Why do basic good manners seem so hard to grasp? I was thinking about that last night whenever our 4 ½-year-old grandson, Grafton, announced, “I want a snack,” or “I want juice.” My initial response was, “I’m not hearing any manners,” or the shorter, “Manners?”

Lately, high profile suicides have blanketed the news – the shocking deaths of Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain make people wonder, how can someone who appears to have everything do this kind of thing? Why would they leave their family in tatters, especially impacting their young children left behind? The JD Foundation in Abbot, which will celebrate its 10th anniversary this October, is working to address this each and every day.

At the final meeting of the school year the local Omicron chapter of the DKG Society International, a professional honor society of leading women educators, initiated Stacy Shorey, superintendent of RSU 68, and Lenora Granger, retired school nurse, as new members.

As a new resident of Maine, I am dumbfounded at the recent legalization of marijuana in Maine. Everyone agrees that there is an opioid crisis in this state and around the country. So how does legalizing marijuana make any sense? It doesn't.

The Three Rivers Kiwanis of Milo/Brownville recently donated $2,000 to the summer meals program in Milo. The program provides free lunch for area children 18 and under from June 18 to Aug. 22 -- no sign up or registration required.

The Dover-Foxcroft Historical Society’s Observer Building Museum will be opening for the season on the day of the 2018 Maine Whoopie Pie Festival, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday June 23. This year the museum have a new display about East Dover.

Maine State Police have charged a couple from Milo after seizing heroin and crack when their vehicle was stopped on the Maine Turnpike late in the evening on June 14, according to a press release on the incident. The enforcement action came after troopers stopped the couple’s car in York about 11 p.m. and a drug dog was brought to the scene.

Sen. Paul Davis, R-Sangerville presented Dexter Police Officer Kenneth Spaulding with a Legislative Sentiment at the June 14 Dexter Town Council meeting. The sentiment recognizes Officer Spaulding’s achievement of earning a 2018 Community Hero Real Heroes Award from the American Red Cross of Maine for saving the life of an infant who had stopped breathing by performing CPR until an ambulance crew arrived to take over.

The Board of Directors and CEO Diane Dickerson are proud to announce some management additions and changes at the Piscataquis Regional YMCA. Janna Loureiro Wasel has been chosen to become the director of operations and development.

In the realm of wildlife management we have come a long way since the days of Aldo Leopold, the American father of enlightened wildlife stewardship. Leopold in his writings and teaching warned about the destructive impact that industrial progress and technology was having on America’s wildlife. In fact, wildlife planning, protection and well-funded conservation efforts have led to an era when we have more big game in this country than ever before. Increasingly in some cases, there is an excess of wild critters.