Jeers to the Portland City Council, which voted earlier this month against asking applicants to city boards and commissions to disclose if they have criminal convictions or charges pending against them.

The given reason: asking would be an invasion of privacy.

The decision follows revelations earlier this year that a Planning Board member was in violation of her federal parole. She stepped down to serve a six-month sentence.

The recent decision is evidence of a privacy schizophrenia in our society. We have people posting the most intimate details of their lives on the Web and then thinking their criminal records are private, personal matters.

There are some things we simply need to know about people before giving them a position of trust or authority.

Considering criminal convictions private might put unqualified people in important positions and further diminish the idea of personal accountability.

Cheers to the congressional decision last week to change the truck weight limit on I-95 in Maine north of Augusta as a pilot project. Jeers that it took years of work by our congressional delegation, particularly Sen. Susan Collins, to pass this common-sense change.

Currently, big rigs weighing 80,000 to 100,000 pounds must exit I-95 north of Augusta. As a result, those trucks take secondary roads to their destinations, meaning they usually pass through every hamlet on the way.

It just stands to reason that trucks should remain on the safest, straightest and least congested road available — the interstate.

Cheers to the teamwork of Sabattus police and neighbors in catching the “dingbat” who is now accused of burglarizing homes in one neighborhood.

All it took was one observant neighbor, home sick during the day, who noticed someone snooping around her neighbor’s home and called police. Sabattus Police Officer Matt Prince saw 21-year-old Gary Gustus, another neighbor, climb from the window of the home and run.

Gustus was arrested, and much of the stolen loot was recovered, some from local pawn shops.

Unfortunately, that will not completely restore everything. “… I must admit that I don’t feel comfortable in my own home, Debra Sokoll told a Sun Journal reporter. “That’s what this guy took from us. It’s not just the money. It’s that sense of security.”

Cheers to the Oxford County Sheriff’s Department for prosecuting illegal junkyards. Laws restricting the endless collection of junk are in place for good reason, and allowing junk to accumulate and contaminate surrounding properties is not good stewardship of the land.

Junkyards have great potential to catch fire, too, which is a fundamental public safety hazard. It just makes sense to monitor these yards.

The best reason for the county to pursue enforcement with zeal is that the junk could be abandoned, leaving behind a great deal of mess for taxpayers to clean up. It’s happened too often to be ignored.

In Roxbury, the code enforcement officer has alerted junk owners numerous times that they’re in violation of the law, and has done what he could to threaten legal action. Now that police are involved, we hope these junk owners will recognize the real threat of $2,500 a day in fines for continued violations.

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