Game over. Put a fork in it. Done and Done. Pick your cliche for two well-intentioned efforts that, well, bit the dust Tuesday: Kevin Scott’s gubernatorial campaign and the state’s new program to track student success via their Social Security numbers. In a case of the worst-possible timing, the state announced Tuesday that it was […]
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Jail poisoning charges require an outside review
Jail guards poisoning inmates for laughs? While it sounds far-fetched, stranger things have happened . . . and not that long ago. Two former jail inmates recently filed suit against Franklin County Sheriff Dennis Pike, jail supervisors and staff claiming they were intentionally fed poisoned meals in 2008. A couple of years ago, we might […]
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Put little faith in egg baron’s public apology
Back in June, months before Austin “Jack” DeCoster became the national face of industrial chicken farming, we argued that a $34,000 fine leveled against his Turner mega-farm was too small. At the time, DeCoster’s Maine Contract Farming was on the hot seat for animal cruelty violations secretly recorded during an investigation by an outside group. […]
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Who has the fortitude to track success?
What entity would, in all seriousness, spend 12 years training a person for the work force at a cost of more than $88,000, and then never track to see whether the person could actually perform as trained? The answer? Public schools. It’s true. A huge portion of the state budget, and the lion’s share of […]
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Short takes on the week’s news
Cheers to state veterinarian Don Hoenig, a guy with a reputation for being a bulldog about enforcing health regulations in Maine’s commercial farming operations. His zeal is what has kept Jack “Austin” DeCoster’s birds in Turner clean, and the public here safe from tainted eggs. Mainers have breathed a collective sigh of relief in recent […]
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Loophole was an invitation to fraudulence
It’s done. The loophole that would have given the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission a new exemption from the federal Freedom of Information Act under the just-passed financial overhaul law is closed. The loophole would have allowed the SEC to cloak data it collects while inspecting, or “policing,” securities firms. According to The Associated Press, […]
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Horse trading no substitute for informed debate
Maine U.S. Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins were right to stand with the Republican minority Tuesday and hold up a vote on a $726 billion military spending package. The measure, essentially the U.S. military’s annual budget, would have provided an array of items critical to the common defense: fighter planes, a new school to […]
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A responsibility to maintain professionalism
“It’s people like her who bash the cemetery that put a bad taste in my mouth.” On Monday, Maple Grove Cemetery caretaker David Ferland said that about Brenda Manchester, whose husband, Walter Manchester, is six years buried in the Mechanic Falls cemetery. If anyone should have a bad taste in their mouth, it’s Brenda Manchester. […]
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Lohan is not alone in fight for recovery
September is National Alcohol and Drug Recovery Month and who more prominent than singer and actress Lindsay Lohan to remind us that recovery is not a simple process, even for folks who have the financial means and family support to make it so. Despite her recent repentant behavior and promises that — this time — […]
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Ad watch: Oxford casino
Race: Citizen initiative to build a $165 million four-season casino in Oxford County. TV ad: Two spots touting the proposed casino’s economic and educational benefits. Length: 30 seconds each. Sponsor: Maine Taxpayers Taking Charge, a PAC supporting the casino. Ad 1 Announcer: “Voting yes on Question 1 will bring a four-season resort casino to Oxford […]