This week’s entry is all positive, devoid of both wind chill and ice. Feel free to write in (news@wiscassetnewspaper.com or on our Facebook page) and add to the list of positives:

Wiscasset basketball is impressing all. How many years have I written, it is just good that Wiscasset is still able to field this or that sports team, or that, in lieu of one, a season of drills and such was planned so those who did sign up would still get to play and gain or reinforce skills? And it’s true, playing time is better than a sport’s being sidelined, but a conference run is even better, and Wiscasset pulled it off, fielding a team and, as of press time Tuesday, being a day away from the Class D boys semis.

Good luck, Wolverines, and thank you for helping make Wiscasset’s presence known again on the Maine sports scene. This, just weeks after Maine Sports Hall of Fame named Wiscasset’s Anna McDougal, Special Olympics world games medalist, a member of its upcoming 2024 class of inductees. 

Pretty exciting stuff, Wiscasset. 

So was my phone call Tuesday with past Wiscasset selectman Heather Jones: I was asking about the memorial bench Jones made a couple years ago in honor of poet-civil rights advocate James Weldon Johnson. The town and state were honoring Johnson, known for, among other works and accomplishments, the hymn, “Lift ev’ry voice and sing.” Johnson spent time in Maine. He died in a 1938 car-train crash in Wiscasset.

Tuning in to the Super Bowl, I was pleased to hear, as part of the pre-game ceremony, a performance of “Lift ev’ry voice and sing.” And I thought how good it was that Wiscasset Common has that bench Jones made. Then, I recalled the bench being removed for some work and for the addition of a plaque. So I asked Jones the status of it. The work is done, the plaque is on, and the bench will be back on the common any day soon, when the weather is right.

Kudos to the Super Bowl planners, to include that hymn of historic significance, along with Reba McIntire’s wonderful delivery of the national anthem. And good job, all those in Wiscasset and Maine who have honored Johnson in various ways, including with the bench that is coming back to the common.