I’ve never written a letter to the editor, but when I read Kelly P. Brook’s “All Four Feet” article in the March 1 edition of the LCN (“The Brook Dogs and Cats,” Page 8A) I felt I couldn’t let the opportunity pass.

We don’t often get weeks like this past one and thank the good Lord for that.

For those keeping track, since our last edition rolled off the presses we have had two stabbings, one shooting, one alleged attempted bank robbery, and two structure fires; one of them believed to be a case of arson.

It is with regret that I comment on the death of four newspapers in our area.

It sounds like the only people qualified to be politicians better be self-contained and self-sustaining spiritually; or leave their souls at the doorway; or keep their lifestyles to themselves. (Unless they’re progressive liberals.)

We are preparing for the start of the Bus. Rt. 1 Sidewalk Project in Damariscotta.

This past Sunday morning, March 11, while collecting sap, I was greeted by the act of a thief. Twenty-five to 30 sap buckets, covers and taps were stolen from the Bristol Mills Cemetery. These pails have a catalog value of approximately $20 each so LCSO was called. I don’t expect their return.

We take a great deal of pride in our editorial page.

Like all traditional publications, most of our pages are a one-way conversation. We print information. You, the reader, review it.

What happens when ideas are mutually exclusive, and what do we do in our form of government when we snag up against irreconcilable ways of doing things? We decide which gets its way by majority rule.

Wow! What a morale booster for Nancy Hanna! Bremen “terminated” her position as town clerk? What’s wrong with a temporary leave of absence? Way to go, Bremen!

Did the legislature fix the DHHS budget? I do not think so. When you borrow money from the 2013 budget to make the 2012 budget work what did we gain? I think we kicked the can down the road again.

One thing about Lincoln County, we are all for helping our neighbors. Scarcely a week goes by where we don’t have a bean supper, a silent auction, or some other type of fundraiser for someone or something. Sometime it’s a school or local group fundraiser. Like as not, it is for a family recently burned out of their home, or worse.

We have often thought one of the best testaments to the effectiveness of a politician is when voters from the other party adopt them. Locally, former state Sen. David Trahan had that kind of cache. Former state Sen. Marge Kilkelly had it before him.

Only a spokesman for today’s Republican Party could characterize a vote to protect Maine’s poorest and neediest a “special interest.” (“Sen. Johnson you’ve put your special interest ahead of your constituents,” letter from Jim Carleton, LCN, 2/23/2012, Page 4). Is that a true conservative attitude, Mr. Carleton? I think not.

Newly elected District 20 Senator Chris Johnson wasted no time wading into the thick of things. Within hours of being sworn in as Maine’s newest legislator last Thursday; Johnson cast the deciding vote derailing a hard-fought bi-partisan supplemental budget compromise that addressed a shortfall in MaineCare funding.