Last week, I heard about and then viewed a 17-minute YouTube video recorded at Wiscasset’s town office. By the time I saw it, the channel, “Accountability For All,” with 112,000 subscribers,…
Editorial
From the editor
Have we seen Tom Brady’s last game? After losing at home to the Dallas Cowboys on Monday night, the “unfinished business,” as Brady said following his “unretirement” tweet last year, is finished…
From the assistant editor
Wiscasset Fire Chief Rob Bickford’s December report, released ahead of the Jan. 17 selectmen’s meeting, contains winter home safety tips worth our passing along.
One is to keep chimneys…
From the editor
It wouldn’t bother me if we keep getting these light snowfalls here on the coast. They make driving, walking and shoveling a bit easier. Plus, the fallout from the one on Friday produced beautiful…
From the assistant editor
Want a closer look at selectboard, planning board and town committee meetings?
Night time may be the right time for most of these panels to meet, to maximize members’ attendance, and the…
A while back, I collected a series of kids’ responses to the question, “What does love mean?” Some of the answers were quite profound.
Rebecca, age 8, said her grandfather paints her…
From the assistant editor
I saw Jameson Brooks’ obituary Monday. I don’t upload the obituaries, so usually when I see them on our websites or on the pages before press time, I am seeing them for the first time, like other…
From the editor
Is “Auld lang syne” starting to ring in your head as we move onto a new year? The Scottish term means “times long past” and the song is traditionally sung on New Year’s Eve.
In case you…
From the assistant editor
At press time, Maine Department of Public Safety’s press release about a child not breathing in Edgecomb, and then pronounced dead at a Damariscotta hospital, was hours old in our email box and on…
From the editor
It is five days before Christmas as I write this and I didn’t have a clue what to write besides wishing our readers a Merry Christmas. But I figured it out as the next deadline loomed.
…
From the assistant editor
Remembering growing up turning the knobs of an Etch-A-Sketch, standing on a chair to use the phone on the wall, and snapping through Disney story frames in a View-Master, it is a little wild to…
From the editor
Christmastime, as a kid, is an exciting time. We used to manhandle the Sears Wish Book every year to see what new toys were being offered and we let our parents know how much we wanted, or “needed…
Many times here, we have given kudos to Help Yourself Shelf, Feed Our Scholars and their volunteers and donors for their efforts to help people have enough food and other supplies. And St. Philip’…
From the editor
Time, as you get older, seems to fly by. It’s hard to believe that we have only three more issues to publish before the new year begins.
2022 seemed to be a year of questions.
Will…
From the assistant editor
We hope you are enjoying our coverage of annual holiday events, many longtime traditions among them. We get to as many as we can with our dedicated staff and our vital news contributors. And when…
From the assistant editor
Any longtime Mainer knows a fall that felt like summer does not mean we won’t get slammed in winter. Early morning black ice and one recent quick shift in temperatures during precipitation…
From the editor
With all the depressing news we’ve been hearing on the radio and television of late, and this being the “season to be jolly,” I thought I would spread some uplifting quotes I have been collecting…
From the assistant editor
Kudos to Woolwich for having residents meet with Maine Department of Transportation about the light that stops Route 1 traffic for Nequasset Road motorists. The light was to be temporary – for the…
From the editor
After last week's column was written and ready to be read, I began my annual November vacation. I used to take vacations in the 11th month of the year because I used to coach basketball at my alma…
From the editor
Each week – actually each day through our websites – we do our best to bring you, the readers, the latest news from our communities.
We recently won first place in Maine Press Association’s…
From the assistant editor
Isn’t it nice to share? A lot of readers take pretty scenics, or photos of fun, local outings with family, friends, or both. We see some on Facebook and ask if we can be emailed them, in their…
From the editor
Oh boy, here we go again. It’s the second week in November and the flood of holiday sales, events, TV commercials, specials and movies are upon us, much like the political ads that inundated us…
From the assistant editor
About the only thing colder than Election Day Tuesday’s gusty winds, ahead of National Weather Service’s predicted 23F for the Midcoast that night, were the many cold-sounding political ads in…
From the editor
Having spent over $600 for 100 gallons of home heating oil last week, I got thinking of how some people not as fortunate as me are going to make it through the long, cold days of winter. I can…
From the assistant editor
We got the artificial Christmas tree up this week. Too soon? I’ve been waiting for it.
