The release of names of the “johns” in Kennebunk has profound meaning for our town and for the nation and world.
While I have respect for those who oppose the release, I am also aware that no one stepped forward to protect Alexis Wright or Mark Strong from exposure. We are not concerned about their families’ shame or reputation. Why would the men who engaged in prostitution be afforded different treatment?
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I feel that the names should be released, but with a very strong caveat.
When a woman was cowering in the town, about to be stoned for adultery, Jesus intervened and asked the angry mob ready for self-righteous vengeance, rocks in hand, to listen saying, “You who are without sin, cast the first stone.”
These simple words transformed the hearts of the mob and they dispersed. Jesus went to the woman to console her and lifted her up.
Do we have the ability to look at our own flawed natures and shed compassion on this woman, these men, their families and this town?
It is my ardent prayer.
Rev. Mary Zachary-Lang
interfaith minister
Kennebunk
What is to be gained by naming and shaming the johns in the Kennebunk prostitution furor? Do we really want to know — or really care? — who they are? Is it any of our business?
Do we honestly wish to inflict so much pain and humiliation on the families of these men who have indulged in “the oldest profession”? Are they child molesters? Rapists? Pedophiles? Dirty old men? Dangers to society? None of these.
So why do we, as members of a society so obsessed with violence and sex in so many television programs, films and books, find the goings-on in Kennebunk so shocking and newsworthy? One would have thought we had progressed a little from the days of the Salem witch trials and “The Scarlet Letter.”
I applaud the Oct. 17 column by Bill Nemitz (“Justice was blind but now he sees”) and the very sane and sensible — and humanitarian — comments by the unfortunate James Soule’s attorney, Peter DeTroy.
Christina Teale
South Portland
I only want to say that it’s sad how 21 men will now find it difficult to find or keep their jobs, and their pride, simply because they paid for sex. We do it for free regularly. Yet as soon as money is exchanged, it suddenly becomes something terrible.
Let us use our common sense and realize that, until a nonconsenting person has been injured, no crime has been committed.
These men should not feel ashamed.
Torrie Weeks
Westbrook
New sewer line will thwart Windham anti-sprawl effort
Windham has proposed a $38 million sewer line down the center of town.
In most of the news stories, the town claims groundwater pollution is the reason for the sewer. However, in a recent interview, Town Councilor David Nadeau stated that his primary purpose for the sewer is to meet the vision of Windham’s 10-year-old comprehensive plan. The comprehensive plan wants to fight suburban sprawl and other lofty goals.
A sewer line down Route 302 to Westbrook will promote more, not less, development along that strip. I can only conclude that the sewer is designed to promote commercial development, as well as enriching the installers of the system.
The proposed sewer lines would likely take years to install, snarling traffic on Route 302 and other main roads.
If failing septic systems are an issue, for a fraction of this cost Windham could hire enforcement agents to inspect the largest septics in the most sensitive areas.
If excessive development and poor zoning are issues, for a small fraction Windham could hire top-quality planners and write new ordinances and zoning.
I’ve seen no mention of modern alternatives. As an engineer I’m aware of “decentralized wastewater treatment” systems, cluster systems and more advanced septic systems. Towns of this size across the country are having success with these new designs. Make the developers use these — at their expense, not homeowners’.
Windham should vote “no” on the upcoming sewer referendum.
David H. Brown
Raymond
Candidate’s comments, platform ‘reprehensible’
Everybody has an opinion of the governor. Nobody denies, however, that he has a compelling personal story that merits respect.
It is absolutely reprehensible, therefore, that Democratic state Senate candidate Colleen Lachowicz would say on an online forum that he may have been a child sex worker or a drug dealer or that she felt like she needed to take a shower after meeting him.
Making comments like these while commiserating about how her productivity at her taxpayer-funded job has gone down since taking her gaming habits to work reflects especially poorly on her character and judgment. I encourage everyone to go to www.colleensworld.com to see the context of her crude and hateful comments — comments like the one where she mused about drowning a conservative in her bathtub.
Lachowicz, in a recent editorial (Another View, “Candidate: GOP tries to hide record with fantasy-game charges,” Oct. 12), shifted her focus away from her disturbing online behavior and wrote about what she would do as a senator. I’m glad she brought that up. Lachowicz signed a pledge for the Maine People’s Alliance, an extreme, leftist activist group. In it, she vowed to raise taxes by $1.5 billion — a 50 percent increase.
Just one of her proposals would take $420,000 from 67 small businesses in her district. For example, Lachowicz’s plan would slap a new, $48,642 tax on Orion Ropeworks in Winslow and a $26,822 tax on Central Maine Motors in Waterville. These tax increases alone could cost two or three of her constituents their jobs.
It is hard to say which is more disturbing — her comments or her economic plan. Either way, Lachowicz should stop spinning it like she has been victimized merely for a hobby and do what most people in her situation do — apologize for her outrageous and offensive comments.
David Sorensen
communications director, Maine Republican Party
Augusta
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