I am responding to Donald Kelly’s letter to the Editor “To spend or not to spend” in the Aug. 16 edition of the News. Mr. Kelly says “this is the only question one need answer before voting this November.” I disagree.

I know first-hand how hard it can be to keep up with expenses every month. The cost of living, the price of just about everything, and a shaky economy can be tough to handle.

On the letters pages last week, Michael Bourland made a long argument for the maintenance of tradition in the same-sex marriage debate. He seems to think that change is the enemy.

We commend the Damariscotta Board of Selectmen for being serious enough about the idea of doing away with the town’s police department to actually convince the Lincoln County Commissioners and sheriff to get their calculators out and start figuring out how it is going to work.

As our front page story indicates this week, Olde Bristol Days in Pemaquid felt a little off this year. Historically a crowded, festive event, this year’s attendance and, it seems, enthusiasm for the whole affair, were down, both depressed in part, no doubt by the weekend’s gloomy weather.

The Bunker Hill Community Club takes this opportunity thank the many individuals and businesses that made its recent Bean Hole Bean Supper and Silent Auction a success.

Those with children will recognize the saying, “Give them an inch, and they’ll take a mile.”

On the Letters page last week there were three different submissions advising us that the Bible is the actual “Word of God” and that we need to vote against same-sex marriage because of that.

To the Editor:

We, the tenants of historic Lincoln Hall, want to say a hearty thank you to all the emergency responders, starting with Damariscotta Fire Chief Neil Genthner, the fire department and the police who rushed to Lincoln Theater in the early hours of last Friday morning in response to a call from North East Security alerting them to the fact a fire sprinkler had been activated.

To the Editor:

On June 13, I was visiting Damariscotta, on a very rainy day, to celebrate my sister’s birthday.

We always find August to be a somewhat bittersweet time.

It’s still summer. We still have plenty of cookouts and beach days and dog days ahead, but we can see Labor Day from here. Shortly after that, fall arrives: the next most beautiful time of the year to live here.

On Thursday June 29, I was honored with recognition from the Twin Village Downtown Alliance with their first annual Downtown Spirit Award.

You would have to be living under a rock not to know last week’s U.S. Supreme Court decision on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) was a really big deal.

When news broke of the movie theater shooting in Aurora, Col., last Friday morning, you had to know the pro- and anti-firearm forces would unholster their well-worn arguments and make the media rounds.