Beyond the front page
Insight beyond the news from Steve Betts.
Recent Posts by Steve Betts
Coming full circle
By Stephen Betts - Jan 26My first newspaper job was delivering the Bangor Daily News with my older brother Greg. We had about 100 customers, the exact number escapes me ...
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Voters to be offered contrasts
By Stephen Betts - Jan 19The race between state Sen. Christopher Rector, a Thomaston Republican, and Rep. Edward Mazurek, a Rockland Democrat, will be the marquee local ...
Gap in the public access law
By Stephen Betts - Jan 12Both the Rockland City Council and the Regional School Unit 13 Board will be making one of their biggest decisions in the next several months. Both...
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Long-term questions
By Stephen betts - Dec 29One of the most long-standing complaints from the citizenry about living in Rockland is the high taxes. There are many explanations. Rockland is ...
You better be good
By Stephen Betts - Dec 22Santa Claus is already programming his GPS, filling up the reindeer with unleaded fuel, and checking his list twice before heading out for ...
The new Ebenezer
By Stephen Betts - Dec 15Gov. Paul "38 Percent" LePage came into office promising to run state government more like a business rather than government. He hired a brain ...
The alternate universe of Knox County
By Stephen Betts - Dec 08Saturday Night Live ran a skit many years ago called "Opposite World" in which the characters all reacted in the opposite way the rest of the ...
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They huffed and they puffed
Nov 25The Rockland City Council's verbal tirade last week on the proposed Walmart Supercenter was reminiscent of a scene from the Jim Carey movie "Liar, ...
Those darn unemployed people
By Stephen Betts - Nov 11Gov. Paul "38 Percent" LePage has taken aim at the latest scapegoat for the economic woes that the state is experiencing. This time, the ...
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A sure (bad) bet
By Stephen Betts - Nov 04Maine voters get to decide again whether to expand gambling in Maine and it's a sure bet that someone will make money. Other than the Maine ...
Final effort to define 'charrette'
By Stephen Betts - Oct 28Here's a trivia question, what is the difference between a meeting and a charrette? The answer is - $2,000. Earlier this month the city ...
There should be no need for suppers
By Stephen Betts - Oct 21On the billboard of one of the local supermarkets is a flier that promotes a benefit for a Waldoboro woman who suffers from metastatic breast ...
A demand for justice
By Stephen Betts - Oct 07If great-great-grandpa Jacob Henry Betts was alive today he probably would be on Wall Street — protesting not practicing the questionable business ...
Surprises in Rockland's Big Dig
By Stephen Betts - Sep 30Rockland's version of the Big Dig continues with traffic being rerouted and merchants hoping for a quick end to the downtown disruptions. I went ...
Beyond the Front Page
By Stephen Betts - Sep 24Are our children being used as a pawn in a negotiation battle? For nearly a quarter century, elementary schools in Rockland have had something ...
Blurring reality and TV
By Stephen Betts - Sep 18The other night I tried to relax by settling onto the couch with a container of nonfat frozen yogurt and the television remote control. I ...
The disappearing middle class
By Stephen Betts - Sep 09Not long ago, Rockland was a manufacturing powerhouse. There are still some good manufacturing jobs in the city. We have snowplow maker Fisher ...
Milking the system
By Stephen Betts - Sep 02The court system can provide some of the greatest human drama, even more than the most-watched so-called reality television shows. And in some ...
Batten down the hatches
By Stephen Betts - Aug 26Get prepared and be afraid, very afraid. Stock up on water, non-perishable foods, and batteries. Shutter your windows and hunker down for the ...
Rayemandering
By Stephen Betts - Aug 19When the economy is strong and jobs are plentiful, you can brush off the political games of our elected officials as a harmless distraction. But ...
The name game
By Stephen Betts - Aug 12Why did the chicken cross the road? Or more specifically, why did the chicken cross Glover's Passage? To get to Kimball Lane. The silly ...
Happy birthday, Mr. President
By Stephen Betts - Aug 06Dear Mr. President: Congratulations on the half-century milestone you reached this week. You should have come up to Rockland to enjoy the ...
Get ready for the invasion
By Stephen Betts - Jul 29Look out everyone, we are being invaded. No, it's not the Russians, or Middle East terrorists who are threatening Maine communities. Our state ...
Is it worth $30?
By Stephen Betts - Jul 22Gov. Paul "38 Percent" LePage and his followers continue to break new ground. And not in a good way. LePage was the first gubernatorial ...
The Jihad begins in Rockland
By Stephen Betts - Jul 14First it was Obamacare that threatened to bring down the United States. Then came the Machiavellian plan of local members of planning boards to ...
