A Sunday story announcing the decision to demolish the old Auburn Lanes facility on Main and Academy streets in order to build a five-unit apartment complex prompted several comments, including this one from Ray Frechette of Sioux Falls, S.D.

According to the article, the project would cost an estimated $1.25 million and would be paid for in part with a $850,000 federal grant. 

 “This is another boondoggle that will only fly because of the government grant to the developer and most probably a subsidized loan to the buyer, which means that taxpayers are again forced to pay for others to make a profit and get cheap housing. At some point the taxpayers of this country will have to tell politicians we have had enough of this foolishness. If developers cannot come up with viable plans to make an honest profit, we must tell them to stop raiding taxpayer monies.”

Regarding a Feb. 9 story detailing why local schools would get more state aid for education in 2012 than they did in 2011, Tina Hutchinson of Lewiston had this to say: 

“A better solution to the problem with the schools would be to get rid of “No Child Left Behind.” That unfunded mandate is what is causing our schools to fail, because the teachers have to teach to a damn test instead of teaching to the basics. The tests also do not take into account that some kids just do not test well. There is no help for the kids that just need a little extra boost to actually grasp things.  . . .  Parents need to take responsibility for sitting with their child while they are doing their homework and making sure the student is doing it and understanding it. . . . Stop putting the failure all on the teachers and put it where it belongs . . . the parents, the students, the system, the government.  Fix the problems versus putting a Band-Aid on the problems.”

On the same story, Carl Kimball of Lewiston wrote, ” . . . Teachers want to be respected, but it’s like everything else in this world, if you want respect then earn it. In my book, if you help at least one child to get through with passing grades, you have done the most important thing in your life. I had a history teacher in high school who would not give up on me and thanks to him I completed high school.”

And in response to a Feb. 8 letter to the editor from Joseph Ziehm criticizing Gov. Paul LePage for forgetting his (LePage’s) childhood in his efforts to balance the budget of the Department of Health and Human Services using program cuts, Ernest Labbe of Oxford wrote,  ” . . .  the (governor)  is saying ‘You have two hands. Reach down (and) pull up your boot straps and make something of yourself, instead of trying to live off those that work.’ Do the elderly and disabled need help? Of course they do. However,  if you go into the DHHS office on Main Street you will see the lobby filled mostly with young people on cell phones waiting to get their entitlements.”

Some comments have been edited for length, punctuation and spelling.

sthistle@sunjournal.com 

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