Sixty male and female New England high school and college teachers, coaches, counselors and administrators traveled to Parris Island, South Carolina, last month for a four-day Marine Corps Educators Workshop. And because I wanted to learn more about helping young people more effectively determine their future direction, I was one of them.  As the son […]

Despite owning one, tablets are still largely a mystery to me. And no, I’m not talking about giant stone slabs, although frankly those would be more my technological speed. You don’t need a user manual when all you’re working with are a hammer, chisel and a chunk of rectangular rock. It’s amazing how the very […]

Earlier this month, hundreds of restaurant owners and servers traveled to Augusta to weigh in on an issue of great importance to the hospitality industry – the tip credit.  Last November, Maine voters passed Question 4, which was a three-part question. The new law incrementally raises the minimum wage until it reaches $12 per hour […]

After I picked up the sticks in the yard and raked the leaves that had collected over the winter, I perused the lawn and enjoyed the various signs of spring. A few crocuses were already in bloom. The daffodils were starting to poke up. Indeed, that last little pile of snow would disappear yet this […]

Preparing and grooming the Little League baseball and softball fields is a springtime ritual here in Sanford. On a recent cool April morning at Little League Park on Roberts Street, bands of amateur groundskeepers fanned out to fields throughout the city: Carpentier Park, Witham Street Fields, Carl J. Lamb, Blouin Field. Parents, coaches and players, […]

We can’t reach old age by another man’s road. Mark Twain, How to Reach Seventy -1950 You’re how old? A portrait of an older Maine is emerging. The aging of America moves us into a new phase of our state and national life affecting the family and society. What we now seek are ways to […]

The Democrats may be making a serious mistake. In planning for the 2018 and 2020 campaigns, they could be counting on President Trump’s unpopularity to allow the elections to fall into their laps. Good showings in special House elections, like this week in Georgia, might encourage this way of thinking. Many Democrats and probably Hillary […]

My Christmas stocking last year was loaded with pens. There were other things, too — chocolates, lottery tickets, assorted nic-nacs — but pens ruled the day, enough of them to start a small stationary supply store. They were simultaneously a gift and a message: You will lose most of them, so here’s half the supply […]

The governor has proposed his two-year, nearly $7 billion state budget, and what’s his top priority? More tax cuts for the rich and less money for public schools and health care. It’s the same old refrain from the governor’s previous budgets, while continuing to ignore the needs of the people. What’s missing from the governor’s […]

Our mother, Doris Schumacher, 97, went to spirit in home hospice with loved ones present at the Sunrise Huntington Commons facility in Kennebunk on April 17, 2017. This is a letter of immense gratitude from her family for the years of outstanding, caring service provided by the highly competent and devoted staff at the residence. […]