Insight: First impressions are lasting

By Ed Pierce
Managing Editor

When you meet as many people as I do in my profession, it’s hard to gauge what they are all about during a brief interview. Through the years I’ve relied on first impressions to help guide me in any future interactions after meeting someone initially.

Sometimes my first impressions of someone are correct and sometimes they are not. I suppose it depends upon the person I may meet, what they have going on at the time I meet them and how personable they may be.

On my first evening at the unit that I was assigned to while serving in the U.S. Air Force in Germany in 1977, I was taken around to rooms in the barracks and introduced to my new co-workers and colleagues. Some became my friends and some I avoided like the plague.

My unit sponsor knocked on one barracks door, and an Airman First Class named Greg Nelson answered. He had a Budweiser beer in one hand and the stereo system in his room was blaring Johnny Horton’s “The Battle of New Orleans” at a high volume. I shook Greg’s hand and noticed that just about every inch of Greg’s room was covered in empty Budweiser bottles.

When I asked him if he ever drank German beer, he shook his head and answered, “Never, a million times no. I prefer Bud.”

He said he would drive about 45 minutes one way just to buy Budweiser at the Base Exchange Store at Rhein-Mein Air Base and he loved 1950s hillbilly music.

My first impression of Greg Nelson, who was a fuel specialist, was here we were in Germany, renowned for brewing many different types of beer and he insisted on drinking Budweiser. I didn’t come away with a great first impression of Greg when I realized that he had consumed too many Budweisers that evening and was obviously drunk. About a year later, I learned that Greg had been drinking one night and tried to take a corner in a military Jeep too sharply and had crashed injuring himself and two other airmen riding with him near our unit. Not long thereafter he was reassigned to a base in the United States and I never heard from him again.

That same first evening I was in Germany, I was introduced to another unit colleague who lived right across the hallway from me in the barracks. His name was Sergeant Daryl Green, and he told me that he was from Brooklyn, New York and was a journalist like me. He invited me into his room and showed me his stereo system and a new turntable that he had recently purchased.

He asked me if I liked jazz, and I told him I didn’t listen to it much. Daryl showed me some of his record albums and said he loved jazz music and pointed out that many of the same jazz artists such as the Brecker Brothers, Idris Muhammad and Herbie Hancock would appear on each other’s albums.

Daryl and I became great friends and when he was transferred to be the editor of the base newspaper at Bolling Air Force Base in Washington, D.C., I didn’t know if I would ever see him again. That notion was proven wrong the next year when I was transferred to The Pentagon and many of the stories that I was writing there for my job were published in the base newspaper that Daryl was the editor of called the Bolling Beam.

We stayed friends through the years but unfortunately this past summer I heard from Daryl’s brother, who is a firefighter in New York City, that he had passed away. I had to inform several old friends from our unit in Germany about his death and that wasn’t easy.

My first impression of meeting a television actor in person was also favorable. I was assigned to interview Fred “Rerun” Berry from the old TV show “What’s Happening?” in the late 1980s. On television, Berry came across as a jovial comic actor who was overweight and would often poke fun at his physical appearance. Yet I found out that Berry was highly intelligent, very serious and deeply cared about keeping children away from using drugs.

He was touring the country visiting elementary schools and giving a presentation to young students that involved rap music, break dancing and Super Soaker giant squirt guns. His message to children was that there are many ways to feel good about yourself without taking drugs and it was powerful and effective.

When I shook Berry’s hand when I first met him, it was like I was suddenly drawn into his larger-than-life persona. I instantly felt welcomed by him and believed that I could ask him any question for my newspaper interview and that he would give me an honest answer. I was shocked and saddened to hear the news that Berry had died of complications from a stroke at the age of 52 in 2003.

I don’t know about you, but over my lifetime I’ve come to trust my first impressions and although they may sometimes be wrong, I’ve learned that my first impressions are instinctive and can be spot on target. <

Andy Young: Knowing when to fold ‘em

By Andy Young

Decades of life experience have shaped me into a generally cautious respecter of rules and social norms. I’ve been called many things, but lately “risk-taker” hasn’t been one of them.

It wasn’t always this way, though.

