Letters to the Editor

To the editor:

If you were headed for a cliff, blissfully unaware, would you want someone to warn you? Or would you rather go on your merry way and plunge into the dark abyss?

To the editor:

We need to change the way we elect our leaders in the state of Maine as our current “winner-take-all” voting system does not allow for a representative democracy. Over the last 40 years, nine of our last 11 governors were elected with less than 50 percent of the vote. In other words, in nine of those elections, a majority of voters did not cast their ballots for the winning candidate. So, in reality, the people who were and are elected to office do not represent the majority of voters in our state.

To the editor:

When someone is diagnosed with cancer, it is often life-changing. The fear, anxiety and pain that accompany the diagnosis and treatment of a chronic disease can take a toll on one’s quality of life. As doctors focus on treating the disease, side effects like these are sometimes overlooked.

To the editor:

I would like to know how much Caribou’s chief of police was paid by Michael Bloomberg’s organization out of Ellsworth, to read a prepared script on Question 3.? The ads featuring Chief Gahagan and others have been airing frequently on television channels 6 and 13 down here.

To the editor:

When someone is diagnosed with cancer, it is often life-changing. The fear, anxiety and pain that accompany the diagnosis and treatment of a chronic disease can take a toll on one’s quality of life. As doctors focus on treating the disease, side effects like these are sometimes overlooked.

To the editor:

If you live in the St. John Valley, you have probably heard of Paws Animal Welfare Society, Inc. (PAWS). Many of you have seen our shelter, Valley Cat Haven, from the Frenchville Rd. or visited us.

Our shelter is small but it has a big impact in our communities, in terms of the cats who need help, the people who find homeless cats and do not know what to do to help them and the people who adopt our cats and gain a loving member of their families.

To the editor:

This is a story about a cat named Gypsy that lives in Ludlow.

On May 19, 2016, Gypsy went outdoors and disappeared. We didn’t know what had happened to her. Every day we called for her, but couldn’t find her anywhere. We kept looking and calling her name, “Gypsy.” No show.

I have a motion detection sensor, one part outside and one part inside, that I set every night. When it went off at night, I would go out to see what set it off, hoping it was Gypsy.

To the editor:

In her Aug. 24 Community Notebook column, Riva Hawkes, in a lighthearted manner, described how she poisoned a groundhog:

“I did have a groundhog earlier in June, but haven’t seen him for quite a spell, and I suspect that the food I left out near my front steps (where he would hide when I came out) did him in as I had laced it with a bit of D-Con. When I checked it out the next day, the food had disappeared, so I assume he has gone for good. Sure hope none of his relatives come looking for him.”

To the editor:

We need a representative in Washington that reliably demonstrates honesty, integrity and transparency. We should all expect our leaders to tell us the truth, even when it is difficult to hear. That’s why while I once identified as a Republican, I am supporting Emily Cain for Congress in this election year.

Our Congressman Bruce Poliquin is often less than honest, and won’t even level with us about whether he is supporting Trump.

To the editor:

Going back in time we are hampered by the present. The feminist view of the late 1960s and early ‘70s and 9/11 color ours. Judging people in earlier times by these views is questionable.

Jewett Williams, Civil War veteran, was so judged in a Sept. 21 letter to the editor on the basis of a newspaper clipping from 1871. The writer reacted from her 2016 outlook and urged readers to join her. The article covered the divorce proceeding granting a divorce from Jewett to Emma Niles Williams, his first wife.