You don’t hear it all that often, generally because the people of an age to use it are too polite to do so in public, but on occasion you may come across someone who will say to an antagonist something to the effect of “can’t wait to see the back of you.”

I went fishing with David Rice for a few years, so I know how hard it is lugging traps around. I just can’t believe that he has been fighting to store traps on his new dock for four years. This dock is in Clark’s Cove, on the Damariscotta River, where there are already several lobster boats and an aquaculture site. (South Bristol lobsterman fights state, neighbors to store traps,” LCN, Page 1, 12/23/10)

The premise of “The Polar Express” is to believe in the magic of the season – I believe! I believe!

It is Christmas Day as I write this letter. My family is scattered far and wide and I live alone (by choice) in Jefferson. Last night, by the light of the near full moon and the fresh white snow on the field behind my house, I swear I could see Santa’s sleigh zoom across the sky headed South with a tremendous load of gifts.

If you want a cause to chuckle, and who doesn’t need one these days, try giving some small children a simple cardboard box and watch what they do with it. In short order, they could turn it into a fort, or a plane, a boat or a place to hide.

The Dec. 5 Christmas Town & Craft Fair hosted by Jefferson Fire & Rescue was a great success. A record number of crafters and artisans filled the apparatus bay at the firehouse, as children enjoyed Christmas Town and a visit with Santa.

One would think, at my age, I would have learned not to be surprised at the human propensity for parochialism. Yet, I was amazed at last Wednesday night’s spectacle at the urgently reassembled Midcoast Bypass Task Force meeting at the Edgecomb Eddy School.

I recently read a news article that had words to the effect of “Christmas is winning this Christmas.” It grabbed my attention and I wanted to know more.

Thanks to an eagle with a sense of time and place, Maine may now seize the opportunity to re-evaluate what’s needed to improve the flow of traffic through Wiscasset during the summer months. However beneficial a by-pass may appear in theory, a four mile, 250 foot wide, $100 million by-pass simply is not worth the cost in money, environmental destruction and human misery.

Wiscasset High School has come up with a wonderful way to teach our children about intolerance. By insisting on continuing to use the Redskin “mascot” name for their sports teams, they have clearly taught us all some lessons.

With the retirement of our oldest employee last year, there isn’t a single person currently working for Lincoln County Publishing who was alive when Pearl Harbor was attacked Dec. 7, 1941.

On Nov. 26, Lincoln County and the State of Maine lost Donald M. Bisset, retired State Fire Marshal. Don had a lengthy career in public service, which included serving his country actively in World War II, many years in the Maine State Fire Marshal’s Office, serving as the first State Fire Marshal from 1975 to 1991, and as a Jefferson selectman after his retirement from the state.

Having written several editorials from the perspective that Thanksgiving is truly the holiday to stop and give thanks for the bounty most of us enjoy, this year we thought we would make a light-hearted effort to dispel some of the long held myths of the holiday.

In short order, we discovered there are no end of websites and resources devoted to just that topic.

While vacationing in Maine this past October, I required Emergency Medical care and was blessed to have Miles Memorial Hospital at my disposal. I was quite ill and very nervous but the Hospitalist, Nurses, and Staff quickly and efficiently comforted me and were extremely kind and compassionate.