A headline either gets you to read a story, because it makes the article sound interesting, important, or both; or it loses you, as boring or not too important, or else we would have trumpeted it…
Editorial

It’s not my way to state the obvious, but I was beginning to think that we might escape an almost snow-less January. However, the overnight three to four inches of the fluffy stuff on Monday-…

Town surveys, in Wiscasset or elsewhere, do not always get huge responses, just as local votes at the polls or town meetings do not always draw most registered voters. They all get whoever shows…

Ever since my last column was drying on the pages, I have been home taking care of the house, one dog and three cats. My wife, Melodee, and neighbors, Brandy, Corey and Spencer Pottle, took a road…

Why did you come here, beautiful eagle?
You might ask what we are doing here, also, beautiful bird, ever near as we can be to wherever you light. We have not your wings and eagle eyes, we…

Hats off to the Boothbay Region YMCA trustees, current and past members, for never standing pat on what the “heart of the region” offers. And to the people of the region and around the country,…

National Weather Service’s forecast for Jan. 11 was, as of Friday, for a daytime high near 8F. Based on years of reporting, reading, television viewing and radio listening, I can tell you what…

With only one more game against the Miami Dolphins on Sunday, Jan. 9 at 4:25 p.m. – thankfully it isn’t “a win and you’re in, or lose and go home” situation, the Mac Jones-led New England Patriots…

Early Monday, I was online looking up early 2000s Alna politics for a story on some new Alna politics, the latest petition, and Safari offered me a site that, from what I have found so far, has…

I don’t know about you, but it has been a struggle for me to remain truly happy since about March 2020 … which is when you know what happened.
Yes, there have been many personal happy…

Before I forget, Merry Christmas everyone. Hope you enjoy time with family and friends, as well as this issue of the newspaper, with the second section packed with Letters to Santa, family…

It’s a little early for New Year’s resolutions, but there is no time like today (as in, every day) to improve. Today, I will no longer put so much time into crafting some emails. They are mostly…

Thanksgiving is nearly three weeks in the past, however, this is still the season of caring and giving.
The saying “Someone always has it worse” really hit home this week.
Waking…

I used to ice skate and many of us who lived near Pat’s Pond in Boothbay Harbor have lots of great memories of daytime hockey matches and nighttime bonfires (and playing “Wolves and Sheep,” where…

The best thing about area schools’ pooled testing for COVID is you don’t have to do it. Parents decide if they want to sign their child up. The second best thing, or a tie, really, is schools can…

Have you heard about Niksen? Maybe you’ve heard of its translation, nixing?
Niksen is a Dutch verb which means “doing nothing.” It has been used to deal with work-related health problems,…

When Daylight Saving Time ends, it is not fun. You go to bed when it is dark and you wake up and it is still dark. My dog doesn't like it either. She takes shorter walks when it isn't light out. I…

Hope you have many personal things to be thankful for this Thanksgiving. Here are some thoroughly Wiscasset-area reasons to be:
Senior housing developer Optimus set its sights on Wiscasset…

I have heard a few comments this past week that it’s going to be a “long winter.” The calendar says winter begins Dec. 21, over four weeks away, so we’ve got a good stretch of time before the next…

When did an expletive help win an argument, political or otherwise? Using them may be understandable when the speaker is upset from fear, anger, frustration, or grief. But if you’re speaking…

Celebrations have and will be held this week.
American Legion Post 36 started things off Saturday with its annual community awards. Congratulations to all the deserving recipients. Good…

It’s a small, mostly local victory in the scheme of very important things, a pandemic, climate change and American politics where dramatic things have happened in recent months and years. But it…

A few weeks ago, I received an email asking that we change where we place the obituaries on our websites.
The email read: “Is it just me or is it a little unusual and somewhat depressing to…

Go to the grocery store and find a shelf bare? Order online locally or not and find that something is out of stock? In the pandemic, the season of giving and celebrating is also the season of…

Congratulations to coach Nick Scott, coach Warren Cossette and the Boothbay Region-Wiscasset cross-country team. As Cossette pointed out in a letter to the editor last week, with assistance from…

