This has been quite the winter for storms of all kinds, the effects of which are still with many of Harpswell’s coastal residents and fishing communities. While work remains to be done, we think the town of Harpswell has done an admirable job stepping up to the plate to organize assistance to those in our town who need it.

The heavy, wet snowfall of early April left our home and several others on our road again without power. In our case, several large trees came down, blocking our driveway completely and disconnecting our phone and internet as well. We were trapped for a couple of days until we called Mike Drake, Harpswell fire administrator. In no time, Mike’s team took a look and advised CMP of the issue. A few hours later, a tree-cutting crew cleared the mess and CMP got the power lines back up. What a guy!

But then there was the internet. We mentioned to Kristi Eiane, town administrator, that we’d been without it for over a week. Getting through to Comcast was a nightmare. Kristi got right on it, contacting Comcast and connecting us directly with a regional official. Kristi’s call got us past the usual Comcast computer phone queue baloney; it’s bizarre and beyond frustrating to try to talk to a customer service agent in Southeast Asia!

Harpswell is still a small town. It remains possible to know the people who are in charge of things at the local level. This is a rare quality in this day and age, and we hope it never changes. Thank you, Kristi and Mike, for stepping in to help us solve our problems. And thank you to all those who work in our local government and fire and rescue services. We are grateful to you all.

Amy and Spike Haible, Harpswell Neck