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’s Better Newspaper Contest for our website in the Weekly 2 division – the largest group of weekly newspapers in Maine with circulations above 2,000 per week. I recently hung our winning plaque on the wall, next to four others we have won over the past few years. One thing I wished the Oregon judge had done was to indicate why he picked our website over the Maine Monitor’s (second place) and The Courier-Gazette’s (third place) websites. It would give us incentive to see what we need to improve upon and what he/she liked.

I bring this up because I would like to thank our communities and individuals for helping us “broadcast” the news, especially during this time where our editorial staff is shorter than it’s been in at least five years – and perhaps the shortest since I joined the newspaper back in 1987. We are still on the hunt for a full-time reporter to replace Joseph Charpentier, who left the staff “reluctantly” because of his long commute from his new home in Wilton. We’re also searching for a news contributor or two to help with coverage.

We have been juggling (actually adding to) Bill Pearson’s beats and Steve Edwards and Lisa Kristoff have filled in to cover some area events since Joe’s departure about four weeks ago. And news contributor Jane Carpenter has helped as well. All have done a good job of keeping the news flowing but we want to do better and avoid possible burnout by hiring two or three people. I did receive an inquiry about a news contributor position this week, so hopefully we are on the right track.

I will be taking a few days off this coming week – my first since mid-May – but I will also be trying to hunt down a reporter in between my “leaf detail” at home.

Readers, please be patient with us while we strive to bring you the news in the best possible way – by bringing more people on board to do that.