The Greenwood selectmen will meet on the following Tuesdays at 5 PM: March 25, April 8, and April 22. All selectmen’s meetings are open to the public, except for during any scheduled executive sessions.
The West Paris Library will host a free Cabin Fever Concert by members of the Mollyockett Chorus this Sunday, March 16, at 2:00 p.m., with refreshments to follow.
I was greatly saddened to learn of the passing of Gregg Inman on February 23. Gregg was one of the many “characters” I met during my early days of working at Bob’s Corner Store in the late 1970s, and I mean that in the best sense of the word. Although I never really knew him outside of our brief exchanges over the counter, that was enough to know that he was witty, kind, and intelligent. When I got to know his dad, Milt, later in life through the UU church in West Paris, it was easy to see how Gregg came by those traits. My heart goes out to his family and friends.
I also learned that Alice Hathaway McInnis passed away on March 2 in North Carolina, where she made her home with her daughter Susanne. I am so lucky to have had all three of my babies at Stephens Memorial Hospital, where Alice was a dedicated and legendary maternity nurse. She knew exactly what her patients needed to hear, from cheerleading during labor—“You can do this!”—to comfort and coddling after delivery—“You’ve done an amazing thing, and you need to rest and take care of yourself”—to setting new moms on the path to face the challenges ahead—“Okay, pull up your socks now; your baby needs you.”
When my second daughter, Cait, was born in the early evening, I missed the regular hospital dinner hour. When I got back to my room, after not having eaten in 24 hours, Alice went off in search of sustenance for me, returning with a bologna and cheese sandwich on soft white bread. It may have been one of the last times in my life that I ate a bologna and cheese sandwich on squishy white bread, but I still remember it as one of the most delicious dinners I’ve ever had.
I did go for a cold, windy birthday hike last Sunday, just a short one around the orange and blue loop at Maggie’s Nature Park. No other humans were excited about going along, but Eli the Wonder Pup never turns me down.
The next day, Monday, it was still cold and not much less windy, but Tony came along for a somewhat longer hike in the Buck’s Ledge Community Forest in the early afternoon. We hiked up to Lapham Ledge, then to Buck’s, and from there I had hoped to go out and back to the summit of Moody, but we had only gone about a quarter of the way along the ridge when we turned around because the wind had drifted so much snow onto the trail and we didn’t have snowshoes.
On Tuesday morning, Tony surprised me by suggesting an early hike in Maggie’s Nature Park (I’m usually the only early bird in the family), so we did the same short loop I had done with Eli two days earlier.
Three hikes in three days brought me to a total of 17 for the year, and now I’m debating about whether walking the 2.25 miles up to Mount Abram’s Westside Lodge on Saturday afternoon to meet up with our granddaughter after her last ski lesson of the season counts as just a walk, or as hike number 18. The usual way I decide between the two is whether I’m on paved roads or not, but I think the steepness, elevation, and increased heart rate should probably allow me to bend the rules a little. In any case, I think I should be able to manage to get to 20 before my first knee surgery which, as I write this, is just eight days away.
The announcement this past week of changes in the publication and delivery schedules of the Sun Journal and the weekly western Maine newspapers has, understandably, caused a lot of confusion and consternation. Beginning on March 28, the Bethel Citizen will only be printed every other week, and will come out on Fridays, with news stories appearing online during the intervening weeks.
While Tony and I both still love reading a print newspaper every morning, and especially enjoy receiving the Citizen along with the Sun Journal, I know that we are in the minority. Statistics show that only a small percentage of people now say they get their news from print newspapers, with most citing online publications as their primary news source. Even if you’re like me, and you’re going to miss holding the paper in your hands every week, I urge you not to abandon the local news, and to give the online version a chance. No, it won’t turn your fingers black, or help you start a fire in the stove, but it’s still important to stay abreast of what is happening in our communities, and local news and information read online is bound to be a more accurate source than gossip or social media. I think we can get used to this. I hope so.
This column may not be the most important thing you read in the paper, but I get enough positive feedback that I’ve decided to try to continue writing it every week. Each week’s column, whether it’s a print edition week or not, will be posted on my website under a tab titled “Locke’s Mills News.” Will is in the process of creating a Substack for me so that all of my columns, blog posts, and information about my book tour for Just Like Glass can be found in one place, but the web address will still be the same as always, amywchapman.com. You can even sign up for a free email subscription if you want to be notified whenever a new column or blog post comes out.
If you have news or events you’d like included here, email me at amy.w.chapman@gmail.com or call 207-890-4812.
“Most of us probably feel we couldn’t be free without newspapers, and that is the real reason we want newspapers to be free.” – Edward R. Murrow
I still enjoy holding a book in my hands and smelling the onion a news paper (not online). I guess it is showing my age. Thanks for keeping us up on the news, Amy.