DISQUS

I'm glad that DHHS is "monitoring this ongoing situation" and providing access to the long list of recalled products, but wouldn't it be more helpful to more citizens if DHHS would merely list the name and location of each store in NH that had purchased and stocked each of the recalled items?

Me thinks the editorial page editor doth protest much too much!

Of course opinion pages are for opinions, including those of the editorial board. There probably was a time when their's were the only opinions published, so the Telegraph and most other responsible papers have made progress in helping others in the community engage in meaningful discussions of important issues. Like who is likely to be a better president.

I suspect that much of the vitriol you are hearing from a tiny fraction of your readers is an unfortunate byproduct of the vitriol we're hearing from the campaigns, and which has stirred up some folk's sense of animosity beyond all reason and civility.

The Telegraph opinion pages are well balanced. Keep up the good work

The Telegraph is doing an excellent job of integrating print and internet commentary with initiatives such as this. I'd rather read some well considered opinions of local folks than a distant drum being beaten by a syndicated columnist. Therefore, I support this new feature as long as you get an adequately large field of comments from which to choose.

Nick

Istongly oppose cancelling any current op-ed material to make room for candidate letters. Candidates are adequately funded to fillour mailboxes and the air waves with their statements. Any prospective voter interested in learning of a candidate's pitch jas only to read his own incoming mail

Furthermore your excellent fact checking columns already expose the candidates positions on many important issues should readers not have encountered them elsewhere

It strikes me as a subversion of basic editorial independence norms toprovide candidates free space on your editorial pages. Let them buy their space in the advertising section.

That said oit may be OK to publish candidates brief and specific objections to any editorial criticism of them the Telegraph may have published

Inquiring minds helped by an inquiring press are vital to effective government of a free people. Kudos to Nick and the Telegraph for making a properly big deal of this

Gene Porter


Nashua

The rail line has a legitimate federal involvement - it crosses state lines.

We seem to be in agreement that excess spending is a real problem. But just because Congress has played the earmark game "for a long long time" doesn't make it right. Though my comment wasn't meant to be partisan, I do admire John McCain and Charlie Bass for minimizing earmarks - particularly earmarks that are intended to circumvent federal acquisition "fair competition" rules.
Gene Porter

Mr. Williams

My compliments on your innovative idea for bridging the Merrimack in a more timely manner than is likely under standard procedures. A bridge is clearly needed but, as a resident of the North End, I have three reservations about this proposal as depicted in your briefing charts.

1. Your traffic projections reflect little expected change on Concord Street south of the Burque Highway, as was also the case for the previous Harris Pond route proposed by the DOT. I presume that you have not made new projections for this considerably more southern alignment. My concern here is that your projections may not properly reflect the potential diversion of Derry Road/Rt 102 traffic bound for downtown Nashua from the Taylor Falls bridge to a new bridge at either location. What can you provide me that would give me confidence that this potential diversion has in fact been adequately addressed?

2. It sounds as though you have determined that the $1 toll would be adequate to amortize the initial private investment of $120M. As a retired federal acquisition official I am all too aware of the propensity of the cost of such projects to grow- sometimes alarmingly. What provisions do you have in mind to assure the public that tolls will be able to be held at $1 should costs prove to increase substantially? Conversely, does the DOT cost estimating history have a sufficiently accurate record that this hazard can be considered remote?

3. Your proposal would seem to entail about the minimum cost project and therefore the maximum return to the private investors at the $1 toll rate. A more northern bridge - say using the Page Road alignment to the long planned new Exit 9 on the Turnpike- would clearly be much more desirable in many ways, including limiting the impact on the North End. It would obviously also be somewhat more costly because of the need for a new Turnpike interchange, and ideally an overpass over Rt 3 in the vicinity of the brewery. What is the current estimate for the cost of such an alignment, and what would the tolls have to be to interest your private investors?

Thanks for your consideration of these concerns.