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The Harpswell Anchor’s first staff reporter will depart this summer after three years, while two journalists well known to Anchor readers will join the newsroom.
J. Craig Anderson, full-time staff reporter at the Anchor since May 2023, stepped down for health reasons. Jeffrey Good and Sam Lemonick, both frequent contributors to the Anchor, joined the staff as part-time reporters on July 1.
Anderson spearheaded the Anchor’s day-to-day coverage of local government and public education. He was also the lead reporter for in-depth reports about affordable housing, the future of fire and rescue services, and the rapid growth of the aquaculture industry in Harpswell.
He won several awards for his work at the Anchor, including reports about the effects of social media on students and a legal dispute about a piece of working waterfront on Orr’s Island.
“Craig’s research skills, his ability to organize complex stories and projects, and his meticulous writing make him an invaluable reporter,” said J.W. Oliver, editor of the Harpswell Anchor. “We were lucky to have him on the staff for the last three-plus years, and we hope to work with him again in the future.”
Anderson, of Freeport, has more than 20 years of experience in journalism. He was a business editor and business reporter at the Portland Press Herald from 2013-2022, a business reporter at The Arizona Republic from 2008-2013, and a reporter and assistant city editor at the East Valley (Arizona) Tribune from 2002-2008.
He was in the U.S. Army from 1991-1995, serving as an intelligence analyst and Arabic linguist at the National Security Agency. He graduated from the University of Arizona in 1999 with a bachelor’s degree in journalism.
Good and Lemonick have contributed to the Anchor as freelance reporters since 2023 and 2022, respectively.
Good, of Orr’s Island, has become best known to readers for his “First Person” column, which tells the stories of Harpswellians in their own words. The column won first place for community columns in the most recent Maine Press Association competition.
Good has had a long career as a newspaper reporter and editor in Florida and New England. He was an investigative reporter and editorial writer with the St. Petersburg Times, now Tampa Bay Times, in Florida from 1983-1996, winning the Pulitzer Prize in Editorial Writing in 1995 for editorials that exposed corruption and called for reform of Florida’s probate court system.
He was capital bureau chief for the Burlington (Vermont) Free Press from 1996-1999 and an executive editor for Newspapers of New England until 2018. Most recently, he was editorial director for Acceleration Academies, a network of high school dropout re-engagement programs.
He has taught journalism and written two nonfiction books: “Poison Mind” and “Healers, Inventors and Entrepreneurs.” He has a bachelor’s degree in English literature from Saint Michael’s College and a master’s degree in creative writing from Dartmouth College.
Lemonick, of Cundy’s Harbor, has reported on a wide variety of subjects for the Anchor. Readers may know him for his award-winning environmental reporting, his contributions to special reports about affordable housing and emergency services, or his feature obituaries of Harpswellians.
Lemonick was a science reporter with Chemical & Engineering News from 2017-2021 and a chemistry blogger for Forbes from 2016-2017. He has a bachelor’s degree in chemistry and English from Carleton College.
“Jeff and Sam have been two of the Anchor’s most consistent contributors and they have been key to our efforts in enterprise journalism,” Oliver said. “As importantly, they share a commitment to serving the Harpswell community.”
After learning of the need through their work on a 2024 project about the future of fire and rescue services in Harpswell, both Good and Lemonick volunteered at their local fire departments. Good has since become licensed as an emergency medical technician.
“These are big changes for our small newsroom, and we will miss Craig,” Oliver said. “But with Jeff and Sam on board, the Anchor will continue fulfilling its mission to provide ‘nonpartisan, trustworthy, in-depth news and information’ about Harpswell.”