Beyond the Front Page
By Stephen Betts - Jul 08This sickening saga of incompetence just keeps getting worse in connection to the loss of $283,000 in taxpayers dollars at the former state prison ...
The Great Escape
By Stephen Betts - Jul 01The Republicans swept into power late last year with a vow to clean up state government from years of mismanagement by the Democrats. The first ...
The natives are restless
By Stephen Betts - Jun 17The defeat of Jamie Doubleday for a seat on the school board in Thomaston is the second big shoe to drop in the district in three months. Doubled...
A divergence on voting and jobs
By Stephen Betts - Jun 10Our state legislators are in their frantic final days in Augusta, voting on bills as fast as sardine packers use to cram the tiny fish into ...
Interest develops in school district budget
By Stephen Betts - Jun 04For many years, there was a photo that I took annually that demonstrated the lack of interest in education and taxes. As regular as dandelions ...
A crumby deal
By Stephen Betts - May 27A reader sent an e-mail to point out what he considered to be a telling pair of events. One was the Republican-led state Legislature voting to ...
The other side of the coin
By Stephen Betts - May 20One issue that has not been raised during the years of planning for the Many Flags, One Campus proposal is the impact that the physical loss of a ...
Deja vu all over again
By Stephen Betts - May 13As I approach my 30th anniversary of covering news in the Rockland area, it is clear that news goes in cycles. Eventually the cycle goes full ...
Survival of the fittest
By Stephen Betts - May 06Science has some very strict rules. For instance, there is only a certain amount of matter in the universe. Another one is that an object will ...
Typically grim
By Stephen Betts - Apr 30The news is not good for property owners who live in Rockland. The combination of the school and municipal budgets is expected to hike a typical ...
The painful payback
By Stephen Betts - Apr 14Rockland residents are learning the painful truth about the dangers of being uninformed when making major decisions. Back in 2008, leading up to ...
The vote heard around the district
By Stephen Betts - Apr 09South Thomaston voters sent a resounding message to the school district when it elected a new person to represent them. What is unclear, ...
The amazing shrinking Rockland
By Stephen Betts - Mar 26Gov. Paul "38 Percent" LePage could have been the topic of this week's column but what more can be said about this buffoon and bully that hasn't ...
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Time to call in the law
By Stephen Betts - Mar 19If you live in Waldoboro, go ahead and build a home along the shore without getting approval from town officials. Maybe you could also fill in a ...
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The pot calling the kettle black
By Stephen Betts - Feb 26U.S. Sen. Susan Collins must think that the public and the media have a short memory. Unfortunately, the senator is correct on that point. Coll...
A Capitol idea?
By Stephen Betts - Feb 18Gov. Paul "38 Percent" LePage has re-instituted a public relations campaign began more than 20 years ago by another of Maine's finest governors — ...
Fowl debates in Rockland
By Stephen Betts - Feb 12This has been an odd week in Rockland. Odd, in that in one meeting, city councilors discussed methadone, chickens and dump fires. Councilor ...
The myth about Maine
By Stephen Betts - Feb 05Maine is the worst place to run a business. There are environmental regulations and taxes that simply make it impossible for entrepreneurs to ...
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One kind, strong heart goes silent; another is broken
By Stephen Betts - Apr 24The relationship between my wife Nancy and me could not exactly be called love at first sight. In 1982, I was a relatively new reporter covering ...
I think I shall never see a meeting as lovely as a tree
By Stephen Betts - Feb 07Even though February only has 28 days, it seems to be the longest month of the year. The amount of daylight is still too scarce. Our colors ...
Black and blue and that silly rabbit
By Stephen Betts - Jan 31There are three specific issues that have not been thoroughly considered in the proposal to consolidate Rockland District High School and Georges ...
The origin of our economic decline
By Stephen Betts - Jan 24During the past two weeks my computer has been flooded with e-mails from various interest groups concerning the U.S. Senate race in Massachusetts. ...
More difficult than it looks
By Stephen Betts - Jan 17Two recent meetings in Rockland summed up the challenges facing government officials who have to balance the demand for services and the calls for ...
Health care and school consolidation
By Stephen Betts - Jan 10The similarities between the fight for health care in Washington, D.C. and the attempt to consolidate schools in our local communities are ...
Dear Santa
By Stephen Betts - Dec 20The news business requires reporters to dig up stories sometimes in the most unusual places, particularly during slow times. And there is no ...
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Law and order
By Stephen Betts - Dec 12Covering government is often like covering a soap opera. There is frequently drama. A viewer of soap operas can miss many months or even years ...
A letter to the president
By Stephen Betts - Dec 06Dear President Obama, I listened closely to your Tuesday night speech in which you explained your reasons for sending more U.S. troops to ...
