While Wiscasset has a long tradition of Selectmen meeting outside their regular weekly meetings, it apparently isn't a tradition in some other towns.

Asked if the city counselors in Bath have such meetings, first time counselor Bill Hayden said ``no, we get an agenda a few days before, we show up at 7 o'clock, and that's it.''

Noting that some of the discussions often are lengthy, Hayden said, ``everybody doesn't always agree on everything.''

A Woolwich Selectman and former Selectman say there's no such tradition in their town either.

Asked to comment on the practice in Wiscasset, First Selectman Crispin Connery said, ``I read your article (``Selectmen Routinely Meet Before The Meeting, 5/13/99) and it looks to me like the right to know law has been taken around the corner and out the window.''

``I feel very strongly about the right to know law,''Connery said. ``It's one of the most valuable things citizens have in terms of dealing with representative government.''

Former Selectman Lloyd Coombs, now the administrative assistant in Woolwich, said ``we are very respectful of the right to know law. All of our meetings are published ahead of time (sending faxes to two daily newspapers and one weekly) and take place at the appointed time -- not before, and not after. We try to follow the letter of the law.''

Connery said the Maine Municipal Association gives workshops on what town and city officials need to do to comply with the law. At an MMA meeting on Monday, Connery said they heard about a case where the Selectmen met with officials from a paper company. An attorney representing the paper company subsequently heard about it and scolded the company for not making sure notice of the meeting was posted, even though the posting was up to the selectmen.

``The MMA does everything possible'' to familiarize municipal leaders with the law, Connery said. ``They say if anybody doesn't have a copy of it close by, they're running the risk of getting the town in trouble.''

Referring to Wiscasset's Selectmen, Connery said, ``if they don't understand the law, they're driving the Exxon Valdez up on the rocks.''