Here’s the thing about lies: If you tell them loudly enough and often enough, people will believe them. Especially the vulnerable, the powerless, and those who get their “news” from blowhard talk radio.

My son drove into our yard in Bristol after a Saturday morning trip from Massachusetts to pick up their children with whom we had spent a delightful week. Mike greeted me with these words. “I’d forgotten what an adventure it was to come to Maine on a Saturday morning in summer, but we didn’t get stuck in Wiscasset traffic this time.”

At our Newcastle office, we field a lot of phone calls in a given week. We don’t keep track in terms of volume but suffice it to say, the phone pretty much rings off the hook all day, everyday, beginning before the office opens at 8 a.m. and continuing until well after we close at 5.

Two weeks ago I wrote to First District Representative Chellie Pingree with my concerns over the excessive power concentration in the federal government. The answer I got back is not to be believed. My letter and her answer are enclosed. Draw your own conclusions.

I wanted to write my feelings about Bob Reny’s passing so much, but when I read all the wonderful words – so well put, in the tributes – from the governor on down – I thought, “Who am I to add to all that’s been said by those who knew him so well?”

If I dreamed a weekend, it couldn’t have been better – if I hired someone to paint it, it would be Norman Rockwell. Picture perfect weather, flawless execution by the Whitefield Bicentennial Committee chairs, and a little divine intervention.

When volunteers first put up all those American flags in the pouring rain I thought this is what being part of a community is all about and it was contagious – flags went up everywhere along the winding back roads.

Apparently a few years back, back in the days when Maine was truly part of the American frontier, a dispute raged among local homesteaders and people from away who claimed legal title to land Mainers had claimed with muscle, blood and sweat.

Predictably, the put-upon rose to defend their claims with humanity’s age-old standby… violence.

Last Thursday I attended a presentation on tax reform convened by the group Fed Up with Taxes. The event featured a presentation by Al DiMillo, an accountant and self-proclaimed Democrat. DiMillo is no fan of the recently passed proposal that effectively creates a flat income tax rate of 6.5 percent and broadens the sales tax to increase revenues from non-residents and stabilize revenues over time.

I’m responding to last week’s letter to the editor, “Get the Bypass Built,” written by Dick Chutter from Round Pond.

As a downtown business and resident of Wiscasset, I am in total agreement with his letter and concerns except the part about boycotting the local businesses. As far as I know, most of the local business owners here are and have been in favor of this long over due bypass. If we had it our way, the bypass would have been built yesterday.

I was really interested to note that there were three submissions of Letters to The Editor in the August 20, 2009 edition of `The Lincoln County News. I suspect, the recent heat wave coupled with long drive times due to traffic backups in Wiscasset heightened the level of frustration for many people trying to get somewhere that required passing through Wiscasset.

Hardly a week goes by without some sort of a car accident to report.

In particular, as of late, there seems to be a rash of accidents involving motorcycles in Lincoln County.

The children’s summer reading program at the Wiscasset Public Library came to an end on Aug. 6 with a pizza party held on the lawn outside the Children’s Room. Over 60 children and adults attended the party.

We recently spent some time visiting a dear friend, Faye Hauck, in Waldoboro. We were looking for a good restaurant in your area and Faye highly recommended 995 Main.

Along the road of life, we meet people who leave lasting impressions. Bob Reny is one of them.