My sympathy to the mayor of Lewiston. One would expect the mayor to make prudent decisions. He did and is being railroaded.

The Somalis were welcomed to Lewiston. There came a time when such a large short-term influx overburdened the city. The mayor didn’t say “”get out””; he asked them to slow down.

Rather than appreciate and respect their new home and host, the media members of the community and the Somalis have turned the situation into a racist circus. The world has gone so crazy it almost scares me.

If I go to the store with $20, I can’t spend $25. If my credit card is maxed out, I can’t charge a trip to Aruba. If Sally wants to borrow $100 and I don’t have it, does that make me anti-Sally?

If the whole town of Farmington shut down and we all moved to Turner and Turner officials said, “”Wait, we don’t have the resources to provide for all of you all at once,”” does that make them anti-Farmingtonians — or sensible?

If my husband and I were for some reason removed from our home and someone was gracious enough to help us I would respect my host if he asked me to wait to bring the rest of my family until we were settled. I wouldn’t assume the host was prejudiced because I’m a women, or because I’m 5 feet tall, or because I’m overweight or because I’m a mixed breed.

Only in today’s world would deserved appreciation be turned into racism. The community, the media and the Somalis have shown a total lack of respect for a mayor who has done an excellent job of balancing his compassion for the less fortunate and managing available resources. If he had attended the rally it would have been used in some way to cause further undeserved humiliation.

Shame on those of you who have deleted appreciation and respect from your valued system. I hope you sleep better for trying to ruin a man’s career and not recognizing common sense, which I thought was so native to Maine.

Rose Grimanis, Farmington