On the cover this week, a proposed 300-foot private recreational pier that would be the first of its kind on a stretch of Lincolnville coastline and potentially the largest in the region has neighbors and others questioning how far waterfront property owner’s rights extend into the water.

Inside, Becca Shaw Glaser continues her reviews of local dumps, this week rating the picking, sortings and “swap shops” at Camden-Rockport’s Midcoast Solid Waste and the St. George Transfer Station. Builder Jim Bahoosh considers rockwool insulation from the point of view of a wall-crawling mouse. Eva Murray reports on the sighting of a frigatebird, strayed from the topics, over Matinicus. And Michael G. Roskin considers the legacy of the three-fifths compromise of 1787 on present-day representation and voting rights.