Almost half our crew was in Boston last Thursday night preparing for the winter New England Newspaper and Press Assn. convention when Mike McLain lost his life in a tragic car accident in Bristol.

On January 28, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Midcoast Maine held its annual Program Celebration. This is always a magical event that celebrates the special relationships of Bigs and Littles in our program.

Usually I write you about national and local politics, but for this letter I need to switch subjects slightly.

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.

When Dana Dow was nominated to fill the Senate District 20 vacancy left when David Trahan stepped down, Dow stated that one of his top priorities as Senator would be the re-election of Governor Paul LePage.

I am writing this letter in support of our Governor and his policies. By the time that you read this, he will have given his first state of the State address and the roadmap for at least the next year will be a bit clearer.

Now that we are in the heart of the winter season I am reminded daily of what a special place I left behind when I moved to the West Coast.

I’m writing in regards to a Main Street shop that has closed for the winter. On closing last fall, the owner removed their product flag but left the American flag hanging by the door. If I could physically remove it I would, until spring when they return.