I SPEND MOST OF my time at a second-floor office at the the corner of Broadway and Main streets in downtown Farmington. I’m also president of the Farmington Downtown Association, so I’m understandably a partisan of this neighborhood.

WHAT’S SURPRISING — AND immensely encouraging — about the arguments about a pair of modest welfare reforms proposed by Republicans is that GOP leaders have continued to back their plan strongly, despite the sneers thrown their way from the left side of the aisle.

FOR ALL THE HYPED indignation over GOP “anarchism,” there has been remarkable media reticence about the president’s intransigence. He has refused to negotiate anything unless the Republicans fully fund the government and raise the debt ceiling — unconditionally.

I JUST READ THE newspaper’s article about Chris Harnish (“Augusta man plans 5-month RV trek for perfect retirement home,” Sept. 28). I was amused with his comment, “Nobody retires to Maine.” He’s wrong; we just did in April.