There was a time, back before professional wrestling became the ‘roided up, sleazed out spectacle it is today – it was more or less family entertainment. As late as the early 1980s, before the WWE became the 800-lb. gorilla it is today, fathers and sons could still take in a big time wrestling promotion at the local middle school.

At the heart of every YMCA are the staff members and volunteers who make a difference, who exemplify the Y’s core values, caring, respect, responsibility and honesty. The CLC YMCA has volunteers in its walls every day making a difference. I would like to recognize some of those volunteers.

This is the first time I felt so much empathy for someone falsely accused of a crime. Karl Tarbox was asked to drive this person home from the Montsweag Roadhouse one and half years ago on Halloween eve, because she had too much to drink.

If 9/11 had never happened, it is possible that the last great American nightmare, our last national “remember where you were moment,” would be the school shootings at Columbine High School in April 1999.

First came school consolidation, which was a good idea but then the economy tanked. Now comes a portion of what I have been advocating for years, eg., transfer all 43 students in Somerville to Windsor. Close or even sell this school; find a buyer or a host of other uses for it. It won’t cost more to maintain either way.

I am writing my first letter to the LCN because I am extremely concerned about the upcoming Bristol Town meeting and decisions that will be made there, especially those that greatly impact the children of our town. Many members of the budget committee feel we need to continue to cut teachers and increase class sizes, despite the recommendations of the school committee and administration.

Like a schoolyard bully, the state just keeps picking on the smallest kids on the playground.

I wish I had called the LCN to take a picture of the sea of Dunkin’ Donut cups that were all over the side of the Poor Farm Rd. It is a disgrace to see trash on the sides of our roads.

I would like to thank the men and women for all their hard work over the week-end, with thousands and thousands without electricity, it was only 48 hours that my area was without power. Sometimes we forget how dangerous this job can be, they work hours and hours, with live wires.

Once again we have to take our hat off to our emergency responders, our volunteer firefighters and our county’s paid professionals who were out in the teeth of the storm last week doing what they could to keep us safe.

I am troubled about the effort to discontinue Bristol’s Highway Department and contract those services to an outside vendor. While to some this may seem like a wise, cost-saving move, I believe Town will see little savings, if any at all. I’m also concerned that the quality and availability of those services will drop.

We like firefighters. We admire them quite a bit, actually.

The amount of work these men and women have to do, and what they do on our behalf, is truly Herculean. It is sort of what Superman’s life would be like if he had to fill out a mountain of paperwork to document how he followed the rules safely every time he saved the world.

Just a few short weeks ago some readers here debated the priorities of the Catholic Church regarding monies raised for Earthquake relief in Haiti versus its funding of the political campaign to restrict same sex marriage in Maine. If any additional evidence was needed to demonstrate that priorities are indeed misplaced, Bishop Malone certainly put his money where his mouth has been when he revoked $17,400 this year and $33,000 next fiscal year for Preble Street’s Homeless Voices for Justice program, which serves the poorest of Maine’s poor every day.

I am not personally familiar with the situation at Maine Float-Rope Company, but I am versed with laws and expectations surrounding contracted workers.