Editorial

From the assistant editor

Wiscasset has big decisions ahead, including where to move the sewer plant, and what to plan on every front, from education to economic development, via the next comprehensive plan. Kudos to those…

From the editor

When covered in snow, litter is hidden. Now that spring is here, the short dog-walking route I take is hideous and unsightly – and not just this year. I meant to purchase a trash gripper (my last…

From the assistant editor

With National Volunteer Week this week, Wiscasset Town Manager Dennis Simmons’ April 16 reading of Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows’ letter honoring Katharine Martin-Savage’s posthumous…

From the editor

The school referendum on Wednesday, April 24 has certainly been a controversial subject in conversations around town, at public meetings, in the newspaper via letters to the editor and full page…

From the assistant editor

Something about forget-me-nots starting to spread, and something about the robin’s recent return, both help make up for the wet, windy spring’s often unenjoyable days. But getting Gretchen…

From the assistant editor

Worms and Wiscasset, they just go together.

Both start with “w,” neither was created by artificial intelligence, and both are a long held part of the Midcoast earth. So, to the…

From the editor

Not only is April 10 a day when Boothbay and Boothbay Harbor residents gets a chance to hear about the school renovation project during a pair of public hearings at the Harbor Theater at 5 and 7 p…

From the editor

Kenny Marston, who died too young this week, and I were the number three children in our large 1960s and 1970s families. Those were the best of times, weren't they? No internet to relegate…

From the editor

Congratulations to my wife for beating me again on the NCAA men’s basketball tournament bracket. I know it isn’t over but she holds a three-team lead with the 16 teams still alive. She is…

From the assistant editor

You may have noticed in our election previews, we will often say someone is uncontested on the ballot.

It would sound better to just say they are uncontested, since “on the ballot” is…

From the assistant editor

Two things this week got me thinking about the familiar question in some of our small towns: Is an issue better decided at the polls or an open town meeting? I’d go with the polls, but just barely…

From the editor

I haven’t used this headline/type of column since August of 2022. Yes, I have praised various happenings, people and groups since then – and I have cursed the weather and governments’ decisions –…

From the assistant editor

If you, as I, have not been enjoying the persistent, punching, chilly, power-threatening wind along the Midcoast on several recent days, here are a few good things about the wind and all its gusts…

From the editor

Before opening my eyes Tuesday morning, I was dreaming it was 8:30 a.m., that I didn’t have to go to work (I think I smiled in my dream state) … then I opened my eyes, turned over and looked at…

From the assistant editor

Does anyone think Putin will stop after Ukraine? That’s not how this works. And if anyone thinks Putin considers the U.S. hands off, that we cannot be dominated or ended, that we wouldn’t let that…

From the editor

There’s usually a catch when you are offered something for free, right? Go online and look at the dozens of websites where you can get stuff for free. The catch being getting emails up the ying…

From the assistant editor

Kudos to Wiscasset’s Schoonerfest for, after a year off, coming back with a planned event that sounds like it will still be a nice time. Some of the plans are similar to the…

From the editor

Early spring in Omaha

My son texted me a Weather Channel graphic showing us that it was 76F in Omaha, Nebraska on Monday. I know he was being kind and happy that spring is coming fast to…

From the editor

February is National Library Lover's Month.  

When I was young and not preoccupied with a job or raising my family, I used to hang out at the Boothbay Harbor Memorial Library in the…

From the assistant editor

This week’s entry is all positive, devoid of both wind chill and ice. Feel free to write in (news@wiscassetnewspaper.com or on our Facebook page) and add to the list of positives:

From the editor

Patrick Mahomes is the best quarterback since Tom Brady. He doesn’t get rattled, used the short passing scheme (a la Brady) to drive the team to the winning touchdown in overtime, and has now won…

From the editor

Every Tuesday, this column has to be ready for print as we go to press late that afternoon. Coming up with ideas on what to write is sometimes difficult. I am not an opinionated person so most of…

From the assistant editor

Please take a few minutes to read Arts Editor Lisa Kristoff’s online piece “What’s a healthy…

From the editor

One of the hot topics of conversation around Maine high school basketball about two-thirds through the regular season was the lopsided scores put up by the Oceanside High School Mariners boys’…

From the assistant editor

When the forecast called for flooding, Wiscasset made a burrito.