When I was in college, I rode a borrowed moped down a flight of stairs simply because someone dared me to. Later on when I was in charge of a residence hall, I used my master key to open a room so that some immature pals and I could stuff it full of crumpled up newspapers from floor to ceiling, a practical joke on the room’s residents which amused the rest of us greatly. It was only later that someone pointed out that if any of my co-conspirators had struck a match, the room, the dorm, my job and my future would likely have gone up in smoke. A decade later I took a slightly more thoughtful risk when I elected to sign up for the Peace Corps.

But even my younger self occasionally exercised some discretion. Four decades ago, I was introduced to diabolical poker game called “fifty-two.” It began with each player placing a modest ante (usually a quarter) in the center of the table.

The dealer subsequently distributed five cards to each participant. There was no further betting; everyone appraised what he’d been dealt, and then, starting with the player to the dealer’s left and proceeding in order, each person announced his intentions. Uttering the word “in” meant the declarer wished to continue playing; “out” meant his involvement in that particular hand was over.

Once that was done the “ins” received another two cards, evaluated what they had, and laid down their best quintet. Whoever’s five cards constituted the best poker hand collected all the money in the pot; the loser(s) had to match it. That meant that if four of the six players stayed in, one would rake in the half-dozen quarters, while the other three paid the pot a dollar fifty each. The deal then moved to the left, and the process was repeated. However, with $4.50 now in the middle of the table, anyone electing to play the next hand who subsequently lost would owe that much to the pot. If three players opted to vie for it, the two losers would have to pay $4.50 each.

That meant participating in the following hand (and not winning) would cost nine dollars. The pot continued growing exponentially until such time as a hand ended with only one player staying in and the other five folding. At that point the game ended, which gave everyone the opportunity to let his blood pressure begin descending.

Four decades ago, inside the barracks of a National Guard Armory in Kenai, Alaska, I participated in a late-night game of fifty-two and watched a colleague with three aces lose $864 to another of our co-workers who drew the fifth heart he needed to complete his flush. Since each of us was earning a total of $1,500 for two months of work that summer, I’d have seen losing $864 of them at the poker table as somewhere between catastrophic and apocalyptic.

By the time the game broke up that evening I knew for sure I’d never develop a gambling addiction. I also strongly suspected that I wouldn’t risk losing $864 on a single hand of fifty-two unless I was dealt four aces and even then, I’d probably have to think twice about it.

I don’t know that for certain, though. That’s because I haven’t participated in a game of fifty-two since that memorable night in Kenai. <

Andy Young: Even dumber than the lottery

By Andy Young

Like nearly everyone in America who voted thoughtfully in this year’s elections, I’m satisfied with some outcomes and less than thrilled about others.

At least I can look forward to a respite from the dozens of daily emails I’d been getting from Democrats, Republicans, special interest groups, temporarily motivated celebrities, lobbyists, and others pestering me for my money, my vote, or both. Another upside: campaign-themed ads have stopped filling the mailbox outside my home, meaning the junk mail I’ll be getting for the foreseeable future will be limited to the familiar circulars that trumpet the weekly specials at local grocery stores, appeals from various charities, and inducements to buy products I either don’t need or can’t afford.

Thankfully I am not among those whose health returned to normal only after the campaigning had concluded. My blood pressure was approximately 100 over 70 when it was measured at the Red Cross back in early May, and it was virtually unchanged this past weekend when I stopped by the Portland Blood Center again to drop off another load of platelets for someone who currently needs them more than I do.

That my health was apparently unaffected by the just-completed election cycle can be attributed to three factors. The first, of course, was dumb luck, since I wasn’t run over by a bus, bitten by a rabid animal, or stricken with any debilitating illnesses in the past 10 months.

The second was the conscious decision I made early this year to completely tune out every political pundit who makes their living pontificating about the election. Staying true to this self-pledge was made somewhat easier by not having a television in my home. However, I still had to make the effort to avoid using my computer to access any and all election-centric print, broadcast, or internet commentaries having anything to do with the popularity contest that decided who’d be America’s 47th chief executive. But doing so was surprisingly easy. After all, I’ve successfully gone years without watching a single moment of the World Series, not to mention entire seasons of college and professional football. For a male of my vintage, tuning out politics was a breeze compared to that.

