Cheers and jeers from around the news:

• Jeers to the thieves who nabbed the purse hooks from Fuel. The hooks, which attach to table ends to hold ladies’ handbags, have steadily disappeared from the upscale eatery on Lisbon Street in Lewiston. Only two remained as of last week.

They were an elegant touch for an elegant restaurant; now most are gone, and it’s a shame.

• Cheers to the town of Raymond’s effort to secede from Cumberland County. So far, only the town of Otisfield has been successful in doing so; others have tried, but failed. Raymond faces a battle; the procedure for switching counties is bureaucratically Byzantine and whether Raymond shares a border with Oxford County is debatable.

But these efforts must be supported. County government in Maine must be reformed. Each community that questions its county government is a step in that direction. All counties should have modern charters and full-time managers to replace the inefficient, static systems of part-time commissioners and political fiefdoms that now reign.

Of course, they should also all have commissioners who live within the communities they represent.

But that, as we’ve said, goes without saying.

• Jeers to Sen. Lois Snowe-Mello, for backtracking on her statements about the state’s Animal Welfare Office and blaming the Sun Journal for “distorting” her views. Sen. Snowe-Mello made her comments to Mike Tipping, who writes the Mainepolitics.net blog, about her quotes in a Sept. 14, 2007, article about an animal meeting in Lewiston.

At that time, the senator was quoted as comparing the Animal Welfare Office with the “Gestapo” and that she was “afraid” of what it was doing. In talking to Tipping, Snowe-Mello said she was repeating words from somebody else.

We stand by our story. Snowe-Mello should stand by her statements.

• Cheers to Norway for considering a proposal to allow seniors to donate time to pay property taxes. The idea, for many towns, seems like a winner, for three reasons: Maine has plenty of skilled seniors, high property taxes, and small towns with more projects than means to complete them.

A new Maine law allows municipalities to provide $750 in property tax benefits to residents age 60 and above if they volunteer for the towns. Norway is the first community we’ve heard about that’s looking at it.

We think more should.

• Jeers to political sign vandalism. The message on the sign is much more important than the message sent by either trashing or stealing it. Leave them alone. That’s democracy at work. Don’t like what it says? Get your own sign.

• And cheers to Carol Coultas, our colleague who left the Sun Journal this week after 22 years to become editor of MaineBiz magazine. She’s one of the best journalists we know and we’re sure she’ll do a tremendous job in her new role.

We miss her already.