I would like to respond to a portion of Janice Reynold’s letter to the editor, published in the April 11, 2013 Coast Journal. 

In that letter, she quotes me from a letter I wrote in the Coastal Journal about my wife’s use of medical marijuana in the months leading up to her death from pancreatic cancer. 

Janice quotes me: “Everyone knows, the longer you take a narcotic, the more you have to take to get the same effect.”

Janice adds, “There are millions of people that have been on stale doses of opioids for years.”

I have to apologize to Janice (who is an RN) and to the readers of my earlier article on Medical Marijuana. The focus of that article was my wife, and in making the “Everybody knows...” statement, I clearly exceeded the bounds of what I am qualified to say. 

However…

I write to take issue with a sentence in the Coastal Journal’s April 10 story on the Downeaster layover facility: “Knight said that the idea of train noise being a huge disruption seems strange, considering Brunswick up until recently had to deal with Navy jets screaming by overhead.”

I did not refer to “jets” or “screaming.” I referred to the planes as P-3 Orions and the sound they made as “lumbering.” I’m glad that Mr. Chase did not quote me, but it was close enough that readers may assume that I was exaggerating to make a point. Not so!

It’s unfortunate that Mr. Chase was not aware of the kinds of planes that were based at NASB, that he didn’t catch the meaning of “lumbering” when I described the sound the planes made, and that an editor did not catch the error.

Margo Knight
Brunswick

In the Coastal Journal April 4, 2013, Chris Chase reports on action by the Brunswick School Board to allow the installation of lockers for storing rifles used by the Police Department in case of school security concerns.

In a different newspaper a few weeks ago, there was a report that Rep. Paul Davis of Sangerville sponsored a bill to teach gun safety in our schools.

A few years ago, and old friend, now deceased, described to me a typical day in school. He would walk to school carrying his rifle! Upon arriving at school, he entered the Principal’s office and placed the rifle in a cabinet that was there for that purpose. At the prescribed time, he went to the office, retrieved his rifle, and proceeded to the firing range for a firearms safety class and target practice. Ammunition was issued at the range; he did not bring his own. After safety training and target practice, the rifle went back to the cabinet to be retrieved at the end of classes for his walk home. (This scenario probably was not daily, rather once or twice a week or less. I don’t think he specified that.)