Perhaps restaurant failed for reasons other than abortion protests
Written by Janice Rockwell
Editor,
This is in response to the article by David Carkhuff about and quoting Mike Fink in your paper on May 7 ("Congress Street restaurant owner says he won't renew lease amid abortion protests," May 7). I do not think that the words of Mr. Fink are worthy of being quoted in the newspaper, much less in an article with three inches of front page headlines!
I won't call him stupid, as he has been quoted (not once, but three times) as calling the protesters whom he disagrees with. Perhaps he is just vocabulary challenged.
Does freedom of the press allow people to call others stupid? Surely, if the statements were true, this would be the height of impropriety. However, since they are obviously not true, it is apparently acceptable to print libelous lies.
To someone who knows nothing about Mr. Fink or his restaurant except what I have read in your paper, it would appear that perhaps the protesters have nothing to do with the demise of his restaurant. Was he simply looking to find a scapegoat to blame for his business failure?
Janice Rockwell
West Newfield
This is in response to the article by David Carkhuff about and quoting Mike Fink in your paper on May 7 ("Congress Street restaurant owner says he won't renew lease amid abortion protests," May 7). I do not think that the words of Mr. Fink are worthy of being quoted in the newspaper, much less in an article with three inches of front page headlines!
I won't call him stupid, as he has been quoted (not once, but three times) as calling the protesters whom he disagrees with. Perhaps he is just vocabulary challenged.
Does freedom of the press allow people to call others stupid? Surely, if the statements were true, this would be the height of impropriety. However, since they are obviously not true, it is apparently acceptable to print libelous lies.
To someone who knows nothing about Mr. Fink or his restaurant except what I have read in your paper, it would appear that perhaps the protesters have nothing to do with the demise of his restaurant. Was he simply looking to find a scapegoat to blame for his business failure?
Janice Rockwell
West Newfield
Last Updated on Thursday, 09 May 2013 22:58
Hits: 19
Assistance needed for Calif. student's state report
Written by David Gothrow
Editor,
My name is David Gothrow and I am 10 years old. My fifth-grade teacher assigned my class a project to learn more about the states in the United States of America. I live in California but I chose to do my report on the state of Maine because that is where my grandfather was born and raised. My report is due on May 29, 2013. I was hoping to get some help from the people of Maine.
Could you please send me information or interesting facts about your beautiful state that I could share with my classmates? Please send the information to:
David Gothrow
C/O Arboga Elementary School
1686 Broadway
Arboga, CA 95961
Thank You,
David Gothrow
Arboga, Calif.
My name is David Gothrow and I am 10 years old. My fifth-grade teacher assigned my class a project to learn more about the states in the United States of America. I live in California but I chose to do my report on the state of Maine because that is where my grandfather was born and raised. My report is due on May 29, 2013. I was hoping to get some help from the people of Maine.
Could you please send me information or interesting facts about your beautiful state that I could share with my classmates? Please send the information to:
David Gothrow
C/O Arboga Elementary School
1686 Broadway
Arboga, CA 95961
Thank You,
David Gothrow
Arboga, Calif.
Last Updated on Thursday, 09 May 2013 22:58
Hits: 12
South African-born writer wonders about U.S. military spending
Written by Nomakhosi Meikie Mntuyedwa
Editor,
My name is Nomakhosi Meikie Mntuyedwa. I was born in Sophiatown, South Africa and became an American citizen through marriage. I read Pat Buchanan’s columns in your paper religiously, and while I don’t often agree with most of his views, the column in your May 8 edition (“Who are the war criminals in Syria?”) struck a nerve.
As a tax-paying American, and as one who has lived and sometimes worked in some of the African countries that are in the cross hairs of American foreign policy, money spent on buttressing the military is baffling. If I’d have my druthers our monies should be spent on building up communities instead of assisting in their destruction. The sense I get from reading Buchanan’s article and his read on the polls is that the majority of Americans are not interested in fighting foreign wars. I am one of them. I think our monies would be better spent on education, health, working with people to help them help themselves ... and the willingness to listen and hear on our part. As for those who are bent on war ... arming them ought not to be our first option. Surely, there are other ways.
