Editorial

From the editor

As I write Tuesday morning, with the deadline clock ticking as we finish laying out the last few pages of the March 16 issue, another nor’easter is headed our way. Not fun but it is a test of our…

From the editor

Do you use a lot of calendars to keep track of your life? I find them very handy and, of course, necessary in assigning and keeping track of work schedules for reporters and news contributors. I…

From the assistant editor

If I had been one of the women driving lost for days around Maine’s borders and rural Maine last week, I would probably not feel like going anywhere again for a while, or at least not doing the…

From the editor

Hey, it’s March. Stop with the snow! We’ve had enough storms in the past two weeks to make up for the snow that didn’t fall in December and January … and the early part of February. No joke … we’…

From the assistant editor

Good job, Wiscasset School Department, for following through on the plan to involve students in the dress code update after last fall’s homecoming dance fiasco, where girls said they were turned…

From the editor

Readers? Supporters? Critics?

We are the public's voice, the mirror on what the public does and does not do, so it stands to reason that the public is in contact with us throughout the…

From the assistant editor

Around here, Joe Gelarden, whose “Ramblings from an old scribbler” columns enrich our weekly print edition and wiscassetnewspaper.com and boothbayregister.com, said: “You can’t put the toothpaste…

From the editor

Hope you are enjoying the series of articles on Maritime Explorers being written by Liz Bagonzi. I know that I am learning a lot about people she has written about and their seafaring adventures.…

From the assistant editor

V is for the volunteers who help Wiscasset’s government on committees like those discussed on page 4 and online this week.

A is for Al, as in Big Al’s, gone as the Super Values mecca on…

From the editor

The Boothbay region was hit with more than frigid cold this past weekend. The water damage done to Boothbay Region Elementary School due to burst pipes – because of the polar vortex – will take a…

From the assistant editor

I was really happy to hear from Wiscasset’s Lynn Maloney near press time Tuesday morning.

New developments on Wiscasset’s coaching front and on Monday’s closure of Wiscasset Community…

From the editor

The second month of the year is not always kind. Local readers might remember the February storm of 1978, which was preceded by a big January storm. The coastline took a pounding with high winds,…

From the assistant editor

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,…

From the editor

When Lynn Blake approached me just before Christmas about the Register doing a story/series on the costs of Boothbay Region High School’s graduation events, we were lucky to have our “new” news…

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

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

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…

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

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…

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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…

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 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

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 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

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’…

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

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

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…

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

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?…

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…

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…

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…

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 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

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

October is Domestic Abuse Awareness

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 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

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…