Thumbs up to the Wells Board of Selectmen, who proactively began exploring the purchase of 375,000 cubic yards of sand from a potential dredging project at Portsmouth Harbor’s turning basin. According to state geologist Steve Dickson, this will help alleviate the erosion

problems that have plagued Wells Beach up to the jetty and down to Casino Point. As Pam Valentineas suggested at Tuesday’s public hearing on the purchase, the selectmen would do well to explore a regional approach with Ogunquit and Camp Ellis, as artificial town lines have no bearing on the geological processes at work. Broader scale studies and approaches could potentially yield a system that would tackle erosion before most of the beach has swept away.

Thumbs up to Biddeford City Council for approving new contracts for the city’s police officers and public works employees, ending approximately nine months of negotiations. Although the new contracts include some benefit cuts, such as eliminating retiree health insurance

for new hires, they maintain most benefits for senior employees and reflect a compromise between the city and Teamsters Local 340 union.

Thumbs up to Biddeford Superintendent Jeremy Ray, high school principal Jeremie Sirois and athletic director Dennis Walton and the rest of the people involved in making the 2015 Homecoming weekend such a huge success. From the fireworks show during halftime of the

Tigers’ football game against Kennebunk to making sure a huge crowd was on hand to celebrate the occasion by giving out over 1,000 tickets to students in the district – the officials in Biddeford hit a homerun.

Thumbs up to Sanford Strong, Saco Citizens for Responsible Government and DiriGo-Getters in Biddeford for organizing candidate forums and debates this election season. These events give voters an opportunity to see and hear those vying to represent them at

City Hall, and in Sanford’s case, for State House District 19 as well. The forums and debates, coupled with news stories featuring candidate interviews, are informative. Soon, it will be the voters turn. Forums and debates help voters make an informed choice.

Thumbnails is a Friday feature of the Journal Tribune’s opinion pages. If you want to respond, feel free to write to the Readers’ Forum via e-mail (jtcommunity@journaltribune.com) or by dropping your letter off at our office.