And another thing …

Kind of a tough break for the 250 peace activists who held a demonstration in Kennebunkport Saturday at the summer home of George and Barbara Bush. The group met at a local church near the summer home for a series of speeches before embarking on a short walk to the summer home, beating drums and waving banners along the way to the summer home. When they arrived at the summer home, unfortunately, no one was home at the summer home, for reasons not entirely clear at this time.

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Bath and Brunswick are joining hands to build a 5.7-mile bike and walking path between the neighboring towns at a cost likely to exceed $2 million. It’s a major investment, but, notes Bath City Planner James Upham, “Studies have shown that bicyclists spend a lot of money in communities they ride through,” so the return promises to be substantial. Given the price of bottled water, he could be right. Besides, the $2 million is mostly state and federal, so who really cares?

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Plans to hold a rave – one of those all-night dance parties kids seem to enjoy so much- at the Bangor Auditorium are getting a cool reception from city officials concerned about the potential for such an event to result in drug and alcohol use. Remember that objection, kids, the next time your parents head down to the auditorium for a Lynyrd Skynyrd concert.

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Amtrak’s Boston-to-Portland run is set to begin in just a few weeks. This new route has been studied, assessed and planned for more than 20 years, so it’s been a little disturbing in recent weeks to hear every town along the way fret about the traffic and safety issues one might assume were the subject of all that studying, assessing and planning. In recent days, a new worry has surfaced – the crime the trains might bring. Just who’s going to be riding – the James Gang?

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Remember Palm Beach County, Fla.? Remember the Votomatic? What was the world’s most infamous county a year ago just tried auctioning off the most infamous voting machine ever, and it went about as well as you’d expect. Of the 3,594 Votomatics offered on eBay for a minimum bid of $300, disappointed election officials say only 519 were sold. Or maybe it was 419.