Guest columns — The Republican Journal

By The Republican Journal Editorial Board | Nov 17, 2009

Share

Recent Posts by The Republican Journal Editorial Board

• Balancing risk to benefit for Searsport's future

  By Peter Sarnacki - Feb 09
  As a Searsport resident and Maine native, I would like to comment on the DCP Midstream informational meeting held recently in Searsport. I want to ...
  

• What makes successful presidents?

  By Lloyd V. Stover - Feb 04
  It is amazing that after several centuries the United States has elected so few outstanding presidents. You can almost count them on one hand: ...
  
• Down t' Home

  I need two more dogs

  By Marion Tucker-Honeycutt - Feb 02
  With this open winter and no snow banking the house, the furnace seems to kick in non-stop. I use wood in the fall ‘til the snow and/or ice coat ...
  

• Expanded 'Window on History' program returns for second season

  By Megan Pinette - Jan 20
  The Belfast Historical Society and Museum is excited to announce that “Window on History,” the televised version of the Belfast Historical ...
  
• 

  The long stretch

  By Marion Tucker-Honeycutt - Jan 20
  When I first started writing for the Journal more than a quarter century ago (when it was The Republican Journal), we didn’t have personal ...
  
• 

  A ring's tale

  By Kipp Wright - Jan 12
  Our colleague, Kipp Wright, hit a rough patch over the recent holiday weekend. Really, it was more of a slimy patch, and at the center of it all, ...
  

• How to kick the oil addiction

  By Kyle Blake - Dec 30
  Recently, the world's population spilled over the 7 billion mark, continuing the world's increasing population trend. With so many people inhabitin...
  

• Time to consider new ideas — again — for American democracy

  By Lloyd V. Stover - Dec 29
  America’s Revolutionary generation combined the Enlightenment ideas of civil liberties for individuals with their perception of the Greek-Roman ...
  

• Why do humans kill each other?

  By Phil Croce - Dec 28
  Why do humans kill each other? Our own species after all. We are animals, of course, and if we look at other animals and examine in what cases a ...
  

• Taking advantage of your medical mind

  By Lloyd V. Stover - Dec 26
  As I approach four score and 10 years I continue to learn how complex are our medical problems, considering how unique are our individual bodies, ...
  

• Thank you, people of Belfast

  By Alex Allmayer-Beck - Dec 25
  You can tell a lot about a city by what the citizens support. In Belfast there is support for parks, green spaces, a dog park, skate park, ice ...
  
• Down t'Home

  Gold, yes — but why frankincense and myrrh?

  By Marion Tucker-Honeycutt - Dec 22
  “We three kings of Orient are / Bearing gifts, we travel so far... " We all know the story. Three kings, three gifts for the Baby born in a ...
  

• Carbon emissions are the highest ever recorded — and the risk of disaster has increased

  By Lloyd V. Stover - Dec 15
  Last year global emissions of carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels broke all records. Worldwide they increased 10 percent. That amounts to a ...
  

• Using our brains to understand history and improve the human condition

  By Lloyd V. Stover - Dec 12
  An education should enable everyone to understand that history is a systematic examination of evidence that provides an explanation of past ...
  
• Down t’Home

  What goes ‘round…

  By Marion Tucker-Honeycutt - Dec 08
  So, here I am again. I missed you all. When my editor, Steve, asked me the other day if I might be interested in writing my column again, I ...
  

• Have you heard about recent advances in hearing aids?

  By Lloyd V. Stover - Dec 07
  Now that a lot of people are living longer and subject to almost constant noise everywhere, it seems prudent to be aware of new advances that are ...
  
• 

  Legislature reins in Maine’s vast welfare system

  By Rep. Ryan Harmon - Nov 29
  One of Governor Paul LePage’s major goals after taking office involved reforming Maine’s welfare system. He campaigned on the idea of bringing our ...
  
• 

  Win or lose, it’s how you play the game

  By Jim O’Connor - Nov 17
  After weeks of campaigning in the recent Belfast election for mayor, I was defeated by the incumbent Mayor Walter Ash. For me it was not a defeat ...
  

