WIC helps local farmers, too
Women, Infants and Children is a vital service that provides essential nutrition to pregnant women, infants and children, who are affected by low incomes. No one would disagree that ensuring children have healthy food is the right thing to do. Not only does WIC do this effectively, I also see at the farmers markets how it’s working for our local economy.
Many of us take shopping at the farmers markets for granted. High prices of fresh food often force the choice of buying less healthy, more processed or not locally grown food. The alternative would be buying more expensive food but then not having enough to feed the family. This need is even greater during the summer when schools and many free lunch programs are closed.
Coincidently, that is the same time a lot of farmers markets are open, and two amazing things are happening there. Money from WIC adds to parents’ food budgets, making it possible to get fresh food, often from our local growers here in northern and central Maine. All this means more diverse people at our markets, more customers for our farmers, more local jobs, healthier kids and a stronger economy for all Mainers.
This year, the WIC program is up for reauthorization. It is crucial that Rep. Bruce Poliquin vote for and speak out in favor of this program. Please tell your congressional representative to support the Stop Child Hunger Act, which specifically helps parents buy healthy food for their kids over the summer.
Stephenie MacLagan
Old Town
Trump’s wealth
Donald Trump has said that the Bible is his favorite book. He must be familiar with this quote from one of the Gospels, Matthew 19:21, New International Version: Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
The Donald is an honorable man and his opinion of himself is that he is approaching perfection, and I believe he will follow Christ’s instructions. The question is when and how he will distribute his wealth. I suggest he take action before the election, to prove his truthfulness to those scoundrels who doubt him.
Charlie Cameron
Addison
Dechaine deserves new trial
With 49 other states having exonerated hundreds of people wrongfully convicted of felonies, here’s some of the scientific evidence that exonerates Dennis Dechaine and should help Maine finish that list:
He requested DNA testing before his 1989 trial but was denied. Male DNA — not his — was later found under the victim’s thumbnail.
Two nationally respected forensic pathologists who reviewed the case, Drs. Cyril Wecht and Walter Hofman, assert he was under police control when Sarah Cherry was murdered.
A police scent dog found absolutely no trace of her — no hair, fiber or fingerprint — in Dechaine’s truck. Withheld from the defense, this report was buried in the state files forced open only years later by the Legislature.
Only items from Dechaine’s truck — but not Dechaine himself — are connected to the crime. Photos of the cab show items from the glove box ransacked and strewn on the seat. The state claims the truck was locked, but police gained access through its back window to tow it to the crime lab. The doors could be locked without a key.
Claiming to read from their notes at trial, two detectives testified that Dechaine made self-incriminating statements. After the Legislature’s opening of the case files, it was discovered those notes do not contain the alleged statements; worse, one detective’s hand-written notes were altered to change a protestation into a confession.
The state’s “mountain of evidence” actually proves Dechaine’s innocence and warrants a new trial.
Nancy Farrin
Pittston