On July 22, the governor’s energy office recommended to the Maine Public Utilities Commission that net metering be discontinued as soon as possible. Net metering is the only Maine incentive that we have to install solar panels and thus help cut our dependence on fossil fuels. The rest of the New England states have given their citizens many reasons to go solar.

Mainers are known for our resourcefulness, practicality, and ingenuity. It’s time we applied those qualities to taking a new look at where our economic opportunities exist, and how we can seize them.

When I started working at The Lincoln County News as a reporter in 2010 and would tell people about my new job, I sometimes got the following question: “Is that full-time?”

My name is Scott Elliot, and I am a musician who has been lucky enough to play music in Lincoln County at least once a week, for the past 3 or 4 years. Six weeks ago, I had bypass surgery on my heart. Today, I hiked 2 miles at Dodge Cove in Edgecomb.

In 1933, Franklin D. Roosevelt stated, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” From that I concluded that fear itself is our enemy. So why are so many people beating the drums of fear and why are so many others afraid?

We are happy to report this week on two local initiatives to go beyond the symptoms of crime and treat the causes.

What started last fall as a mere idea to address addiction in Lincoln County became a reality this month – all thanks to a regular person just like you who decided that our communities need to take action.

How do you understand what drives human beings to hate so grievously that some resort to senseless violence? I ask myself what it takes for these individuals to become so frustrated with their circumstances that they abandon reason for extremism. Is it truly a result of failures in our system of justice? Is it truly based in racism? Is it a radical attempt to exact self-proclaimed law and deliver punishment without trial?

Change comes whether we like it or not.

I was pleasantly overwhelmed by my family’s efforts in secretly assembling a float at the Whitefield Fourth of July parade to honor my 90th birthday. Big signs on the front and back of the float read “Celebrating Albert Boynton, 90 years of Whitefield living.”

I would like to thank the two young boys who returned my wallet to the Dollar Tree on July 8. I would also like to say it is too bad you stole the $80 I had in there to go pick up my insulin. If you return the money to the Dollar Tree with my name on the envelope, I will hope for the best for your future.

We are happy to welcome another new business to Lincoln County this week with the opening of Split Rock Distilling off Route 1 in Newcastle.

Maine administers the federally funded Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, so Mainers who might otherwise go hungry can put food on the table. The program, formerly known as “food stamps,” benefits children, the elderly, people with disabilities, and people who are temporarily down on their luck – more than 190,000 Mainers. Nearly three-quarters live in poverty and nearly one-quarter below 50 percent of the federal poverty level.

How many times have you headed for Yellowfront Grocery to pick up something for dinner and wondered what in the world to cook? It’s the end of a long day. You don’t want to have to think … fear not!