Beyond the front page
Stephen Betts is associate editor of The Herald Gazette.
Recent Posts by Stephen Betts
The never ending secrecy battle
By Stephen Betts - Mar 04The state's Freedom of Access law is 52 years old yet it remains under constant attack from government officials at all levels. Two examples of ...
Bureaucracy also good for a few laughs
By Stephen Betts - Jan 28There are times when government bureaucracy can be frustrating and sometimes it can be just plain comedic. The city of Rockland has been trying ...
No more Whoopie
By Stephen Betts - Jan 21Not only do some politicians — mostly Republicans — want to repeal the federal law that extends health care coverage but now some local politicians...
LePage Incorporated?
By Stephen Betts - Jan 15Paul LePage must be under the impression that when he received 38 percent of the vote on Nov. 2 that he became owner of Maine State Government. S...
Want a good entry level job?
By Stephen Betts - Jan 06A person could strain his neck trying to keep up with the contradictory statements of the new administration in Augusta. Gov. Paul LePage has ...
Spirit of love at Christmas
By Stephen Betts - Dec 16This will be the most bittersweet of all Christmases. This will be my family's first holiday season without Nancy, who had one of the gentlest ...
Start the revolution, comrades
By Stephen Betts - Dec 11The conspiracy has been exposed. Members of the local Tea Party have uncovered the long-hidden plan of a group, let's just call them comrades, ...
Is $359 per week too much?
By Stephen Betts - Dec 03The median household income in Knox County in 2008 was $46,419. That means the total income of people living in half the homes earned less than ...
Rockland politics enter an interesting time
By Stephen Betts - Nov 20Politics in Rockland is interesting again. The recount scheduled for Monday evening, Nov. 22 in Rockland could alter the makeup of the City ...
Honor veterans with alternatives to war
By Stephen Betts - Nov 14Another Veterans Day has passed and with it came the statements from politicians honoring the service of our brave fighting men and women. In a ...
The historic wave
By Stephen Betts - Nov 06The Midcoast was one of the few exceptions to what may be remembered as the Republican tsunami of 2010. Democratic state Reps. Edward Mazurek of ...
The erosion of rights
By Stephen Betts - Oct 30There has been a dramatic shift over the past decade on the expectation of privacy. Since a group of terrorists used box cutters to bring down ...
The final stretch
By Stephen Betts - Oct 22Many people have already voted (314 in Rockland to be exact, as of noon, Friday, Oct. 22) but for the majority of us, Election Day is a little ...
Public service and party politics
By Stephen Betts - Oct 17One thing can be said for the Maine Republican Party — it does not learn from its mistakes. In 1992, a little-known Democrat Chellie Pingree ...
Five hours, 16 minutes and nine seconds
By Stephen Betts - Oct 09The legs still ache but the exhilaration of completing my first marathon remains. I have been running for 16 years but only in the past five ...
Lazy
By Stephen Betts - Oct 02The greatest cause of our health care crisis is on display every morning as I go to work. As I travel along Broadway, there are school buses ...
Counting down to Election Day
By Stephen Betts - Sep 25Voting for local elections begins by Oct. 4 as absentee ballots become available. And in a little more than five weeks we will know the outcome of ...
Shopping and family values
By Stephen Betts - Sep 19Whenever you talk about the good old days, many people will scoff at you and say that it only seemed good because of selective memory where the ...
That pesky free speech
By Stephen Betts - Sep 11The Regional School Unit 13 board is in the midst of some of the most sweeping changes to local schools in generations. Less than two years ago, ...
Times have changed
By Stephen Betts - Sep 04One of my earliest memories is my first day in kindergarten at the old school building in Stonington, which has since been converted to town ...
The Great Debate
By Stephen Betts - Aug 28The Libby Mitchell for governor campaign sent out a news release this week announcing that the Democratic candidate for governor was going to ...
Tea versus latte parties
By Stephen Betts - Aug 20A general rule of thumb is that when times are difficult and there are controversial issues, candidates will come out of the woodwork. Thus far, ...
