Articles by Renee Ordway
RENEE ORDWAY
Problems persist despite 8 years of columns
Someone asked me recently how many years I had been writing this column. I said, “Perhaps five or so.” Actually it has been eight years. Once a week. That’s 410 or so columns. As my eighth year ends, I wondered whether anything I had written made any difference at all. ...
RENEE ORDWAY
Was Newtown massacre finally enough? Maybe not
In order to find the motivation to lose weight, some find it necessary to strip naked, stand before the mirror and reveal the ugly. Until you do, it’s pretty easy to wear baggier clothes, avoid being photographed and continue to eat cheeseburgers and fries for lunch. Many of us do ...
RENEE ORDWAY
Can we survive a fall off the fiscal cliff?
Could someone please point me in the direction of the edge of the Fiscal Cliff, because I am so terribly tired of hearing about it that I’ve decided it might be easier to simply jump. The chads hadn’t even been swept from the town hall floor before we all discovered ...
RENEE ORDWAY
Call it hazing, if you wish, but it’s really bullying
If my 14- or 15-year-old son was forced to pull his pants down by a bunch of oafish, giggling upperclassman and then beaten with a bat , well — I’ll be honest — I’d be troubled. I would most likely be offended if those same young men were still to ...
RENEE ORDWAY
Knee pain leads to search for alternative treatment
The first time my knee stopped working correctly I was on the sidewalk two blocks from my house. I had my dog on a leash in one hand and a plastic bag with her “business” in it in the other. With one step, in one instant, what once was my ...
RENEE ORDWAY
Practical Christmas gifts may be the best
It was love at first sight, even though it was red. I’m a beige kind of gal. Yet here I was ogling a tartan flannel robe lined with sherpa fleece, or rather a picture of it from the catalog I was thumbing through. I mentioned it, not so casually, to ...
RENEE ORDWAY
Republicans will breathe sigh of relief upon Webster’s exit
There are probably not many Republicans who won’t be delighted in a couple of weeks to flip their wall calendars and bury the gloomy page of November deep beneath the rest of 2012. Let’s face it, there are not a lot of things going right for the Republican Party at ...
RENEE ORDWAY
Drug culture the ‘new normal’ in Bangor
“There’s a man in the street naked.” That’s what one mother who lives on Webster Avenue North heard from her young son as he was getting ready for school at 6 a.m. Wednesday. The boy was right and, perhaps saddest of all, his mother was hardly surprised when she pulled the ...
RENEE ORDWAY
I miss the newsroom on election night
The very best thing about not being a political reporter for a newspaper is getting the chance to cover politics. Because during a big election year, general assignment reporters, crime reporters and the like often are tapped for involvement in the big game. For nonpolitical reporters, that’s the only time ...
RENEE ORDWAY
Same-sex marriage debate turned nasty over a sign near an orchard
Last weekend, my son spent Saturday making some of those annoying political phone calls most of us are so busy trying to ignore. He was calling on behalf of the Yes on One campaign. He was energized at the end of his shift. A couple of nights later, a teenage ...
RENEE ORDWAY
Lessons to be learned in prostitution scandal
It’s not every week that I wish for the opportunity to do an extra column. This, however, was one of those weeks. I got a bit worked up Monday evening when it broke that a judge had ruled the Kennebunk Police Department could release the names, and just the names, ...
RENEE ORDWAY
Jig may be up for ‘Zumba exercisers’ on the list
I’m guessing the phrase “Honey, I’m heading to my Zumba class” has taken on a whole new meaning in southern Maine. The gents on the client list may not have been partaking in much Zumba while at Alexis Wright’s downtown Kennebunk studio, but there surely is a lot of dancing ...
RENEE ORDWAY
Bangor drug problem makes residents feel like ‘hostages’ in their own homes
A few weeks ago a young woman in the late stages of pregnancy lay writhing in the middle of Webster Avenue North during a weekday afternoon. Neighbors say she was flipping out on bath salts and incoherent and combative. A few nights ago, on the same street, a Webster Avenue ...
RENEE ORDWAY
‘Not today’ comment by pharmacist to would-be robber brave, risky
Not today! Face it, we’ve all made that proclamation a time or two, whether at home to kids or spouses or at work to an irritating colleague. Of course, most of us haven’t done so to a man standing before us suggesting he had a gun and demanding drugs. That ...
RENEE ORDWAY
Curbing panhandlers won’t be easy
Bill Rae knows a bit about panhandling. He once was pretty good at it. So when the executive director at Manna Ministries, who helps feed hundreds of needy people each night in the agency’s Bangor-based soup kitchen, passes by the panhandlers who hang out each day on Stillwater Avenue and ...
RENEE ORDWAY
Abundance of cats takes toll on animal shelter
Just recently I returned to the Bangor Humane Society three of the five kittens my family has fostered most of the summer. They were a bit of a motley crew, not your typical litter. In this case there was one mom cat nursing and caring for two different litters: the ...
RENEE ORDWAY
Beardsley’s role in Carlson case is ambiguous
Many people, I among them, find it difficult to settle for ambiguity. So I, like many of you, have been trying to get a clearer idea as to whether former Husson University President and former Conservation Commissioner William Beardsley should shoulder some shame in regard to how he dealt with ...
RENEE ORDWAY
Maine has been discovered — by drug dealers
Mainers sometimes think we’re a bit behind the times, tucked up here as we are in the northeastern corner of the country. And it’s true that it can take some things longer to get here than other parts of the world — fashion trends, for example. Surely you’ve noticed that ...
RENEE ORDWAY
To truly appreciate Bangor’s waterfront, remember what it was
Sometimes in order to truly appreciate what you have, it is necessary to take a moment to reflect upon the time when you didn’t have it. This weekend, as tens of thousands of us relax in the late summer sun on the edge of the Penobscot River being serenaded by ...
RENEE ORDWAY
Chick-fil-A, lobster and gay marriage
I’m not sure whether Harlan Gardner is the president or CEO of anything at all, but I would put him up against Chick-fil-A’s president and CEO, Dan Cathy, any day. I have never indulged in a Chick-fil-A sandwich, nuggets or strips. Until last month I had never heard of the ...
LePage tells legislative leaders he’s moving out of State House because of ‘censorship’
Nichole Cable’s friends, family attend accused killer’s emotionally charged court appearance
Lincoln’s Coffee Pot Cafe shuts its doors
Maine Sports Hall of Fame member, DJ Dana Wilson convicted of child pornography possession
Community members rally in memory of Nichole Cable; events, fundraisers planned
Rep. Diane Russell’s fool’s errand
The scramble to fill the 2nd District seat if Mike Michaud runs for governor
How the omnibus energy bill will benefit Maine
Governor Veto
Goodwin steps down as Brewer High School boys basketball coach
Tommy Lawrence pitches UMaine baseball to victory in first America East tournament game
Garcia sorry after ‘stupid’ Woods fried chicken jibe
Live Updates: UMaine baseball vs. Binghamton in America East championship
Live updates: UMaine baseball vs. Stony Brook at America East Championship
Maine School of Science and Mathematics alumni drawn to give back to magnet school
Federal agencies eye return to restored historic Custom House in Portland
It’s hard to keep secrets from a friend who is clairvoyant
New York City rumble showcases Maine’s lobster roll dominance