The publisher's voice - A brief interruption in service

As I write this, I am looking out on a typical winter day in Fort Kent, with snow falling gently and trucks and cars making their careful way back-and-forth on Main Street.

Behind me is chaos.

Some folks have noticed that there was little new news on the Fiddlehead Focus website on Friday. There is a reason. Early Friday morning, a man broke into the offices of Fiddlehead Focus and Paper Signs Ink, stealing equipment and vandalizing the interior.

At my feet, shattered glass stretches across our front office from the remains of the front door. Cables dangle from the walls where computers and other equipment once stood. Phones are ringing with calls to insurance companies and investigating officers. Friends, neighbors, co-workers and colleagues are methodically trying to bring order to the shattered remains of our offices.

Fiddlehead Focus will be fine, as will our office mates, Paper Signs Ink.

As we clean the desks where the criminals poured chemicals over delicate computer equipment, carefully step across the floor with our feet crunching in the pond of shattered glass that stretches ten feet into the main office and make calls on phones that are slowly losing power because the criminals even stole the charger to the cell phone, our feelings shift from anger to sadness to determination.

When this setback is only a memory, we will keep that sense of determination.

We have learned and are still learning lessons from this thoughtless act. The criminal failed to put down Fiddlehead Focus, either in its print version or on the web.

The quick and canny response of our police department was amazing to watch. Because of their rapid investigative work, they were able to capture the man who allegedly did this. The police were able to return most of our property and reduce this potential disaster from a show stopper into a complex but manageable inconvenience. The efforts of T-Bert Contractors and Jake's Cleaning Service were also prompt and professional. The many people who have expressed sympathy for this problem or stopped in to the office to offer help also have my gratitude and admiration.

It is their selfless acts that remind us of why we create the Fiddlehead Focus each day.