When Wiscasset Farmer’s Market talked with selectmen Oct. 19 about possible new sites, Parks and Recreation Director Duane Goud offered one that could make sense. The back of Wiscasset Community…

It’s 7:27 on a Friday morning here at the office. I am the only one here. I just downloaded onto my laptop some game photos taken yesterday afternoon and will check my email and start editing…

We’ll get to the Red Sox. Cheering for their record-breaking third grand slam Monday night goes without saying, but cannot be said enough.
But first, back to Wiscasset: Sometimes after a…

Comeback wins! A scoreless tie! Celebrations!
Taking into consideration the local sports scene and Boston/New England teams, this week has been a fun week to be a fan.
Friday night,…

Do you like to get the lowdown on what the local winters are going to be like?
As soon as October arrives, I start scouring the internet for stories from “experts” predicting the upcoming…

What if we could have put on our Facebook page a link to Monday afternoon’s announcement of three days of remote learning for Wiscasset Middle High School due to COVID-19?
We could not,…

I don’t normally watch YouTube videos that are longer than 10 minutes (unless it is for work) but tuning into Boothbay Region Land Trust’s 2021 annual membership meeting last week kept me glued to…

This time of year, you start to see the most orange on our pages. Christmas has its reds, greens and often nature’s white backdrop; and red is a February regular for Valentine’s Day, plus paired…

At least I’m not staring at a wall all the time – as was the case during my time working at home when the pandemic struck.
For the most part of my three-plus decades here at the Register…

Did you feel it?
Not the icy reception selectmen’s and other boards’ decisions in any of our towns receive sometimes. That can happen any time of year.
This was the other night. A …

I was going to write another “serious” column this week – about the Delta virus and what I read in a New York Times article about the variant of COVID-19 – but I chucked that idea out the window…

Another round of outdoor events in the past week and a first week of full-time school accomplished, Wiscasset is forging through the change of seasons and, where it can, moving nearer to normal…

We still seem to be on edge 20 years after America was attacked Sept. 11, 2001, perhaps more so because of the homespun violence rather than a foreign plot. Chicago’s violence numbers, alone, are…

How was your summer?
Did you weather Wiscasset traffic and find, sometimes, at least, it flowed better than you expected for that time of day or week? And did the opposite also happen? As…

You can be assertive without being rude.
We’ve all seen or heard it – restaurant customers being demanding over a certain meal serving, being loud and obnoxious, letting children run around…

Even before school starts next week, I have found myself slowing down to 15 mph in school zones. No matter how old we get, September always feels like school, because that’s what it was for our…

It has been a delight to attend and record this summer’s Boothbay Region YMCA Y Arts productions. Director and choreographer Emily Mirabile, along with her assistants, have done an amazing job –…

If Schoonerfest can spend a couple years coming to fruition as it did in Wiscasset last week, we can take a few minutes honoring what it accomplished. Make that about 12 minutes, to come up with…

For the past two years, I have written two columns about motorists going too fast and asking everyone to slow down on our roads. This is the second one for 2021.
Ever since I got pulled…

Sometimes, some of the nicest story ideas take a while, weeks or longer, to become the stories you read in print and at wiscassetnewspaper.com and boothbayregister.com. We prioritize much of our…

Remember Wings Over Wiscasset?
The inaugural WOW in 2013 at Wiscasset Municipal Airport was really nice, honoring veterans, having an air show and other attractions including static…

It’s funny how things transpire when you stop and talk to people.
I had stopped at Walgreen’s last week to pick up a prescription and, upon returning to my car, I noticed the license plate…

Reporting on tragedies is one of the unenviable jobs a reporter has, especially in a small community. Not much is gained except the truth and reporters should be cognizant of how such a story will…

For U.S. House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy, R - California, to joke it will be hard not to hit House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D -California, with the gavel if he succeeds her, and for that to receive…

Boothbay Harbor is a friendly town with a lot of things to do and see, especially during the summer months. That's why we get an influx of tourists every year. It seems that this summer, as…