God help business owners with businesses dealing directly with the public. Last month I had experiences with employees at home improvement warehouse stores, most of which tested my patience. My experiences were also perplexing: Why did so many employees lack initiative, curiosity? How much were these employees costing business owners in money and customer relations?

Taxes are a complicated thing. You are taxed in many ways, not just on your income, and not just by one government. Indeed, American federalism guarantees that you are in fact taxed by your national government, you state government, your county government and your town government, to say nothing of the "fees" you pay to quasi-governmental organizations like licensing boards and industry funds.

For some people, it’s the menacing whir of a drill, maybe coming from the other room. For others, it’s anxiety about not taking care of themselves before the visit or fear of a painful experience.

To the Editor; I recently attended the community forum held in Guilford by Mayo Regional Hospital to inform citizens about the proposal to merge with Northern Light Health.

Our new Postmaster asked me the other day, "Are you retired?" "No," I smiled at her impression of me. I was sorting my mail; some of it went straight to the trash, the rest was coming home with me.

In a previous OpEd, I described three “shocks” challenging Maine tourism’s resilience: changing climate, changing general economic conditions and changing global markets. Some disturbances are unavoidable, like warming winters, while others are uncertain, like another severe economic recession. Some shocks will have negative impacts for Maine, like less reliable snow cover, while others may be advantageous, like climate disruptions at competing destinations.

One of the least productive public debates in American society today is the debate over abortion.

Later this week, we’ll mark the first 100 days of Gov. Janet Mills’ administration. President Franklin Roosevelt used the first 100 days of his administration as a milestone to measure the progress that he had been made – under difficult circumstances – to right the ship of state in 1933.

“Heigh Ho, Come to the Fair” is an old English folk song, and the fair I’m going to tell you about is two months away. But if you’re like me, your calendar fills up and you might want to jot down the date so you don’t miss it.

When I hear people complain about the Central Maine Power right of way that is being considered, it makes me think about how people must have felt when they saw the first telephone poles going up.

Stopped in my Ford Focus last month at a long traffic light, I switched off Miles Davis “Live at the Plugged Nickel” on my MP3 player, and switched on my FM radio to a state news update of a public hearing before a Florida legislative committee.

I’ve never been all that moralistic about public officials. While I am certain that there are good people who hold public office, in my experience the truth has been that power and influence attract only the worst among us.

Democrats and progressives in Maine are ready for 2020. They are so ready. They’re so ready, in fact, that they might be having a little trouble remembering that it’s just April of 2019.

The impeachment ship is foundering in the breakers of the Mueller report. From blaming Trump election despondency for their obsessive reporting to outright denial, the old guard media is at a loss to explain how their spin got “unspun” before the eyes of the nation. The old ships are taking on water.

I recently wrote a column about two of the non-population federal censuses, agricultural and manufacturing, and promised I would write about other special censuses of value to genealogists. One of my personal favorites is the mortality census. Many genealogists haven’t heard of them but they can be of enormous help in finding the death date of an ancestor if that ancestor happened to die at a certain time.

Bullying in schools can have severe impacts on students and their families. Families should know that they have legal rights when it comes to bullying and there are resources in our community that families can reach out to for help. Here is some information for families.

My dad died six hours ago. His name was Chester B. Fish, Jr. At age 93, dad outlived my mom by two years. And among his parents and two brothers, dad was the last man standing.

We all like to think that we make rational, sound decisions based on our own quality judgment. We roll on with life, evaluate the facts we see in front of us and act accordingly.