by Nancy Beal

Identical twins Rosalie Carver and Lucille Woodward were born in Jonesport 90 years ago and have lived there all their lives. Inseparable until the coronavirus pandemic-imposed isolation on their world, they had been in contact, physically, nearly every day of their lives. Last week, after the expiration of the two-week waiting period following administration of the COVID-19 vaccine they couldn’t get soon enough, they celebrated with huge hugs. This weekend, they will celebrate their 90th birthday together with family.

by Ruth Leubecker

Nationally the opioid crisis has achieved new heights, but in Maine the numbers are climbing at an even more devastating rate.

Between 2014 until 2019, drug overdoses claimed 1,630 lives in Maine. In 2015 alone, 272 Mainers died by drug overdose. But by 2020, in that year alone a record 502 deaths by overdose motivated Gov. Janet Mills to include in her budget $2 million to promote OPTIONS (Overdose Prevention Through Intensive Outreach Naloxone & Safety).

by Natalie Boomer

As summer approaches us here in Maine, many locals will be introducing their young children to the water.

Maine Families of Washington County has partnered with lifeguard, swim instructor, and USA swimming coach, Lindsay McMahon to host a water safety question and answer for parents who want to learn how to keep their children safe around water.

McMahon will lead an interactive group discussion over Zoom on Wednesday, April 14 at 10 am.

by Jonathan Reisman

“Assignments really help me. I get lost in too many options,” writes Sue Riddle of Pembroke, Maine, one of several artists who have participated for a year or more in the Eastport Arts Center (EAC) online portrait drawing group, interacting each week with a close-knit community formed despite social and physical distance. “I was desperately missing the arts and crafts programming I usually get through EAC and Peavey Library,” noted Riddle.

by Dewey Foolem

 The Machias Police Department is directing Route 1 traffic today, Thursday, April 1, due to the spectacle of a large container vessel lodged in the Machias River below Bad Little Falls. No one knows exactly when or how the Ever Given arrived in Washington County, apparently traveling downriver from the north. 

 “I thought I heard something go by last night,” said Michael Hoyt, speaking from his riverside camp in Centerville. “Usually the container ships make more noise.”

by Ruth Leubecker

Fifteen years ago, John Baldacci was governor and the Dirigo health plan was struggling with spiraling costs. But the hot-button issue was high-speed Internet.

All these years later, a new governor deals with issues never dreamed of back then and health costs are still scaling new heights. But the hot-button issue is still high-speed Internet.

by Nancy Beal

Earlier this month, Jonesport Selectman Billy Milliken was asked by an out-of-towner to bring a resolution supportive of the Second Amendment before his board. The towns of Steuben and Harrington have already approved such a resolution, he said, which affirms the right of citizens to bear arms.

Harry Fish said he supported the amendment but would not commit to the resolution without the support of the townspeople and suggested that the select board table the motion. “We could be stepping into a quagmire,” he said.

by Jayna Smith

Last week, Ian Pratt, of Pratt Family Dealership, presented a $500 donation to Barbara Barnett, Director of Volunteer Services at Down East Hospice Volunteers (DEHV).  The donation is for sponsorship of the Cobscook Bay Races - Challenge 2021.

Porter Memorial Library in Machias will offer discounted online viewings of a new film, Entangled, which chronicles efforts to protect North Atlantic right whales from extinction, the impacts of those efforts on the lobster industry, and how the National Marine Fisheries Service has struggled to balance the vying interests.

by Joseph Horn

by Nancy Beal

Principals in Kingfish Maine, a Dutch company that proposes to build a $100 million land-based fish farm in Jonesport on Chandler Bay, were in town last week to hold an informational meeting, a requirement on their quest for three permits needed to build and operate the facility they hope to create. They brought with them architectural renderings of what the plant and associated outbuildings would look like—from the ground and from the air.

by Praise Moore

Lisa Bartlett is the art teacher of Elm Street Elementary School in East Machias. When asked how she started teaching, she answered: “For a job I feel I was destined to do — I love it so much, I really do — I didn’t start until I was forty.” After she and her husband moved from Wales

by Jayna Smith

March 20 marked one year since the closure of the U.S./Canada border in an effort to minimize the spread of COVID-19, and the order has been extended every month since. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau suggested in a news conference last week a reopening date is not in sight.

“We’re all eager to be able to travel again, but I think we’re all going to wait patiently until such time as the health situation allows us to loosen border restrictions internationally. That’ll be eventually, but not for today,” Trudeau said.

by Sarah Craighead Dedmon

There are nearly 20 ways to engineer a reconstruction of the Machias dike, and the Maine Department of Transportation will present all of them via an online public hearing, available beginning March 29.

by Sarah Craighead Dedmon

Machias Town Manager Christina Therrien will resign her position effective June 30, according to a letter she submitted to the board of selectmen Wednesday, March 9.

Therrien emailed the letter to board chairman Joshua Rolfe during the “other business” portion of the board’s bi-monthly meeting, which fell earlier than usual in the evening due to a planned adult-use marijuana workshop session.

With Therrien’s permission, Rolfe read the resignation aloud.

by Sarah Craighead Dedmon

A state public hearing set for March 22 will take feedback on proposed changes to Maine’s medical marijuana program, changes local businesses believe will put them at a competitive disadvantage, especially against large corporations.

“They’re going to shut down the small businesses in Maine,” says David Finlay, owner of Indian Trail Farms in Machias, who is not alone in his frustration. Last week, several dozen people marched outside the Augusta Civic Center to protest the proposed changes.

by Praise Moore

by Alan Kryszak

You don’t ask inventive artist/musicians like Stephen Copel why his dog pictures are in classic artistic settings, or why he wears a horsey mask on shopping day. You don’t ask Little Seavey Lake’s master guitarist and troubadour with way too many stories why his voice sounds like it floated off of a 1970s blues album and his guitar sounds like the lost Allman brother.

by Joseph Horn

by Celia Cummiskey

Earle Faulkingham’s Chevy Silverado and neon pink sign declaring “Earle’s Fresh Seafood'' are a familiar sight on the Machias dike. Faulkingham sells fresh seafood from large coolers in the back of his truck, with customers rolling through drive-through style or parking to stop for a chat.

by Sarah Craighead Dedmon

In late fall and early winter, Route 1 motorists see trucks overflowing with balsam tips pulling into Whitney Wreath, then pulling out loaded with Christmas wreaths. CEO David Whitney’s wreathing business keeps his Whitneyville factory hopping at the end of the year. Recently, however, Whitney has expanded his companies’ offerings to keep the factory humming all year long.

“We haven’t taken the focus off of balsam, but we had to take the blinders off and broaden our view,” Whitney says.