From time to time, readers suggest that I explore this topic or that. Some of them even make suggestions that I can print in a family newspaper.

Most suggestions seem to depend upon whether they think I am a flaming liberal or a rock-ribbed conservative. For the record, I am neither. I have always considered myself to be a faithful, card-carrying member of the radical middle-of-the-road gang.

Once upon a time, in the universe I once occupied, two very prominent U.S. Senators, one a Republican, the other a Democrat, hinted they would like me to join their staffs.

When I asked my bride, a proud East Boothbay woman, what she thought of those offers, she wondered how I would like living in the garage, adding that sleeping in the garden cart was in my future if I quit my current job.

However, recently, a reader proposed a suggestion that tickled my fancy.

Last week, our intrepid reporter, Bill Pearson, wrote a story about a meeting where Sheriff Todd Brackett explained he planned to spend $3,542.85, which deputies confiscated from drug dealers, to purchase some drones for various purposes, including "indoor locations.” The reader asked: Is the sheriff going to surveil indoor locations with or without a warrant? Who is he targeting? Has he been successful? Are his drones equipped with infrared technology?

So, I called the sheriff and asked him what he planned to do with the drones.

“Lots,” he answered.

Yes, he said, they have infrared, low-light video cameras, and the ability to carry flares.

Yes, state law requires him to get a warrant to check out private property. No, he has not done so and pledged not to do so without obtaining a warrant.

And yes, his five deputy drone pilots had to go to classes to earn an FAA license and are required to follow specific rules.

At the top of the sheriff's drone to-do list is search and rescue. His Lincoln County bailiwick covers lots of coastal waterfronts, some rivers, and open water areas. There are many swamps, marshes and woodlands where a senior citizen, like me, could wander into and get in trouble.

They could also prove useful in a (God forbid) incident at a school, a hospital, or (double God forbid) something or anything involving Wiscasset’s shuttered Maine Yankee nuclear power plant.

And there are more ordinary uses for them, too.

Sheriff's deputies frequently investigate traffic accidents. Sometimes these involve fatalities.

In that case, Brackett's deputies must make detailed diagrams of the accident scene. By using a drone, they can fly over the scene and measure skid marks and other items to help them reconstruct the crash. Gathering these crash reconstruction details takes lots of time. This means they must close all or part of a road, inconveniencing other motorists.

Using a drone, the deputy can get very accurate measurements and put together a detailed diagram of the accident. And he can do it a lot faster than if he was using a tape measure and a pencil and paper.

The sheriff said his current drone stable includes different-sized models that cost about $900 each. He said the process is underway of putting together a grant application to help buy two larger drones that will let him search an area for much longer than allowed by the current equipment.

The ones he wants to buy will cost about $30,000 each.

While they are probably worth the money, especially if it helps him find a lost child, a confused senior citizen, or a bad guy, I am sure our Lincoln County commissioners would love it if he could find someone else to help pay for them. Then he might be able to find an additional $60,000 to help pay his deputies.

“If your reader has any other questions about the drones and our policies for using them, have him call the sheriff's office. I would be glad to meet with him to explain it,” Brackett said.

The sheriff, who has been in office for 20 years and was just reelected to his sixth four-year term, then asked if I had any other questions. I had one more.

How long will it be before one of your deputies goes into the woods, fires up the drone, and flies it off to spot a big buck hiding in the pucker brush? I asked.

Brackett laughed. Then he got serious.

“That had better be never,” said the Lincoln County sheriff.