Having spent more than 20 years as a customer service monitor for several companies and industry trade associations, I feel very confident that I am qualified to assess the performance of companies and institutions in terms of the level of service they provide to customers.

I would like to call your attention to the serious and sometimes deadly issue of domestic violence in our community. We each need to accept a greater degree of personal responsibility to protect our loved ones, friends, neighbors and co-workers from the deleterious effects of domestic violence.

What are the odds our Pumpkinfest volunteers all agreed with each other on everything? What are the odds they could have sat through a Thanksgiving meal together without finding something fundamental to argue about?

On a good day cancer sucks.

In a best case scenario, it’s a minor annoyance that still involves extra trips to the doctor, maybe a little procedure; followed by a few years of some extra screenings and precautions before you can breathe a little easier.

I have the good fortune to live in Lincoln County. Fate brought me here to Midcoast. My long deceased husband’s family were all from the Rockland/Thomaston area in Knox County. I initially thought to settle there, but my path came here and I am lucky beyond words.

Wiscasset voters will have a series of choices they can make if they vote to leave RSU 12 Nov. 5. The actual cost savings of these choices is significant in some cases and involves changes as to how and where we educate our children. The most important fact is that we take back budget control in all cases.

The noted philosopher Yogi Berra once opined, “When you come to a fork in the road, take it.”

Beauty is more than skin deep, yet a good holster helps. Maine is one of the only places where a woman gets compliments for having a nice rack and she proudly points to the deer in her truck. She doesn’t get offended. She’s got a great holster. It’s easier to laugh about the small stuff when you’re prepared for the big stuff.

If you have read all three pieces of Kim Fletcher’s review of the Affordable Care Act, the first phases of which kick in Oct. 1, then you about as ready as anyone for the future to get here.

As a former member of the Newcastle Board of Design Review, I deplore the tentative approval of Lincoln Academy’s application for a new dormitory.

You know that queasy, sinking in your stomach you get when you watch a friend throw themselves headlong into a boneheaded mistake that even a blind dog can see is only going to end up costing money and time and grief?

How to find resolution when one group wants a variance to enable immediate construction of a 58-foot high building and others want fairness with a process that any applicant would have to endure.

Thank you to all who came to the Lincoln Theater to enjoy the rebroadcast of the “Audience” starring Helen Mirren.

Recently I wrote about the importance of Maine’s farms. In this column I’d like to look at another critical source of locally produced food: seafood; and what the Legislature has done to support Maine’s tradition of harvesting from the sea.