I’d like to think I’d be different, though I hope I never find out.

Tom Kawczynski was fired as the town manager of Jackman this week after his radical, racist agenda was exposed. After news about Kawczynski surfaced last week, I spent some time on his New Albion website and in the underworld of Gab, an alt-right Twitter alternative, and on Kawczynski’s Facebook page. While the white separatist and racist beliefs he espoused are terrible, I was more amazed by the openness with which he talked about his views and his goals of creating a white ethno-state in northern Maine, Vermont and New Hampshire.

Nearly 30 million Americans have diabetes, including more than 137,000 Mainers. Diabetes is the leading cause of kidney failure, blindness in adults, and amputations not related to injury, and it is the seventh leading cause of death in the U.S., claiming some 70,000 lives each year.

Dozens of Democrats gathered on Saturday, Jan. 20 for the grand opening of the Piscataquis County Democrats Headquarters at 25 North Street. Dr. Richard Evans of Dover-Foxcroft announced his candidacy for the Maine House of Representatives District 120 and addressed the enthusiastic crowd.

GREENVILLE — Across the country, the American Red Cross responds to an emergency every eight minutes.

12,000 miles. For some people, long-distance hiking becomes a serious lifestyle. Ron Dobra is one of those people.

The 11th annual Wilderness Sled Dog Race will take place Saturday, Feb. 3 in the forested mountain trails of the Moosehead Lake region. One of only three long-distance races in New England, the Wilderness Race will begin and end at Leisure Life Resort. A 70-mile race begins at 9 a.m. and a 36-mile race is also held beginning at 10 a.m.

Upcoming events around the region

On Saturday, Jan. 27 the town of Brownville and the Maine Highlands Sled Dog Club will present the ninth annual Brownville-KI and Beyond Sled Dog Race & Dog Days of Winter event. The activities take place at and around Railroad Avenue, and the event continues on Sunday, Jan. 28.

From now through the end of March, the Kiwanis clubs in your town are working with local redemption centers to turn returnable bottles and cans into cash that will go directly to the Good Shepard Food Bank so that Maine people affected by natural disasters can feed their families a little easier. Their fundraising goal is just $2,500, and they hope to raise much more from the good-hearted contributors in our towns.