Starting July 1, all elected officials in Maine must undergo mandatory training about the state’s Freedom of Access Act. It’s a low-intensity educational experience; a simple tutorial suffices.This is the bare minimum, however, of how much knowledge public officials should have about their duties and requirements under FOAA. An intuitive approach to public access to […]

Auburn Police should re-consider when it allows police officers to participate, on city time, in charitable endeavors. The department’s charity nearly cost one of its officers, Bud Caouette, dearly in New Hampshire recently.Caouette was escorting a group of motorcycle-riding members of the New Auburn American Legion, when his police motorcycle collided with an automobile in […]

The value of a sentiment isn’t felt by who bestows it, but rather by who receives it. Halting the practice of mayoral sentiments, as floated in Lewiston, is the wrong solution to a problem of political appearances. Council President Tom Peters has suggested Mayor Larry Gilbert, while he is a candidate for the Maine House […]

The sulfur-smelling devil in the details of Auburn’s proposal to add residents to its oil purchasing contract was the brief timeframe. There wasn’t enough time to sell skeptical oil dealers on the program and quell their fears.For the plan to have worked, oil dealers would have either had to accept the risks (customer creditworthiness, equipment […]

Maine has a closed nuclear power plant, Maine Yankee, that stores its spent nuclear fuel in Wiscasset.It is a pretty good idea for somebody to mind it.That person is Pat Dostie, Maine’s nuclear safety inspector. He’s a former Maine Yankee worker, who now holds the ignominious distinction of still having his state job, despite its […]

Debate in the River Valley over whether the 11 towns who support – and benefit from – Med-Care Ambulance Service should renew the service for another 10 years seems hung on the wrong issues.Whether the growing service needs a new building, or if the construction is being properly financed are important conversations for the community […]

It shouldn’t be surprising a power company has good ideas about where wind power should be developed within Maine. Moving electricity across the state, after all, is their bread-and-butter.Maine’s had site-by-site fights on wind power for too long. The battleground names – Redington Pond Range, Black Nubble Mountain, Byron, Roxbury – have adopted a Civil […]

So, money really does grow on farms.This week, Congress voted to override President Bush’s veto of the Farm Bill, and continue a shameful practice of offering lavish subsidies to anybody who – for the purposes of federal regulation – qualifies as a “farmer.”Now, President Eisenhower once said, “Farming is easy when your plow is a […]

Depending on political persuasion, the specter of the venerable Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., is engaging or infuriating. If the measure of a man is his friends and enemies, then Teddy Kennedy is giant among giants.This week, Kennedy was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor. It was only natural to see, a few days later, images […]

Island generosity has flared discussion about church and state, with ramifications for communities across Maine.Tiny Swan’s Island, with a year-round population of about 325, created a tuition subsidy policy in 2006 for island families. As a town without a high school, Swan’s children can get state-paid tuition to other schools.As long, however, as they are […]