to vote against […]
Posted inLetters
A lesson to be learned
During a Black Lives Matter protest Friday night, July 15, in Portland, 18 people were arrested and charged with obstructing a public way. According to a subsequent television news report, those 18 people were all released on bail. In my mind, they should still be in jail. Why? To teach them that freedom is not […]
Posted inLetters
Good fortune to Art Walk LA
I consider my literary reading during the June 24 Art Walk LA 2016 in Lewiston to be a very positive experience. I was able to present the poetry of the important Lewiston native and influential American painter of the early 20th Century, Marsden Hartley, as well as my own work. My involvement in Art Walk […]
Posted inLetters
Children react to Trump’s comments
I have written previously about Donald Trump’s narcissistic personality and the psychological compulsion to satisfy his own needs first. The Southern Poverty Law Center, a non-partisan civil rights organization dedicated to fighting hate and bigotry, has reported on Trump’s profoundly negative effects on children. In an article published by the center, teachers reported an alarming […]
Posted inLetters
No exceptions for illegal drugs
Recently I saw a news report on television in which it was reported that Gov. Paul LePage had proposed random blood testing for all people on welfare. It is about time. Since people on welfare have little or no other visible incomes, where else do they get money to pay for illegal drugs? Why should […]