Although crossbows have never held a lot of appeal for me, I have hunted with a borrowed crossbow in the deer-rich state of Maryland. For me it just seems awkward to carry while still hunting, and it doesn’t have the visual appeal of conventional longbows, recurves or compound bows. As a hunting device it is accurate and lethal and, in the eyes of the law and the hardcore bowhunters, neither fish nor fowl. The Maine Warden Service considers the crossbow not to be a firearm. The Maine Bowhunters Association (MBA) could never warm up to the medieval contraption, deeming it not a true bow.

Ernie Fitch and Arnold Nash grew up together. They met in grade school in Ellsworth and became friends. Many times during their early years, Nash would have dinner or stay overnight with the Fitch family, Fitch said.

The Coast Guard Foundation, a non-profit organization committed to the education and welfare of all Coast Guard members and their families, announced that it has awarded a record-breaking 177 new scholarships in 2018 for a combined $500,000 in support. Among the award recipients is Clayton Carroll, son of Senior Chief Petty Officer Daniel Carroll, of Sebec. The younger Carroll is a student at Maine Maritime Academy and he is a Foxcroft Academy graduate.

Partners for Peace, the domestic violence resource center serving Piscataquis and Penobscot counties, will be observing Domestic Violence Awareness Month with three End Domestic Violence Days across the two county region in October, including from 2-6 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 2 in Dover-Foxcroft.

When Maine voters elected Angus King as governor in 1995 they also elected a new Republican majority to the Maine Senate. I heard state Sen. Beverly Bustin — who was, at the time, a senate Democrat leader -- tell a group of people gathered in Maine’s State House that the new GOP senate majority was an aberration, a flaw in the electoral process. The election that year was clearly a case of mistaken identity.

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Janet Mills this week released an action plan for the Maine economy. The plan includes 19 action items, specific recommendations for improving the state’s economy and spreading prosperity into rural areas.

For nearly a year now, we've been living in a different era. That era is the "me too" era, where women across this country are standing up and making their voices heard, taking some power back after generations of silent abuse that women all over America have experienced.

I know, it has been a long time since my last Senior Matters column, years in fact. Sorry. And much has changed, including I am now a retired “senior” myself, The Commons at Central Hall has opened and people are enjoying her beautiful spaces for dancing and quilting, connecting and thriving.