But the most significant reason election-related hypertension hasn't troubled me involves an epiphany I had some years ago, when I realized that giving money to any aspiring presidential candidate (or to either major political party) is even dumber than playing the lottery.

A Powerball ticket costs $2. The chances of winning the grand prize are approximately 1 in 292.2 million. Some insensitive types have compared purchasing lottery tickets to flushing money down the toilet.

But at least lottery players have a chance, albeit an infinitesimal one, to get some return on their ill-advised investment(s). Americans remaining in touch with reality fully realize by now that the chances of an ordinary citizen impacting the presidential race with a financial contribution are exactly zero.

The previous sentence’s key phrase is “ordinary citizen.” If the contributor in question is Google, Apple, Amazon, a large labor union, or a corporation that sells oil, tobacco, pharmaceuticals, alcohol, firearms, or some other scandalously profitable product(s), well, that's a well-fed thoroughbred of a different color.

Anyone considering a run for the White House in 2028 will be wasting their time if they come to me looking for financial assistance. The only difference between giving money to presidential candidates and flushing it down the toilet is that tossing it to the politicians won’t clog up the plumbing.

And nearly all Americans agree Washington D.C. doesn’t need any more of what clogs up plumbing. <

Tim Nangle: Maine veterans need more than just gratitude

By Senator Tim Nangle

My father served in the Navy during World War II. He rarely spoke of the hardships, but his courage, resilience, and sense of duty showed me the sacrifices veterans make. My father's legacy is a constant reminder of the respect and care that every veteran deserves and needs.

State Senator Tim Nangle

Veterans are honored in towns and cities across Maine, from solemn gatherings on Memorial Day to celebratory parades on Veterans Day – proof that Maine communities agree that together, with state and federal lawmakers, we need to support services veterans’ needs with meaningful services too.

Maine's veteran suicide rate is 34.5 per 100,000, much higher than the state's general population rate of 23.9 per 100,000. These numbers show a troubling gap in specific mental health and crisis support. The concern is especially urgent for Maine veterans aged 55 to 74, who face the highest suicide rate at 40.8 per 100,000. Too many veterans are not receiving the care they need, and many experience isolation. For these veterans, the transition to civilian life and the challenges of aging can be overwhelming.

American Legion posts, Local VFWs, and other veterans' organizations are cornerstones of our veteran communities and ensure veterans are connected to each other and services. In our district, organizations like the Westbrook Memorial Legion Family Post 197 and Field Allen Post 148 in Windham play vital roles in fostering unity and getting help for veterans in crisis. The Windham Veterans Center, operated by Field Allen Post 148, provides crucial connections to state and VA programs, runs community events, and even loans medical equipment like wheelchairs to veterans in need. I’ve recently had the honor of attending several local events led by veterans, including the first Annual Vets Family Day at the Windham Veterans Center this past weekend. These gatherings offer me an opportunity to witness the comradery and support first-hand in our community.

I’m inspired by people in our community, such as a Windham man and Vietnam War veteran who dedicated years of service to his local American Legion in NY before relocating to Maine seven years ago. This service culminated in his election to lead the American Legion nationally during 2023. Vincent “Jim” Troiola, dedicated his year as the national leader of the American Legion, an organization representing nearly 2 million veterans, to promoting “Be the One”, a program to prevent veteran suicide. The program destigmatizes asking for mental health support and provides peer-to-peer training using the existing networks of veteran-led organizations.

Maine's veterans also deserve meaningful action on housing as veteran homelessness reached a crisis here in Maine during the pandemic. While much of veteran support is handled federally, our state has worked hard to address the needs of homeless veterans and improve housing stability. The Maine Legislature allocated nearly $45 million in emergency housing and shelter support, and this effort has had a particularly positive impact on veterans in our state, with veteran homelessness decreasing faster than in other populations. Programs like the 'No Homeless Veteran Challenge,' coordinated with the Maine VA and organizations like Preble Street, are making real strides in reducing homelessness across Maine. Seeing this progress directly impact veterans is encouraging, as it helps them transition from shelters to stable housing.

Funding Maine Veterans' Homes has been a priority as well. The Legislature approved $2.6 million to close the funding gap and a one-time $5.1 million investment to ensure they remain viable as we work toward a sustainable solution. Veterans' Homes provide essential care; we must ensure our vets are well-supported as they age.

