This week is another edition of “We’re all thumbs,” in which the editorial staff of Current Publishing picks proverbial winners and losers, heroes and villains from recent news stories:

• Thumbs UP to the brave men and women who for 125 years have put their lives on the line to fight fires and provide all forms of emergency response in Westbrook. The fire-rescue department is celebrating 11?4 centuries in existence this month, and in a neat twist, this year the department hired its 125th full-time member in the history of the department, Lucas Joslin. He, just like everyone on the team past and present, deserves the public’s appreciation for their dedication to first response.

• Thumbs DOWN to the town of Cumberland for pulling their public safety crews from the 100 or so houses in Windham along Forest Lake. Cumberland’s fire station is about a mile from the secluded area, while the nearest Windham station is about 8 miles away. Windham has paid Cumberland about $3,000 annually for many years for their services. If someone dies because Cumberland didn’t want to scratch their truck along the neighborhood’s narrow dirt road, that’ll be a tragedy. Seems we should all be in this together. Isn’t that what the concept of mutual aid is all about?

• Thumbs UP to Gorham High School Principal Christopher Record for standing up for common decency and banning the highly sexualized form of dancing known as grinding. School officials are right to be wary since the practice has “lawsuit” written all over it. Windham realized this and banned it years ago. We know kids are protesting the principal’s move, but we think they may be saying that out of peer pressure. We think many, perhaps afraid to speak out, are relieved their principal has stood up to say no to this form of dancing, which treats women – or, should we say, the grinded – as sex objects.

• Thumbs DOWN to reports that at the New England Patriots’ game at Indianapolis on Sunday, a contingent of Colts fans has hired a blimp to hover over the stadium featuring the message: “Deflate this, Brady.” How silly. But, rather than be offended, Patriots Nation knows these infantile efforts will only backfire, with Brady coming out stronger and tougher, because that’s the kind of guy he is.

• Thumbs UP to the good things happening at Camp William Hinds in Raymond. This weekend, the Octoberfest Family Festival hosted by the Sebago Lakes Region Chamber of Commerce is taking place at the 8-decades-old Boy Scout camp and will allow non-Scouting folks to see what military-affiliated engineers have been doing to fix up the camp. The so-called Innovative Readiness Training program has been putting reservists to work on various projects around the country since the Clinton presidency, and it’s a boon for all involved. The reservists – made up mostly of those fulfilling their two-week service requirements – get needed training, and the community groups for which they work get free labor. This sounds like a win-win. And watch for them next summer working on the new beach for Standish residents on Sebago Lake.

• Thumbs DOWN to the idea of installing parking meters at Higgins Beach in Scarborough. Sure, parking is metered at many popular sites around Maine, but this seems an overreach in what is a neighborhood beach area. The atmosphere at Higgins is different from Pine Point or any beach in Old Orchard, where meters and paid parking are the rule. We’re not sure why there has to be so much discord among neighbors and beachgoers and surfers, but we don’t think meters will help solve what are seemingly deep-seated issues.

• Thumbs UP to Talya Edlund, a third-grade teacher at Pond Cove Elementary School in Cape Elizabeth who is Maine’s 2016 Teacher of the Year. Edlund is praised by colleagues as an innovative educator who knows how to connect with kids and detect when they are struggling with concepts. Since the state’s education system is in flux under the new proficiency-based curriculum, we hope when Edlund circulates around the state as part of her duties as top teacher, she’ll keep other educators grounded as to the basics of being a great teacher, which is taking an interest in each student and bringing out their best – something it sounds like she’s pretty darn good at.

• Thumbs DOWN to Gov. Paul LePage using newspapers as scapegoats for his failings as governor. Last week in Camden, the governor said critics at his town hall meeting had been duped by what LePage described as a smear campaign by the news media, especially newspapers. While we in the media can always improve our reporting, we think the governor should stop the blame game. While he’s at it, he should stop blaming moderate Republicans like Sen. Roger Katz. LePage is starting to sound paranoid, and when you add that to his now-legendary arrogance, you have a recipe for irrelevance. The governor has a few more years in office and we think he should start playing well with others to find solutions, rather than playing petty politics. The people deserve better.

-John Balentine, managing editor

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