Not just any burrito, this one helped protect the sewer plant. Kudos to town staff for,…

From the editor

We should all be proud.

The small group of young people from the region, Boothbay Region YMCA Y Arts…

From the assistant editor

An Alna without Everett “Tom” Albee is not quite the same. Albee, who died Dec. 31, always embodied the best of the town, its ruralness and good nature; and when someone has been so much a part of…

From the editor

I was miles away from the coast in January and February of 1978, attending classes at the University of Maine. However, I do remember coming home during winter break and looking through the pages…

From the editor

It’s been three weeks since the Winter Solstice and have you noticed that daylight has been getting longer? More minutes to enjoy the outdoors, like cleaning the snow and ice off your car – now…

From the editor

The holiday celebrations and time off from work are over and we, the newspaper staff, are looking forward to another fine year ahead.

We are currently, however slowly, getting our annual…

From the assistant editor

This is the year repairs will finish on the Wawenock block on Main Street, some project will be announced for Mason Station and it will not snow much.

I put that last prediction in there…

From the assistant editor

Lots of times in testimony, in or out of court, like in last week’s Wiscasset Middle High School principal hearing at Wiscasset Elementary School and Zoom, witnesses will say some thing(s) beyond…

From the editor

The 2020s have been an interesting decade so far. The COVID-19 pandemic, the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, massive floods and fires around the world, mass shootings (including a horrendous one…

From the assistant editor

With the windy mess Monday was, towns stepped up as they do, to help all get through.

Wiscasset’s TextMyGov informed subscribers of the free service about the day’s road closures and the…

From the editor

What’s your favorite Christmas movie? What Christmas songs do you enjoy singing along with?

Let’s start with movies.

Every time I watch “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation,” I…

From the assistant editor

A change in administration at a Wiscasset school or the department is usually not huge news.

These days, as in other careers, both public and private sector, people do not tend to stay as…

From the editor

We don’t always do things correctly here at the newspaper when protecting or backing up our digital files. I say “we” but the finger of accusation could be pointed at me in a straight arm manner…

From the editor

The final month of the year and it seems like the region always cranks up before the new year with all the holiday events that are held. We’re not done yet with 2023, but reflecting back on a busy…

From the assistant editor

As Maine forecasts never (read, “often”) need tweaking or fully changing in the days and hours leading up to an event, I am moderately comfortable at press time Tuesday, Saturday night’s rain…

From the editor

Congratulations to the Boothbay Region High School Rotary Interact Club for raising $1,000 for the victims of the mass shooting in Lewiston in late October. It was a great idea to have the popular…

From the assistant editor

Are you part of the last generation of kids who were outside from about daybreak to near dark? If that was you working a paper route on bike or foot, and/or playing ball, hopscotch, jacks, and…

From the editor

Thanksgiving 1973 was a great memory. My 30 teammates and I were extra thankful that day as we had just completed a championship football season – being crowned co-champions in Class D. It was the…

From the editor

Using reporter Fritz Freudenberger’s lead question in his article on the CSD board of trustees meeting story this week regarding the aftermath of the Nov. 7 vote where voters turned down the two…

From the editor

I caught a rare cold this week – not surprising since it has hit a few of my office mates – but hopefully our readers haven’t gotten a cold, the flu, the dreaded COVID-19 virus, or any other fall/…

From the assistant editor

U.S. Rep. Jared Golden, D – Maine, has, thankfully, changed his stance on assault rifles. 

Hours after last week’s mass shootings in Lewiston, Golden told a news conference: “Out of fear…

From the editor

Most people fall in love with their pets, pampering them to no end. But sometimes, animals are hoarded, mistreated and abused.  

This week’s news out of Belfast where a couple was arrested…

From the assistant editor

Lawyers’ interpretations and arguments figure prominently in some of this week’s stories, namely the Maine Yankee appeal hearing and Alna’s on the selectboard’s settlement with a resident over a…

From the editor

Congratulations to the recipients of the annual Boothbay Harbor Region Chamber of Commerce awards. You can read all about who won and the event online and in this issue in the story and photos…

From the assistant editor

Closing in on Nov. 7, Wiscasset may revise its months old cannabis ordinances. As we have reported, this would tweak where the businesses can go, including fixing an error officials said would let…

We are hoping you are keeping up with the Boothbay Region school referendum information online as well as in print. The amount of information supplied by the AOS 98 Superintendent’s Office is…