• Cheers to safety-minded hunters for a 2009 season without a fatal incident.

According to statistics kept by the Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife, hunting fatalities have declined drastically in the past half-century, a real tribute to state officials who support mandatory hunter safety training and to hunters themselves for their increased caution in Maine’s woods.

There were fewer hunters in the woods and fields in 2009, and fewer any-deer permits issued than in 2008, but the fact remains that this year’s deer hunting season was safe. Safer, according to the numbers, than fishing. Or driving.

• Cheers to the Norway Memorial Library for its teen room project.

The library should be a welcome place for teens to congregate, and setting aside a basement room where they can read, access the Internet and socialize makes the library so much more attractive.

The project is being funded through a grant from the Stephen and Tabitha King Foundation, and provides a terrific place for teens — too old for the children’s room and perhaps too cool to hang out with parents upstairs — to take advantage of this downtown resource.

• It’s cheers and jeers to the cold grasp of winter, which has now truly arrived.

Jeers for all the havoc it creates on the roads, although much of that havoc is self-inflicted, and cheers for the dollars it brings to the state through winter sports and tourism.

As happens every year, the snow brings a rash of accidents, some serious and some just plain senseless, and it’s tough to recover from the cost and inconvenience of even the most minor accident. But, really, most accidents are caused because people drive too fast for conditions. Can’t we all just slow down when the flakes are flying?

Meanwhile, the ski mountains and snowmobile destinations welcome the snow and the cash that comes with it, and there’s no better way to start the new year than with a fresh coat of flakes to draw tourists north.

• How utterly sad that Marie Anderson of Gilead died last month.

She and a friend were out exploring Maine’s countryside for animal tracks, like so many people do, and their Jeep got stuck in soft dirt about a mile from the main road.

The two stayed in the car for a while, with the heater on, but decided to hoof it back to the road for help. Before they could get there, Anderson tired and her companion went ahead. By the time he returned with help, Anderson was unconscious.

It just makes sense that anyone driving off-road anywhere in Maine should be prepared with a commercial or homemade survival kit of food, warming blanket, spare clothes and other supplies in case of emergency.

Could that have helped Anderson? Who knows. But without it, she didn’t have a chance.

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