• Some background on the Waldo County budget

  By William Shorey - Nov 15
  I wanted to take this opportunity to provide you, the taxpayers of Waldo County, an opportunity to review and process some information regarding ...
  

• Belfast Historical Society and Museum sees good season in 2011

  By Megan Pinette - Oct 28
  It has been a banner year! The Museum opened for the season on June 18, with summer student interns Sierra Ventura and Emma Bonneville holding ...
  
• 

  The Difference is in the Details

  By Jim O'Connor - Oct 27
  As a candidate in the two-way race for Belfast Mayor reflecting on how things might be handled differently than what is done by the current mayor, ...
  

• Help the poor

  By Fritz Lyon - Oct 24
  Where I grew up in the suburbs of Detroit, Michigan, on Halloween we didn’t come to the neighbor’s door and say “Trick or Treat.” We might have ...
  

• Exploring the evolution of religion

  By Lloyd V. Stover - Oct 21
  The Oct. 4 arts section of the New York Times has a thought-provoking article titled, "Heroic Tale of Holocaust, with a Twist." It’s about a film ...
  

• Belfast's approach to making a 'great opportunity come to fruition'

  By Joe Slocum - Sep 15
  More than a year ago the city of Belfast bought a 3-mile railroad easement from Unity Property Management that runs from the northerly line of ...
  
• 

  Class will from an old timer

  By Mike Brown - Sep 15
  Editor's note: Former Journal editor Mike Brown died this week at his residence in Northport. Brown was editor of the Journal from 1968 to 1971, ...
  

• Some of the benefits our ancestors had by running barefooted

  Aug 30
  Almost a century ago, when the writer was a boy, like most rural youngsters, he went barefooted during the summers. Our feet felt good, the soles ...
  

• The best place on earth to live

  By Toni Mailloux - Aug 30
  I remember when I first went to work for The Republican Journal in 1980 and the editor, Jay Davis, used to talk about how this was the best place ...
  

• System-wide change: don’t settle for less!

  By Lisa J. Cooley - Aug 23
  The Rural Aspirations Project proposes to take Monroe's abandoned general store and open an innovative, project-based charter school there for 24 ...
  
• 

  The Gutenberg of Kindle

  By Stephen Allen - Aug 16
  Amazon is the biggest seller of books in the entire world. So when the company introduced Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing, the self-publishing ...
  

• Maskers seek support from public as they prepare to move, sooner than expected

  By Belfast Maskers board ... - Aug 12
  As you may know from a recent press release or mailing, Belfast Maskers is required by the city to move out of the railroad building to make way ...
  
• 

  Wilbur Francis Buck — veteran, neighbor and friend

  By Isabel Morse Maresh - Jul 05
  Wilbur Buck (who lived from 1915 to 1997) will always be a hero in the hearts of his children, and to the many who were privileged to know and ...
  

• The American spirit

  By Donald Violette - Jun 28
  In order to tell if we have the true American spirit, we must turn to the beliefs and practices of America’s founders and founding documents — the ...
  

• 'All-new, all-rhyme Haiku 4U'

  By Fritz Lyon - Jun 10
  Perhaps some of you are unaware that someone from our community — that is, me — has himself/myself invented an entirely new form of poetry for the ...
  

• An explanation of the upcoming RSU 3 budget referendum

  By Heather J. Perry - Jun 07
  With the approval of the proposed 2011-2012 RSU 3 school budget at the district budget meeting held May 25, the Tuesday, June 14 school referendum ...
  

• Care of cemeteries a grave concern

  By Isabel Morse Maresh - Jun 01
  By the time you read this, Memorial Day 2011 will have come and gone. On the Saturday before Memorial Day, I received a phone call from my ...
  

• Viva! BAHS and quality education

  By Belfast Area High ... - May 19
  In the May 11 edition of the Journal, the paper's editorial board, quoting Steven Bowen, Governor LePage’s new Commissioner of Education, published...
  
