I once thought that failing to accomplish one’s goal, regardless of how long and/or passionately the individual in question had attempted to reach it, constituted utter failure. Boy, was I wrong. On the first weekend of July 1987, I left for two years of service in Central America in the Peace Corps. Full of idealism, […]

Thumbs up to Avesta Housing for opening yet another quality apartment building for low- to mid-income people in York County. The group held a ribbon cutting ceremony last week at its Cascade Brook development, a new affordable housing building for those 55 and older. Several residents spoke about the need for affordable elderly housing and […]

Chances are the name Nakoula Basseley Nakoula is not familiar to you, nor is his reputed pseudonym: Sam Bacile. This unknown man, living in the United States, has been able to shake the world. He is reportedly the man who made the film ridiculing the Muslim prophet Mohammed. His amateurish film has caused or been […]

The sounds and smells of welders at work could be observed at York County Jail this week, as approximately 10 inmates wrapped up a program on the trade. Led by instructor Jon Gradie of the nonprofit New England School of Metalwork, inmates were able to learn about welding in a mobile unit that travels the […]

My first cell phone looked like the kind of device that movie villains use to detonate bombs. It had an LCD display slightly more sophisticated than a calculator. It was square. It was bulky. It had a flimsy antenna with a plastic nub at the tip that waggled in the wind, and the only “entertainment” […]

It took a monumental blown call on Monday night, but the National Football League and its referee union final reached a deal Wednesday, ending the officials’ strike. By now almost everybody knows of the egregious wrong call at the end of the Green Bay Packers/Seattle Seahawks game Monday, where the referees signaled a Seattle touchdown […]

When my grandfather, Roland Petit, was 9 years old, in the days before automatic pinsetters, his job was to reset the candlepins at the end of the bowling alley. The Pastime Lanes were in Biddeford across from the mill at the corner of Emery and Main streets. His manager, Billy Manning, once told my great-uncle […]

The Biddeford & Saco Water Co. is poised to merge with the Maine Water Co., a subsidiary of the Connecticut Water Co., by the end of this year, and the plan seems like a wise idea from the standpoint of keeping the area water system in good repair. Few amenities are more integral to the […]

A recent Journal Tribune analysis of public access in York County shows that many municipalities and school districts are doing a good job of offering other options to residents who can’t appear in the flesh at committee and board meetings. The article published on Sept. 22, written by reporter Tammy Wells, showed that Acton, Biddeford, […]

Maybe it was the name change to Spartans, but the Sanford girls soccer team is having itself a very nice season. Up until Saturday, the Spartans were 7-0, but unfortunately suffered their first loss to the legs of the Cheverus Stags on Saturday. While it stings, it doesn’t take away from what the Spartans have […]