2019 is just a few hours old. For some it has begun in a fog induced stupor. For many others the dawning of a new year brings hope and wishes. For me and my family, the past year was a pretty good one but I am looking forward to a great 2019.

What is in store for the Midcoast area in this new year? What do we hope happens for our neighbors? Our towns and cities? Here is my list.

I hope that the Brunswick Police Department continues with their Stop a Theft program. You know the one where the department has taken to posting some of the mug shots of people apprehended for stealing on social media. The posts have been up for quite some time but lately there has been more than a little chatter about how unfair the posts are.

Never mind that the alleged  crime was committed and it is public information. The posts list Walmart as the location where most of the alleged thefts took place. Given that there are more cameras at Walmart than in the hands of your average high school class, I am sure that the alleged  thieves were caught red-handed on camera. No, we would not want to harm the psyche of those headed to the hoosegow. Let’s hope the posts continue.

I hope that someone steps up and keeps Fat Boy as is. The location is a prime piece of real estate. Sure, the building needs some updating but please keep it intact with the same character and ambience that we are all accustomed to currently. It would be easy to come in and buy the drive in and make it something that it is not. If this happens it will fail.

I hope that the state continues to see record low unemployment. Maine has hovered below 4% unemployment for some time now and it has been great. There is no better tool to fight poverty than people having a job and in Maine there are more jobs than people left to fill them.

I hope that the Grand Canyon of Brunswick is filled in this year. Have you driven down the Thomas Point Road and decided that you needed to turn into the movie theater at Cook’s Corner? If you have and did not notice the crater that is in the driveway you might need the services of a local tow company. I am not saying the hole is gigantic but if you are driving something smaller than a large SUV you will not be seen or heard from again until summer. In fact I have heard that a local entrepreneur is planning on selling donkey rides down to the bottom of the hole this year.

Speaking of theaters, we have a number of great ones in the area. Smitty’s, Regal, Nordica, Eveningstar all are great. They each offer the movie goer something different. Unfortunately some these theaters are only as good as the movies they show. I hope that 2019 has a number of great offerings but looking at some of the lists of movies coming out my hopes are being dashed.

We can look forward to another series of superhero movies. We can also look forward to another Terminator movie. This one might as well be called, “Terminator 19: Arnold Wears Liquid Metal Depends.” Alas, maybe 2020 will have to be the year for decent movies.

I hope that the town finds a really good replacement for Pender Makin. With her going to Augusta to be the Education Commissioner it upsets plans here in Brunswick. I was told by a couple of sources within the school department that when she was hired, she was being groomed to be the next superintendent in town.

Now, Brunswick will be left looking high and low for the superintendent’s successor.

I guess we will not know how the year really turns out until this time next year. Until then we can sit back and wonder what the year has in store for all of us.

Jonathan Crimmins can be reached at [email protected]