• 

  My memories of Lucy

  By Kathy Cunningham - May 12
  This week marks the first anniversary of the loss of a very special lady to the RSU 3 community, as Lucille "Lucy" Curtis died May 9, 2010, at the ...
  

• Sweeping changes coming to Maine’s tax system

  By Rep. Ryan Harmon - Apr 28
  When this legislative session comes to an end sometime in June, Maine residents can count on one thing — tax relief is on the way. Hundreds of ...
  

• Supporting military victims of sexual assault

  By Rep. Chellie Pingree - Apr 23
  I recently had the honor of meeting a group of women who told me about their time serving our country in uniform. As patriots, their stories were ...
  

• I'm sick of it!

  By Joe Brooks - Apr 21
  Let the word go forward from this day on — I am mad as hell and I will not sit by and let this continue. In the 1976 film "Network," news anchor ...
  
• 

  Tax protest in Belfast

  Apr 19
  Three Belfast residents — Jeff Smith, Betsy Headley and Marty Weaver — took to the downtown streets Monday, April 18, to protest what they and ...
  

• Building sustainable communities

  By John Billings and ... - Mar 24
  Recent events in the Middle East and Japan have caused many prudent Americans to reflect on our own state of preparedness. This — coupled with the ...
  

• 'I stepped forward to serve'

  By Alan Wood - Mar 18
  I was taken aback by the City Council’s rejection of my application for the open seat on the RSU 20 School Board, particularly by Eric Sander’s ...
  

• Belfast eligible for big grants, but public must weigh in

  By Thomas Kittredge - ... - Feb 24
  The city of Belfast is applying for four economic development grants that would provide for streetscape improvements, improvements to housing for ...
  
• 

  'My friend has gone to the south'

  By David Hurley - Feb 09
  My friend Bob Ryan has gone to the south. Past Camden, 17 miles away, then Rockland, Waldoboro, and over the low bridge and up the curving hill to ...
  

• 'I shalt not 'ere seek to sell a poem'

  By Jeff Davis - Feb 02
  Across the Passagassawakeag Bridge, 'ere High and Main streets meet, A call is sent out for a laureate to shout Peaceful odes to lure ...
  

• Retouching X-rays

  By Norbert Nathanson - Jan 27
  Certain events and headlines of the past few months remain in the forefront of my mind because they infer — as bad as they are — there are many ...
  

• 'Widening the net' to capture an interim poet laureate

  By The Belfast area ... - Jan 26
  In light of recent events, an ad-hoc selection committee has formed to find a creative solution to the small-city problem of everyone knowing ...
  

• About poetry

  By Barbaria Maria - Jan 19
  I have declined my appointment as Belfast Poet Laureate because the continually repeated link in all coverage of my selection to "a questionable ...
  

• 'I made a mistake'

  By Mike Hurley, Belfast ... - Jan 12
  Generally speaking, everyone loves a good fight as long as they’re not in the middle of it. Lost in the blur of words and the poets discussion was ...
  

• Waldo County teens and marijuana use

  By Patrick Walsh - Jan 05
  Every two years most Waldo County students complete a survey that asks them about a number of issues in their lives including the use of tobacco, ...
  

• A different side to the solar story

  By Phil Coupe - Jan 05
  [Editor's note: This column is in response to "Tales of $1.1 million state energy program," an article by John Christie of the Maine Center for ...
  
• 

  Visions from the future

  By Betsy Garrold and ... - Dec 29
  The Belfast Area Transition Initiative believes in the power of community; it is in this collective belief that the 12-page 2021 Belfast Area ...
  
• 

  Sliding the old closed streets of Belfast

  By Mike Brown - Dec 22
  Having been born, schooled and residing for decades in Belfast, the memory of winter sliding the streets of Belfast is etched indelible in my ...
  

• Christmas as mythology

  By Rev. Kevin Pleas - Dec 20
  At the risk of giving it more attention than it has already gotten, and certainly more than it deserves, I can’t help responding to the billboard ...
  

