CLICKBACK ON AIDS, LIGHTS

This week’s ClickBack questions take on AIDS, driver’s licenses and light pollution. ClickBack is a weekly feature that seeks reader comments at bangordailynews.com responding to questions posed here. Some of the comments posted on the Web site will appear on Friday’s OpEd page. Go to www.bangordailynews.com and click on the ClickBack logo to post a comment. Registration is required; the BDN does not share registration information with third parties.

Autum Aquino died last week at 23. Many remember her as the little girl from Bangor with AIDS, featured in newspapers and on TV news programs in the late 1980s and early 1990s. She contracted the disease from her mother. If Aquino was the face of AIDS in Maine, former NBA star Magic Johnson is the national face of AIDS, and he seems to be healthy. Is AIDS now overlooked in this country? Do young adults think it has been cured, and take sexual risks because of that belief? Is enough research being done to cure the disease?

Maine is a friendly, trusting place. So what’s wrong with giving driver’s licenses to people who may or may not live in the Pine Tree State? Regardless of the state’s problems with the federal Real ID plan, should Maine require more proof of residency for those seeking driver’s licenses? Could such requirements be easily faked? Does it matter?

Do your next-door neighbors have a 1,500 watt street light hanging from their garage? Does it bother you? A group on Mount Desert Island believes Maine should keep the night sky dark. A satellite image shows the state, east of the Penobscot River and north of Bangor, to be one of the few places on the East Coast without light pollution. Is this something to be proud of, or should we be embarrassed that there is so little activity here?

Lawmakers passed a bill banning smoking in cars with children in them. The governor is expected to sign it into law later this week. This follows a ban in Bangor. Is this necessary or does Maine risk becoming a nanny state keeping too close a watch on its residents and their activities? What about children, do they have a right to not breathe cigarette smoke?

A light bulb gone off? Smoke coming out off your ears? Go to ClickBack at www.bangordailynews.com to share your thoughts, ask your own question or respond to other reader comments.