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Same job, new technologies
By Stephen Betts - Nov 22A few people have contacted the newspaper to criticize the school district for spending loads of money on Blackberries. For the record, until a ...
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Dickerson will be swing vote
By Stephen Betts - Nov 15Rockland city councilors will meet Monday night, Nov. 16 to elect their leader for the next 12 months.Mayor Deborah McNeil will preside at her ...
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Reflecting on late night Tuesday
By Stephen Betts - Nov 08The election of 2010 is history. The most emotionally charged issue was clearly whether to repeal the law that allows same-sex couples to ...
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We need a breather from polluted airwaves
By Stephen Betts - Oct 31In about 72 hours, the television and radio ads concerning the November ballot questions in Maine will be history. The majority of this year's ...
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Yawning to the finish line?
By Stephen Betts - Oct 25The statewide ballot questions facing local voters have stolen most of the thunder from the local political scene. Voter turnout should be well ...
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The wrong lessons
By Stephen Betts - Oct 18The Catholic religion was an important part of my early life. Every Sunday morning -- rain or shine or snow -- my mother would take me and three ...
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Getting closer to the cliff
By Stephen Betts - Oct 11James Kalloch, who is one of Rockland's representatives on the Regional School Unit 13 Board, is a straight shooter. He let his frustration get ...
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Time for a summit?
By Stephen Betts - Oct 04Think about this fact. More than one of every four students who enter Rockland District High School as freshmen end up not graduating with their ...
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End of another era
By Stephen Betts - Sep 26Growing up across Penobscot Bay in Stonington, listening to WRKD in the morning was a ritual in our household. My mother worked for several years ...
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Quiet on the home front
By Stephen Betts - Sep 13In about 10 days, the ballot will be set for this year's municipal election and thus far it has been one of the quietest. As of Sept. 11, only ...
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Same old song
By Stephen Betts - Sep 06Audrey Buffington said her interest in helping the local school system began when she retired to South Thomaston 14 years ago and read in the ...
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Jacob Henry's political bloodline
By Stephen Betts - Aug 30My family has a long tradition of following politics. Jacob Henry Betts was a farmer and sailor who became a citizen of the United States in 1881 ...
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Lessons from a lobstering family
By Stephen Betts - Aug 22The lobster industry is going through a very difficult time but it is not the first time the hardworking harvesters have faced tough challenges. W...
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Priceless proposals
By Stephen Betts - Aug 16At last week's meeting of the local school board, the members were in a passionate debate over whether to spend $125,000 or more to replace a ...
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Afraid of democracy
By Stephen Betts - Aug 09The United States was built on robust debate. From the town halls to the streets of our nation's capital, citizens have exercised their free ...
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A teachable moment
By Stephen Betts - Aug 02Since more of our property tax dollars go each year to the school district rather than the city for municipal services or to the county, a ...
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A look back at the Midcoast's reaction to the moon landing
By Stephen Betts - Jul 20July 20, 1969, was a day 40 years ago that will be remembered for as long as people inhabit the planet. That was the day that U.S. astronauts Neil ...
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Boxed in
By Stephen Betts - Jul 19There is a phrase that has long annoyed me -- thinking outside the box. While I agree with the concept of trying to be creative when dealing with ...
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Global versus minutiae debates
By Stephen Betts - Jul 12The expected debate Monday night, July 13 by the Rockland City Council on whether to voice its support for a national, universal single-payer ...
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Coverage is priority one
By Stephen Betts - Jul 05Twenty-five years ago, Rockland's state representative Rita Melendy proposed a bill that would expand the state's freedom of access law to cover ...
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Where are the dog days of summer?
By Stephen Betts - Jun 28I would expect soon we will spot someone with a beard building a large boat in Rockland Harbor and leading animals, two by two, on board the ...
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Thanks for the memories, SAD 5
By Stephen Betts - Jun 14Maine School Administrative District 5 board members gathered at Rockland City Hall Thursday night for the final meeting that the organization ...
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Where's the limit?
By Stephen Betts - Jun 07Our elected representatives are churning out legislation fast and furious as the days dwindle in this year's session. The Legislature has tackled ...
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Late night programming
By Stephen Betts - May 31President Ronald Reagan touted the 11th commandment, ”Thou shalt not speak ill of any other Republican.” On the local level, one of the wisest ...
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Honoring veterans on Memorial Day
By Stephen Betts - May 24The issue of honoring veterans is most appropriate as Memorial Day approaches. The Rockland City Council has expressed support for a formal ...
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Weathering stormy seas
By Stephen Betts - May 17Mayor Deborah McNeil has kept a steady, cool hand on the wheel of city government despite some recent waves being generated. Storm clouds have ...
