To the editor:

What a great story about China General aka Jack’s. I grew up a few doors down and spent at least a few minutes every day picking a handful of the scrumptious sticks of Jolly Ranchers! Danny often made me an Italian for my lunch. Kim, Pat, and Ann had the biggest most genuine smiles each time anyone walked in. The crew there was a family, everyone could feel that! Jack’s was known for the best meats anywhere around. One could barely fit through every early morning when the men’s “coffee club” was in session.

Jack’s is the last place I remember being able to run a tab. Halloween in the village was a huge deal and Jack’s always gave a bag of chips and soda. The store was the heart of the community when I grew up. Jack’s, the post office, the library, and the church, made my childhood the stuff story books tales are made of. Great people everywhere.

It was a sad day when the new owners changed staff, didn’t sell gas, and finally infested the town with rats. Certainly not the business family the Sylvester family was. So sad to see the run down shamble left behind.

I feel blessed to have grown up in China before everything went downhill. And to everyone who treated me so well, I haven’t forgotten and never will.

Danielle Foster
former China resident

To the editor:

First car had a motor with cylinders from a salvaged metal pipe from his job. He worked at an Edison power plant, in Detroit. At the time men worked 12 hours a day, six days a week.

Compare this with the present where hours of work are reduced, many part time, and men must compete with women for jobs. Add to this automation and advances in other labor-saving equipment. The result is an overstaffed workforce out of balance with neglect in the home. Consider, vices can now infiltrate the home at electronic speeds. A network of interstate highways make easy and hidden criminal activity.

Women are closer to the fountain of life, they have a higher calling than us men. They have better social skills and a more complex anatomy. Nature designed them to create new life and thereby shape the future. Sure, a better, safer car is important, however, a stable economy free of poverty, homelessness and addictions is more so…[Abraham] Lincoln said: “No one is poor who had a godly mother.”

Every child has a natural right to good health. When shortchanged in nurturing care and guidance, they become resentful of authority, the source of criminal thoughts and violence.

It is a mistake to commercialize/standardize kids. They are not products. Father Flanagan, of Boys Town, wrote, “No nation can long endure which neglects and abuses its children.”

Women are central to the family. Their homemaking skills affect everyone to some degree. Food preparation and cleanliness for better health, watchful guidance, parent bonding, social exchanges.

There is a need for regulations to restore a solvent social order.

A) Job priority for men who are sole support of their families. B) Limit the hiring of women with underage children. Reward those who train for homemaking skills. C) Free kids from compulsory public education. The law was passed when railroads were built coast to coast. Workmen’s families lived in shacks along the rights of way. The concern was to get their kids into schools. The law is obsolete. What parent now does not realize the importance of education? D) We are a house divided and vacant. We know the rules of the road better than those needed for successful lifestyles regardless of rank…there are no prizes for clergymen. Their’s is a need to relate the precepts of the new testament to us; men and women of every generation.

When radiation was found to be beneficial to cure cancer, Madam Currie and her husband donated valuable patents to humanity. She won two Nobel prizes for isolating two new elements: Radium and polonium…women have made their point.

Russell Vesecky
Harmony

To the editor:

On behalf of the Palermo Food Pantry, I thank the generous students of Palermo School and Erskine Academy and their families who donated food to Palermo Food Pantry and Good Shepherd Bank. The donations we received will greatly help families in need in our community.

The Palermo Food Pantry is open every Tuesday from 11 a.m. – noon. We are located at the Community Center on Turner Ridge Road across from the ball field. All are welcome.

Thank you very much,

June Nerber, Director
Palermo Food Pantry

To the editor:

According to Maine law, except for night hunting of coyotes from December 7 – August 31, hunting is prohibited from 30 minutes after sunset until 30 minutes before sunrise. In other words, although night hunting is prohibited, it is allowed because of the 30 minute deadline with no consideration for how dark it is on any given day. For all practical purposes, nightfall can and does occur less than 30 minutes after sunset.

On Halloween night, I had just gotten into my truck in the Hannaford parking lot when I heard a gunshot from what appeared to be the woods behind the store. It was cloudy and dark outside, the vehicles on the road had their headlights on, and there was no way anyone could see well enough to accurately fire a weapon, at least not without night vision equipment, the use of which is illegal. I checked the clock on my phone and sure enough, there were two minutes of legal shooting time left.

Why should it be legal to fire a weapon, in the woods, near buildings and roads when it is illegal to drive a motor vehicle without its headlights on and when it is impossible to see clearly? This double standard was imposed at the urging of a small number of consumptive use extremists and was approved by the Maine legislature with little thought of the practicality or the consequences. Perhaps a small group of Maine drivers should lobby the legislature to allow driving without headlights until 1/2 hour after sunset? That would make just about as much sense.

When will the first person be mistaken for a deer and get shot in the darkness? Hunter orange rapidly loses its visibility as the amount of light decreases. How many animals have been shot and wounded and lost in the darkness? It’s time to repeal this ill-advised law and bring back some common sense.

John M. Glowa, Sr.
South China

To the editor:

In [last week’s] edition of The Town Line there appeared a letter to the editor from Geoff Hargadon, of South China. Mr. Hargadon is aggravated by what he perceived to be a decision by the Town of China to “nearly simultaneously” re-pave Alder Park Road and cut the Transfer Station hours. I would like to offer some clarification for Mr. Hargadon and readers of the Town Line.

First, Alder Park Road is not a town road. It was paved by the Maine Department of Transportation (MaineDOT) according to their own schedule. The MaineDOT does not coordinate with the Town of China on these projects, except that MaineDOT sends us a notice of their intentions a bit in advance of the start of the work. Then, the hours for the transfer station include a long day on Thursday until 5 p.m,. and it is also open from 6:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., on Saturday each week, in recognition that we need to offer the expanded hours for those who are only able to use the transfer station after normal work hours. We realized that this would require some adjustment on the part of users of the transfer station, but the decision was made as a compromise between providing expanded service to the community and enabling our employees to enjoy a more traditional work schedule.

I hope this information clarifies for Mr. Hargadon and The Town Line readers about the paving of Alder Park Road and the operation of the transfer station. As with anyone, I welcome the opportunity for Mr. Hargadon to visit me at the town office with any concerns he may have.

Dennis L. Heath
China Town Manager