As parade season has arrived, and as a musician and director of the Hallowell Community Band, as well as the Westbrook City Band, I feel urged to bring the following request to people’s attention. Our bands, along with many other community bands in our towns, participate in many local parades in our great state throughout […]
Letters to the Editor
Letters to the editor of the Kennebec Journal and Morning Sentinel.
Let’s hope Laurel Libby’s 15 minutes of fame is ending | Letter
I held off writing about Rep. Laurel Libby until I read the letter, published on May 26, “Libby a true supporter of womens rights.” Libby’s actions were not meant to support or protect women’s rights, it was an action against transgender women. She saw the opportunity to jump on the Republican bandwagon to out and […]
ICE can meet local, state police halfway | Letter
I propose a middle ground for local and state police who wish to co-operate with ICE. ICE agents should: – Provide an arrest warrant stating the persons name and the reason for the arrest. – Follow due process. – Take off those masks and wear visible, accurate name tags and badge numbers. We are very […]
Trump campaign against foreign students makes little sense | Letter
In 1974, “the Rumble in the Jungle,” Muhammad Ali vs. George Foreman, was the fight of the decade. It seems like the fight of this decade will be “the Cambridge Confrontation,” Trump vs. Harvard University. It’s strange. Trump has been trying to bludgeon Apple into assembling its iPhones in the U.S., while doing his best […]
What true patriotism demands of Mainers | Letter
Members of Portland’s West End Neighborhood Association just finished reading historian Timothy Snyder’s book “On Tyranny.” Snyder offers important historical insights that are relevant to the present day. In so doing, he draws a sharp distinction between nationalism and patriotism — a distinction that should concern every Mainer when evaluating Donald Trump’s leadership. Nationalists, argues […]
Medicaid cuts will hurt lung cancer patients | Letter
Worry about coverage and access to treatment should not add to an already heavy burden.
Pope Leo unlikely to elevate women to priesthood | Letter
In recent decades, Popes Paul VI and John Paul II both promulgated solemn decrees reaffirming the church’s age old, unbroken teaching that women cannot be ordained to the priesthood. In “Ordinatio Sacerdotalis,” the most recent decree (John Paul II, 1994), it was stated inflexibly that the church “has no authority whatsoever” to do so, and […]
Maine deserves younger candidates for office | Letter
Don’t get me wrong. I absolutely love Gov. Janet Mills. I would put a statue of her up in Monument Square. But as an 80-year-old myself, I can say that she is too old to run for office. Please don’t bring up Bernie Sanders, who can stand for elder exceptionalism all by himself. Let’s get […]
Republicans must not downplay ‘big, beautiful’ bill | Letter
If it’s a Republican policy goal to hand a tax break of $4.9 trillion over the next 10 years to businesses and wealthy Americans, as stated in their “big, beautiful bill,” they should make that clear in broad daylight, rather than in a 1 a.m. vote. If it’s a Republican policy goal to fund that […]
Waterville must address dangerous street traffic | Letter
Timothy Ferris deserved better from his city.