Why do we run?
By Stephen Betts - Aug 13The annual Maine Lobster Festival 10K road race drew the largest number of runners since its inception in 1981. This year, 270 people completed ...
The eagle flies at night
By Stephen Betts - Aug 06Ever since the terrorist attacks nine years ago, the federal government has gone into a never-ending mode of secrecy and erosion of civil liberties...
Where is our money going?
By Stephen Betts - Jul 30Rockland homeowners and businesses that have been struggling through the Great Recession for the past two years will soon be faced with an ...
Nobel prize nominee
By Stephen Betts - Jul 17Deborah McNeil's term on the City Council ends in November. She may want to consider a future as a global mediator. McNeil has certainly ...
The ripple effect
By Stephen Betts - Jul 09The Walgreens project is a distant memory but its impact is still resonating in Rockland. Walgreens, a national chain that sells not only ...
Where does it end?
By Stephen Betts - Jul 02The memories of the death and destruction inflicted on the United States by terrorists nearly nine years ago are still fresh in the nation's ...
Oh, the horror
By Stephen Betts - Jun 25Since before I arrived in Rockland nearly 30 years ago, one of the Holy Grails for business leaders in the city has been to attract large cruise ...
Sorting through the election results
By Stephen Betts - Jun 11The Tea Party phenomenon is an interesting one. Political movements such as this are common during times of economic distress. When times are ...
Rockland tax shift sparks ire
By Stephen Betts - Jun 04The proposal to charge Rockland residents a per bag fee for trash disposal sparked so much opposition in 2006 that a petition drive was launched ...
The great unknown
By Stephen Betts - May 28The Regional School Unit 13 budget meeting vote scheduled for Tuesday night, June 1 could be a classic as far as school budget meetings go. There...
A house full of memories
By Stephen Betts - May 21During the past several weeks I have spent much of my free time performing an intense, comprehensive spring cleaning project. I have learned a ...
A lesson in politics
By Stephen Betts - May 14Our local Republicans certainly know how to throw a party. The members from Knox County went to the big city of Portland last week and made a ...
A caring community
By Stephen Betts - May 07Even as a young reporter with no ties to Rockland, I soon realized that this was a caring community. On an almost weekly basis, the newspaper ...
Looking gift horses in the mouths?
By Stephen Betts - Apr 30Call me old fashioned but I admire tradition. Since before Rockland District High School was built in 1962, the graduation ceremonies have ...
The not-so-perfect storm
By Stephen Betts - Apr 09When President Obama came to office he inherited the Great Recession and a needless Iraq war. In the past 14 months, he has had to try to haul ...
And justice for all?
By Stephen Betts - Apr 02Our criminal justice system is an imperfect one, although it still is the best there is. But sometimes there seem to be clear inequities in what ...
For the kids?
By Stephen Betts - Mar 26The school board that serves Rockland, Thomaston, St. George, Owls Head, South Thomaston and Cushing will receive Superintendent Judy Lucarelli's ...
There ought to be a law
By Stephen Betts - Mar 19One of the fundamental laws of physics is that an object will move in a straight line unless it is met with resistance. Isaac Newton issued that ...
NIMBYs, NIMFYs and NAMSs
By Stephen Betts - Mar 12Rockland has a long history of people complaining about various things they find annoying. Two years ago it was the infamous roasting coffee ...
Are we still in the Great Recession?
By Stephen Betts - Mar 07From watching Monday night's Rockland City Council meeting, one might think that the economy had recovered and business was booming. A year ago, ...
The power of incumbency
By Stephen Betts - Feb 28Political parties across the region are scrambling to find candidates who will commit to running for office this year. The deadline for Democrati...
Could I have that in a sentence please?
By Stephen Betts - Feb 21Maybe it's the season but people seem grumpier during this time of year. There have been some terse comments, snipes and outright verbal ...
A reality check
By Stephen Betts - Feb 14Last week's meeting of the Regional School Unit 13 board was only a little more uplifting than watching "The Killing Fields" or "Terms of Endearmen...
