Good Red vs Bad Red

(Continued from Page 2B) red berries, which is one way that new vines get established.

The website for the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry reports that there is a similar species of the vine that is called American bittersweet (Celastrus scandens).

(https://www.maine.gov/dacf/mnap/features/invasive_ plants/celastrus.htm)

Box 244, 118 Main St. Bridgton, ME 04009 tel. 207-647-2851 | fax 207-647-5001 e-mail: bnews@roadrunner.com

Feb. 22, 1924 - April 29, 2006

This native vine is very rare in Maine and is differentiated from the Oriental bittersweet by the fact that the flowers and fruits are only found at the tips of the stems, the leaves are twice as long as they are wide resulting in more of a football shape vs the round shape of the Oriental bittersweet, and the stems have blunt thorns (bumps) on them versus the smooth stems of the oriental bittersweet. It also does not grow as rapid, or as large as the Oriental bittersweet. Most important is the fact that it is not an invasive species. Unfortunately, some nurseries that label their plants for sale as the American bittersweet are actually mistakenly selling the invasive Oriental bittersweet. There are good pictures at the website of the Oriental bittersweet and the American bittersweet on that website.

Some days it feels like you left yesterday while most days it seems like forever.

Love and Miss

You Mom, Bonnie

The website for the University of New Hampshire Cooperative Extension (https://extension.unh.edu/ blog/2018/04/invasive-spotlight-oriental-bittersweet) has

REDS, Page 4B

Herbert McDevitt Jr.

NAPLES — Herbert “Herbie” McDevitt Jr., 79 , passed away on February 7, 2023, at his home after a brief illness with friends by his side.

He was born in Portland, Maine, on April 13, 1943, a son of the late Herbert Sr. and Irene McDevitt.

Herbie moved to the Bridgton area in 1980 and he resided in the area such as Cornish, and then Naples.

Herbie enjoyed fishing, trains and being a jokester and hanging out with his friends.

He was predeceased by his good friend Martin B. and Beverly C. Herbie was loved by many.

A funeral will be held on Feb. 24 at 2 p.m. at the Poitras, Neal & York Funeral Home, 71 Maple St., Cornish. Burial will be in the spring at Riverside Cemetery in Cornish. Online condolence messages can be submitted at www.mainefuneral.com

Warren’s Florist

~ Always Fabulous Florals ~

~ Fruit & Gift Baskets ~

~ Ganz Plush Animals ~ Balloons ~ 39 Depot Street, Bridgton, ME 04009 207-647-8441 • 800-834-8407

Eric Nelson, Owner and Funeral Director 165 QUAKER RIDGE RD., CASCO, ME 04015 207-627-4538 • HALLFUNERALHOME.NET ernment spending money like a drunken sailor (my apologies to sailors everywhere), intent on dismantling the most successful system in history, emphasizing equal opportunity, individual responsibility, and embracing the diverse (yes diverse) results of a meritocracy, is intent with replacing it with a system fostering dependency and bland equal outcomes with no role for merit and effort.

Rev, I know you folks find the term big lie useful. Well, you certainly know how to use it as you continue to lie about Jan. 6 being an insurrection. In reality, it was a bunch of thoroughly p… off citizens outraged over the media and unconstitutional action by state authorities changing the rules governing voting. Insurrection?

Yeah right! No weapons and everybody home for dinner. Darnedest insurrection I’ve ever seen.

So, here’s the bottom line buried deep within the hubris the Rev bestows on us; listen to he and superior fellow travelers, accept their infinite wisdom, and most importantly “shut up and obey.”

Don Vose Naples

Editor’s note: There has been much national debate whether the Jan. 6 rioters were armed or not. Before the Jan. 6 House Select Committee, U.S. Capitol Police Sgt. Aquilino Gonell testified “(c)ommon things were used as weapons, like a baseball bat, a hockey stick, a rebar, a flagpole — including the American flag — pepper spray, bear spray. The rioters ‘had all these items’ used to attack us. Those are weapons.”

Three individuals have been charged for allegedly bringing a gun onto Capitol grounds on Jan.

6. According to police testimony, a man was arrested leaving the Capitol grounds on Jan. 6 while trying to flee from officers after they suspected he was carrying a firearm on his hip. The suspect was carrying a loaded pistol and 25 rounds of ammunition, according to court documents.

Another man has been charged with illegally bringing a handgun on Capitol grounds on Jan. 6. He allegedly told family members he “brought his gun with him” in the Capitol attack.

The National Debt

To The Editor: The National Debt just exceeded $31.5 trillion and is out of control.

The Congressional Budget Office has projected that the National Debt will explode to $46.4 trillion by 2033! Phillip Swagel, director of CBO, said, “This is simply unsustainable” and will lead to economic disaster unless this country can stop the spending.

You can see a graph (shown below) of the U.S. National Debt over the last 100 years, which includes administrations from both political parties. As you can see, the rise is now exponential — virtually straight up.

The second graph (shown above) is the National Debt projected by CBO for the next 10 years — again virtually straight up from here.

We can only hope that the new Republican majority in the House of Representatives will be able to do what they say they will do — reduce government spending by controlling the purse strings and forcing negotiations.

Most people live within their budget. All states are required to balance their budgets. It is time that the federal government to do the same.

Bill Preis Bridgton

Jabberwocky

To The Editor: In his Feb. 16 screed, “COVID, Florida, Maine,” Sebago contributor Jock MacGregor spews a bunch of jabberwocky about COVID-19 and the respective responses to the pandemic he contrasts by the states Maine and Florida; the former, he lauds, although inaccurately. For example, he claims (falsely) that Maine CDC “outlawed palliatives” Hydroxychloroquine (an anti-malarial medicine approved for that use in the tropics most often), and Ivermectin (used in veterinary medicine and as an antiparasitic form in human beings, usually in the tropics, as well). This was simply not the case and Mr. MacGregor gets a Pinocchio.

In 2021, however, the false conspiracy claims rampant on social media and spread by a former president himself that these “palliatives” were viable effective alternative treatments in lieu of FDA-approved vaccines was outright dangerous, as well as stupid. The Oxford English Dictionary defines a palliative (medicine) as: “A medicine or form of medical care relieving symptoms without dealing with the cause of the condition.” The aforementioned “quack” treatments met neither of these criteria, were not clinically