Whether you hate it or love it, government is something we can’t live without. It’s what makes a civil society possible. We’re fortunate to have a democratic form of government but it obligates us to continually define its purpose, its scope and its cost. But it can’t be a spectator sport if we expect it […]

Kudos to Edgar Allen Beem in last week’s Universal Notebook when he states, “Now is the time for wholesale conservation … The future of the North Woods does not lie in wood chips and toilet paper, it lies in keeping the largest expanse of unbroken woodlands east of the Mississippi intact.” May I add that […]

Kudos to Edgar Allen Beem for his endorsement of a Maine Woods National Park. The only arguable inaccuracy was the statement that a new national park is unpopular among Mainers. Last November Portland-based Critical Insights, an independent public opinion firm, conducted a statewide survey of voters. It revealed that 78 percent of them support the […]

Maine is becoming increasingly aware of the dangers involved both in keeping unused medications in our medicine cabinets and in flushing them or putting them in the trash. What to do? Call your legislators and ask them to adopt LD 821, “An Act to Support Collection and Proper Disposal of Unused Drugs.” LD 821 would […]

Daughter Nora tells people she lives in Narnia, C.S. Lewis’s fantasy-land where the White Witch decreed that it always be winter, though never Christmas. Actually, she lives in the White Mountains, where she and her fiance work for conservation groups. Our whole family was up in the Whites last month for a nephew’s wedding at […]

The late President Lyndon B. Johnson once said “the fact that a man is a newspaper reporter is evidence of some flaw of character.” Johnson’s comment – from an era when newspapers were still the primary source of news and information – probably offered more insight into his character and his contempt for the press than […]

I saw a new bumper sticker on a car at the Falmouth Shopping Center today. It said, “Know your farmer.” And for the first time, I can say I do. Kathy supplies me with potatoes and cabbage and mini McIntosh apples. No longer is she just the bundled-up body under the “Valley View Farm” sign […]

My wife and I have been concerned for some time over the perceived encroachment of the Falmouth conservationists on the private land owners of this town. This concern was increased when we tuned in to a rebroadcast of the Jan. 25 Town Council meeting and heard a young man presenting a proposal to increase the […]

Tony Payne receives high marks for projecting misconceptions about business here in Maine. He is stuck on the idea that taxes and worker benefits stunt job creation. Surely low taxes are helpful to entice employers to locate to this state. However, there are other more compelling reasons why companies are avoiding Maine or failing in […]