originally posted in Story section...this paragraph seems to contradict itself halfway through (after the words "It's very Easy") and consists almost entirely of meta-discussion. If this is an important enough piece of info to post to the wiki page, it should at least be cleaned up.
I'm of a mind to exclude the entry from the page entirely...if it's not in error, then there's no reason to post this.
Even though Collinsport has been described as a small fishing village, early episode views of its downtown area suggest a town with a population of at least a few thousand, maybe more, so it would not be correct to suggest everyone in town knows everyone else. Plus, as a small town, its local police force would likely consist of just a handful of men. In his efforts to protect Maggie, the Sheriff would likely have called in help from the county police, or maybe even the state police. So it is not unreasonable that Joe had to prove who he was to visit Maggie. In the 1960's, in a "small fishing village" like Penobscot Bay, where the fictional Collinsport would likely be located, "50 miles from Bangor," with a population of about 2,000, the five-man police force did not know everyone. Nor would a five-man police force been able to guard one house 24 hours a day without outside help. Thus the person who wrote this cannot have lived in a small town or grown up in one. It's very easy to get to know 2,000 people if you grew up there, went to school, went to church, or did any number of social activities there. A law enforcement officer would be interacting with many people on a daily basis, further increasing his chances of meeting everyone. Seeing as how he was the longtime boyfriend of one of the town's most famous residents, Joe would definitely have been known to everyone except someone who stayed shut in all of the time. Small towns are known for gossip. (This appears to be an explanation of why Joe has to be vouched for by Sam when he comes to the house - since those same police would likely know Willie, it makes sense that they're not locals.)