SOMERSET COUNTY, Maine (WMTW) – The Somerset County Sheriff’s Office is warning Mainers to be aware of a scam from a caller pretending to be a police detective.

Multiple people have reported receiving calls from a man identifying himself as detective Keith McCoy. Sheriff Dale Lancaster says he seems to be targeting registered sex offenders, asking them to pay money over the phone for fines, bail, or to dismiss an arrest warrant.

Law enforcement officers will never call to demand money and Lancaster notes that there are no detectives named Keith McCoy in Somerset County.

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Portland director Matt Cascella’s debut film “Hangdog” (2023, NR, 91 minutes) returns to Harbor Theater on Sunday June 30. Cascella and the film’s writer Jen Cordery will attend the screening, introduce their work and, following the film, answer audience questions. A reception to meet the filmmakers and enjoy light refreshments will allow time to visit with friends beginning at 6:30 pm. The June 30 screening is FREE to Harbor Theater Members. All other Adult tickets are $10.

This humane comedy/drama features Walt (Desmin Borges, PRIVATE LIFE, FX’s YOU’RE THE WORST) as a fish out of water in his own skin. He’s now also a fish out of water in Portland, Maine, having recently moved with his girlfriend, Wendy, to be closer to her parents. Without a job or a plan, and with a new dog (Tony) competing for Wendy’s affections, Walt has reached peak anxiety. When Wendy leaves town for the most important business trip of her career, she entrusts Walt with one task: taking care of her fur baby, Tony. After a careless mistake gets Tony stolen, Walt embarks on a wild goose chase to retrieve the dog before Wendy returns, or risk losing them both. Along the way, he connects with locals Marianne (Barbara Rosenblat, ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK), a wisecracking nonconformist, and Brent (Steve Coulter, SHE-HULK, A LITTLE PRAYER), a recent widower, who force him to confront his anxieties and embrace human (and canine!) connection.

“Walt’s search is a journey as idiosyncratic and detoured as Portland itself and Walt himself, whose forlorn face more befits the “hangdog” name than the dog’s ever could. Director Matt Cascella and writer Jen Cordery have made a film that’s charming, original, and sweet in its own deliberately shaggy way. Hangdog is a real Maine-made discovery.” —Ken Eisen, MIFF

This event is open to Harbor Theater Members FREE, and to all others at the regular ticket price of $10 Adult; $8 Child (under 18). If you want to become a Member or to renew your membership, visit https://boothbaycinema.org/membership/, or join in person at the theater. Individual Membership, $40; Family Membership, $75.

We spent a long weekend at a camping ground in southern Maine, and the kids absolutely loved it. They are already asking to go camping again, and I’m wondering why we didn’t do this earlier in their lives.

We went with the easy option

Because our kids are little — they are 6, 4, and 4 — we felt like maybe a good start would be a camping ground that had already been set up. We found a company called Huttopia, which has a location near us. It was close enough to home that the kids wouldn’t be stuck in the car for hours on end, and we could also abort the plan if we were all miserable.

There are different kinds of huts, from rustic to more modern, which include a private bathroom and shower. We went with the rustic option, which was a canvas tent with two rooms — one with a bunk bed that fit all three kids and one with a queen bed — as well as a small kitchenette, dining table, and bathroom. 

While some might say this is not technically camping, we still had to zip up our canvas windows at night, and we chased plenty of bugs out of the tent.

It was so family-friendly

I was surprised at how many families were there and how many activities were planned for kids.

The night we arrived, there was a movie night for kids. The next night, there was a concert for the whole family, and on our last night, there was a puppet show. This made navigating going from dinner time at the camp to bedtime easy, because kids had something to do to get their willies out. All these activities happened near the restaurant, where pizzas and smoothies were offered for purchase.

The campground also had tons of activities. There was a huge playset for little kids and all kinds of games, such as ping pong, foosball, and petanque.

There was also a pool and a pond for everyone to enjoy. We went in late May, which is still low season for Maine, and the pond was packed with people. The pool, on the other hand, was practically empty during our entire stay.

The campgrounds are also dog-friendly, although they have strict rules, which initially annoyed me but I came to appreciate during our stay. You can never leave your dogs unattended at your camp, and they are allowed everywhere except for the pool. Our two dogs had a blast walking around the grounds and snoozing at the pond.

We were also close to other towns, so when we needed a break from the campgrounds, we explored new beaches and restaurants.

I’m ready to do it again

This experience was so positive that I’m ready to do it again — as long as I have a shower and bathroom to myself.

That said, if staying again at Huttopia, I would ask to stay in a tent further away from the main reception, where the playground is. Because our kids are little, they went to bed before the “quiet time,” which started at 10 p.m. Because of that, we could still hear older kids playing and yelling in the game zone area. Also, because we were so close to the reception and main parking spots, we got woken up several times when people were either checking in late or coming back from an adventure. I felt like not all guests followed the dog rules, and I encountered several tents left with dogs alone barking throughout the day. Thankfully, none of those were near ours.

My kids enjoyed collecting pinecones for our fire pit and building s’mores after dinner. They especially loved spending so much time outside in nature, away from distractions like television and toys. They made up games and played together, and it was truly memorable.