John Adams, we can only assume, wouldn’t be pleased. Two hundred and thirty-four years ago, as the Second Continental Congress prepared to declare the United States of America free and independent of Great Britain, the man who would go on to become our second president made a bold and accurate prediction in a letter to […]
Bill Nemitz
Bill Nemitz has worked as a journalist in Maine since 1977, when he became a reporter for the Morning Sentinel in Waterville after graduating from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
He moved to Portland in 1983, working first as a reporter for the Evening Express and later as a city editor and assistant managing editor/sports for the Portland Press Herald and Maine Sunday Telegram. He began writing his column in 1995. While focusing on Maine people and issues, his work has taken him three times to Iraq and twice to Afghanistan, where he was embedded with members of the Maine Army National Guard and the Army Reserve; to Belfast, Northern Ireland, for the 1998 referendum on the Good Friday Peace Accord; to Manhattan for the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks; to the Gulf Coast for the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina; and to Haiti following the 2010 earthquake. Nemitz is a past president of the Maine Press Association and for many years taught journalism part-time at St. Joseph's College of Maine in Standish. He also served for eight years, including three as chairman, on the board of trustees for the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies in Portland. In 2004, the Maine Press Association named Nemitz Maine Journalist of the Year for his reporting on the Maine Army National Guard’s 133rd Engineer Battalion in Iraq. In 2007, he received the Distinguished Service Award from the New England Newspaper Association. In 2015, Nemitz was inducted into the Maine Press Association Hall of Fame. Nemitz lives in Buxton with his wife, Andrea. They have five children and four grandchildren.
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Nemitz: Tale of Rocky and Theresa puts poignant cap on law
She still has to bury her beloved husband, Rocky, who died in her arms just 11 days ago at their home in Limerick. And she still has a mountain of unpaid medical bills, thanks to a health policy that did a lot better job covering the insurance company’s profit margin than it did Rocky’s cancer. […]
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Nemitz: Full exposure of their … principles
It’s going to be a busy week for Portland Police Chief James Craig. On Thursday, President Obama comes to town – and with him the inevitable jawing match between those who think he’s a modern-day messiah and those who think he’s a radical Muslim with a fake birth certificate. But if you want to witness […]
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Nemitz: Samaritan didn’t need preconditions
When you’re taught by the Roman Catholic nuns and brothers, you hear a lot of parables over the years. But decades later, I still remember one by heart. It’s the story of the Good Samaritan. According to the Gospel of Luke, it all started one day when a lawyer-type questioned Jesus on the commandment that […]
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Dedicated crew shows its heart on epic mission
LES CAYES, Haiti — Just over six weeks ago, I found myself sipping my morning coffee and wondering aloud what in the world I might write about in my column for the next day. “How about the treasure ship guy?” my wife, bless her, suggested. To be honest, I balked at first. I’d heard that […]
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Heart and soul in Haiti
The Rev. Marc Boisvert went to the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere 12 years ago, and knows he will spend his life – all of it – helping on this island.
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Sea Hunter’s supplies reach the hands of Haitian people
LES CAYES, Haiti – Not once in the four weeks and five days since he left Portland Harbor had Dave St. Cyr, a deckhand aboard the Maine relief ship Sea Hunter, uttered such an exclamation. “What chaos!” said St. Cyr, 54, of Portland as he came to the ship’s bridge for a breather late Friday […]
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Column: Relief delivery to orphanage tantalizingly close
LES CAYES, Haiti — The Maine ship Sea Hunter, assuming it passes a customs inspection early this morning, has been cleared to begin offloading its 200 tons of relief supplies for Haiti’s earthquake victims. Government officials here gave the green light Wednesday after meeting for several hours with the Sea Hunter’s owner, Greg Brooks of […]
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Haiti official: Sea Hunter can offload its cargo
A local customs official will board the ship Thursday morning to verify that relief supplies aboard the ship match those listed in packing lists handed over today.
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Owner of Sea Hunter at the end of his rope
MIRAGOANE, Haiti – Saturday, like so many before it, was not a good day for Greg Brooks. The owner of the Maine relief ship Sea Hunter had hoped to obtain government permission to offload a dozen large items at the deep-water dock here before sailing on to the port of Les Cayes on Haiti’s southern […]