by Sarah Craighead Dedmon

A single mother whose landlord turned off her heat, an inmate recently released from Washington County Jail, an elderly veteran living in his truck, an addict with nowhere to go for the night — all true cases of homelessness in Machias just within the last six months. What do we do — and what can we do — when we encounter homelessness here in Washington County?

by Sarah Craighead Dedmon

by Sarah Craighead Dedmon

One of two buildings which just left a contentious local debate has been thrust back into debate with a revelation from the Maine Department of Corrections. Instead of advocating for the reopening of the shuttered Downeast Correctional Facility in Machiasport, the DOC is now looking at building a pre-release center at Blueberry Ford in Machias or at SuperTEK in East Machias.

Kaylee Bosse of Harrington, a senior at Narraguagus Jr/Sr High School, has been selected to receive the 2019 Principal’s Award, Principal Lucille Willey announced today. The award, sponsored by the Maine Principals’ Association, is given in recognition of a high school senior’s academic achievement and citizenship.

It’s not every day that a Caldecott Medal-winning author and illustrator visits your school. But students in five Downeast schools will have the opportunity to meet Sophie Blackall, whose picture book Hello Lighthouse was awarded the prestigious children’s book award in February, this spring.

by Joseph Horn

by Sarah Craighead Dedmon

Covering topics as diverse as Nutrition for Infants, the Evolution of the Ford Mustang and Seasonal Employment in Downeast Maine, area seniors have just completed their Senior Exhibitions, a rite of passage at Machias Memorial High School. Students choose their subjects and their mentors early in the school year, then conduct their research all year long before delivering a formal presentation for their final grade. Every MMHS senior participates in the seminar, which is conducted as part of the English program.

by Ruth Leubecker

For many decades the hub of its community, the Milbridge Theatre, as part of a lively comeback, recently announced an ambitious summer season as well as an impressive milestone in its capital campaign.

“The CF Adams Charitable Trust gave us $20,000 for a matched challenge,” explained Richard Bondurant, chair of Gateway Milbridge and the Milbridge Theatre Project. “We have recently topped $300,000 in fundraising, and now the building fund has $200,000. We have a goal we want to reach by September, and a second goal to reach by 2020.”

by Jayna Smith

A recent vote in the Maine House of Representatives has approved the bill to trade what we know as Columbus Day for a tribute to Native Americans--Indigenous Peoples Day. The vote count in this initial approval was 88-51.

Columbus Day, recognized as a federal holiday on the second Monday in October, remembers the anniversary of Christopher Columbus’ arrival to the Americas on October 12, 1492. In today’s times, most know that the holiday is a controversial one.

by Rep. Jeff Hanley (R-Pittston)

Living in Maine is more expensive than many parts of the country. Our size and location require Mainers to pay more to heat our homes in winter and to travel longer distances to and from work.

In spite of this fact, Maine Democrats in the legislature seem to be relentless in their pursuit of taxing our fuels. They are seeking to tax home heating fuel, our propane, kerosene, diesel, gasoline and other fuels.

They are intent on taxing every conservable thing we need in our daily lives.

Eastport Arts Center’s Children’s Theater Workshop will present a comedy, “Of Kings and Coconuts” on Saturday, April 20 at 3 p.m. Featuring a cast of 14 ranging in age from 7 to 27, the show pokes gentle fun at the legends of King Arthur and his knights. Participants include: Rachel Bailey, Marion Look, Tucker Thompson, Kali Wallander and Kieran Weston from Eastport; Siobhan and Roy Duffy and Wren Fraser from Perry; Cadence and Zephyr Nickerson from Pembroke; Owen Leavitt from Pembroke and Trescott; and Erin Harrell, Ivy Owens and Liam Rouleau, from St. Stephen, New Brunswick.

Eastport Arts Center will offer back-to-back wool felting workshops with Audra Christie on Saturday, April 27 and Sunday, April 28, from 12:30-4:30 pm. Wet Felted Fiber Beads will be Saturday’s offering; Wet Felted Vessels will follow on Sunday; attendees may pick one of these workshops or attend both to score a 25% discount.

by Sarah Craighead Dedmon

Machias will hold a special town meeting on Tuesday, April 23 to hold a vote on four different matters.

by Phil Stuart

After a winter of less-than-adequate sportsmanship during the high school, junior high school and travel team season, things seemed to have turned around some this spring during mud season.

It’s been a cold, icy winter, but believe it or not, we’ll all be in T-shirts soon — Machias Wild Blueberry Festival T-shirts, that is.

Help coax warm, sunny days our way by entering the festival’s T-shirt design contest. If your design is selected, you’ll see it not only on hundreds of festival-goers but on the US Postal cancellation stamp available during the festival and for an additional month at the Machias post office.

by Sarah Craighead Dedmon

The Gulf of Maine Research Institute (GMRI) recently celebrated a Machias teacher for her achievements teaching science literacy to her students.

Rose M. Gaffney Elementary School sixth grade teacher Lizzy Douglas is nominated for the annual award founded by GMRI in 2014 which in collaboration with the insurance company Unum honors dedicated teachers across Maine that are involved with GMRI programs and exemplify the leadership qualities of the award's namesake, former Unum CEO Kevin McCarthy.