• A poem to 'Ponder'

  By Norbert Nathanson - Dec 15
  Northport resident Norbert Nathanson shared the following poem with us this week, which he said might serve as a "more sober thought" during this ...
  

• U.N. Anti-Corruption Day: 'Just say no'

  By Carolyn Ball - Dec 15
  Dec. 9 was United Nations Anti-Corruption Day, and while in India recently, I learned about the terrible price citizens in South Asia pay for ...
  

• Government as the problem? Not so fast

  By Robert Rack - Dec 15
  A story I happened into a conversation with man sitting next to me on a plane 10 or 15 years ago that today seems almost prophetic. It was one ...
  
• 

  With hard work, we can ease polarization

  By Lee H. Hamilton - Dec 08
  There’s a funny thing going on in our national politics right now: Everyone deplores polarization, but it just keeps getting worse. Voters are ...
  

• Is peace still possible?

  By Yael Dayan - Dec 08
  One of the worst summers is behind us, as are the Jewish holidays. No excuses are left and what seems to be "the last opportunity" for peace is ...
  

• 'Asberger's or cheeseburgers'

  By Dale Tempesta - Dec 01
  I turned 55 this month. I should be looking forward to a break, a time to travel, have a little fun and relax. Right? Well, guess what: I ...
  
• 

  The day Joe Franklin made me laugh

  By Fritz Lyon - Dec 01
  In case you've never heard of Joe Franklin, you can check him out in "The Guinness Book of World Records." Joe Franklin was the longest-running TV ...
  
• 

  'Restrepo' gives unvarnished look at war in Afghanistan

  By Marion Tucker-Honeycutt - Nov 24
  Mark your calendars: Monday, Nov. 29, 9-11 p.m., National Geographic will be airing the much-acclaimed documentary, "Restrepo," the war movie of ...
  

• My fearful face-off with Gordie Howe

  By Fritz Lyon - Nov 17
  “Be afraid…be very afraid!” — Darth Vader There he was, walking toward me, scaring the wits out of me! Should I turn and run for my life? Or ...
  
• 

  Making sense of the Medicare annual election period

  By Terri Bellmore - Nov 17
  Medicare’s annual election period began Nov. 15 and runs through Dec. 31. This is when people enrolled in or eligible for Medicare have the ...
  
• 

  The day I made Allen Ginsberg howl

  By Fritz Lyon - Nov 10
  In the late 1960s when our amazing meeting transpired, Allen Ginsberg was lauded and immortalized as the poet laureate of the Beatniks (which he ...
  

• And so we serve

  By Norb Nathanson - Nov 03
  It wasn't too long ago that I attended a drama. I had received my ticket in the mail a few weeks previously and I was looking forward to the ...
  
• 

  A whirlwind day with Glenn Beck

  By Mark Nickerson - Oct 27
  This is the continuing story about my son, Max, and me flying to New York City to be on Glenn Beck's TV program. It certainly was exciting for ...
  
• 

  Where is my brother?

  By Fritz Lyon - Oct 27
  First my healthy sister arrived, then my brother, Stephen. He was diagnosed with Down syndrome, I believe. My parents were told he also had a ...
  

• Have you had enough yet?

  By Mark Nickerson - Oct 20
  I'd like to tell you a little story. Back in 1961, my parents bought a little strip of land on Unity Pond. It was 50 feet wide and the price was ...
  

• Thibodeau: I'm running to put citizens back in charge

  By Rep. Mike Thibodeau ... - Oct 20
  Imagine if Maine’s Legislature were truly a citizen Legislature. People would come before politics, and solutions would always be more important ...
  

• Education, local control and taxes

  By Richard Sibley Lenfest - Oct 13
  Anytime the Maine media rains terms such as "taxes," "economy," "business climate" and "jobs," among others, upon the voters and taxpayers of ...
  

• Glenn Beck, here we come

  By Mark Nickerson - Oct 06
  Folks, you are not going to believe what has happened since I wrote about Glenn Beck's Restoring Honor rally that Max and I attended in August. A...
  