The challenges our veterans face — from high suicide rates to difficulties in accessing stable housing — demand our continued attention and action. Today's veterans need the same unwavering support as my father’s generation. It is not enough to thank our veterans for their service; we must show our gratitude by enacting policies that provide meaningful results for Maine veterans. I will continue advocating to ensure every veteran in Maine receives the respect, care, and support they deserve, honoring their service not just in words but in action. We owe them nothing less.

988 offers 24/7 judgment-free support for mental health, substance use, and more. Text, call, or chat 988.

Contact me directly at Timothy.Nangle@legislature.maine.gov or call the Senate Majority Office at 207-287-1515. For the latest updates, follow me on Facebook at facebook.com/SenatorTimNangle, and sign up for my e-newsletter at mainesenate.org. <

Insight: A time for heroes

By Ed Pierce
Managing Editor

As residents of the greatest nation on Earth, we eagerly await special and meaningful holidays to arrive every year. No matter if it’s Thanksgiving, Christmas, or Independence Day, there are occasions where we take time to reflect on what these holidays mean and why they were created.

A portrait of five-star U.S. Army General Omar Bradley 
hangs outside the hallway near his old office at The
Pentagon in Washington, D.C. Bradley maintained an
office at The Pentagon until his death in 1982. 
PHOTO BY JIM GARAMONE, DOD

When I think of Veterans Day, I am drawn back to the time I spent in the U.S. Air Force at The Pentagon in Washington, D.C. and some of the individuals I had the opportunity to meet there. A few of them left their mark on the history books and are renowned for their valor and dedication to the cause of freedom, while others performed their duties in relative obscurity.

Each time I walked around the building, I would discover something I hadn’t known about before, or run into someone who inspired other soldiers, sailors, airmen or Marines.

If I needed to deliver paperwork to the Joint Chiefs of Staff on a Saturday, I would pass by the office of General Lew Allen, a four-star general and the U.S. Air Force Chief of Staff at the time. He liked to work on weekends because it was quieter then and on at least three occasions he invited me in to have coffee with him.

He wanted to know what I felt about military service from my perspective as an E-3 Airman First Class and he would ask me what I thought about my military pay, how to keep good people in the Air Force and my thoughts about college basketball. His favorite team was the University of Maryland, and he showed me an autographed photo he kept in his office of then-Maryland coach Lefty Driesell.

He was kind and caring and I always felt he listened to what I had to say, even though he was a four-star general. After he retired from military service, he served as the director of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and worked closely with NASA to make space shuttle missions safer after the Challenger explosion in 1986.

Once I had the opportunity to meet legendary U.S. Army General Omar Bradley, who maintained an office at The Pentagon until his death in 1982. He had been General Dwight Eisenhower’s field commander for American soldiers during the invasion of Normandy on D-Day and rose to the rank of five-star general after World War II. He also was the first chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

I had met him one afternoon when he was leaving his office for the day. By then, General Bradley was in his late 80s and only came to his office every other month. He asked me where I was from and about my parents. When I told my father about my meeting the general, he said Bradley was one of the top generals he served under as a soldier in Libya in 1943.

In February 1981, I attended a ceremony in The Pentagon courtyard where U.S. Army Master Sergeant Roy Benavidez was awarded the Medal of Honor. He was given the honor for his courage in combat near Loc Ninh, Vietnam in 1968.

While part of a 12-man Special Forces patrol, Benavidez and his team were surrounded by a North Vietnamese infantry battalion numbering more than 1,000 troops. Caught off guard and armed only with a knife, he jumped from a helicopter some 30 to 40 feet off the ground with a medical bag and ran to help members of the patrol who were trapped. He joined his comrades who were under unrelenting enemy fire despite sustaining numerous wounds, Benavidez saved the lives of at least eight men.

During the battle, an NVA soldier encountered Benavidez and stabbed him with a bayonet. He pulled it out, drew his own knife, killed the NVA soldier. He later shot two more NVA soldiers with an AK-47 rifle he picked up while providing cover fire for members of his patrol who were boarding the helicopter. In all, Benavidez was treated for 37 different bullet, bayonet, and shrapnel wounds he sustained during the six-hour battle against the enemy.