When the Chevy Breaks (How Small Towns Fix Big Problems) tells a collection of stories, ranging from Machias taking on the world’s most powerful navy (on a Sunday after church), to an amputee father waiting for his son to return from Afghanistan so they can hike up Mt. Katahdin together. All these stories of overcoming obstacles, big and small, are set against the spectacle of Downeast Coastal Maine, including Eastport, Jonesport, Machias and way out west Kingfield — a parade of persistent people you’ll only meet here.

by TJ Holmes

I am eight years old and I love to draw and read. I go to Jonesboro Elementary School. Our school is very small but we have big hearts.

I was asked to play on the basketball team as a second grader because there were not enough boys in fourth to sixth grade.

by Sarah Craighead Dedmon

There were lights, there was action, and now there’s going to be a film premiere at the University of Maine at Machias. “When the Chevy Breaks (How Small Towns Solve Big Problems)” is a production of the film class led by Alan Kryszak and features interviews with more than a dozen people from Eastport to Jonesport. The title plays on the Led Zeppelin song, “When the Levee Breaks” and looks at the unique ways people in small towns big address problems, even dating back to the founding of Machias.

The  State Board of Veterinary Medicine issued this warning today, April 17, about Dr. Cynthia Teer in Machias.  

The Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry has announced a formal quarantine on emerald ash borer (EAB) and material that may harbor it.

A group of 13 gathered at Eastport Arts Center for two four-hour Saturday sessions, March 2 and 9, to explore block printing on fabric with Susan Lehnen, an artist and educator who lives in Perry. The first meeting included a lesson in the traditional techniques and symbolism of adinkra cloth, a hand-printed fabric developed by the Ashanti people in Ghana. Workshop participants then began developing their own symbolic stamps, cutting designs into linoleum mounted on PVC plastic plates and making their first efforts at printing the stamps.

by Ruth Leubecker

Pierre Little, MVNO publisher, was welcomed as a Machias Rotary speaker last week. His brief talk focused on weeklies as the backbone of communities and fake news as the dangerous scourge of truth in print.

Little, born in Moncton, New Brunswick, and educated in New Hampshire, has deep ties to New England. He has owned the MVNO for five years and the Calais Advertiser for seven. Under his leadership, editorial content and advertising revenue have steadily expanded.

by Nancy Beal

It was not a clash of towns but a clash of cultures that brought Beals Selectman Louis “Tony” Unger to his feet to speak angrily to Jonesport selectmen last week after losing his bids on a pair of tax-acquired properties. On April 17, the Jonesport panel opened, reviewed and voted to award five properties that had undergone foreclosure due to non-payment of taxes. Unger had bid on two of them but acquired neither.

On Friday evening April 12, 20 members of Eastern Star attended the stated meeting of Rumery Chapter #46 at the Masonic Lodge at Addison Point. Refreshments were served afterward during the social hour. Six Eastern Star members came from Irene Chapter 97 of Ellsworth.

by Nancy Beal

The 19th Beth Wright Center’s annual Walk for Life will take off from the center of Addison village on May 18 and, for the first time, will run simultaneously with one in Ellsworth. The Ellsworth event will be part of the Pink Tulip Project sponsored by the Ellsworth Garden Club. That walk will start at Knowlton Park on State Street, go out the Shore Road and double back, ending at Donald Little Park where there will be food, face painting, a silent auction and a plant sale, including pink tulips.

Calais Celtic Concerts will present Dave Gunning at the Knights of Columbus Hall, 2 Park St., Calais, Maine on Sunday, April 28, at 7 p.m. U.S., 8 p.m. Canadian time. The doors will open at 6 p.m. EST.

Entering its eighth season, Calais Celtic Concerts is coming off its best year last year with huge audiences and making Calais a destination with award-winning groups from Ireland, Scotland, Canada, and the USA.

by Wayne Smith

Randy Blevins and Crossroads were playing at the VFW in Harrington on a recent cool Saturday night when the moon was full. People came in with beer and beer coolers. Equipment came in from the back door where Blevins was dressed in a nice shirt. He had the long hair and mustache. He likes Downeast Maine, he said It was his second home. His best place to play. He hopes that anybody within 100 miles comes out and joins in the party.

Washington County Council of Governments Executive Director Judy East is very pleased to announce the promotion of Regional Planner Crystal Hitchings to the position of Destination Development Director.

Ms. Hitchings has proven herself as an exceptional promoter of the Bold Coast Region (https://discoverboldcoast.com/) and has developed solid working relationships with businesses, Chambers, municipalities and schools to help us all see this beautiful region in which we live through the fresh eyes of an eager new visitor.

by Joseph Horn

by Sarah Craighead Dedmon

A legal attempt to define rockweed as a marine organism held in the public trust failed last week when the Maine Supreme Court issued a denial on Friday, April 26.

Acadian Seaplants, defendants in a three-year lawsuit originally filed in Machias, filed the Motion of Reconsideration on March 28 after the seven-justice Court declared rockweed to be a privately owned resource.

by Nancy Beal