Gas Odor Prompts Hannaford’s Evacuation; Store Reopens 

By Paul Sylvain

The Machias Hannaford store on Dublin Street was evacuated and closed its doors to customers and store associates for nearly five hours Tuesday, Aug. 1, as the Dead River Company investigated the reported odor of gas. 

The evacuation occurred around 10 a.m. and the store remained closed until 2:30 p.m, while shoppers and employees in the store at the time were quickly evacuated. 

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Concern Grows Over Selectboard Member’s Possible Conflict of Interest; Board Considers New Recreational Adult-Use Marijuana Storefront Ordinance

By Paul Sylvain

Barely a year after an adult-use marijuana ordinance was enacted in Machias, the town’s selectboard is considering taking  up the subject again with the intent of expanding or replacing the town’s current ordinance to include non-medical “recreational,” adult-use stores that could sell so-called “legal” marijuana.

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Eastport Health Care Opens 10,000 sq. ft. Machias Facility

By Will Tuell

Eastport Health Center (EHC) opened the doors to its newly retrofitted office space at 106 Dublin Street in Machias last week. The facility, which hosts primary, behavioral, and pediatric care providers serving rural Washington County patients, went from two significantly smaller offices in the area to one 10,000-square-foot facility on Dublin Street, according to CEO Ellen Krajewski and Medical Director Dr. John Gaddis. 

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Transfer Station Deficit Dominates Machias Town Meeting Discussion

By Paul Sylvain

A warrant article seeking up to $65,000 to fund the town’s share of operating the Machias Bay Area Transfer Station on Broadway easily passed at the July 26 annual town meeting, but not before drawing the longest discussion of the 83-minute meeting.

Past Machias Budget Committee member and retired University of Maine at Machias Business Division Chairman Richard Larson opened the discussion by noting voters can choose to pass or decrease the amount in such enterprise account warrant articles, but cannot increase the dollar amount.

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Building for the Future: Justin King Eyes Townhomes, Community Center for Machias

By Paul Sylvain

From his youth growing up next to blueberry fields on the Mason’s Bay Road in Jonesport to a home he built and shares with his wife and two – soon to be three – children on Bog Lake in Northfield, Machias-based contractor and developer Justin King has earned a reputation as a shaker and mover in Washington County’s construction business.

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Midsummer Night Memes

by Jonathan Reisman

AI to save DEI?

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“Anchors” Away, New Bar, Eatery Rockin’ Machias

by Paul Sylvain

According to Anchor co-owner Kelly Davis, her husband of 36 years, Larry, always wanted to own a bar and be a bartender. On May 29, he got his wish.

That’s the day the Anchor opened its doors for business on 36 Main St., in Machias. “The only thing,” said Davis, with a laugh, “is that I do most of the bar tending.”

The Filthy Casuals band played the Anchor its first Saturday after opening and packed the house. “It was overwhelming,” Davis said, “especially for the first time doing this.”

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Washington Academy Science Teacher Selected as 2024 Maine Teacher of the Year Semi-Finalist

Washington Academy Head of School Judson McBrine announced Mrs. Colleen Maker has been selected as a 2024 Maine State Teacher of the Year Semi-Finalist. She is one of eight educators the Maine Department of Education chose to move forward in the naming process. Mrs. Maker teaches biology, honors biology, and marine biology classes at WA. 

McBrine said in a press release last week that Maker is one of “the most passionate and enthusiastic teachers” he’s worked with over the course of his 32-year career, 

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Fatal Crash in Jonesboro Leaves One Dead

By Will Tuell

The Maine State Police, Washington County Sheriff’s deputies and the Jonesboro Fire Department responded to a fatal auto accident on Route 1 in Jonesboro Tuesday, Aug. 8 near the Jonesboro-Columbia Falls town line.

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Fire and Police Respond to Oil Spill on Broadway

By Paul Sylvain

At approximately 1 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 9, Machias police responded to a report of a mysterious oil spill in front of the Machias Valley New Observer (MVNO) office on 41 Broadway.

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Wesley Foundation Purchases Machias Fairgrounds, Honored by Washington Academy

By Will Tuell

The Washington Academy (WA) board of trustees on Aug. 5 presented its Distinguished Community Service Award to the Wesley Foundation, so named after four-year-old Wesley Keeton of East Machias, who lost his life in an ATV accident 10 years ago. 

