Not so long ago, Maine winters were a lot colder. Around this time of year the mercury would plunge far below freezing and stay that way for days, sometimes weeks even here on the coast. Around…
Talk
A Bird’s Tale
For more than 15 years we’ve been hoping.
We had said the phrase, “This is the perfect place for a short-eared owl,” so many times that it had become a kind of inside joke.
Birders…
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…
’Round Town
It’s kind of odd, isn’t it. To look out at the calm sea after all we have been through this past week. In sort of a weird kind of way it’s like someone out there said “Let’s go to work on the…
Joe’s Journal
Here is a note from a longtime OP pal.
You know me.
They used to call me three trees, but Mother Nature culled my two siblings several…
letter to the editor
Dear Editor:
Trump insisted that his inauguration was the biggest in history. The claim was easily disproved. Why did he pick a fight over this silly issue, making his press secretary…
letter to the editor
Dear Editor:
I am currently the senior warden at St. Philips Church.
I would like to clear up some misconceptions and misunderstandings about the 10 SROs (single-resident occupancy…
letter to the editor
Dear Editor:
Within a few short months there has been so much animosity and discontent that the school has become divided. These allegations and accusations have painted a black cloud over…
letter to the editor
Dear Editor:
The growing tax burden on small towns like Edgecomb is simply unsustainable. Schools, emergency response entities, and even the town management are all subjected to…
The next Public Supper will be Wednesday, Feb. 7. The menu will be tomato soup, anadama rolls, salad, baked ham, scalloped potatoes, green beans, and Indian pudding a la mode.…
If you’re like a lot of people, you spent a lot this holiday season and you might be in the mood to tackle your debt in the new year. Getting yourself out of debt is hard work. It takes time…
A Bird’s Tale
It was Saturday. Grocery shopping needed to be done. Prescriptions needed filling. The floors needed a vacuuming and the towels needed to be folded and put away.
A major snowstorm was…
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…
Joe’s Journal
Three years ago, I was driving down I-95 en route to Boston when I heard something on the radio that almost made me swerve off the road.“They have breached the Capitol,“ said an NPR announcer.…
’Round Town
Well, we finally got it! And maybe then some. At 5 p.m., right now, it is still snowing. I plowed all our roads once around 1 o’clock thinking that maybe the weather folks might have an inside…
letter to the editor
Dear Editor:
Bill LD 1578, known as the National Popular Vote (NPV), would simply award Maine’s vote in the electoral college to the presidential candidate who received the most U.S. votes…
Dear Editor:
Just before Christmas, St. Philip's congregation received a gift of bread, with the following greeting, “Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas, and a…
The next Public Supper will be Wednesday, Jan. 17. Menu will include chicken soup, salad, rolls, baked haddock, baked potato wedges, vegetable medley, and chocolate bread pudding…
It’s New Year’s Resolution time. Time to make a commitment to be fraud aware in 2024. For the next 52 weeks, like clockwork, scammers will be on the prowl looking to steal our money or sensitive…
A Bird’s Tale
Something unusual seems to be happening.
Here in Maine, it started off with the discovery of the western sibling species to our familiar eastern towhee, a spotted towhee, at Fort Foster in…
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 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…
’Round Town
Without a wintry look right now I thought it might be fun to dig out an image from a winter past. Not that I’m complaining, but there is only so much one can do with fog and rain, especially at…
Joe’s journal
Months ago, when the world was younger, and we were too, we looked forward to the coming primary election season.
The Iowa caucuses are in a couple of weeks, and Super Tuesday (and the…
The next Public Supper will be Wednesday, Jan. 17. Menu is chicken soup, salad, rolls, baked haddock, baked potato wedges, vegetable medley, chocolate bread pudding with whipped…
If there is one thing we know, it’s that criminal scammers are not stupid. They often use cutting-edge technologies to make their schemes more sophisticated and harder to detect. However, these…
The next meeting of the Garden Club of Wiscasset will be on Jan. 4 in Fellowship Hall of the Congregational Church, 28 High St. in Wiscasset. There is a brief…
New Hope Midcoast
Many believe that substance use is an underlying cause of domestic abuse, but this is a misconception. There is nothing in drugs or alcohol that causes someone to believe that they have the right…
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…
Salt ’n Spar
There was a time, much to the chagrin of lobstermen, when huge tanker ships laden with fuel oil journeyed up the waters of the Sheepscot River. Their destination was Central Maine Power Company’s…
Joe’s Journal
Here we go – the last column of 2023.
I am writing this one in advance as my kids sent me an airline ticket so I could be with them over the holidays. I am grateful for their…
letter to the editor
Dear Editor:
Here’s the logic of it. All the legal entanglements of the ex-president are said to be orchestrated by the Biden administration to undermine his presidential campaign. So…
Where it’s at
Morgan Mitchell’s Creative Flow Circles got their start while she and husband Andrei Bazaiac were living in Portland. Morgan was working at an ad agency and observed how mentally drained her…
A Bird’s Tale
The Augusta area Christmas Bird Count took place Saturday, Dec. 16. It was a very mild day for mid-December, another in a series of rather mild days that increasingly have become the new normal as…
The next Public Supper will be Wednesday, Jan. 3. Menu will include vegetable noodle soup, garlic bread, salad, spaghetti and meatballs, brownies with ice cream and chocolate…
The holidays are a time when friends and family of all ages gather together, share updates on their lives and recount cherished memories. One thing to add to that list this year: a conversation on…
’Round Town
This will be the second installment of my season-enhancing attempt. Without the expectation of snow for the foreseeable future it only seemed right to offer a view from winter past. I hope you…
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…
’Round Town
As I sit here at my desk, such as it is, this morning on the 18th of December I can hear the wind gusts in the fireplace flu and get a healthy puff of smoke from the wood stove. The wind was…
Joe’s Journal
Dear Readers,
It has been a tough year for us all, but 2024 has all the earmarks of being even more trying than the last.
We are in the midst of change.
Old guys and gals,…
The next Public Supper will be Wednesday, Jan. 3. Menu will be vegetable noodle soup, garlic bread, salad, spaghetti and meatballs, and brownies with ice cream and chocolate sauce…
It’s the season of giving, and for those in the spirit, telling the difference between a real charity and a con can be a challenge. Legitimate charities make a big push at year-end for last-minute…
A Bird’s Tale
Most people find birds beautiful, fascinating, even entrancing. Some recognize only a few that they see in the backyard and neighborhood—chickadees, crows, cardinals, blue jays. These they may…
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…
Joe’s Journal
Years ago, a man we call Luke told us this tale that has been retold for generations.
“And it came to pass that in those days there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that the whole…
