Editorials:

Boys & Girls Clubs safe sites that turn out confident, loved youth
Confident, humble, determined, polite -- these are a few of the words his admirers use to describe Gary Fearon, the 2008 winner of the Maine Youth of the Year competition.

Goodbye to rusty lawn ornaments? Not quite
That includes old pops and grandpops, who haven't changed the way they've been doing things since time was invented and who think recycling is for those wacky hippie folk who drink tofu juice.

Columns:

DAN BILLINGS : Unlikely face leads people's veto of tax increases
A tax revolt is under way and it is being led by an unlikely revolutionary.

JIM BRUNELLE : Campaign protecting part of economy from inflation effects
The longest, costliest, most overly handicapped presidential horserace in history continues apace and we're still fully half-a-year away from the finish line.

Letters to the Editor:

Chamber of Commerce should support itself
I am a member of a great local organization, the Mid Maine Chamber of Commerce. A rare complaint that I have for our group is that it requests taxpayer dollars from communities in the name of "Economic Development."

Technological step backward with FairPoint
I just discovered that I can no longer pay my phone bill online because FairPoint will not be able to handle that feature until "sometime this fall."

Academies' athletes deserve pro careers
I read the column about Mike Viti, a West Point football player who was drafted by the Buffalo Bills, and will be allowed to join the Bills this fall as well as serve in the Army Reserves in the off-season.

Much of Hollywood reviled Heston because of politics
In J.P. Devine's review of the latest epic from George Clooney, he made brief mention of the passing of Charlton Heston, expressing what seemed to be sincere surprise that he seemed to be a nice person, given his politics.

Intelligent design as valid as Darwin's evolution
It's not about definitions. The understanding that many see "no conflict" with the view that, "One (belief) is based on faith and one is based on a well-defined pathway to the search for knowledge" is false.

Montville resident stands by seed moratorium
Monsanto-funded spokesman, Doug Johnson, recently wrote about one of Montville's main concerns with genetically modified seeds: health.

Freedom should reinstate commercial ordinance
On Tuesday May 27, a public hearing will be at Dirigo Grange Hall, Route 137, in Freedom at 7 p.m., about reinstating the town's Commercial Development Review Ordinance retroactive to June 12.

PREVIOUS WEEK'S OPINIONS

See Kennebec Journal opinions

OPINIONS SPECIAL PROJECTS HENRY DAVID THOREAU
Most men lead lives of quiet desperation and go to the grave with the song still in them. Not Thoreau. 150 years ago he ventured into Maine's woods. The high drama of the nature Thoreau encountered made its way into the equally dramatic prose of his book, “The Maine Woods.” We mark the 150th anniversary of Thoreau’s 1857 trip as well as the legacy of this transcendentalist, nature lover and, as author Ted Williams writes, contrarian who loved Maine in its wildest and most rugged incarnations. For more, click here.

SPECIAL REPORT: Hunger Series
"For I was hungry," a seven-part editorial series, documents the depth and breadth of hunger in Maine, from the dramatic increase in food pantries to the thousands of children who come to school hungry to the elderly with bare cupboards. For more, click here.

CHANGING OUR OPINION PAGES
You've asked for a greater range of opinions. More voices from the full political spectrum. More local voices. More space for more Reader Opinions. We've heard you.
Click here to learn about our new lineup.