Dysfunctional executive
Thank you for your editorial in support of investigating Gov. Paul LePage’s actions, which endanger all of us in Maine. LePage’s disdain for the people of Maine and our elected representatives is exacting an insupportable toll on our human and financial resources while impeding the proper functioning of our government.
We are fortunate that the Legislature, through a bipartisan process that upholds our tradition of civility and efficiency, has been able to remedy some of LePage’s more abusive
actions, but this has come at great cost to the state and the legislators themselves.
It is unfair, inappropriate and inefficient to expect the Legislature to continually protect us from the inevitable negative effects of the dysfunctional executive. LePage has long exceeded all bounds of decency in civic life. It is time for the judiciary to investigate the extent to which LePage has exceeded his constitutional authority.
Annlinn Kruger
Bar Harbor
Marijuana facts
Maine voters should be wary of the Bangor Area Recovery Network’s community education sessions on marijuana, which organizers say are necessary because “the facts about [it] are being left out of the conversation” about whether the state should make marijuana legal for adults.
While the goal of educating the public about marijuana is admirable, the organization appears to be more interested in scaring voters into keeping it illegal than providing them with a holistic understanding of the substance.
Any educational program intended to inform the debate surrounding the proposed initiatives to legalize and regulate marijuana for adult use should include an examination of marijuana’s potential harms relative to those of other substances that are legal and regulated for adult use, such as alcohol. In other words, it shouldn’t simply state that marijuana is too addictive; it should explain that marijuana, like other substances, can be addictive. The National Institute on Drug Abuse, however, has concluded marijuana is significantly less addictive than alcohol.
Ultimately, such a program would bring to light the fact that marijuana is far less harmful than alcohol to the consumer and to society.
Of course, that is a fact that the Bangor Area Recovery Network and other organizations campaigning to maintain prohibition would like to keep off the record.
David Boyer
Portland
Rudeness, people
Coming home to my peaceful house in Spruce Head after 12 hours at work, I took my drink to the front deck to watch the ospreys nesting across the street. A hound-type dog came wandering down the road, dragging about 15 feet of knotted chain behind it.
As it weaved back and forth on the road, a delivery truck came down the hill, ran over the chain and dragged the poor dog off its feet. Luckily, the dog did not get pulled under the truck, but it was physically shaken up.
I thought to myself, now that is one lucky dog! I got up, got the chain and got the dog out of the road. It was not hurt, but it had no tags, no license, no name, no phone number, no rabies tag. Nothing to identify it or its owner.
My wife called Knox County dispatch, and I chained the dog behind my truck and gave it a bowl of water and a dog biscuit. After about 30 minutes, I called 911 and let them know that Animal Control had not come for the dog yet. I was told someone would be there shortly.
I took a bowl of dog food out only to discover that someone had unhooked the dog from my truck and taken it. No knock on the door to let us know. No thank you. Nothing.
I just can’t imagine how anyone can be so rude!
Maybe that dog would have been better off to have been sucked under that truck than to have whomever you are as an owner.
Adrian Hooydonk
Spruce Head
Warriors coverage
When I was reading a June 17 BDN article about the NBA championship game between the Warriors and the Cavaliers, I thought that the article was going to highlight the Warriors’ road to the championship. Instead, it highlighted LeBron James’ defeat.
The author made a point of showing the view of Golden State’s head coach and how it was his first championship game as a head coach. Instead of using a variety of the players’ views, he only used that of Andre Iguodala, the MVP of the championship game.
The thing that stood out most to me was how the writer kept using James as the center of the article, highlighting his finals record and stating that he was the sole reason that the Cavs were even in the finals, which discredits the rest of the Cleveland team. The author started the game summary by stating the Cavaliers trailed, rather than stating the Warriors led, which is a bias toward the Cleveland team.
I wanted to read this article because I believed it was going to be about Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors, not about James and the Cavaliers’ defeat.
Emma Cochran
Orono
Working together
On behalf of all of us at Rockland District Middle School, I wish to thank the folks at the Strand Theater for their kind welcome to our students to perform their chorus and band concerts this school year. We are so grateful for this wonderful opportunity made possible thanks to a gift to the Strand from the Matt and Ellen Simmons Fund.
Abi Nash, our music teacher, and I are so proud of our students’ professional performances. This authentic opportunity was such a wonderful improvement from performing in our gymnasium. It is such a wonderful thing to see community and schools working together.
Kathryn Hollicker, Principal
Abi Nash, Music Teacher
Rockland District Middle School
Rockland
Welcome home, vets?
The Welcome Home Vietnam Veterans Celebration held June 14 at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor was covered by virtually no media in Maine. Which editors couldn’t spare a cub reporter and camera to cover this event at the Cross Center? The silence of the Bangor media did as much damage as all the protestors in the 1960s, albeit without the name calling and objects that were thrown at the troops.
Jerry Lyden
Bangor