Conforming to abnormality
By Al Diamon

Let’s see if I can fill a whole column by making jokes about violent sex offenders.

Question: Why did the violent sex offender cross the road?

Answer: To get to the other side – where there was a park full of little kids he could ogle, follow, abduct and violate. (June 30, 2008 10:26 AM)

Flavors of entanglement
Dear S. Donald Sussman: (June 23, 2008 10:52 AM)

Evil urges …
Let’s talk about extremists. (June 16, 2008 12:45 PM)

And the award goes to …
The Gaggie Awards are back. (June 9, 2008 10:47 AM)

A lot of questions remain in Phillips
I have lived my entire 38 years in this town and have watched town meetings from the time I was small enough to fall asleep in a hard metal chair from boredom. Now I have spent the last 20 years paying attention. (June 28, 2008 10:25 PM)

Report of rapes increase, but ...
The Maine Department of Public Safety recently released their “Crime in Maine” report for 2007. For the third year in a row, there was an increase in the number of rapes reported to police in Maine; up by more than 15 percent from 2006. (June 27, 2008 12:50 PM)

Bill Lambert: A Remembrance
I’m saddened to learn of Bill Lambert’s passing and want to publicly express my sympathies to Bill’s family. As a doctor I feel privileged to have been part of Bill’s medical community. He was not only a patient’s doctor par excellence, but a doctor’s doctor, too. (June 24, 2008 11:35 AM)

Re: Euthanasia
I write this on Father's Day.

It has been almost twenty years since my father died. He was well respected by all who knew him as a very intelligent man, consummate gentleman and a good friend. (June 16, 2008 9:29 AM)

Euthanasia, facts and history
I completely agree with Mr. Blonder on the subject of end of life issues. Something needs to be done. (June 15, 2008 1:24 PM)

Praise for Guy Griscom
Just a note of well-deserved praise for Guy Griscom. This man actually answers e-mail questions about computer issues! (June 15, 2008 12:14 PM)

New United Way director gets high praise
Lisa Laflin has just been hired by the United Way as their new Executive Director. Lisa has worked with us in the Healthy Community Coalition. She is a remarkable person who has done so much already to help the community. (June 14, 2008 11:22 AM)

End of life issues
Steve Bien's article on, "Too much health care can be bad for your health" is exactly right! (June 9, 2008 8:49 PM)

Re: New Mallett School road
In response to the article titled Neighbors Speak Out Against New Road Proposed for Mallett School, I would like to clarify a couple of statements presented in the article since the matter of a neighborhood school is so very important to our children and to our town. (June 6, 2008 12:06 PM)

Ledue a serious candidate
I am supporting Tom Ledue for Senate because he is a man of integrity and shows refreshing leadership about all of the issues that matter to me; probably to you also. (June 6, 2008 12:22 PM)

Consolidation law to blame for low voter turnout
On June 2nd, I attended the Jay Town Meeting on the School Budget. This was the first time this “new,” state-mandated system for approving the budget was implemented and as a result, voter participation on the articles of the school budget was way down. (June 3, 2008 10:50 AM)

Skye Theater events
Just want to thank you for your great coverage of Skye Theatre events. (June 2, 2008 9:57 AM)

Serious mojo working
For those of you who were there, you'd probably agree that words cannot adequately describe the vibe at the Boiler Room, the night Eddie Kirkland and his band jammed. (May 30, 2008 2:55 PM)

Re: Re: Connect the dots
Steve, perhaps you missed my letter a few weeks ago about Cato the Elder. My point was about today's letter writers who find it impossible to complete a comment on any subject without assigning blame to the current administration. (May 28, 2008 9:49 PM)

Re: Connect the dots
Mike, my short answer to you is that more people should follow your example, and I don’t think you live in a cave. You have cut back on your energy consumption while probably maintaining a pretty good standard of living, maybe even improving it. (May 28, 2008 8:33 AM)

A letter for Memorial Day
There are no words that I could share, on this Memorial Day weekend, that come close to the eloquence of Gilda Carbonaro whose only child, Alessandro, died from injuries received in Iraq. (May 26, 2008 11:12 AM)

Re: Connect the dots
Let me summarize Steve Bien's long letter: We're in an awful mess, we can't do anything about it, so we may as well surrender. What's left to talk about in this conversation he wants? Only how primitive we have to become. (May 26, 2008 10:42 AM)

TransCanada TIF
In debating the proposed TIF deal with TransCanada, the argument has been made that it will provide funding to the Greater Franklin Development Corporation so that the organization can promote economic activity in the unorganized territories. (May 26, 2008 10:28 AM)

Agriculture as an economic development tool
It was standing room only again at the West Farmington Grange a few weeks ago. (May 26, 2008 10:15 AM)

Kibby TIF Good for Franklin County
Franklin County stands to gain a great deal from the proposed Tax Increment Financing (TIF) agreement that has been negotiated between our county commissioners and TransCanada. (May 23, 2008 1:07 PM)

Connect the dots
I highly recommend that you check out the “Task Force on Wind Power in Maine” Web site if you want to see an important aspect of Maine’s future. Wind power appears to be Maine’s next big, extractive industry. With goals of 2,000 megawatts of power by 2015 and 3,000 by 2020, that means a lot of wind towers, many where we live. (May 22, 2008 12:44 PM)

Proposed “T.I.F.” for Kibby Windmill Project poor public tax policy
This editorial is not in any way intended to express an opinion or to debate the merits of windmill farms and whether or not these will provide good or bad energy and economic benefits for the State of Maine and Franklin County. I believe however, that the latest Tax Increment Finance District (“TIF”) proposal being considered by the Franklin County Commissioners represents poor public tax policy and has serious flaws. (May 19, 2008 1:56 PM)

School budget cuts hurts good health
One pregnancy "much too early" that is postponed, or one drug addiction prevented --- either one with partial credit to the health educator in school --- would save far more money in our community than would be saved by this cut in the school budget. (May 18, 2008 9:46 AM)

Kudos to Phill, Jan and the gang
Skye is more than a gem. (May 14, 2008 11:48 AM)

A credit to his race
By Lance Harvell

On a hot summer evening 70 years ago, Americans took an evening to escape from the Depression. (June 12, 2008 11:08 AM)

Flags and freedom
Before the Criminology class I teach began last night at UMF, the students who arrived early wanted to talk about something a little different than usual. The subject for a change wasn’t somebody’s speeding ticket or why a drug dog went through a roommate’s car that had a tail light out. (April 16, 2008 12:53 PM)