By Ruth Leubecker 

Health insurance for 70,000-plus Mainers may be the law of the land, but lawsuits and excessive legal postponements have prevented it from happening for over two years.

The latest date for possible positive action is December 5.

by Nancy Beal

Teachers in Union 103, the school unit that includes both elementary schools and the joint high school in Beals and Jonesport, are seeking a change in the 25-step pay scale under which the district has operated for years. Negotiations started last winter and, instead of lasting the usual couple of months and centering on the increase in pay and benefits, are snagged on a different issue which, teachers say, affect not just money, but their professionalism and the ability of the schools to attract and retain good teachers.

by Nancy Beal

The boat that sank out from under Beals lobsterman Josh Kelley and his sternman last month seven miles outside of Moosepeak Light was a 42-foot Novi-style boat that Kelley purchased in Lower Woods Hole, Nova Scotia in 2014. She was built by Stanley Greenwood, or “Chainsaw” Greenwood as he is familiarly known because he uses that tool for finish work.

by Sarah Craighead Dedmon

After a hiatus due to weather events, the Washington County Budget Committee convened on Thursday, Nov. 29 for what could be its next-to-last meeting this year. The 2019 budget process has taken longer than usual owing to a debate over the proposed addition of three deputies to the Washington County Sheriff’s Office. 

by Sarah Craighead Dedmon

Unusually long lines of voters delayed the start of a town meeting held in Machias on Wednesday. Dec. 5. More than 120 Machias residents and 30 non-residents attended the meeting, held to discuss and vote on the town’s proposed medical marijuana ordinance. As is customary the non-residents lined the bleachers of the Machias Memorial High School gymnasium, leaving a clear view to the Machias voters seated in rows of chairs down the middle of the room.

by Sarah Craighead Dedmon

Unusually long lines of voters delayed the start of a town meeting held in Machias on Wednesday, Dec. 5. More than 100 Machias residents and 30 non-residents attended the meeting, held to discuss and vote on the town’s proposed medical marijuana ordinance. As is customary, the non-residents lined the bleachers of the Machias Memorial High School gymnasium, leaving a clear view to the Machias voters seated in rows of chairs down the middle of the room.

by Lura Jackson

The EPA has issued an update on N’tolonapemk, also known as the Eastern Surplus Superfund site in Meddybemps. The site was used for a storage and salvage yard for decades before being declared an environmental Superfund site, meaning it had high levels of toxicity and was thus a high priority for the governmental organization to remediate. The process of environmental remediation has been successful and its end is in sight, depending on how well the most recent efforts are received by the land.

by Sarah Craighead Dedmon

Local businessman Bill Burke presented to the Machias Board of Selectmen at their bi-weekly meeting held Wednesday, Nov. 28. Burke is the owner of Pat’s Pizza and the founder of the Downeast Lobstah Drop, which will take place on New Year’s Eve for the fourth time.

Burke said that this year the indoor kids’ activities will be held in the gymnasium of the Rose M. Gaffney Elementary School. Burke is also talking to law enforcement and hopes to bring a demonstration of drug dogs to the event.  

by Lura Jackson

Local author and life coach Lanette Pottle is making new strides in putting Washington County on the map of personal empowerment with the publication of her newest book, Small Steps Big Impact. In the creation of the book, Pottle collaborated with two other Washington County women, Laurel Robinson and Ashley Hinson Dahkal, and simultaneously developed her own publishing enterprise: Positivity Lady Press.

by Nancy Beal

Marie and Dell Emerson have been involved with wild blueberries for decades. For nearly 50 years before his retirement, Dell ran the experimental farm on Blueberry Hill in Jonesboro. The couple owns a 40-acre farm of their own at Wescogus Corner in Addison and manages other growers’ fields and buys berries from still others. They furnish berries for the fresh pack market and, after the harvest in August, sell fresh-frozen berries in bulk from their home.

by Sarah Craighead Dedmon

Washington County Cooperative Extension (WCE) employees and supporters filled the seats of the probate court room at the county commissioners’ meeting held Thursday, Dec. 13. The meeting agenda included a vote on the proposed 2019 county budget, which contains a 50 percent cut to governmental third party funding. 

The WCE, Soil and Water Conservation District and the Resource Conservation & Development Program are all affected by the cut. The WCE requested $40,000 from the county and was approved for $20,000.

by Sarah Craighead Dedmon

Walk into the Holy Name Parish Hall in early December and you might think you’ve walked into Santa’s workshop. Volunteers bustle between tables stacked with piles of baby dolls, books and snow boots filling orders that will be delivered around the county. This year the Community Christmas Giving Tree will create Christmas for more than 500 children, senior citizens and special-needs adults in towns from Lubec to Jonesboro and everywhere in between, and they’ll do it with the help of more than 50 volunteers.

“There's a lot of bad ‘isms’ floating around this world, but one of the worst is commercialism.”

-Alfred, Miracle on 34th Street

Book Reviews by RJ Heller

“When you read a short story, you come out a little more aware and a little more in love with the world around you.” – George Saunders

by Joseph Horn

by Ruth Leubecker

Closing the digital service gap just became significantly more likely with Sen. Angus King’s latest move to make affordable broadband more accessible.

King, a founder and co-chair of the Senate Broadband Caucus, has long touted the vital necessity of bringing high-speed, affordable broadband to Washington County. Many thousands of Internet users remain deprived of such a connection, viewed increasingly as an economic imperative.

by Ruth Leubecker

Everyone has someone they wish they might’ve met -- but he died before they could get there. In my case it was H.L. Mencken who died in his sleep five years before I moved to the hometown he never left. Baltimore. 

We would have almost certainly met otherwise, because we would’ve been working in the same newspaper circles. Bill Zorzi, a fellow reporter friend of mine, could recall him covering the police beat at the News American.

Check out the digital version of the December 26 issue of the Machias Valley News Observer for the schedule of events for the 4th Annual Downeast Lobstah Drop happening on New Year's Eve!

by V. Paul Reynolds

Each year about this time, the Maine Warden Service urges us to use extreme caution before venturing out onto any ice that may be covering Maine’s waterways.

This is timely advice. Two winters ago, three night-time snow sledders all perished in one night on Rangeley Lake when they and their machines broke through thin ice.

Many of Maine’s lakes and ponds may appear to be frozen, however safe ice conditions cannot be assumed.