According to Maine Public Radio, our distinguished legislature recently spent an hour plus debating the merits of making the Whoopie pie the state’s official dessert. Do they really have nothing better to do?

Our last fuel oil delivery, on Feb. 1, 2011 cost us $3.25 per gallon, 65 cents higher than the rate exactly a year ago. I am certain most of your readers are having a similar experience. Heating the average Maine home is forecast to cost an estimated $200 more than last winter. Therefore it may be of interest that my fuel consumption for this winter to date (Feb. 1) is 22 percent lower than for the winter 2009/10, as of the same date. This, in spite of the fact that the current winter has been a lot colder so far.

We can’t be the only ones unhappy with the sentence Roxann Berry received in Lincoln County Superior Court last week for her role in the death of Loren St. Cyr.

I was amazed by your story on the Bremen Budget Committee meeting. (“Bremen Budget Committee calls for stricter rules on selectmen,” LCN, Page 10, 1/27/11)

I can understand why Doctor Falconer appreciates the “revelry and lawlessness of Saturnalia,” especially in light of his indifference to the secularization of Christ’s Mass. So have Saturnalia on the solstice, and there will be no confusion. (Say…wasn’t Kwanzaa supposed to have solved this problem?)

Governor-Elect LePage will be sworn Jan. 5 and I presume he would have us believe his order that there be none of the customary inaugural whoop-de-doo is a signal confirming he’ll be turning over every stone in his effort to cure the state’s budget woes.

Recent letters to the editor in the Dec. 30 and Jan. 6 The Lincoln County News contain emotionally charged brouhahas about whether to “keep Christ out of Christmas” (H. Falconer) or “keep Christ in Christmas” (M. Bourland and R. Crabtree). Their thoughts on the subject are interesting, provocative and sometimes absurd.

The handwriting is on the wall. The economy is horrible. Federal and state budgets are going to be sliced, which will have a major impact on small towns. Newcastle’s administrative budget has exploded in the last few years and is out of line with other small towns its size.

On Jan. 13 the RSU 12 School Board shocked the Wiscasset community and nearly everyone else who had been watching, by voting to “immediately” and “permanently” remove the term “Redskin” from any and all schools within the district.

For some reason, we have received quite a few comments, pro and con, written and verbal, regarding our placement of Rev. Kevin Haj’s Christmas message on the front page of The Lincoln County News Dec. 23, 2010 edition.

I hope that you’ll accept a criticism from a loyal reader.

I found the headline that you attached to Dr. Falconer’s letter last week to be very eye-catching, but not very descriptive of the content of his letter. (“Let’s take Christ out of Christmas”) It was unnecessarily inflammatory and maybe even offensive to many mainstream church-goers. (LCN, Page 13, 12/30/10)

We would feel remiss if we did not join the chorus of concern regarding the attempted assassination of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords in Tucson, Ariz., Jan. 8.

A parent of a grammar school basketball team member confided to me in an email that their children’s team was promised, by the coach, to all get floor time during the game the previous day. None of them got any floor time. Half of the team is very disheartened and disappointed. Are they pouting or do they deserve to be “hurt?”

All my life we have heard the phrases “independent Mainer” and “local control.”