Another time I was humbled to meet retired General Jimmy Doolittle, who inspired Americans during the early days of World War II by leading a daring air raid on the Japanese mainland in April 1942.

Doolittle commanded a group of 16 bomber crews who took off from the USS Hornet on a one-way mission to bomb Japan, after that nation had crippled the U.S. Navy fleet at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii slightly more than four months earlier. Each member of Doolittle’s raid knew their planes didn’t have enough fuel capacity to bomb the target and make it back safely, but they flew their missions anyway. Of the 80 airmen who participated in that mission, three died and 15 planes were lost. But Doolittle’s raid demonstrated that the Japanese mainland was vulnerable to American air attacks and boosted America’s moral at a dark time in U.S. history.

Each of us owes a measure of respect for the men and women who wear the uniform of the United States and the ongoing struggle for freedom. Honoring those who served on Veterans Day is the perfect way to do that. <

Insight: Yard Sale Confessional

By Ed Pierce
Managing Editor

I have a confession to make. For many years I avoided going to yard sales, garage sales, estate sales, thrift stores or flea markets because I saw no purpose in it and didn’t understand why anyone would want to accumulate more of someone else’s junk or castoffs. But was I ever wrong.

Slightly more than 20 years ago, my wife encouraged me to drive her to a community wide garage sale in Florida and in looking over a table, I discovered a perfectly good wristwatch priced at just $2. Having $5 cash on me at the time, I paid for the watch and used the $3 change at the next house we stopped at to purchase complete sets of 1988 and 1989 baseball cards which were priced at $1.50 each.

When the weather was nice, visiting yard sales became a favorite Saturday morning activity for us. There were some things we could afford, and some we passed on. Not having small children, I avoided any neighborhood sales with piles of baby clothes or toys stacked in the driveway. My wife being an avid reader, she always stopped at sales that featured boxes of books. I preferred visiting ones with practical things I could use for our home, such lawn furniture, shovels or hedge trimmers.

And best of all, many of these used items up for sale came without a hefty retail price tag.

Once when we told my mother that we were spending a Saturday morning driving around looking for garage sales, she shook her head and gave me a quizzical look.

“I don’t understand why you would want to go rummaging through some else’s used underwear,” she told me. “I wouldn’t be caught dead anywhere near one of those places.”

She didn’t know it at the time, but the chair she was sitting in at our home when she said that came straight from a yard sale. So were the napkins and glasses at the dinner table we ate at.

Through the years my wife accumulated an enormous selection of like-new children’s books for her classroom by visiting yard sales. Some of the books were priced at a fraction of what they would cost if purchased at a store.

Many pieces of furniture in our home have been rescued from a yard sale or a thrift shop, repainted and repurposed to fit our décor. We’ve found bookcases, several wardrobe cabinets, a kitchen clock, a bicycle, an antique soup tureen, a dresser and a like-new microwave oven that way.

For years I would buy most of my clothing at a department store and pay full price. But after seeing a generous selection of gently used pants and shirts and jackets at a thrift store, my thinking changed. I still buy some new clothes as needed but if I can find pants in great condition at a thrift store for $4 that fit me well, I’d much rather do that than pay $48 for new ones.

I can go through my closet right now and find several winter coats, five or six sweaters, some dress shirts and pairs of pants that came from a yard sale or a thrift shop.

Our beloved Scrabble game that swivels came from a garage sale. So did a pink serving dish in our cupboard that resembles one my wife’s grandmother had when she was a child.

Yard sales and garage sales have also been a way for us to get out of the house and to do something together on weekends. I’ve found it’s also an excellent way to meet people who live in our community and to learn more about streets and the geography of where we live.

Now that we have grandchildren, my wife is always on the outlook for inexpensive clothes for them at these local sales. Sometimes a sale at a local church will include homemade baked goods.

This summer at a church sale near our home I found a huge selection of record albums priced at $1 each with many of them still in the original retail shrink wrap. At a flea market nearby, I purchased a DVD set of Season 3 of the old television series “The Fugitive” for just $3.

