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.

Traveling up and down Bunker Hill Road is an experience I love in any season. Thoughtless, selfish and disrespectful individuals who toss their trash and then continue down the beautiful road would do well to heed the long arm (hopefully now washed) and eagle eye of Ron Jones.

My name is Emma Solorzano. I am an 8th grader at Jefferson Village School. I am writing this letter because after hearing all the information from my mother who attended the town meetings, I was deeply disappointed in the town’s decision to cut $240,000 from the school budget.

Twelve Maine Republicans resigned their party positions and un-enrolled from their party this week with a dramatic flourish, sending a letter to the Maine GOP that made the press.

This week we say a sad goodbye to what could well be our longest serving neighborhood columnist, Jefferson correspondent, Peggy Flagg.

For almost 20 years, my wife Judi and I have been “permanent transplants” to Maine’s beautiful Midcoast area in Newcastle. For 17 of these years I have worked Wednesdays at The Lincoln County News. In fact, they refer to me as “Wednesday Ernie.”

For those that side with Mr. Craig Elliott’s sarcastic appreciation of Damariscotta’s attempt to maintain its individuality, I am puzzled as to why you would sell your lifestyle so cheaply. (“Thank you Damariscotta,” LCN, 8/8/13, Page 13A)

Waldoboro firefighters were understandably grumpy early this week when news broke that a man had been arrested for threatening another man with a knife while waiting for the Waldoboro Fire Department’s 175th anniversary parade to come through on Saturday.

I was interested in reading the Letter to the Editor from Otis Page of California on the names of Damariscove Island and the Damariscotta River. (“How did these names come to be?” LCN, 8/8/13, Page 4) I remember Otis. We called him Poppy at Lincoln Academy. I was in the class of 1947 and he was in the class of 1949.