After watching two parades pass through Jay and Livermore Falls for Memorial Day and the Fourth of July, I could not believe the number of men and women who did not remove their hats when the flag passed by and when the Star Spangled Banner was played AND when taps was played. Being a veteran, I am proud to stand and remove my hat. To those of you who don’t want to show respect — get the hell out of the country I love.

It’s bad enough recycling is every other week now (in Auburn), leaving a big pile of recyclables in several boxes. But now I see they leave the box of cardboard for the trash men. I wouldn’t have separated it all, broken down the boxes, and left a distinctive  space between the recycling and the trash if I’d known how lazy they’d gotten. Also, my cardboard was neat and dry.

Is there something that really irks you? Something about your job, your family or the stuff you have to deal with every day? Share it. E-mail your peeves to bmail@sunjournal.com or mail them to Sun Journal, attn: b section, P.O. Box 4400, Lewiston, ME 04240, and we’ll print them here. Please keep your gripe to under 60 words.