The Mechanic Falls Public Library is set to reopen Saturday.We might call it a grand opening in that it is an important and delightful premiere.Last month, vandals burglarized the library, tossing books, upending furniture and generally wrecking the place and stealing valuables. The destruction was not complete, but it was contemptuous.Public libraries are society’s equalizers. […]

An estimated 17 percent of Oxford County children consume at least one alcoholic drink by the time they reach the sixth grade. When they’re high school seniors, 75 percent of these children have tasted alcohol.Norway Police Chief Robert Federico said “That’s a little surprising, even for us (police).” It’s got to be a whole lot […]

Only government could sink the Internet and e-mail – otherwise known as “electronic constituent outreach efforts”- into partisan bickering deep enough to require a special subcommittee.Welcome to the real-life Maine.gov.Republicans and Democrats inside the Legislature have been squabbling for weeks over the use of the state’s official Web site, after the Senate GOP cried foul […]

AUSTIN, Texas – Mr. Harris has a way of putting things.That’s what the young men say if you ask how he was able to get through to them when nobody else – teachers, mothers, cops – was able to. He has a way of breaking things down so you can understand.For instance? “I tell them […]

Maine needs more nurses. We’re desperate for them, and there are hundreds of people who want to become nurses. There are just not enough schooling slots available to train the nurses Maine needs.State law requires nursing instructors to hold master’s degrees. That vastly narrows the number of instructors available to teach, but the requirement is […]

In the last presidential campaign, Republicans delighted in attacking John Kerry as a flip-flopper. They took every effort by Kerry to explain his voting record and turned it into a crude somersault. The fact that he was both for and against the war was the biggest laugh line of all.Now the joke’s on them. Mitt […]

Take heart, all Maine agencies and officials now facing an ethics policy for the first time. It could be worse.You could be in Congress.Federal zeal for ethical behavior has now made chairs and flatware ethical faux pas. Observers call this “toothpick ethics,” because Congress has decided hors d’oeuvres – usually served on toothpicks – are […]

Describing oft-debated Waterford Selectman William “Whizzer” Wheeler’s personality is an adventure in adjectives. Unabashed, rough, cantankerous, possessing “social flaws” and a “not sugary” personality have been our regular descriptors of the Whiz.Other, less flattering, appraisers of Whizzer have used “explosive” and, most recently, “liar.”But after his firecracker end to his selectman’s career on Feb. 19 […]

As House members were debating their Iraq resolution on Feb. 16, a very different Iraq drama was going on in the Senate, with hardly any attention paid.The Senate Foreign Relations Committee was holding confirmation hearings for Ryan Crocker, the new U.S. ambassador-designate to Baghdad. Even Iraq skeptics heaped praise on Crocker, one of the country’s […]

“Anti-hero: A main character in a dramatic or narrative work who is characterized by a lack of traditional heroic qualities, such as idealism or courage.”Consider what occupies and diverts our attention from substantive matters: Anna Nicole Smith; Britney Spears; the astronaut gone wild, Lisa Nowak; the sleeping, dating, marital and divorce arrangements of film stars. […]