In accepting the award on the Foundation’s behalf, Wesley’s aunt, Beckie Hennessey, announced that “Team Wes” has officially closed on the fairgrounds across from Down East Community Hospital and plans to develop an outdoor recreational center for area youth.

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Jonesport Selectmen Eye Sidewalk Replacement; Discuss Broadband

by Nancy Beal

Jarod Farn-Guilette of the Maine Department of Transportation’s (MEDOT) Village Partnership program attended the Jonesport selectmen’s meeting last week and described how the DOT works with towns to bring about improvements to infrastructure. Although most of the talk was general, in which Farn-Guilette described how the Village Partnership program works and what it could help with, the sidewalks that run through downtown Jonesport alongside State Route 187 were the focus.

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‘Hands Down,’ Machias has Best Municipal PD in County, Chief Says

By Paul Sylvain

Just 20 months ago, you could drive through Machias without seeing a town cop or cruiser. In fact, the town’s police department had been decimated by then and existed only on paper. It had no chief, no officers and keeping peace in this town of 2,200 people was left to the sheriff’s department.

That all changed in October 2021, when the town’s selectboard hired veteran cop Keith Mercier as the department’s new chief. The position had been vacant since July that year.

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Crafts, Food, Music and Chainsaw Carving Highlights ‘Summer Fling’ Fundraiser

By Paul Sylvain

Perhaps it was a case of Divine intervention, but after a night of heavy rain and early morning fog, the skies above Sawyer Memorial Congregational Church in Jonesport cleared Saturday morning just in time for the church’s “Summer Fling” steeple restoration fundraiser.

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School Worker Shortage Prompts Federal Legislation

By Will Tuell

In response to the intensifying school worker shortage, United States Senators Susan Collins (R-ME) and Tim Kaine (D-VA) have put forward legislation to help rural schools cope with the exodus of teachers, administrative staff, and school workers, though some, like AOS 96 Superintendent believe the effort may not be enough as area schools continue to struggle to find qualified people weeks before the start of the 2023-24 school year is set to begin.

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Community Mourns Beloved School Administrator

By Will Tuell

Family, friends, and community members paid tribute to beloved Machias Valley Christian School administrator June Ashmore last week as news of her passing after a short illness spread across the tight-knit community Ashmore had served for generations.

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Holmes Remembered for His Blue-Collar Roots During WA Ceremony

By Will Tuell

The Washington Academy (WA) board of trustees on Aug. 5 bestowed their 2023 Distinguished Educator Award on revered English teacher Bill Holmes of Machiasport.  Holmes taught generations of high-school students and coached basketball during his storied tenure at the East Machias-based high school. 

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The Nature of Phenology: Bog Plants

by Hazel Stark

We’ve all been through a rough couple of years, haven’t we? Just about everyone I know has had some major, life-altering change in the past couple years. Loss in the form of sudden or young deaths, breakups, economic insecurity, wildfires and floods, you know the rest. It’s been a lot. But it always helps to look to the places that have lasted the longest through incredible stress and turmoil for some advice on how to thrive even when things appear to fall apart. My favorite place to revel in that resilience is a bog.

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Local Teen Born Premature Giving Back to NICU, Children’s Miracle Network

By Will Tuell

17-year-old MacKenzie Schors of East Machias may seem like a normal teen with a whole lifetime ahead of her, but the soon-to-be Machias Memorial High School senior is a miracle to her family and community. That’s because Schors, who was born 100 days early, has been raising money for the Children’s Miracle Network and the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) at Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor since she was a small child.

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State Police ‘Pull Out’ of Statutorily Mandated Patrols in Rural Maine

By Paul Sylvain

Chances are you won’t find a state trooper patrolling Washington County these days. The same is also true in at least six other rural Maine counties. As a result, county sheriff’s departments have had to step in to fill the void.

Washington County Commissioner Chris Gardner explained at the Aug. 10 county commissioners session that he’d just attended the Maine County Commissioners Association (MCCA) meeting at which the lack of rural patrols by Maine State Police took center stage.

