Thumbs up to the town of Old Orchard Beach, the Conservation Commission, Department of Public Works and all who worked to make the nearly completed spur trail from the Eastern Trail into town a reality. The new spur leads people off the Eastern Trail to the downtown, giving bicyclists a safe way to explore all Old Orchard Beach has to offer.

Thumbs up to the University of New England researchers who are working to develop safer, less addictive opioid drugs for the treatment of chronic pain after receiving a five-year, $4.5 million grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse. Heroin and opioid abuse has become an epidemic in Maine and neighboring states, and research is one of many ways we must combat the problem.

Thumbs down to the apparent imminent closure of Spectrum Health Systems in Sanford, which provides methadone treatment and counseling to those addicted to heroin and other opioids. Methadone works for some people and the Sanford clinic, open only 1 1/2 years, is the only one in York County dispensing methadone. There aren’t a lot of treatment alternatives out there for folks trying to get clean. Now it appears there will be one less – company officials announced the closure Monday but haven’t given a specific date.

Thumbs up to everyone who works hard to put on the Acton Fair, York County’s only agricultural fair, year after year. This year, the fair is marking its 150th anniversary. There’s something comforting knowing that every August, the fair will go on. So go. Watch a 4-H exhibition, take in a stage show, talk to the farmer who grows those humongous tomatoes, and check out the midway. Try some chicken livers, fried up by your neighbors in the local Rotary Club and take in the pig scramble on Sunday. It’s fun, and we all need that in our lives.

Thumbs up to University of New England Athletic Director Jack McDonald and his staff for locking up an agreement with the Coast Guard Academy to be the first opponent for the new Nor’easters’ football team, which will debut on the varsity level in 2018. This is a huge step in the right direction for UNE athletics and will be exciting for local sports fans once the UNE football squad hits the field in a few years. UNE will face the Coast Guard on Thursday, Aug. 30, 2018 at Cadet Memorial Field in New London, Connecticut in what will be the Nor’easters’ first varsity contest, and the two teams will play in Biddeford the following season on Saturday, Sept. 7, 2019.

Thumbnails is a Friday feature of the Journal Tribune’s opinion pages. If you want to respond, feel free to write to the Readers’ Forum via e-mail ([email protected]) or by dropping your letter off at our office.