by Hailey Wood

The University of Maine at Machias last month revealed new rebranding plans that will transition the school colors from Clipper green to Orono blue and the mascot from Cappy the Clipper to Bananas the Bear, as part of UMM’s move to become a regional campus of the University of Maine.

Opinions on the matter run the gamut from enthusiastic to mournful. UMM Student Council President Julian Bauman said he believes most students are upset by the changes.  

by Nancy Beal

Just as Moosabeckers were adjusting to the arrival of a multi-million fish farming plant, word went out that an aerospace company had been looking for a launch site into the Gulf of Maine, perhaps in the Jonesport/Beals area. Last week (October 27), Sascha Deri, CEO of Blushift Aerospace, traveled from Brunswick to host an informational meeting in the Jonesport Elementary School gym to introduce his company.

by Sarah Craighead Dedmon

Fire consumed an East Machias home on the afternoon of Friday, Oct. 29. East Machias Fire Chief Jack Gardner said the call came in as a fully involved structure fire. Machias and Marshfield Fire Departments were toned out along with East Machias. The Machiasport and Cutler Navy fire departments also responded.

No one was injured in the blaze.

On Tuesday, Nov. 16, starting at 6 p.m. on Zoom, the Pembroke Historical Society will sponsor a an exceptional evening of musical performance, poetic beauty, seafaring and shore folklife, and song collecting and book editing, featuring Julia Lane and Fred Gosbee, in what PHS Program Coordinator, Dr.

by Sarah Craighead Dedmon

The Maine State Police Major Crimes Unit is investigating the death of a 17-year-old boy as a homicide, according to Lieutenant Darrin Crane, who led a press conference today, Nov. 5, on the steps of the Washington County Sheriff's Office on Court Street.

Because the victim is a juvenile, their name will not be released.

by Cindy Joyce, Correspondent

Gabrielle White and Sean Gray,  comprise a duo of excellence, as owners/designers of Downeast Jewelers, LLC, located at 63 Dublin Street, Suite # 3, in Machias. Gray stated, “We still have a lot of people driving around, missing us.” The description of the physical location is on Rt. 1, at the top of ‘College Hill’, across from the University of Maine in Machias.

Gray purchased the business from Brett Leighton of Leighton Jewelry & Design, earlier this year.

by Sarah Craighead Dedmon

Friends and family of Francis “Mac” McKean mourned his passing on Sept. 8, when he died in a Florida nursing home at the age of 101. Mac moved from Machias to Florida in late 2019 to be near his son, Tom McKean, for the winter, and remained there due to the pandemic.

Mac was a local businessman and local legend, the proprietor of Court Street Variety, then of Court Street Plants where his lifelong passion for growing things materialized each spring in the form of geraniums and Big Boy tomato plants. 

by Nancy Beal

Since September 15, students in Beals Elementary School have been the only students in Union 103 required to wear masks as a precaution to Covid-19. That was the result of a 2-0 vote September 20 in favor of masking taken by the BES school board five days after the joint board governing Jonesport-Beals High Schools voted 5-4 for optional mask wearing at the joint high school. (Two of the three Jonesport Elementary School members on that joint board voted with the majority, so a separate meeting that might yield a different verdict was not needed.)

On Sept. 27, national nonprofit Wreaths Across America (WAA), as part of its Veterans Remembrance Tree Program, in partnership with the Military Women's Memorial Foundation, dedicated the Military Women's Grove on the balsam tip lands in Maine. The balsam fir trees in this Grove will now hold the replica dog tags of thousands of America's military women, in honor and memory of all women who have served our nation – past and present.

Popular EAC instructor Ann Cannizzaro will lead a needle felting workshop from 1-4 pm, Sunday, November 21, at Eastport Arts Center. Attendees will get ready for the holiday season with several individual projects which can be combined in a seasonal centerpiece or display. Alternately, pieces can stand alone as ornaments or little treasures to gift to someone special. “We will be making colorful acorn ornaments, jingle bell stars, miniature holiday trees, and finally a guardian gnome to watch over those you love,” notes Cannizzaro.

Down East Community Hospital Auxiliary this month honors our cardiac rehabilitation department.