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Jonesport-Beals Supt. Collins Returned to Post in Close, Weighted Vote

by Nancy Beal

Union 103 Superintendent Lewis Collins announced last winter that he would retire Aug. 31; and a search committee was formed to find a replacement for the post that oversees all three schools in the Jonesport-Beals region. However, there had been no movement over the summer — Collins told this reporter that there had been no applications — until last week when the joint board that handles matters pertaining to all three schools held a meeting at 5:00 p.m. Aug. 9.

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Tempest in a T-shirt: Commissioner Cautions Against Censoring Blueberry Fest Vendors

By Paul Sylvain

Referring to an incident involving obscene T-shirts sold by a vendor at last year’s Machias Wild Blueberry Festival, Washington County Commissioner Chris Gardner cautioned festival organizers against censorship at this year’s festival.

The discussion arose at the Aug. 10 Washington County Commissioners meeting in Machias and was initiated as an agenda item by Gardner.

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Machiasport Planning Trail, ‘Outdoor School’

By Will Tuell

The Town of Machiasport is looking to develop a mile-long interpretive trail on 27 acres of land behind the town office complex, clerk Marcia Hayward said in a phone interview earlier this month. But first, Hayward says, town officials are asking the public to write letters of support for a $15,000 grant from the Maine Community Foundation’s “Conservation for All” program.

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Climate Con Continues

by Jonathan Reisman

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DA’s Office On-the-Move to Talbot Building

By Paul Sylvain

Washington County Commissioners on Aug. 10 reaffirmed an earlier decision green-lighting the District Attorney’s (DA) office to immediately move from its current 82 Court St. location to its new home at the former Talbot Law office building at 24 Center St..

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Machias Planning Board Approves $1 Million + Expansion at West Branch Farms

By Paul Sylvain

At its Aug. 2 meeting, the Machias Planning Board approved building permits for four separate projects at West Branch Farms, located at 180 West Kennebec Road. Two of the permits have a total estimated cost of more than one million dollars.

The farm features the  Coffee+Crisp Cafe,  a “mercantile” shop and a seasonal pick-your-own business, in addition to raising various farm animals. It has been open since 2020.

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Wild Blueberry Festival Draws Thousands to Machias Area

By Paul Sylvain

Yes, Virginia, there really are blueberries at the Machias Wild Blueberry Festival.

The sad truth is, that hasn’t always been the case. Just ask the folks at the Welch Farm in Roque Bluffs, who explained in an interview earlier this month that it was the lack of fresh blueberries at the annual festival that prompted them to offer farm tours and arrange for some of their berries to be available for sale there. 

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Beals Planning Calendar Fundraiser for Marine Expansion

By Nancy Beal

Before she became a Beals selectman, Paula McCormack involved herself in town marine matters, lending her time to organize files, bring paperwork up-to-date, and streamline the setting and collecting of mooring fees. Now that she is in her first year of a second three-year term, she is looking to expand the ramp at the town landing in Alley’s Bay.

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Ark Animal Shelter Receives $1,000,000 Gift

The Ark Animal Shelter in Cherryfield has received a $1,000,000 donation from philanthropist Lyman Pope, Jr, the shelter said in a press release last week. 

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Toomey Envisions ‘Holistic’ Approach to Early Childhood Education Downeast

By Will Tuell

Downeast Community Partners (DCP) Early Childhood Education Director Eve Toomey has only been on the job a couple of months, but she is quickly gaining the lay of the land and hoping to build partnerships with local schools and existing providers to enhance early childhood education in Hancock and Washington counties. Toomey, a native of Minnesota, previously worked as a social worker in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area before moving to Maine eighteen months ago.

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Local Businesses, Organizations Support Annual Eighth Grade Fishing Trip

By Will Tuell

The seventh and eighth graders at Elm Street School in East Machias have taken hands-on learning to a whole new level in recent years. Every spring Elm Street’s Head of Maintenance Ken “Bucket” Davis – who also serves District 10 in the Maine Legislature and as a selectman in East Machias – teaches the kids how to scale, split, and smoke alewives native to the East Machias River at the town’s smokehouse at the foot of Pope Memorial Bridge on the intersection of Water Street and Route 1 in East Machias.