• Do you hear the crickets?

  By Norbert Nathanson - Sep 29
  The loud squawking of a pair of seagulls interrupted the afternoon quiet of our rural hamlet of 18 houses. The Maine air, cool and clear, coming ...
  

• Restoring honor

  By Mark Nickerson - Sep 22
  This again is not a trooper story, rather it's the second portion of my story about my son, Max, and me attending the Restoring Honor Rally at the ...
  
• 

  My first priority

  By Mark Nickerson - Sep 08
  This is a story about the number-one priority in my life — my 16-year-old son, Max. He certainly keeps life interesting for this old man. This ...
  

• Mountain slayers and profiteers

  By Jonathan Carter - Sep 01
  Developers of mountaintop industrial wind are touting many promised benefits — from reduced greenhouse gas emissions and decreased dependence on ...
  

• Matching funds are "fundamental matter of fairness"

  By John Brautigam - Sep 01
  A number of legal challenges filed during this campaign season have focused renewed attention on the interplay between First Amendment expression ...
  

• The day I made Noel Paul Stookey laugh

  By Fritz Lyon - Aug 25
  Yes, Saturday, Aug. 21, 2010, shall now live forever as a Day of Infamy in my own mind: the day I made Noel Paul Stookey (of Peter, Paul and Mary) ...
  

• Women's equality and climate change

  By Kathleen Rogers - Aug 25
  On Aug. 26, we commemorated Women’s Equality Day and reflect on the true meaning of equality. The day is important, not just to evaluate where ...
  

• Why can't I breathe?

  By Doug Saball - Aug 18
  You might remember the 1963 hit song by Nat King Cole: “Roll out those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer, those days of soda and pretzels and ...
  
• 

  The right to die: more important than ever

  By Jerry Dincin - Aug 11
  Imagine being diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's disease. This incurable illness of the brain first manifests itself as low-level weakness and muscle ...
  
• 

  Our 'sky soldiers'

  By Marion Tucker-Honeycutt - Aug 04
  I just got back from Texas. I went to see a movie. A movie named "Restrepo." Remember the airborne "sky soldiers" platoon we "adopted" on ...
  

• An anarchist's take on Tea Parties

  By Ross Kenyon - Aug 04
  How would the NAACP respond if a politician or other public figure had said this about all black people? Recently, U.S. Rep.John Boehner ...
  
• 

  Reviving an old farm with a unique crop

  By Lynette Walther - Aug 02
  Lorie and Patrick Costigan took a pretty big risk. On a recent Saturday they opened up their 26-acre Glendarragh Farm in Appleton to all comers. ...
  

• The 21st-century grid

  By Lloyd V. Stover - Jul 28
  I recently wrote a piece titled, "A Path to Sustainable World Energy," and received numerous questions about what we need to do to update the ...
  

• Tax revolt Freedom Fighter addresses Tea Party

  By Rita Horsey - Jul 28
  "Mary Adams is a national treasure!" said Blaine Richardson, local co-chair of the Tea Party Patriots of Mid-Coast Maine. Richardson introduced ...
  

• Protecting consumers

  By Veronica Magnan - Jul 21
  Several new laws enacted by the Legislature during its second session will take effect this month. While issues like closing the state budget gap ...
  

• Protecting sources means protecting the public

  By Kevin Z. Smith - Jul 21
  During the course of its investigation into the current Gulf of Mexico oil spill, The Associated Press was given information by the then-office of ...
  
• 

  Lincolnville's welcome mat

  By Diane O'Brien - Jul 07
  The house at Youngtown Corner has traditionally been one of the grandest in Lincolnville. For generations of Youngs, including many of their ...
  

• Time for a "Green New Deal"

  By Dr. Lloyd V. Stover - Jul 07
  When Franklin Roosevelt took office in 1933, he launched the New Deal, which provided a lesson in the relationship between economic risk and ...
  

