When I saw the picture and article on the newly proposed up-date on the Damariscotta Mills Fish Ladder, my heart was crushed.

The lights are on, the sign is lit and vehicles are filling the parking lot. Hilltop is once again open for business. I have to give tremendous credit to new owners Gary and Jane Gravel for their investment and commitment to bringing back and carrying-on the great offerings of Arthur House and David Page at Hilltop.

The Bridge House, the old store and dance hall, is an important piece of history in the village of South Bristol for both local and summer residents.

One of our more disturbing stories this week is the allegation that a Damariscotta man may have bilked an elderly Bristol woman out of more than $200,000 while representing himself as a fundraiser for a charitable organization.

I am writing in response to “Lighten up” by Patricia Manning. (LCN, Page 4, 12/1/11) I would suggest that before she concludes that the residents of Chamberlain are wasting the funds of the Postal Service on an appeal, she should have gathered all the facts.

In 1991 the Russian ruble fell from $1 (one dollar) for a ruble to one dollar for 138 rubles.

Somehow it seems fitting that former Lincoln County Sheriff William C. Carter has left us at this time of the year. Carter’s passing truly closes the door on an era in Maine law enforcement.

The most fundamental right and privilege of being an American citizen is voting, yet in Maine, no one needs to show photo identification to prove that you are who you say you are. Why?

“Childhood Memories of the Maine Central RR Station,” by Calvin and Marjorie Dodge drew me back to the 1940s as I too grew up in Damariscotta. (LCN, 11/14/11, Page 13)

Thank you to all involved in the recent repairs and restorations to the Walpole, Huston, Woodward Cemetery on Bristol Road, Damariscotta. It was a job well done by our Cemetery Board and, most recently, by residents of Two Bridges Regional Jail in Wiscasset.

I believe that Governor LePage is right and the welfare recipients should be drug tested. I think it is an insult to the hard working Mainers who pay State taxes that help support the welfare recipient. Why should our tax dollars support a drug addiction?

Each year at this time, as we pause to give thanks for the blessings we enjoy, we are especially thankful as we consider the letter from Waldoboro Selectman Steve Cartwright last week, and the responses he engendered this week.

Herman Cain came from a poor family. He grew up in Atlanta, Ga. His mother and father had a very strong work ethic and sent him to college. He graduated from Morehouse College with a BS in mathematics. He went on to Purdue and got his master’s in computer science.

Like troops across the country, Lincoln County Boy Scouts participated in the organization’s annual Scouting for Food drive this past weekend.