Dear Readers,

The New England town meeting is a cherished American tradition. Some historians argue that the ideas prompting our nation to separate from England were first debated at the local level. It is a unique right.

Unlike folks in some other parts of the world, the town meeting gives us a chance to debate the real issues facing our communities.  And we get to vote on them, too.

We have a chance to assess the town’s budgets, programs and services and how we will fund them, all without benefit of advice from Fox News or the editorial page of the New York Times.

We also get to decide these real questions affecting our pocketbooks without help from all those nasty TV commercials calling Democrats “Communists” or Republicans “Nazis.” And, best of all, we do not have to put up with all those “Robo Calls” asking us to vote for this, or against that.

In Boothbay Harbor, this year’s town meeting begins on May 3 at the town office, with the election of three town selectmen. Incumbent selectman William R. Hamblen is seeking reelection, as is former selectman Denise C. Griffin. There is a third open seat on the Board of Selectmen. There are several candidates seeking election as write-in candidates.

You will also get a chance to vote for candidates for the school boards, water, sewer and cemetery districts.

These boards are a vital part of our community. I urge you to give the candidates, both declared and undeclared, your highest consideration.

The next day, Saturday, May 4, at 9 a.m., at the Boothbay Region Elementary school gym, voters will have chance to decide if they want to spend $400,000 to replace the Public Works cold storage building.

You will also get to chime in on the St. Andrews Hospital question; a vote will be taken to determine if you support maintaining the facility as a Critical Access Hospital with an emergency department.

If you live in Boothbay, you will vote for new officials on Monday May 6 from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the town office. There are no challengers running to oppose selectman Charles Cunningham, water district trustee Jonathan P. Lewis and school committee member Bill Bailey.

You will be asked if you favor raising $167,808 for the Boothbay Region Ambulance service and if you support maintaining St. Andrews Hospital. Oh yes, there is also a matter of approving spending nearly $1.8 million to fund the town this year.

I urge you to do your homework and participate.

Legal marijuana?

For folks hoping Maine will join other states by passing a bill that would ultimately legalize and tax marijuana, you now have a strange opponent.

No, it is not the police or law and order lobby groups. It is not the anti-tobacco group that regulated, taxed and educated all of us to stop or cut down on cigarette smoking. It is not the religious folks who believe one of the sure roads to Perdition is paved with the “devil’s weed.”

No, it is the owners of medical marijuana clinics.

Yes, the same folks that convinced the Maine Legislature to permit the sale of medical marijuana, (and charge between $175-$350 an ounce) are now lobbying against granting ordinary citizens the right to buy and use pot.

I guess the old saw: “It depends on whose ox is being gored,” applies in dope land, as well as elsewhere.

For the record, our own Rep. Bruce MacDonald (D-Boothbay) is a one of the co-sponsors of the bill to legalize pot. In its present form, it would require a statewide referendum before it becomes law.