Invest in our children
As I reflect back over my 36 years in law enforcement, one of the truths that keeps coming to mind is the fact that if we take good care of our children, especially getting them on the right track in their youngest years, we save ourselves bigger challenges and costs down the road.
All of my experiences, and voluminous research, shows that if children are given the right start in life, they are much more likely to stay away from crime when they are older. That’s a win-win for our parents, schools and communities. This truism holds for all children, but it is most stark for those at-risk.
If young new parents participate in voluntary in-home parent coaching through a home visitation program, their children are healthier and are much less likely to be subject to child abuse and neglect. If youngsters received high-quality early learning — at home, at childcare, at Head Start or prekindergarten — they are more likely to be successful both academically and socially. Skills built early in a child’s life lay the foundation for all later cognitive, social and emotional development for their later years.
As I retire as Penobscot County sheriff, I would like to share this wisdom with our local and state officials. Smart investments in Maine’s youngest children pay out benefits throughout their lives in terms of reduced education and criminal justice costs down the road, as well as making their lives more productive. I hope our public policy makers remember this as they set future budget priorities.
Glenn Ross
Exeter
Gun suit misplaced
Regarding the civilian misuse of firearms, it would be hard to imagine a more idiotic gun control idea than suing firearms manufacturers for the manner in which an individual misuses their product just because the manufacturer created it, regardless of whether or not the perpetrator acquired the weapon legally or illegally. If that line of reactionary thinking is to be carried to its illogical conclusion, should we then, with equal fury and abandon, be able to sue any automobile manufacturer for any injury/fatality wherein their automotive product was improperly utilized by the driver even in a stolen car? How about the manufacturers of baseball bats? Up in Maine, there are an awful lot of axes just laying around. Chainsaw anyone? Hardware tool companies would certainly be hard hit. Death by chocolate much preferred.
There are people out there who should not under any circumstances have access to a firearm, or automobile, etc., for that matter, drug dealers being a case in point and those under psychiatric care. There are already laws to cover that. In the case of the Newtown incident, however, the causative factor was an individual suffering a mental disorder and the ease of his access to his mother’s firearms with which to act out his sick fantasy. The operative word there was individual not manufacturer.
John Hamilton
Corinth
Gay and bullied
Thanks to Susan Dickson-Smith for her Dec. 15 OpEd about the tragic consequences that can happen when children perceived to be gay are bullied. It amazes me that some people and even some churches and some politicians persist in trying to deny the legitimate existence of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender children. According to the Maine Integrated Youth Health Survey, about 5 percent of Maine high school students identify as gay, lesbian or bisexual, and they experience, on average, much less safety and respect than other high school students, which leads too many of them to regrettable behaviors and sometimes tragic outcomes.
I wonder how people who reject those children can think of themselves as “conservative”? Is it really conservative to not care whether your children live or die, whether they get driven to despair, or whether they succeed in school? I don’t think so.
We have the law on our side now, thanks to years of hard work, but laws have not adequately filtered down into social reality in many schools, and children who are gay or who don’t fit gender stereotypes still get targeted for harassment and other forms of rejection by their peers. That hurts a lot.
Please ask your local school to be proactive in being safe and welcoming for all of their children. That takes intention and persistent work, but it is part of every school’s responsibility. Supporting our children — all of them — is a conservative thing to do.
Peter Rees
Trenton