This being the 27th week of the year; we are now officially on the back half of 2011. For Lincoln County’s resident summer lovers, we are about to enter the stretch run of it being about as good as it seasonally gets around these parts.

Recently the voters of Waldoboro decided to not approve some department’s budgets in an effort to trim the tax burden of homeowners. Nobody likes to pay taxes but the problem with this vote is it was up or down for each department with no compromise on the dollar figure.

Do you remember Pine Grove drive in? If you do, we, the Ward family, Pine Grove’s former owners, need your help. Our family is constantly amazed at the nostalgia surrounding Pine Grove. We still hear the longing for our fried clams, Gram’s rolls and barbeque chicken.

Middle of the day, Monday, a busy day at the Maine Coast Book Shop, some sleazy no-account idler, probably someone who frequents the place and maybe hangs out in the café, someone who probably didn’t have a job to go to or at least some good purpose to occupy himself (yes, probably a “he”), who also probably doesn’t read this newspaper much and so has me wasting my time trying to help him reform and undo his crime, has stolen a bike parked just outside our back door.

Maine cannot afford higher taxes and reckless government spending and neither can our country. Washington’s fiscal irresponsibility and poor economic policy has not worked.

This is a familiar refrain, isn’t it? In light of $8 billion in the operating losses last year, the United States Postal Service is considering closing some 3600 locations across the country.

Throughout his legislative career, District 20 Sen. David Trahan has established himself as a fiscal conservative who works like a dog for his constituents. Starting as a pea green legislator, who as a freshman in the House would automatically vote ‘no’ on any piece of legislation he hadn’t read, Trahan has worked hard to learn the ropes in Augusta, so much so that, as a Senator in his sixth term in Augusta, (counting four in the House) he has become one of the respected Republican voices in state government.

Planning is hard work, make no mistake. There are no shortcuts, but our quality of place is our best economic asset, both now and in the future. It is worth protecting.

On one hand, we empathize with the desire of Damariscotta town officials to revisit the SmartCode with an eye toward bringing it back for another vote. A lot of time, effort and money was spent developing the ordinance language and bringing the issue to a vote June 14, the outcome of which was a stinging defeat for the code’s supporters.

Here are some important facts to be considered when discussing the question of continuing law enforcement coverage with the Damariscotta Police Dept. or replacing the department with coverage by the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office.

Dateline – Wiscasset, Jan. 20, 2014 – A senior town maintenance worker survived a dunking in the frigid Sheepscot River today when the old commercial pier there finally gave way while he was backing out and dumping a load of snow from this past weekend’s record snow fall.

This letter is in response to Mr. Schaff’s letter that was recently printed in The Lincoln County News. (“Rolling ‘barbarians at the gate’,” 5/19/11, Page 4.)

This week Lincoln County has the dubious pleasure of losing not one but two long serving lawmen.

I am responding to the letter from Eden Spear in the May 26 issue. (“Gateway 1-when is a vote not a vote?” LCN, Page 4)