Cheers and jeers from around the news:

• Jeers for current Androscoggin County Commissioner Helen Poulin, who says residing outside her district is immaterial. It is not. The least she now could do is hold office hours in Lewiston so constituents could meet her.

Wait. That’s not quite true.

The least Poulin really could do is resign.

• Cheers for State Treasurer David Lemoine, for strong-arming (with the Attorney General) broker Merrill Lynch to repay the state’s misbegotten $20 million investment in the failed hedge fund Mainsail II. Although Lemoine wasn’t to blame for the loss, he deserves credit for getting our money back.

• Jeers for DirigoHealth, which was revealed this week to be running a $20 million deficit. Oh well. The returning Mainsail money was nice while it lasted.

• Cheers for SAD 17 for trimming its junior varsity athletic schedule as a cost-saving measure. Sure, sparing a few games only saved $6,500, but belt-tightening is representative of what most Mainers are doing for the winter.

SAD 17 is simply doing the same, and has set a good example for what other school districts could do.

• And, while we’re talking about Oxford Hills schools, cheers for driver Linda Berry for her quick-thinking when her bus caught fire outside the high school Wednesday. She saved others and was, thankfully, unhurt. We applaud her.

• Jeers for the city of Lewiston, for backing down against JoAn Karkos. The city was disinterested in seeing the 64-year-old grandmother jailed for failing to return a controversial sex-ed book to the library and let the matter drop.

They should have pursued it. Her arrest would have caused controversy, but the law is the law.

Letting Karkos escape without punishment is bad precedent.

• Cheers for Rumford selectmen and Town Manager Len Greaney. They erred greatly by holding an executive session with alleged casino developer Seth Carey, yet remedied their error during their meeting Thursday.

Without voter authorization, the casino doesn’t exist. (We’re not so sure it exists anyway.) The town shouldn’t have granted secrecy to Carey, when a casino is an important issue with an impact far beyond its borders. Kudos to selectmen and Greaney for recognizing their mistake. Now, they should tell us what was talked about.

• Cheers to Central Maine Medical Center. Why? Their landscaping has looked great this summer. (OK, not an earthshaking revelation, but it warrants mentioning.)

• And, finally, cheers and jeers to the Federal Communication Commission for its incessant advertising about the end of analog television. On one hand, this high-profile campaign is needed, since the switch could be a nuisance. But why isn’t everything government does trumpeted this way?

If the government drummed as much attention to everything it does, this country would be a better place.


Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.

Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.