What happens when taxpayers are unable to pay their taxes? They may make an agreement with the Internal Revenue Service called an offer in compromise to settle the bill. This only happens when the…
Columns
Opinion: Jeffrey C. Lewis
As a resident of Midcoast Maine and Western Connecticut, the recent atrocity in Newtown has been the subject of many of my conversations and thoughts in the last days…
Sightings
Noontide
This time of year we gather the quiet.
The frenzy of life of summer life at 44˚N has subsided and the coast of Maine settles into winter.
As Andrew Wyeth…
Financially Speaking
Should you consider using retirement funds from a 401 (K), an IRA or a Roth as down payment on a home? Some say "NO!," because of lost future earnings on the money, recommending waiting and…
Father Bill speaks
Well here's a good example of what can happen when you don't plan ahead. After a couple of emails, I agreed to write some articles for my dear (I didn't say old) friends Holly and Lynda. There…
Letter from Superintendent Elaine Nutter
Dear Members of the Community:
As I look out my office window this morning and see the beauty of the falling snow, is it unfathomable to think of the tragedy that unfolded in Newtown,…
The Paleo Diet, Part III
To recap from Parts I and II, Paleo Diet advocates argue that humans are genetically wired to eat meat, foraged vegetables, fruits, nuts, and seeds. Paleo peoples, they…
Opinion
Friday’s school shooting in Connecticut now puts that small school in the ranks of the deadliest mass killings to date. According to the FBI, four or more dead in a single incident qualifies the…
Dads: you are the key
The Black and Blue Statistics:
• 70 percent of all kids in special education are boys
• 70 percent of all drop outs are boys.
• 70 percent of top 10 ten students in…
Part I, Chapter 2 - Find the Sources of Stage Fright
During his inconsistent first 20 years in a business environment, Tom Dowd learned lessons, both positive and negative, which transformed into shared professional success. The experiences…
Industrial Arts
I put together a tabletop Advent wreath on the first Sunday of Advent, which was Dec. 2. There was no reason for it but that it looked nice, and smelled nice, and…
Part II, Chapter 1 - Get a Mentor
During his inconsistent first 20 years in a business environment, Tom Dowd learned lessons, both positive and negative, which transformed into shared professional success. The experiences…
US economic releases were better than expected with hurricane Sandy having very little impact on early November data. Europe's releases confirmed that the EU remained in contraction. These reports…
Financially Speaking
HSAs have been adjusted for inflation for 2013, raising the maximum that can be contributed to the account and the minimum deductibles and personal spending limits for high-deductible health-…
Meditations
My husband had a pet flying squirrel when he was younger. He bought it for $30 from an old lady in his neighborhood who trafficked in the sales of wild animals. She also sold raccoons, mice, rats…
Juvenile Justice
This fall, I attended a meeting of the newly reorganized Federal Advisory Committee on Juvenile Justice in Washington, D.C. (You can learn more about this advisory committee at…
From the Outdoors: How Delaware crab harvesting devastates a bird population
It’s a cloudless late-September day at Biddeford Pool, a tidal estuary 20 minutes south of Portland. Two rare red knots — a robin sized sandpiper — are foraging for…
Notes from abroad: BELFAST—BELGIQUE
The woman working at the cheese counter looked surprised when we told her that we did indeed want all 2 kilograms (4.5 pounds) of orange cheddar. Regardless, she wrapped it in plastic and…
On Dec. 4, Citizens for Value In Education were privileged to have Camden Hills Regional High School Senior Camilla Walker, and Junior Matt Clark as our guests for our meeting. Camilla and Matt…
Financially speaking
Most business-tax rules have permitted hotel and meal expenses away from home to be deductible. Now, new regulations have been proposed that would allow local lodging costs to be deductible, too,…
Just spend time with your kids, show them you care
Well, I feel compelled to write again. Actually, I've been writing all along and just adding files to my word documents. Holly and Lynda were good to me and I liked writing for them, so why not…
Economic releases for October in the US have been difficult to analyze due to the impact Hurricane Sandy; but, even so, these…
Introduction, Chapter 1
During his inconsistent first 20 years in a business environment, Tom Dowd learned lessons, both positive and negative, which transformed into shared professional success. The experiences…
Industrial Arts
MATINICUS — Our first wood fire this year in the kitchen stove was weeks later than usual. We put it off until a few days ago, everybody busy and managing to get through each day without making…
Empowering youth to think critically
BELFAST — Conventional wisdom tells us that adolescence is a tumultuous time, especially for mothers and daughters. We prime ourselves for conflict, joke about its…