Like the stores do, I held out until after Halloween. And nothing against it or Thanksgiving, but the…
From the editor
If you haven’t made up your mind on who and what you are voting for on Nov. 8, read the two-plus pages of letters in this issue and perhaps you can be convinced.
We try to provide all the…
From the assistant editor
Hear any good jokes lately? How about any sexist ones? If you said those two things are mutually exclusive, you are correct.
Sexist humor belongs nowhere. Yet who hasn’t been around it? It…
From the editor
We are hoping he comes back some day, but this week we say thanks, so long and good luck to reporter Joseph Charpentier.
Joe, as we call him, has been covering some of the most intricate…
A family friend was a huge Cleveland Browns fan. Who are the Browns, you may ask?
Well, my mother made a point of asking, as if in earnest, “Who are the Browns?” whenever she would run into…
From the editor
The newspaper doesn’t like to cover fire stories as they sometimes involve the loss of life. Luckily, this past Sunday’s tragic fire didn’t involve the loss of life, but the loss of a home to…
From the assistant editor
One last pitch for attendance at Wiscasset Scarecrowfest’s big day this Saturday, Oct. 15. From the dessert contest to the movie and scarecrow-building, this annual event, now back at the…
From the assistant editor
Scarecrows don’t go around on their own except in books and movies, and the scarecrows in Wiscasset village need your help to exist again this year. And this year, the ones you build – as a…
From the editor
A post-All Star game swoon for the Red Sox and we knew in late August that there was little hope for a playoff bid due to the lack of good pitching and timely hitting. The Celtics coach has been…
From the assistant editor
Remember when town committees’ night meetings let out before dark, even if it was pushing 9 p.m.? Same for monthly Wiscasset Art Walks’ conclusion at 8 p.m., and sports and other fun, work and…
From the editor
My former office neighbor and longstanding ad salesperson and operations manager, Sarah Morley, shared the following story of a recent encounter which helped boost our confidence.
“I was…
From the assistant editor
Last week’s editorial ran long, so I ended it without the usual “Week’s positive parting thought.” To offset that and get ahead for the next time(s), the below will be nothing but positive…
From the editor
It is the third week in September and one week from the start of the calendar fall season (Sept. 22). Are you thinking about putting your air conditioning unit away for the year and replacing it…
From the assistant editor
Maine Department of Transportation’s reply, as predicted, explained well why the traffic lights I like so much at…
From the editor
Congratulations to the organizers of the Boothbay Harbor Tuna Challenge and to the boat owners who hauled in 28 tuna in the first two days of the tournament (Sept. 4-8). The fish were pretty large…
From the assistant editor
What do you think of the fairly new traffic lights at Woolwich’s Nequasset Road-Route 1 intersection? As a motorist, I have been liking the much easier entry onto or across Route 1. And the lights…
From the editor
My thoughts are with you, Cynthia Edwards.
Cynthia has known me ever since my parents hired her a few times to sit the growing Burnham clan on Gilead Street. She lived close by on Atlantic…
From the assistant editor
So Wiscasset is facing another season of one high school sport not having enough players for a regular, Mountain Valley Conference season. It is not the first time, but we all can help it be the…
From the editor
Remember the 1970s song, “Short People,” by Randy Newman? According to Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, and what I remember, many people took offense and even threatened him. He said he wrote it…
From the assistant editor
He said, she said, according to, she added, the press release stated, the town manager responded via email, in minutes posted at westportisland.us, in documents Wiscasset Newspaper received upon…
From the editor
In the past 10 days, I have attended a couple of reunions. One was an annual get-together and I crashed my older brother Bruce’s 50th class reunion.
The annual reunion was again at Hadlock…
From the assistant editor
Besides reporting on projects underway, what area residents have won or otherwise accomplished and the latest tax or sewer rates, we regularly get to pass along tips or other information on public…
From the editor
Every Tuesday morning, I see a sea of white on my laptop. Some of the white has disappeared with black writing, color photos and multi-colored ads. These are the 24 pages of the current issue…
From the assistant editor
If you have ever worked with me, you hopefully have found I am good at some things. But you will for certain have seen I am terrible at vacations.
…
From the editor
Cheers & Jeers is a feature I remember from the days of reading TV Guide. TV Guide, for those born after the advent of cable TV and the internet, is a small, bi-weekly magazine which lists…