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Sabbatical

By Jonathan Reisman 

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The Record of Washington County Was a Very Punny Musical, Indeed

By Paul Sylvain

If you’re not a fan of puns and song parodies, you probably wouldn’t have liked the Machias Wild Blueberry Festival musical-comedy The Record of Washington County

As for me, I’ve always enjoyed twisting names and words and phrases around, however, I am but a mere novice at the art compared to Gene Nichols.

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Maine AG Files Civil Rights Complaint Against Jonesboro Man

By Will Tuell

Attorney General Aaron Frey announced Aug. 30 that he has filed a complaint under the Maine Civil Rights Act against Dale O’Brien, age 52, of Jonesboro for threats against an interracial couple and their children on April 11, 2023, near the couple’s home in Jonesboro.  The Attorney General’s complaint seeks an order prohibiting O’Brien from having any contact with the man and from violating the Maine Civil Rights Act in the future.

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Machias Selectboard Approves Police Officer for MMHS

By Paul Sylvain

The Machias Selectboard on Aug. 23 gave the green light for the town’s police department to begin the months-long process of advertising for and hiring a dedicated full-time School Resource Officer (SRO) at  Machias Memorial High School (MMHS).

MMHS Principal Nicole Case and Machias Police Chief Keith Mercier told the board the position will be funded in large part for three years thanks to a $250,000 Stronger Connection Grant.  

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Fresh Food Initiative, New Hires Highlight School Board Meeting

by Nancy Beal 

A new greenhouse is under construction at Jonesport-Beals High School, but school officials and eager volunteers hope to offer students and faculty more than what comes out of the soil. Superintendent Lewis Collins told the high school board Aug. 22 that he envisions lobster and crab rolls, clam chowder in February and a continuous salad bar. It is all part of what he styles a “fresh food initiative”, and is envisioned to not only promote healthy eating, but to also bolster the local economy by purchasing what it produces.

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Selectboard Draws ‘Line-in-the-Sand’ to Work on New Marijuana Ordinance

By Paul Sylvain

The Machias Selectboard are hoping to buy some time with a firm 180-day deadline to draft and present to town voters a new ordinance addressing “all things marijuana.” 

At least that is what was proposed by Selectboard Chairman Jacob “Jake” Patryn at the board’s Aug. 23 meeting. The plan hinges on a six-month moratorium on any new applications for medical marijuana shop permits in Machias. However, the moratorium requires a public hearing be held first, with seven days prior notice. 

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Washington County Teacher Through to ‘Final Four’ for ’24 Teacher of Year Award

By Will Tuell

Washington Academy’s Colleen Maker is, to use a basketball analogy, through to the ‘Final Four’ of the competition to become Maine’s 2024 Teacher of the Year, and though the 2023 Washington County Teacher of the Year is up against some stiff competition for the state title, Maker has gone about her business – educating children instead of icing three-pointers with no time left on the clock – with a clarity of purpose that makes her a strong contender for the title in her own right.  

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Downeasters Mourn Lighthouse Historian Tim Harrison

By Will Tuell

The news that dedicated lighthouse historian Tim Harrison of Whiting had passed away Aug. 19 after suffering complications from pneumonia sent shockwaves throughout the tight-knit community Harrison and wife Kathleen Finnegan-Harrison championed for decades through their world-class publication Lighthouse Digest Magazine. 

And beyond, really. 

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Body of Missing Lobsterman Found, Identity Confirmed by Medical Examiner

By Will Tuell

A month after Steuben fisherman Tylar Michaud failed to return home from hauling lobster traps in Jonesport, Michaud’s family and friends have received word from the Medical Examiner’s Office that remains confirmed to be those of Michaud were found Aug. 21 off the coast of Addison by a fellow fisherman. 

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Author Entertains Children with a Mystery Within a Mystery at Porter Memorial Library

By Paul Sylvain 

Not only is Laura Lander a children’s book author but she’s also an illustrator for her own books as well as for books written by other authors.

On Aug. 15, Lander read her book Marco and the Mystery of the Missing Cookies as part of Porter Memorial Library’s Children’s Reading Program in Machias. Then she invited the children to paint on cut-out hearts with watercolors before sticking the hearts onto colored paper.

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Washington County Port to Host USS Augusta Commissioning Sept 30

By Will Tuell

The City of Eastport will play host to the United States Navy the last week of September as Navy officials announced last week that they will be commissioning the USS Augusta in Eastport, Sept. 30. 

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