Tipping Points
To recap from Part I, Paleo Diet advocates argue that humans are genetically wired to eat meat, foraged vegetables, fruits, nuts, and seeds. Paleo peoples, they argue,…
Break bread and enjoy each other
That first cold Thanksgiving almost 400 years ago was neither a first nor a thanksgiving, and there were no forks. But it was a coming together to feast, to accomplish diplomacy, and to mark the…
Tipping Points
Those promoting the Paleo Diet argue that humans are genetically wired to eat meat, foraged vegetables, fruits, nuts, and seeds. Paleo peoples, they argue, did not eat…
On Sunday, Nov. 18, hundreds of regional opponents of Denver-based DCP Midstream's proposed huge LPG tank/terminal converged in Belfast to illustrate the gigantic 202-foot diameter bootprint DCP's…
Ever heard of a MOOC? MOOCs are Massive Open Online Courses. “Massive” means thousands of people may register for the same section of the course. “Open” means that they…
My daily 'Big Sit'
Every October, Bird Watcher's Digest hosts an international, noncompetitive birding event…
In business
OWLS HEAD — We celebrated Veterans Day, Sunday, Nov. 11. A time we honor all those who fought in our nation’s wars, who were giving of their patriotism and sacrifice so…
Notes from abroad: BELFAST—BELGIQUE
PARIS - Roadside plaques are all that delineate national borders within the EU. Thus, we were in France for about an hour before I realized we had left Belgium. This was two Saturdays ago, and I…
Tim Sample: Stories I Never Told You
I first met author Stephen King in the early 1980s while I was hosting the annual Cerebral Palsy Telethon on Channel 7 in Bangor. These days the idea of TV telethons is simply a quaint anachronism…
Personal history
Lincolnville is home to Steve Young. His story is unique in that what is now the Youngtown Inn was once the home he grew up in. It had been in his family for more than 150 years. It was home to…
When my wife, Jan, and I moved from Dover-Foxcroft to Camden back in 1998, my primary focus was my new professional role as the executive director of the then Camden Area YMCA, now Penobscot Bay…
From the outdoors
In late September 1980, Maine’s annual moose hunt resumed for the first time in 54 years, but not without controversy. The six-day hunt was preceded by several…
DISPATCH FROM ROCKVILLE
Farmers’ Gate Market stands alone in the fields of Wales, Maine, almost 60 miles from the Village of Rockville and just to the west of Litchfield. It’s worth the drive…
UMaine Hutchinson Center Notebook
Did you know that the average age of college students rose to 25 in 2009? Predictions indicate a 23 percent rise in enrollment of students age 25 and older by the end…
LINCOLNVILLE — "Lincolnville is a special place," said Victor Goulding, resting a hand on a 2 by 8 that was holding together the old schoolhouse that had just crossed Route 52 in Lincolnville…
LINCOLNVILLE – Ladleah Dunn is a sailor and a damn good cook. More importantly,…
In business
ROCKLAND — If you’re a Rockland long-timer you know exactly what I’m talking about. Joe’s Barber Shop had sat on Park Street next to Goodnow’s Pharmacy since the early 1960s. When Camden National…
My TEDxDirigo talk
LEWISTON — Imagine that you were invited to a party and you have been told ahead of time that the other guests at the party are guaranteed to be the most interesting group of people you have ever…
William Shuttleworth: Children not meant to be sedentary, tranquilized sheep
An article in the New York Times, Oct. 9, "Attention Disorder or Not, Pills to Help in School," focused on the interventions of a child psychiatrist, Dr. Michael Anderson, who has opted…
Owen Casas: The Costs of War
BETHESDA, MD. — It had been close to seven years since I had seen my friend Ralph DeQuebec. I met Ralph in California at my first duty station in the Marine Corps. He came from San Pedro, Calif.,…
MY VIEW THROUGH THE LENS
CAMDEN – The Five Town Football organization hosted the JV Harvest Bowl Saturday, Oct. 20, at the Camden Snow Bowl, home of the FTF teams. The Harvest Bowl is the one-day playoffs to decide which…
A well-known birding hotspot offers up a truly epic day
MONHEGAN — If my birding buddy, Jacquie, and I had only known how many birds were waiting for us on Monhegan Island, we would have been far more vigilant watching all the seabirds around the …
A tribute to Pilot Don Campbell
About a week ago I sat beside Steve the pilot as we took off from Owls Head for Matinicus, a flight home after a few days of mainland obligations. It was, as we say, “flyable” — but it was no day…
Blasphemer of Hope
Hope is Hip, according to a number of bumper stickers that pass around Hope, Maine. But then there is one that stands out, one that reads, 'Hope really isn't that cool, guys!' Which I thought was…
Notes from abroad: BELFAST—BELGIQUE
BELGIUM — This past Sunday I found myself standing outside my house at 7:30 in the morning, wearing a jacket and winter hat against the morning chill. I was waiting for my Rotary counselor's…