Nomakhosi Meikie Mntuyedwa
Peaks Island
My name is Nomakhosi Meikie Mntuyedwa. I was born in Sophiatown, South Africa and became an American citizen through marriage. I read Pat Buchanan’s columns in your paper religiously, and while I don’t often agree with most of his views, the column in your May 8 edition (“Who are the war criminals in Syria?”) struck a nerve.
As a tax-paying American, and as one who has lived and sometimes worked in some of the African countries that are in the cross hairs of American foreign policy, money spent on buttressing the military is baffling. If I’d have my druthers our monies should be spent on building up communities instead of assisting in their destruction. The sense I get from reading Buchanan’s article and his read on the polls is that the majority of Americans are not interested in fighting foreign wars. I am one of them. I think our monies would be better spent on education, health, working with people to help them help themselves ... and the willingness to listen and hear on our part. As for those who are bent on war ... arming them ought not to be our first option. Surely, there are other ways.
Nomakhosi Meikie Mntuyedwa
Peaks Island
Last Updated on Friday, 10 May 2013 00:01
Hits: 14
'Lazy journalism' of drugs, housing coverage irks 'broke taxpayer'
Written by Jim Doherty
Editor,
The continued perspective brought forth by this paper is ultimately polarizing (red journalism ... N.Y. Post?). Today we have a front page picture espousing "Housing for all" ... "we are all the same" ... blah, blah, blah ("At the intersection of housing and hotels: USM students, new chapter of alliance protest city's homeless policies," April 26). This is simply not the case. A municipality operates on a tax base coupled with a budget, which in turn doles out the perceived appropriate funds as the municipality sees fit. The Eastland Park project is PRIVATE (see employment) and moving forward could potentially be a springboard of growth downtown.
Our tax base SUCKS! We are NOT San Francisco, Boston, Cambridge, etc., etc., etc. ... the funds to continue as currently expected simply do not exist. I am a broke taxpayer (see property owner) with NO children (zero growth ... right? didn't think so) yet expected to simply buy into supporting a ferociously bloated school system that can not seem to do more with less. To simply put some first year grad student on the cover who "disagrees" is just lazy journalism.
Oh ya. That tear jerker the other day about the "spice heads" was a hoot ("Panhandling on Spice," April 24)! The guy from North Carolina is up and down Cumberland Ave. all the time doing lord knows what. ... GO TAKE CARE OF YOUR FRIGGIN KIDS BACK IN N.C. Am I supposed to feel sorry for this clown? Let's get real and see things as they are.
Sincerely,
Jim Doherty
Portland
The continued perspective brought forth by this paper is ultimately polarizing (red journalism ... N.Y. Post?). Today we have a front page picture espousing "Housing for all" ... "we are all the same" ... blah, blah, blah ("At the intersection of housing and hotels: USM students, new chapter of alliance protest city's homeless policies," April 26). This is simply not the case. A municipality operates on a tax base coupled with a budget, which in turn doles out the perceived appropriate funds as the municipality sees fit. The Eastland Park project is PRIVATE (see employment) and moving forward could potentially be a springboard of growth downtown.
Our tax base SUCKS! We are NOT San Francisco, Boston, Cambridge, etc., etc., etc. ... the funds to continue as currently expected simply do not exist. I am a broke taxpayer (see property owner) with NO children (zero growth ... right? didn't think so) yet expected to simply buy into supporting a ferociously bloated school system that can not seem to do more with less. To simply put some first year grad student on the cover who "disagrees" is just lazy journalism.
Oh ya. That tear jerker the other day about the "spice heads" was a hoot ("Panhandling on Spice," April 24)! The guy from North Carolina is up and down Cumberland Ave. all the time doing lord knows what. ... GO TAKE CARE OF YOUR FRIGGIN KIDS BACK IN N.C. Am I supposed to feel sorry for this clown? Let's get real and see things as they are.
Sincerely,
Jim Doherty
Portland
Last Updated on Tuesday, 30 April 2013 21:53
Hits: 21
A plea to confront growing demand for new graduate nurses
Written by Nancy Baugh
Editor,
Nursing faculty throughout the University of Maine System provide education for the majority of new nurse graduates each year in Maine; of note, the public education nursing programs in the system currently graduate more than 50 percent of the state's entire new nurse workforce each year. Despite higher education's current ability to provide qualified new nurses, by 2014, Maine's projected demand for new graduate nurses will exceed the supply of graduates provided by the state's 13 public and private nursing programs combined. In just a year from now, 400 more nurse graduates will be needed per year than the state's nursing programs can provide.
