Seeing what is going on at Bates College by students requesting to defund Bates security, I would be curious to find out what a poll of previous graduates would have to say about it. I wouldn’t be surprised if, in retrospect, they felt safe, secure and well-protected during their time at Bates. John Reeder, Lewiston

I am a person in long-term recovery, celebrating five years. I am a mother of two young children. I am a full-time student at the University of Southern Maine, graduating this year with my bachelor’s and planning to get my master’s. I work two jobs, including as a certified alcohol and drug counselor. I see […]

What is wrong with U.S. Rep. Kevin McCarthy? Why wouldn’t he want to know what went wrong with that very disturbing and violent attack on the foundation of our democracy? Maybe it’s the conversation he had with the former president that he doesn’t want repeated. We had the 9/11 Commission that investigated foreign terrorists, but […]

There will be a special election Tuesday, May 25, to approve the Lewiston school budget that was developed by our School Committee and approved by our City Council. Members of both groups have spent countless hours researching, reviewing, and discussing this budget, but Maine law requires a citywide vote for its final approval. Unfortunately, this […]

As a school psychologist who spent 30-plus years working in clinics and public schools with our most behaviorally challenged students, and who spent years training others in de-escalation and nonviolent crisis intervention and restraint, I sincerely hope a bill is never passed that prohibits restraint and seclusion in schools (“Bill would end use of student […]

An article and several opinion letters over the last couple of weeks looked at softening drug and prostitution laws. As far as “harm reduction” (teaching people to use enough to not injure themselves or others) goes, that is a “crock.” I witnessed where this was applied, and strict behavioral requirements ignored — it resulted in […]

I encourage my friends, neighbors, and constituents in Lewiston’s Ward 3 to get out and vote in support of the school budget on May 25 at Longley School. My School Committee colleagues and I worked diligently for nearly two months to create a budget that supports our students and educators. Our budget provides for a […]

It seems as though the Republicans have made unto themselves another golden calf. The last time I saw a similar calf was at the end of the movie, “The Ten Commandments.” When the people presented it, they all danced around what they had constructed. It was at that moment, the earth opened up and they […]

I want to give a big shout-out to the city of Auburn for its cleanup week. We live on a dead end street in East Auburn with 11 houses/camps/trailers on our street, so we have one common place where we put our trash for pick-up on Mondays. With no cleanup last year, we had a […]

The Maine Legislature will soon be considering several bills regarding gun safety. The passage of such laws has been infrequent at best, as many of our representatives from both political parties and occupants of the Blaine House have been reluctant over the years to embrace the cause. Witness the watering down of a fairly strong […]