• Jobless recoveries and manic policies

  By Raghuram Rajan - Jul 07
  Monetary and fiscal policies in the United States, both in this recession and the recession of 2001, have been among the most accommodating in the ...
  

• Tax Reform issue being misused for political purposes

  By Thomas Watson - Jun 30
  Wow! That's all I could think when I read the recent column by Rep. Mike Thibodeau (R-Winterport) that appeared in the VillageSoup newspapers ...
  

• The problem is ...

  By Mark Nickerson - Jun 30
  Having just read Rep. John Piotti's op-ed, "A few last words on tax reform," I sit here absolutely puzzled. He wrote, "There is no consensus ...
  

• BP's other gifts to America and the world

  By Lawrence S. Wittner - Jun 23
  The offshore oil drilling catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico brought to us by BP has overshadowed its central role over the past century in ...
  

• Lack of fairness doomed tax overhaul

  By Rep. Mike Thibodeau - Jun 23
  In his Republican Journal column of June 16, Rep. John Piotti seemed mystified by the rejection of the new tax system. He speculated that "some ...
  

• Tea Party comes to Belfast

  By Rita Horsey - Jun 16
  The Tea Party Patriots of Mid-Coast Maine held its first rally in Belfast June 5 at the American Legion Hall on Church Street. Tea Party Patriots ...
  

• A few last words on tax reform (for now)

  By Rep. John Piotti - Jun 16
  With a Yes vote prevailing on Question 1, the tax overhaul passed by the Legislature a year ago (LD 1495) is now repealed. Clearly, the Legislatu...
  

• Don't be fooled

  By Mark Nickerson - May 26
  Mark Twain said, "The only time life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness is threatened is when the legislature is in session." Those words ...
  

• More money just when we need it most

  By State Rep. John Piotti - May 26
  NOTE: This is a Part II of a two-part column. Part I ran in the May 19 edition. Question 1 on the June 8 ballot reads: "Do you want to reject ...
  

• What tax-reform proponents don't want you to know about taxes

  By Richard Lenfest - May 26
  First and foremost, LD 1495 was passed and signed into law largely on false pretenses, i.e., that New Hampshire taxed its tourist and recreation ...
  

• The only fair tax

  By Lisa Cooley - May 25
  [Editor's note: The following column is in response to point/counterpoint columns on the VillageSoup Web site and in The Republican Journal by ...
  

• Maine leads the nation offshore

  By Ron Huber - May 19
  Maine will lead the nation in the race to build truly offshore floating wind power stations. The May 11 signing ceremony of LD 1810, "An Act To ...
  

• You're offered $1.07 and it costs you 53 cents — do you take it?

  By State Rep. John Piotti - May 18
  On June 8, you will have a chance to help both yourself and Maine by voting "no" on Question 1. In 2009, after the Legislature passed the first ...
  

• You're angry? Fine. But channel it constructively

  By Lee Hamilton - May 12
  Everywhere you turn these days, you find someone insisting that Americans are fed up. They're angry at the White House, or at the government in ...
  

• Facts argue for repeal of tax overhaul

  By Rep. Jayne Crosby Giles - May 12
  On June 8, Maine residents will vote on Question 1, whether to repeal a tax overhaul passed last year by the Legislature. In June 2009, the bill ...
  

• One kind, strong heart goes silent; another is broken

  By Stephen Betts - Apr 28
  The relationship between my wife Nancy and me could not exactly be called love at first sight. In 1982, I was a relatively new reporter covering ...
  
• An RSU 20 educator asks...

  How do we build a stronger school system?

  By Jacquie Kahn - Mar 24
  Editor's note: This column by Jacquie Kahn, who works in RSU 20, was addressed to members of the RSU 20 School Board and shared with The Republican...
  

• Les Otten responds

  Mar 17
  I am writing in response to an article ["Risky business: Les Otten and the rise and fall of American Skiing Co."] written by Marian McCue and John ...
  

• A civic center in Belfast? Not with my money.