The department offers an adult exercise program for patients at risk of or with a history of heart disease. The goal is to strengthen the heart and return to normal activities of daily living.

If you have had a heart attack, been diagnosed with angina, have had cardiac by-pass surgery, have a pacemaker, or have had valve surgery, you could be a candidate for this program.

Cherryfield will be having it's 8th Annual Christmas Exhibit, with the theme "Christmas Stories" on Friday, Dec. 3, from 4-8 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday Dec. 4-5 from 2-8 p.m.  The eveng will be held in the Cherryfield Academy Community Center, 53 Main Street. 

Brighten up your day with a bouquet of flowers that gives back to the local community! MVH-Machias has been selected by local Hannaford store leadership as the benefiting non-profit organization in Hannaford’s new ‘Bloomin' 4 Good’ Program for the month of November! 

by Sarah Craighead Dedmon

Not far from the Whiting farm where he was raised, Lyman O. Hill’s descendents on Monday, Nov. 8, gathered with representatives from six law enforcement agencies and the state house to honor Hill and cousin Charles Niles, the first two Maine Game Wardens to die in the line of duty. Together with his parents, wife, and children, Hill is buried in his family cemetery, overlooking Gardner Lake.

by Sarah Craighead Dedmon

The Machias Area Food Pantry has purchased land for a brand-new pantry building to be located near the intersection of Route 1 and the Kennebec Road. Now, fundraising for the building is in full swing, and not a moment too soon. The pantry’s current location, in the basement of Centre Street Congregational Church, is overflowing with crates, carts, and bags of groceries.

Rhonda (Smith) Reynolds

July 30, 1959 - November 13, 2021

Machias - Rhonda (Smith) Reynolds, 62, passed away Saturday, November 13, 2021, after a long illness with family and friends by her side.

Rhonda was born July 30, 1959, in Fort Riley, Kansas to Thomas and Carol Ann Smith. She graduated from Machias Memorial High School and the University of Maine at Machias.

by Nancy Beal

Personnel from the small Maine company that aspires to launch little rockets from an outer island near the boundary between Beals and Jonesport was back in town last week, hosting another public meeting. It was the second of such meetings  (see MVNO Nov. 3, 2021). In between was an outpouring of opposition voiced to Jonesport selectmen (see MVNO Nov. 17, 2021), so word had gotten around in the towns straddling Moosabec Reach that rockets could be coming, and upward of 70 people showed up for the November 18 session in the high school gym.

by Sarah Craighead Dedmon

The Community Christmas Giving Tree is in its 21st year of serving Downeast children, senior citizens, and adults with disabilities. Normally, the group’s 50-plus volunteers meet in late November to start packing up their stock of toys carried over from the previous season. This year, though, those stockpiles are small, in part due to reduced support from national partners. 

New federal rules intended to protect the endangered North Atlantic right whale will effectively kill Maine’s lobster industry, yet fail to save the whale. The Maine Lobstermen’s Association (MLA) says the threat is very real and urgent action is needed to prevent irreparable damage to one of Maine’s most treasured industries.

by Jonathan Reisman

I will be spending my favorite Holiday with family in New Orleans. Here are some of the things and people I am thankful for.

My family

by Joseph Horn

Friends of Cobscook Bay (FOCB), a recently-formed Maine nonprofit based in Pembroke, has collected 220 signatures from Pembroke voters signing a letter supporting metallic mine regulation by the Town. Another 22 part-time residents also signed the letter, as well as 74 residents of neighboring towns. The letter was presented to the Pembroke select board at their regular meeting on Monday Nov. 22 by the FOCB board of directors. 

by Amy Dowley

What a spectacular morning to gather together for the Roque Bluffs Turkey Trot! We had a great turn-out with nearly 40 participants, plus a number of four-legged friends, and lots of cheerleaders.  We raised the most funds to date, $620 for the Roque Bluffs Community Center’s (RBCC)  Education Fund.

by Nancy Beal

A busy eight days lies ahead for residents of Jonesport and Beals, as principals of the aerospace company Blushift return to meet with the public, an area vote on its project is held, and school boards act on rules for sports during the pandemic and non-school use of the three area schools.