The exciting thing about visiting a yard sale or a garage sale or an estate sale is that you never know what you will find there or what kind of deal you can make. Sometimes near the end of the sale, items will be greatly reduced in price just to get rid of them. Or you can offer what you can afford and many times, your offer will be accepted.

After the sales are over, sometimes leftovers will be set at the end of the driveway in boxes for free to anyone who wants them. The same thing happens when people are moving and can’t take everything. My wife and I just found a sitting room chair in perfect shape from neighbors who were moving while we were out walking our dog, and it had a free sign on it.

I’ll never know why I never went to a yard sale when I was younger, but I confess that I’m hooked on it now. <

Andy Young: Humiliation with a capital B

By Andy Young

I’ve never earned a paycheck as a butcher, baker, sous chef, dietician or short order cook. Consequently, I have no special knowledge about nutrition, not to mention any professional experience preparing, cooking, presenting or serving food. In retrospect, perhaps I should have kept that in mind before opening my mouth some years ago when I heard someone blabbing about a certain edible item.

I had joined a group of friends and acquaintances at a local sports bar. One of the latter, a serial center-of-attention-craver who loved eating nearly as much as he did boasting about himself and embellishing his supposed myriad accomplishments, was raving about some “Buffalo wings” he was consuming. I tried listening respectfully to his tiresome discourse, occasionally murmuring in faux agreement and even nodding when it seemed appropriate. But when it appeared he wasn’t planning on stopping, I decided enough was enough.

After checking to make sure it wasn’t April Fools’ Day, I decided to shut down our verbose, attention-hogging pal by bringing up a verifiable fact that would mercifully end emphatically conclude his ongoing harangue.

Trying (though not terribly hard) not to seem smug or condescending, I blurted, “Buffalos don’t have wings, ____________!” (I’ll leave the term I addressed him with to the imagination, since some might consider it inappropriate for inclusion in a family publication.)

Momentarily flustered by my interruption, the speaker paused, presumably staggered by the superbly timed zinger I had just launched his way. That self-important braggart had been holding court for what I, and presumably everyone else, felt was far too long. Now everyone was staring at me. Suddenly I had become the center of attention.

Full disclosure: I’ll admit that for the briefest fraction of a second, I found myself bathing in approval, enjoying what I assumed were the appreciative and admiring stares of my grateful peers.

But the silence my clever quip had evoked continued for what seemed a bit too long. (Looking back, maybe everyone there was checking to make sure it wasn’t April Fools’ Day.) Then I noticed the gazes of my companions morphing from admiration to incredulous. It was apparent I had committed some significant faux pas.

Panic set in, followed by full-blown paranoia. Had I forgotten to zip my fly on my return from the men’s room? Was there something unsightly hanging out of one of my nostrils? Had I inadvertently worn a pink shirt to an establishment where all 15 TV sets were tuned to football games, truck pulls, or professional wrestling?

My mistake became obvious when the blowhard I thought I had shut down triumphantly retorted, “They’re called Buffalo wings because they were invented in Buffalo, New York, ______________.” Irony of ironies, he had expertly employed the ultimate weapon to humiliate me: the very same derogatory term I had used on him just seconds earlier. The difference: he had used it far more accurately.

I spent the rest of the evening brooding silently, responding only when one of my now all-too-jovial chums referred to me with one of several new nicknames, including “Buffalo Boy,” Buffalo Bill,” and, most insultingly, “Buffalo Chip.”

Fate can be awfully cruel sometimes. If that big-mouthed egotist in our group had only mentioned any other food that began with B, I’d never have suffered through that horrible night of humiliation. Why couldn’t he have been holding forth about beans, blueberries, butter, bass, baby back ribs, bacon, bagels, burritos, baklava, beer, bologna, bread, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, bok choy, Baked Alaska, beets, bananas, burgers, buns, beef stew, or even Vitamin B?

Hmmmmm.

I wonder if Vitamin B was named after Buffalo.

Correction: In last week’s column I incorrectly stated that no one born in the 1950s has ever been president or vice-president of the United States.. Thankfully though, several alert readers pointed out the inaccuracy, noting that Mike Pence, who was vice-president from 2017 to 2021, was born on June 7, 1959. The error was mine. However, in my defense, Mr. Pence is pretty easy to forget. <