After reading the article about the attorney general’s letter to the Red Barn regarding charitable donations, I just wanted to tell everyone to relax and take a deep breath.

Yes, we all love the Red Barn and the Benedict family, and we believe in what they are doing. Yes, the timing was bad and maybe that letter should not have gone out without more research, but I wonder how many other letters went out? How many letters went out to people whose intentions are not so honorable?

These laws were passed to protect the public. There are a lot of scam artists out there with nothing better to do than try to cheat us out of our money. Let’s not get all upset about one incident and start changing the law. Those “bureaucrats” are just working stiffs doing their jobs in an attempt to protect us.

I am glad that Attorney General Janet Mills made a personal appearance at the Red Barn to assure Laura Benedict and her family that things would be all right. Let’s hope, however, that at least one of the letters that went out that day will stop someone who is really doing something illegal. Sometimes the funds for those benefit dinners that go on all over the state are not used as people had intended, so I appreciate the fact that someone is trying to protect us from those scams.

And to the Benedicts, we say thank you and good luck, for we know that they are the right kind of people.

Betsy Laney West Gardiner

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