Cheers and jeers from around the news:

• Three cheers to Dave and Lacey Castro of Lewiston for winning the annual wife-carrying (spouse-schlepping?) contest at Sunday River. The Castros ran past 40 other couples — including somebody said to be the world’s fittest man — to the crown, winning Lacey’s weight — 97 pounds — of beer as the prize.

That’s the short-term gain. Over the longer term, we’re interested to see how Dave Castro incorporates the techniques and tactics of the wife-carrying contest to the gridiron at Lewiston High School, where he is the assistant football coach. In the NFL, innovative strategies like the “Wildcat” are all the rage among coaches (and are delivering impressive results on the field).

Can the Estonian Carry be far behind?

• Cheers to new beginnings in Jay and Auburn, where two landmarks — the silenced Otis Mill and Martindale Country Club — have changed hands to new local owners.

In Jay, Mary Howes and Tim DeMillo hope to turn the historic paper mill into a complex for business and industry. This is perhaps the best news possible for Jay and Livermore Falls; a rapid plan for restoring some vitality to the building should ease some concerns about the job and tax revenue losses its closure has caused.

In Auburn, the financial ills of Martindale have become known. The new owners, James Day and Nick Glicos, have the endorsement of the club’s members to turn it around. We wish them the very best of luck in doing so.

• Jeers to continued talk about passenger service at the Auburn-Lewiston Municipal Airport. Councilors from both cities were told this week that for $1.3 million of spending, the local airport could accommodate service from here to Washington, D.C. This is a high price to pay, before answering this question: Why?

Just because passenger service is possible, doesn’t make it the right idea. The value of a connection to Washington, D.C., seems minimal. If the goal is connecting A-L to commercial centers, to help spur economic growth in central Maine, the more logical routes would be to Boston and New York City.

Passenger air service at A-L airport is a long-term commitment with a long-term financial obligation for taxpayers. Is it possible? Yes. Whether it is necessary is the better question.

• Cheers to the Great Falls Forum. (Disclosure: The Sun Journal is one of its sponsors.) The forum this week about Question 1 was excellent, informative, fair and civil. In a political society which often emphasizes the contentious over the enlightening, venues such as the forum provide a great alternative.

• Jeers to Michael Steele, head of the Republican National Committee. He told an audience in Ohio this week that he would be a “cow on the tracks” for health care reform, adding “moo moo” for emphasis. Note to Steele: A dawdling heifer may slow momentum, but against trains, the cow always loses.

And the result is never pretty.

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