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A view from the top of our world
By Stephen Betts - May 10During the summer of 1983, there was a concerted effort by some Rockland officials to preserve Dodge Mountain for the community. At the time, ...
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Failing grade in civics
By Stephen Betts - May 02There has always been a distinct difference in the way the City Council and school board have dealt with budgets. This year is no different. At ...
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Combating substance, domestic abuse
By Stephen Betts - Apr 26The brutal slaying of one woman, which left a second woman with life-threatening injuries, is the latest in a series of violent crimes that have ...
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Doughnuts and blue lines
By Stephen Betts - Apr 19Sometimes it's not easy to get the pulse of a community. The firestorm over the possibility that a Dunkin' Donuts could fill one of the vacant ...
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A dangerous route to secrecy
By Stephen Betts - Apr 12Some leaders in state government want to slam the public access door in our collective faces. The Legislature will often debate silly bills to ...
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Cluck, cluck, cluck
By Stephen Betts - Apr 05The debate over whether people in Camden should be able to raise chickens in their backyards, even if they live on less than 2.5 acres, has not ...
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Hurtling back to Earth
By Stephen Betts - Mar 29There are some signs that the economy has bottomed out and may be ready to begin a slow march back up the crater of this economic recession. Marit...
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Irony in the council chamber
By Stephen Betts - Mar 22This week's Rockland City Council meeting offered some drama. Councilor Brian Harden turned on the councilor who has been the closest to him ...
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Imagine the possibilities
By Stephen Betts - Mar 14The Rockland City Council is considering whether to restrict the use of the council chambers for use by outside groups. The issue has raised some ...
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How did we fare 80 years ago?
By Stephen Betts - Mar 07The current economic distress that is sweeping our local communities, our state, our nation and our world is not unprecedented. This provides no ...
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Don't spend those savings
By Stephen Betts - Mar 01When Gov. John Baldacci proposed and lobbied for his school regionalization law, he pointed out the expected millions of dollars of savings that ...
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A tale of two cities
By Stephen Betts - Feb 21The Rockland-Camden rivalry goes back many generations. The rivalry is our own local version of the Red Sox and Yankees. In this scenario, ...
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I'm sorry, so sorry
By Stephen Betts - Feb 15The final exclamation point has been put on the past administration of the Knox County Sheriff's Office. This week, county commissioners agreed ...
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A rocky start
By Stephen Betts - Feb 08The honeymoon experienced by the newly created Regional School Unit 13 board may have been the shortest ever on the planet. There have been ...
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County's eyes bigger than our wallets
By Stephen Betts - Jan 25Hardly a day goes by that there is not some bad economic news in our country or state or even locally. Many of our friends, family and neighbors ...
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Sending the wrong message
By Stephen Betts - Jan 18Maybe the little things are more annoying during this time of year because we are in the depths of winter with temperatures plummeting below zero ...
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Let the word games begin
By Stephen Betts - Jan 11Each year at this time, snow and ice make walking on city sidewalks a real chore. But before the sidewalks become clear in March or April, ...
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A look ahead to 2009
By Stephen Betts - Jan 04The New Year is here and it is an appropriate time to look into the crystal ball for 2009. January Rockland city councilors, disappointed that ...
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What a year
By Stephen Betts - Dec 27This has been a year few will forget. The bottom seems to have fallen out of the economy in a rather fast fashion. Fuel prices rose dramatically ...
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The power of the people
By Stephen Betts - Dec 20The power of the individual can be substantial. The power of a group of committed individuals can be enormous. The repeal of the zone change that ...
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Yes Virginia, there is an election
By Stephen Betts - Dec 13What if someone held an election and no one showed up to vote? Well, that is not exactly happening in Rockland but both sides of the great ...
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A sign of the times
By Stephen Betts - Dec 07Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. There are paintings and sculptures that I admire that other people would look at and think only a Neandertha...
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Many reasons to be thankful
By Stephen Betts - Nov 30The turkey has been eaten. The stuffing, mashed potatoes and squash are a memory. There are many reasons to be thankful, however, other than a ...
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Adapting to a new era
By Stephen Betts - Nov 23There is little dispute that economic times have become difficult, not only nationwide but locally. The economy goes in cycles. In the early ...
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A loss to our community
By Stephen Betts - Nov 16A community is like a quilt. A durable, colorful quilt needs many different pieces. A strong, vibrant community needs a variety of citizens all ...
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A look back at Election Day
By Stephen Betts - Nov 09The political signs are largely gone, the campaign ads have disappeared from television, and now the public can prepare for the onslaught of ...
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