In order to meet the demand for new nurses, Maine needs to attract qualified nurse faculty. The U.S. is on the brink of a catastrophic nursing faculty shortage, with colleges and universities throughout the country already unable to fill vacant faculty positions. The reasons for the faculty shortage are numerous; one primary reason is inadequate salaries. Educated and experienced nurses are being asked to assume faculty roles at a fraction of the salaries they realize in practice settings such as hospitals and primary care. As a result, few are willing to pursue expensive doctoral study, and even fewer are interested in moving after graduate study into low-paying faculty roles.
The current contractual dispute between faculty and the University of Maine System is untimely, and its impact on nursing is great. Despite the attraction of living in Maine, it is increasingly difficult to recruit qualified nursing faculty to the state; the visibility created by the current contractual dispute makes it even more difficult. If the dispute continues, there is also concern that qualified faculty working in Maine might decide to leave their positions here, commuting to Boston to work, where most of the numerous nursing programs in and around Metro Boston are currently actively recruiting faculty.
We call on healthcare industry leaders and members of the public to speak up and get involved in urging the University of Maine System to quickly resolve the contractual dispute with nursing and other faculty. The future of nursing education in Maine depends on UMS action, and so does the future of nursing care for the citizens of Maine.
Nancy Baugh, PhD, APRN
Rosemary Johnson, PhD, APRN
Jean Dvorak, MS, RN
Leslie Larsen, MSN, RN
Carol Fackler, DNSc, RN
Kimberly A. Moody, PhD, RN
Bonnie Cashin Farmer, PhD, RN
Helen Peake-Godin, MN, RN
Maggie Fournier, MSN, RN
Cheri Sarton, PhD, CNM
Marcia Goldenberg, MS, RN
Susan B. Sepples, PhD, APRN
Valerie Hart, EdD, RN
Laurie Caton-Lemos, MS, APRN
Nursing faculty throughout the University of Maine System provide education for the majority of new nurse graduates each year in Maine; of note, the public education nursing programs in the system currently graduate more than 50 percent of the state's entire new nurse workforce each year. Despite higher education's current ability to provide qualified new nurses, by 2014, Maine's projected demand for new graduate nurses will exceed the supply of graduates provided by the state's 13 public and private nursing programs combined. In just a year from now, 400 more nurse graduates will be needed per year than the state's nursing programs can provide.
In order to meet the demand for new nurses, Maine needs to attract qualified nurse faculty. The U.S. is on the brink of a catastrophic nursing faculty shortage, with colleges and universities throughout the country already unable to fill vacant faculty positions. The reasons for the faculty shortage are numerous; one primary reason is inadequate salaries. Educated and experienced nurses are being asked to assume faculty roles at a fraction of the salaries they realize in practice settings such as hospitals and primary care. As a result, few are willing to pursue expensive doctoral study, and even fewer are interested in moving after graduate study into low-paying faculty roles.
The current contractual dispute between faculty and the University of Maine System is untimely, and its impact on nursing is great. Despite the attraction of living in Maine, it is increasingly difficult to recruit qualified nursing faculty to the state; the visibility created by the current contractual dispute makes it even more difficult. If the dispute continues, there is also concern that qualified faculty working in Maine might decide to leave their positions here, commuting to Boston to work, where most of the numerous nursing programs in and around Metro Boston are currently actively recruiting faculty.
We call on healthcare industry leaders and members of the public to speak up and get involved in urging the University of Maine System to quickly resolve the contractual dispute with nursing and other faculty. The future of nursing education in Maine depends on UMS action, and so does the future of nursing care for the citizens of Maine.
Nancy Baugh, PhD, APRN
Rosemary Johnson, PhD, APRN
Jean Dvorak, MS, RN
Leslie Larsen, MSN, RN
Carol Fackler, DNSc, RN
Kimberly A. Moody, PhD, RN
Bonnie Cashin Farmer, PhD, RN
Helen Peake-Godin, MN, RN
Maggie Fournier, MSN, RN
Cheri Sarton, PhD, CNM
Marcia Goldenberg, MS, RN
Susan B. Sepples, PhD, APRN
Valerie Hart, EdD, RN
Laurie Caton-Lemos, MS, APRN
Last Updated on Tuesday, 30 April 2013 21:53
Hits: 23