Noonan wrong on schizophrenia
Michael Noonan’s Sept. 22 BDN column was incorrect in regard to schizophrenia and medication. People with schizophrenia tend to have worsening bouts of psychosis the longer they go unmedicated. Noonan is a chiropractor, not a psychiatrist, not even a doctor. He’s not qualified to review the effects of psychotropic medications.
Jim Alciere
East Machias
Woodland’s 100th anniversary
I would like to thank BDN reporter Bill Trotter for a very fine Sept. 15 story about the new barn addition at Woodlawn Museum, Gardens and Park. We are so pleased to have the word out as Woodlawn is an important historical and cultural gathering place for Ellsworth and this area. The new facility will greatly increase our ability to serve the community and, in particular, as an educational facility for our school children.
The work has just begun as we must raise the matching funds for this wonderful gift.
The story of Woodlawn is one important part of the story of Acadia National Park and the preservation of so much of our natural resources and our cultural history. As Acadia celebrates its 100th anniversary and plans for the future, so too will we by making Woodlawn better equipped to provide meeting space, educational opportunities, exhibition space and performing and lecture facilities.
Walter Smalling
Trustee
Woodland Museum, Gardens and Park
Penobscot
Help prevent falls
National Falls Prevention Awareness Day, Sept. 23, is important to all Mainers. We have the nation’s oldest population and among the highest prevalence rates in the U.S. for multiple sclerosis, in addition to many disabled veterans and others living with physical disability. Issues with balance and coordination make each of these groups particularly vulnerable to falls, which cost our state an average of $16,000 per fall. Falls can take an added high toll on quality of life because of hospitalization or premature nursing home placement.
Legislation introduced this year can help reduce falls. LD 365, An Act to Provide a Tax Reduction for Modifications to Make a Home More Accessible for a Person with a Disability, would help the elderly and disabled make accessibility modifications for continued independent living, at a very modest cost to the state. Rep. Arthur “Archie” Verow of Brewer sponsored this important bill in partnership with the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, AARP and Alpha One.
LD 365 received strong bipartisan support to advance to the Appropriations Committee, where it awaits their decision when the session reconvenes in January.
Home modifications help the elderly and people living with a disability remain safe in their homes. This tax credit can provide savings from reduced falls and improved quality of life that far outweigh its cost.
I commend Verow for his leadership on this bill. I strongly urge the Appropriations Committee to fully fund the tax credit.
Robin Steinwand
Volunteer
National MS Society, Maine
Saint Albans
Carson and Trump’s prejudice
I’ve been trying to ignore much of the nonsense being spewed by current presidential candidates, but I cannot ignore Dr. Ben Carson’s statement that a Muslim should not be president. This is pure prejudice, ugly and unvarnished.
Why hasn’t his comment been universally denounced? Do other candidates believe Carson’s bigotry represents true American ideals? Do they value the constitutional right to religious freedom less than the constitutional right to bear arms?
Donald Trump says he does not feel “morally obligated” to defend President Barack Obama against false accusations that he is a foreign-born Muslim. If Trump does not feel morally obligated to defend the truth, what moral obligation is he willing to undertake?
It’s up to us to decide if either of these men has the ethics to lead a nation “dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.”
Laura Levenson
Carmel
Iran ‘treaty’
A Sept. 16 BDN article made the following statement: “Iran nuclear treaty that is expected to be ratified by the U.S. Senate in the weeks ahead.” Please be advised that the “agreement” is not a treaty, which would have to be ratified by the Senate.
It appears the White House deliberately framed this as an agreement so it would not need Senate ratification. Republicans who wanted to kill the agreement were prevented from doing so by a Democratic filibuster.
Should the filibuster be lifted and Congress actually voted on the substance of the agreement, it is more likely the “treaty” would not be ratified. The BDN should have been more accurate in that article.
Douglas Flagg
Orono
Why I support Trump
We are witnessing a unique phenomenon in U.S. political history repeating itself because of the ignorance of the American electorate. It will play itself out with the eventual demise of the Republican Party. I refer to the 1845 founding of the Know-Nothing Party, whose platform was to “purify America by eliminating immigration by Irish and German immigrants.” Their argument was simple and is being parroted in this year’s GOP presidential primary.
The term for their platform is “nativism,” “preserving the status of established inhabitants of a nation while demonizing the legitimate claims of newcomers or immigrants.” The Know-Nothings drew support from the pro-slavery South and were the split that caused the demise of the Whigs, with members joining the nascent Republican Party.
Will today’s nativist screed, championed by Donald Trump, lead to the end of the GOP as a political party? In the spirit of supporting the demise of the GOP, I support Trump.
Nat Parkinson
Monmouth
LePage as VP
In the overheated lunatic circus that is the campaign for the Republican Party presidential nomination, I must submit that Gov. Paul LePage has successfully positioned himself as a leading candidate for vice president.
Let’s just think of the possibilities: Donald Trump and LePage match up nicely because they share towering egos and equal gifts for bombast; Carly Fiorina and LePage, while she succeeded in discounting Hewlett-Packard stock and turned 30,000 careers into salvage, LePage discounted everything that came in the door as salvage; and Dr. Ben Carson and LePage would match Carson’s quiet, scholarly demeanor with LePage bellicose, angry rigidity similar to George W. Bush and Dick Cheney — the team that did not keep America safe.
I so look forward to the 2016 campaign.
Michael Grunko
Chebeague