Wiscasset correctly acted quickly last week to right a ballot wrong and keep Wiscasset Community Center open until voters can do their part, again. And Town Manager Dennis Simmons was right on two counts: Getting answers and advice ASAP and, at that night’s emergency selectmen’s meeting, saying he should have talked with Director Duane Goud before making the decision to close the community center.

Simmons, the new select board and other town officials worked as fast as municipally possible that day, and one great thing came of the ballot error and all that followed: It showed how important the center is to so many, in or out of a pandemic.

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That wasn’t the only good handling in the past week. Sunday, Cam Newton and the New England Patriots showed the team can still produce post-Tom Brady. It wasn’t the same without Brady, and Brady could have eased the pain by looking a little less happy to be wearing his number on a Tampa Bay uniform. But good for him; I hope it works out. 

Patriots season, here at last, is off to a great start as long as COVID–19 is as absent as the audience. I could do without the nonstop cheering from the fans who are not there. It would be strange without that sound, but hearing it this way seems strange, too.

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The Haggett’s Garage sign does look nice, a reminder of Wiscasset’s downtown past. It isn’t the building, but it is more homage than many beloved commercial landmarks get. Saving the sign for permanent display was a good idea, well-executed.