by Will Tuell

by Nancy Beal

At their June 22 meeting, Washington County commissioners announced that they had offered Renée (Davis) Gray the post of county manager following the impending retirement of Betsy Fitzgerald, the present holder of that office. Gray will vacate the town administrator position in Lubec, where she has worked in one capacity or another since 2002.  She will assume her new duties in Machias tomorrow, July 6.

by Sarah Craighead Dedmon

The contract to repair a stretch of Route 1 through Machias and East Machias has been awarded to Eurovia, a transportation infrastructure company, and work will begin soon, according to Maine Department of Transportation spokesman Paul Merrill.

The paving will begin .03 miles east of the Whitneyville town line and continue toward East Machias for 6.59 miles, using a cold-in-place recycling process in which the surface of the roadway is ground up and mixed with an asphalt recycling agent, then placed back down with a paver. 

by Jonathan Reisman

Some random and not-so-random notes and rants for America’s Birthday:

-July 4th, 2023, marks our 247th birthday, not our 404th. Hannah Nicole-Jones, the New York Times, and the Pulitzer Prize committee are lying leftist scum, and their hate America project should be recognized as Marxist revisionist propaganda. 

-Republican Presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy is a fearless populist capitalist without Trump’s braggadocio and baggage. Viva Vivek’s 10 Truths:

God is real.

There are two genders.

The famous blueberry-blue dome in Downeast Maine, home to the beloved Wild Blueberry Land bakery and gift shop for over 20 years, opened for the summer as the Wild Blueberry Heritage Center on June 29. Guests can shop wild blueberry-themed items, purchase wild blueberry baked goods, and learn about the tiny but mighty wild fruit from exciting exhibits.

by Will Tuell

The Machias Area Little League 9-10-year-old baseball all-star team punched their ticket to the state championship playoffs with a win Wednesday night against Ellsworth, behind lights-out pitching from hurlers Jace Albert and Lincoln Fergerson who combined for a 5-0 no-hit victory to earn their second District 1 title in as many years, while the 11-12 boys baseball and 9-10 girls softball teams battle for pennants of their own this week. 

by Sarah Craighead Dedmon 

In the late 1800s, Washington County was a land “in the last glow of the age of sail” with a thriving economy based on its “forests, rivers, granite, and other natural resources within reach of the ocean,” writes mapmaker Jane Crosen. “Packet schooners and steam ferries, stagecoaches and railroads, horse-drawn wagons and canoes transport passengers and freight around the county and beyond.” 

by Nancy Beal

The Roque Bluffs Arts and Crafts Gallery and Learning Center will have its first One Woman Art Show featuring Robin S. Rier at the Roque Bluffs Community Center in Roque Bluffs, 4 Shoppee Point Road. 

Ms. Rier is a local Plein-air artist, which means she does most of her painting on location, outside. It enables the artist to better capture the changing details of weather and light. 

By Will Tuell

Rose Mondville has been a fixture at the University of Maine at Machias for over 42 years, serving generations of students, staff, and faculty from her days working in the school’s now-defunct bookstore to her most recent role providing administrative support to Head of Campus Meghan Walsh. That era came to an end recently as Mondville retired from her longtime employer with an eye toward spending more time with her son and his family in the Rockland area, but not before sharing some candid insight into the once-vibrant Machias campus.

By Will Tuell

On Wednesday night, the Machias Area Little League 9-10 softball All Star team bested Acadian Little League of Bar Harbor 15-4 to become the third Machias Area Little League team to win a District 1 championship this year. Machias, led by pitcher Sarah Hennessey, traded runs with Acadian early on but broke out to a six-run lead in the third inning and never looked back, jumping out to an 11-run lead before the game was called after five innings due to the run rule.

By Will Tuell

Maine’s association of town and city governments is urging lawmakers to fund a bill sponsored by Sen. Marianne Moore (R-Calais) that increases the rate the state reimburses them for providing temporary relief to the state’s poorest residents from 70% to 90%. The bill, estimated to cost $8.5 million, is currently being paid for through local property taxes, the Maine Municipal Association (MMA) said in an email to municipal officials urging them to contact lawmakers on the Legislature’s Appropriations and Financial Affairs committee last week.

Step back in time to 1874 when Liberty Hall, the historic town hall of Machiasport, Maine, was opened. It was used not just for town meetings but also served as a venue for community events, dances,  meetings of community organizations such as the Grange, and as a performance venue for traveling shows. Located on Maine State Route 92,  in the town's village center, it is one of Maine’s most distinguished civic buildings, built in grand Italianate style and overlooks the site of the first naval battle of the American Revolution.

by Hazel Stark

By Paul Sylvain

Machias residents will gather this week to consider a 49-article annual town meeting warrant to fund the town’s operation through Fiscal Year 2024 (FY24). The current fiscal year began July 1 and ends June 30, 2024. 

The meeting is set for 7 p.m. Wednesday, July 26, at the Rose M. Gaffney School gymnasium.

By Will Tuell

Several area churches are pitching in to hold what has become a mid-summer tradition: Vacation Bible School or VBS at Larrabee Baptist Church in Machiasport during the week of July 31 – Aug. 4 from 9-11:30 a.m. Organizer Paula Maker says the themed weeklong program designed to immerse children aged 4-12 in the Bible has grown so much over the years that this year organizers have worked with Fort O’Brien Elementary School to relieve traffic congestion at Larrabee by utilizing the school’s parking lot as a staging area.

by Jonathan Reisman

I first met Ernie in September of 1975 in the hallway of the Dana dormitory on the Colby College campus in Waterville, Maine. It was not love at first sight or a cute moment. I was a junior visiting a friend and was introduced to a freshman woman. I don’t remember who introduced us or what Ernie said. Four years later, we were married and starting a life adventure together. Now I am the memory for both of us.

By Paul Sylvain

Kazoos, juice harps and ukes, oh my, my, my. If it’s late July in Machias, it can mean only one thing. Music whiz Gene Nichols is leading group rehearsals for this year’s Machias Blueberry Festival musical at Centre Street Congregational Church.

This year’s show, titled The Record of Washington County, was written and is being produced by Nichols.