by Sarah Craighead Dedmon

Tanya Millay was alarmed last week when she left to drive her daughter to school. There, crawling slowly past her Machiasport neighborhood, was a line of hunters in their trucks, all watching a buck on someone’s lawn. Some of the hunters had scopes and shotguns with them, and one had a bow and arrow.

by Nancy Beal

Jonesport’s number of positive Covid-19 cases reached the Maine Center for Disease and Prevention’s (MECDC) second category of case numbers within a zip code at the beginning of the week of November 9, and school nurse Holly Swillo confirmed that there was community spread in the Moosabec area. (The MECDC defines community transmission as existing when the are at least 10 confirmed cases and that at least 25 percent of those cases are not connected to either known cases or travel.)

by Natalie Boomer

Kickoff the holiday season by lending a helping hand and setting up Danny’s Inflatable Christmas Village in Machias.

“This is the project's third year and it has grown larger and larger,” said Sharon Mack, previous executive director of the village.

Mack is looking for 10 to 12 volunteers to attach the blowup decorations to the fence and pallets by the boxcars in downtown Machias on Saturday, November 28th.

Lobsters and lobstering connect two new books from Penobscot Books of Stonington this holiday season.

by Nancy Beal

Peabody Memorial Library has placed a dropbox for letters to Santa Claus at its main entrance on the road to the Ball Diamond. Children may place their letters to Santa in the special box through December 19. Letter writers are reminded to include their return address so that Santa will know where to reply.

by Sarah Craighead Dedmon

When word spread that music professor Gene Nichols’ position was eliminated, a sharp cry rose up across Washington County. Through more than 35 years of teaching, Nichols has become a household name and a colorful Downeast advocate for the joy of music-making. Last month his position was cut through retrenchment, or reduction in staff, at the University of Maine at Machias.

by Sarah Craighead Dedmon

The state of Maine expanded access to COVID-19 testing in June, setting up free testing without a doctor’s order through a “swab and send” program that established easy testing within 30 minutes of most Mainers. Today, Machias area residents must drive 60 miles for asymptomatic testing, to either Calais or Ellsworth, a distance some locals say they cannot manage.

by Nancy Beal

Jonesport’s old Pit Stop filling station, later the Lighthouse Café, has been purchased by its next door neighbor, Moosabec Ambulance Service (MAS) and is being remade as an adjunct to the garage that currently houses the ambulance on a tiny lot to the east on Main Street.

Eastport Arts Center’s KinderArts program, which launched a ‘craft-along’ video series last month, continues with ‘Finger Print Art’, set to be released on Nov. 13 (and viewable at any time ever after). Geared towards children 3-8 years of age, the project lets kids have a little messy fun using their fingerprints as the basis of some easy drawings. Free materials kits are available from EAC, or participants can easily assemble the necessary supplies at home.

by WAA Staff Sean Sullivan and Amber Caron

Pierre Claeyssens, who was rescued by U.S. Forces in Belgium, said, “To be killed in war is not the worst that can happen. To be lost is not the worst that can happen…to be forgotten is the worst.”

by Sarah Craighead Dedmon

More than $90 million in federal stimulus funds came into Washington County between April and August of this year, according to data compiled and analyzed by the Sunrise County Economic Council (SCEC). That money has reduced the pandemic’s negative economic impact, at least for now.

by Natalie Boomer

Student-designed and named, “Works by Maine Artists from the University of Maine at Machias Permanent Collection: Celebrating 200 Years of Maine Statehood,” is the center for the visual arts in the Down East region of Maine.

The John C. and Norma B. Marin Foundation donated the works of John Martin, Lyones Feininger, Reuben Tam, William Zorach, Paul Jenkins, Oscar Bleumner, and William Kienbusch to the art gallery’s permanent collection back in 1972.

by Sarah Craighead Dedmon

On Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 3, only one other county (Somerset) supported President Trump more than Washington County, which tied with Aroostook, giving Trump 59.1 percent of its vote. Statewide, Vice President Joe Biden won 55.3 percent, or 428,232 votes to Trump’s 44.2 percent, or 356,673 votes.

Congressional District 2 (CD2), Maine’s more rural district and where Washington County is located, supported Trump to the tune of 52.4 percent, delivering him one of the state’s four electoral college votes.

The latest from Eastport Arts Center’s Studio Visit series is a chat with Sally DeCicco, a sewing enthusiast, upcycle, and maker of 800 face masks (and counting!), which she has provided, by donation, to the communities of her two hometowns, Montpelier, Vermont and Eastport, Maine. Sally reflects in the video on finding meaningful action during the pandemic time, and about her lifelong passion for sewing (with a lot of laughs along the way). A longtime EAC volunteer, Sally has been active with the center’s annual Moose Island Follies shows and as a costume-maker for Stage East productions.

by Joseph Horn

by Ruth Leubecker

Washington and Hancock counties continue to share a district attorney, while efforts to separate the two by hiring a second one have fallen by the wayside, priorities deciding the matter.

“It’s fallen victim to everything else in the world,” said Chris Gardner, Washington County commissioner, admittedly a cynic on the subject. “The Maine legislature left and never came back. And we don’t do anything unless it’s tied to COVID. It’s embarrassing. Everything’s about coronavirus. All the time. It’s terrible.”

by Natalie Boomer

Community Caring Collaborative will be serving a family harvest meal to go on Friday, Nov. 13.

“We're excited to offer it again this year, with careful consideration for health and safety,” said Charley Martin-Berry, Community Caring Collaborative Director.

This meal will serve as a celebration of nature's plentiful summer and fall harvests.

by Jayna Smith

Last week, the Second Baptist Church of Calais made headlines across the state as 27 area people connected to the church tested positive for coronavirus. According to the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Dr. Nirav Shaw, 18 of those cases were considered primary, or directly related to individuals involved at the church. The remaining nine were considered secondary, or resulting from close contact of a primary case.  

by Jonathan Reisman

This is a problematic effort because hopes and fears are swamping fact-based analysis, and the incredible media bias and malfeasant efforts to suppress Republican turnout with misinformation, misdirection and outright lies make determining what the facts actually are very difficult if not impossible. Nevertheless, here are my predictions, written less than a week before the election. I have never wished harder to be wrong.

by Hazel Stark

by Sarah Craighead Dedmon

With a 72 percent increase in COVID-19 cases across Washington County this month, most in the last 10 days, Machias area schools are watching for an update to the Maine Department of Education’s (DOE) color-coded Health Advisory System, which could come as soon as Friday. 

Using data from the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention, DOE codes each county green, yellow or red, and school districts — which retain local control — then decide how they will proceed.

by Ruth Leubecker

Property taxpayers this year are facing various changes in their bills which should point to a lesser total than last year’s bill, but that’s not generally happening.

“It’s supposed to be based only on the town’s evaluation, total expenditures and revenue — unless your budget is going up and down dramatically,” explains Lewis Pinkham, for 16 years Milbridge’s town manager, whose mill rate is 15.125, down from a rate of 16.379 last year.