It’s about time someone stood up and told the state where the bear went through the buckwheat.

Prompt any local official; any selectmen, or school board member, any firefighter or Code Enforcement Officer, and they will likely wax poetic about the burden of un-funded mandates rolling down from above.

I would like to thank those who voted for me in the June 9 election. I am aware of the responsibilities I am facing and the trust you have shown in me. I am looking forward to working with you all for the next three years.

It was Winston Churchill who said, “The best argument against Democracy is a five minute conversation with the average voter.”

It wasn’t the first dollar I ever earned but it was close to it. For 35 years I hoarded it away in a scrapbook with never a thought of it being spent, at least until this week.

This summer marks a triumph for our town. Lincoln Academy’s Climate Action Club has spent the year campaigning to reduce the use of plastic bags in Damariscotta. We developed a plan in which reusable bags would be sold in local stores. Now our vision has come to fruition. The bags are coming.

Many of you will know me from my 28-year marriage to my late husband, Lee Dunning Jr. Many others will know me from my 17-year employment at Wiscasset Public Library. Many will know me from my four years with the Wiscasset Budget Committee. The point is many of you know me.

Thanks to the kindness of Jim and Glenda Drum, the Damariscotta Mills railroad station sign is coming home. It will be mounted at the old station site on Depot St. to greet people who arrive by train to attend the Fish Ladder Restoration Festival this weekend.

The Alna Volunteer Fire Dept would like to thank all of the businesses and individuals who donated to our annual Mother’s Day pancake breakfast that was held Sun., May 10. We couldn’t have done it without you.

The Bremen Conservation Commission (BCC) would like to thank everyone who participated in their recent sale of Compost Bins. The sale was coordinated by the BCC to raise awareness of Earth Day and the response was above and beyond expectations. In all, 140 compost bins were sold to individuals from nearly every town in Lincoln County!

Maine has a $1.4 billion budget deficit outlined in the 2009-2011 budget. The state’s bridges and roads are falling down around us. Health insurance, the lack of it, the need for it, and the prohibitive cost of it, is still a critical issue.

On behalf of the Lincoln Home and the Spring Gala Progressive Dinner Committee I am delighted to send a sincere thank you to all those people who made the Spring Gala Dinner such an amazing success.

Kudos to Bobby Ives for being honored “for a lifetime of service” by The Hyde School in Bath. The Carpenter’s Boat Shop is truly “a loving life . . . a very simple life” as evidenced by both of its founders, Rev. Robert Ives and the late Ruth Etta Ives.

This letter has a theme, as does my campaign for Selectman in Edgecomb. That theme may best be summed up in a quote from a poem all of us remember, as follows;

Last night (May 7) the Nobleboro Central School PTO hosted its Second Annual Nobleboro Nonsense Fundraiser. For those who have never attended a similar event, it is a silent raffle where tickets are purchased and placed in containers that correspond to prizes (similar to a silent auction).