I just had five days off from my job as editor, returning Monday morning. Family was in town and we had a good time together. It was a nice break from emails and phone calls.

The day before the break, we learned that Dan Gardner, a main face of Boothbay Region Ambulance Service as the EMS chief, had been arrested by the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office. The first day of my break, we learned that he had been let go of his position. Not unlike “Hotel California,” (“You can check out anytime you like, but you can never leave”), I had asked reporter Fritz Freudenberger on Wednesday of last week to pursue the story.

Over the weekend, Fritz put together his notes from the court records regarding Gardner’s arrest. On Monday, he contacted longtime BRAS representative Rob Ham, Gardner and Gardner’s attorney, William Avantaggio, to get more information. None of them would talk about the matter, or previous matters involving Gardner (which were included in the front page article).

When a public figure is let go from his job, it is news. The newspaper has had a good relationship with Gardner since he arrived in the region and we (and readers) wanted to know the reasoning behind his dismissal.

We have taken some criticism for the story but are standing pat on our decision to pursue it and publish it. Yes, we understand that it was a personnel issue and BRAS had the right to decline our questions, but had we ignored the situation, we would have gotten criticism as well. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.

If more information becomes available – good or bad – we will pursue the story further.