Your editorial about the Topsham Commissary closing in the Aug. 12 issue of the Kennebec Journal and Morning Sentinel indicates that you do not check the facts before publishing an editorial.
The editorial neglected to mention that, in addition to military retirees, commissary privileges are afforded to active military and National Guard and Reserve personnel who are subject to call to duty in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Since the availability of a commissary is factored into military pay scales, the closing of the commissary amounts to a pay cut for military personnel.
Comparing this to the fact that this closure would would not “make any more sense than it would be for the government to reimburse all of the local businesses that have lost sales since the departure of the Navy fliers and their families” is a false comparison.
Military personnel have earned access to the commissary at Topsham as a result of many years of service to the country, often under harsh conditions, including extended separation from their families, living under not-so-ideal conditions, in addition to the possibility of getting killed or seriously wounded.
Yale Marienhoff
Hallowell
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