  By Nancy Hamilton - Mar 10
  [Editor's note: Belfast resident Nancy Hamilton read the following statement at the Belfast City Council's March 2 meeting.] I want to first ...
  

• Bipartisanship requires work and will

  By Lee H. Hamilton - Mar 10
  After seven hours together at their recent health-care forum, President Barak Obama, congressional Democrats and congressional Republicans emerged ...
  

• A tale of two cities: Drive through, or stay the night?

  By Bryan C. Matluk - Mar 10
  [Editor's note: This statement of support for the proposed Belfast Civic Center was written by Bryan C. Matluk and shared by Marjorie Byers on ...
  

• Maine's proposed drug disposal bill should be thrown out

  By Peter Pitts - Feb 24
  [Editor's note: This column is about LD 821, "An Act To Support Collection and Proper Disposal of Unwanted Drugs," a bill currently under considera...
  

• Say 'Enough's enough!' to polarization

  By Lee H. Hamilton - Feb 17
  In recent appearances, President Obama has suggested that it's time for Washington to confront the intense polarization and incivility that mark ...
  

• A letter from Richard Anderson

  By Richard Anderson - Feb 11
  Why buy the newspaper? Besides, it's free online and I pay for print! Let's think about this situation. I, and I am confident that you, can't ...
  

• Saltwater fishing license bill crawls back to life

  By Rep. Jonathan McKane - Feb 10
  Like a bad dream, the saltwater fishing license bill is back again. It has been talked about for years as a way of increasing revenues to the ...
  

• The day I made Senator Snowe laugh

  By Fritz Lyon - Feb 10
  During the holiday season I happened to stop in Out of the Woods down Main Street in Belfast, and the store manager quickly alerted me that Sen. ...
  

• Notes to posterity

  By Jeff Howland - Jan 27
  "The bitterest tears shed over graves are for words left unsaid and deeds left undone." - Harriet Beecher Stowe I recently wrote a letter to a ...
  

• Valuable community service

  By James M. Thomas - Jan 27
  Having taught a class for the new guards at Maine State Prison for more than 10 years, I make a point of telling them that their work at the ...
  

• Gray Matters: Before and after failing the test

  By Tanya Mitchell - Jan 26
  In August of 1997, I walked into the newsroom at The Republican Journal for the first time. I was 20 years old then, and was working at the former ...
  

• Living Out Loud: From being hip to needing one

  By Elissa Garde-Joia - Jan 20
  I had never had a physical injury or illness that didn’t go away in time. Then, several years ago, I was doing something fun, and I felt ...
  

• Remembering Martin Luther King

  By Jay Davis - Jan 20
  [Editor's note: This column first appeared in VillageSoup Jan. 20, 2003.] Forty years ago in April, Dr. Martin Luther King was jailed in ...
  

• What to do with men without a country?

  By Lloyd V. Stover - Jan 19
  There seems to be a dilemma about how to close the American military base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba - and what to do with the suspected terrorist ...
  
• 

  Lincoln's question at Gettysburg is still relevant

  By Lee H. Hamilton - Dec 15
  Maybe it's the recession. Or the perilous state of the war in Afghanistan. Or the growing sense that other nations — China, India, Brazil — are ...
  

• Future MSAD 3: Help us reach the finish line

  By Future MSAD 3 ... - Dec 08
  This is an open letter to everyone who cares about athletic and recreational opportunities at Mount View High School from the Executive Committee ...
  

• What's in a name?

  By Tina Tucker - Nov 24
  What were the words of Shakespeare, "a rose by any other name would smell as sweet"? In the context of "Romeo and Juliet," maybe. In the context ...
  
• 

  Good wind or bad wind for Montville?

  By Vernon LeCount - Nov 24
  It is unfortunate the recent guest column regarding wind generation in Montville ["When it comes to wind, 'Montville leads the way,' by Mark ...
  

• Setting the record straight on health care legislation

  By Joseph Ditré, Esq. - Nov 19
  Recently, special interest groups have tried to mislead the public about important health care issues that were debated last session at the State ...