Raiders Upset Mount View En Route to Northern Maine Soccer Final

By Will Tuell

Two Washington County volleyball squads struck gold Saturday in their respective state volleyball tournaments, while the upstart Washington Academy Raiders turned the tables on undefeated Mount View to earn a berth in the Class C North soccer championship later this week. 

By Phil Stuart

Two local runners and one long-time road race will be inducted into the Maine Running Hall of Fame on Nov. 11. 

Ric Lamoureax of Columbia Falls and Jeremy Lisee of Milbridge, both with Narraguagus connections, will be inducted at the Governor’s Hill Mansion in Augusta, along with the Charles E. Davis Independence Run, which is the third oldest running race in the Pine Tree State and is now directed by Phil Krajewski.

By Wayne Smith

The Ark Pope Memorial Animal Shelter was recently built in Cherryfield, and this is the story behind it told to me by Dani Baer. 

According to Bauer, Executive Director of The Ark, the shelter started in 1984 over in Harrington. It had one small building with a couple of dogs and a few cats. Then in the 90s, it moved over to Cherryfield — first in an old farmhouse, then into a former schoolhouse where they stayed for 20 years. 

By Paul Sylvain

The Machiasport Selectboard gave the thumbs up, at their Oct. 28 meeting, to build a truck turnaround on town-owned land just above the Bucks Harbor fishing pier and fishermen’s parking lot on Pettegrow Point Road.

By Paul Sylvain

The dust has settled and more than 95 percent of the Maine vote has been counted. While absentee ballots from United States citizens living, working, or stationed with the military overseas will be among the last ballots counted, for all intents and purposes, the 2024 presidential election is in the books.

By Will Tuell

Whitecaps were visible from the Lubec Historical Society overlooking Cobscook Bay Saturday morning as a hearty group of Lubeckers and their guests gathered to honor dozens of the town’s veterans who are featured on banners a citizens group has placed on telephone poles heading into Lubec. All told, some 65 veterans are featured as part of the “Veterans Banner Project” with another 35 banners in the works for 2025, bringing the total number of Lubec and Trescott service members recognized as part of the project to approximately 100. 

By Nancy Beal

Policy review took up much of the Moosabec CSD board meeting on Nov. 6. Revisions to the current policy on post-secondary enrollment options would permit students in all grades to take post-secondary classes and remove the one-course restriction. It would expand the institutions named in the policy where such courses could be taken (currently limited to the University of Maine System, community college system, and Maine Maritime Academy).

by Jonathan Reisman

Poll Worker Musings

I worked the polls from 9:30 a.m. to almost midnight on Nov. 5. It was a long day of recognizing graying neighbors, friends, and a few new arrivals/same-day registrants. I carefully declined asking for any ID, which was fortunate for both legal and old acquaintances I forgot/failed to recognize.

By Nadine Preston 

On Friday, Nov. 8, the students of Rose M. Gaffney Elementary School and Machias Memorial High School held their annual Veterans Day program. This program grows more every year, and all veterans and their families are encouraged to attend. Students from both schools honor our area service members in a variety of ways from choral songs and band performances to the Presentation of Colors by our Scout Pack #125.

By Paul Sylvain

Chris Gardner and Vinton Cassidy’s days as Washington County Commissioners are numbered, with newly elected commissioners David Burns and William “Billy” Howard set to step into their shoes when their terms expire on Dec. 31. 

Still, Gardner — the commissioners’ often pointedly outspoken chairman — had plenty to say about the ongoing 2025 budget process and the effect lack of state police coverage in Washington and other rural counties is having on the proposed budget’s bottom line at the board’s Nov. 12 meeting.

By Will Tuell

The University of Maine System released official enrollment totals for the Fall 2024 semester late last month, and, while some campuses such as the University of Maine Presque Isle (UMPI) experienced dizzying growth (112 percent) over the last five years, the University of Maine Machias, which saw a drop of 41.2 percent in that same time-frame, was not nearly as fortunate. 

by Jonathan Reisman

By Paul Sylvain

A planned bridge replacement project in Centerville, winter preparations, and a shellfish program highlighted discussions between Unorganized Territory Supervisor Heron Weston and Washington County Commissioners in Machias on Nov. 12.

“The preliminary report came back on this big bridge replacement in Centerville,” noted Weston. “The original engineering design was done in 2021. The new design is finished, so of course the price has gone up.”

Town’s Attorney Accuses Newspaper of Printing ‘Inaccurate, Misleading’ Statements

By Paul Sylvain

The latest volley in a years-long legal battle between the owners of two beach-front properties in Machiasport’s Starboard district and town officials was fired last week at County Wide newspaper and its publisher and editor, Bob Berta, from the pen of the town’s attorney, Stephen Wagner.

By Paul Sylvain

The Machias Public Works Department welcomed a new “baby” to its family this week with the arrival of a shiny, rose-red 2016 Western Star snow plow truck.

The town’s selectboard, at its Nov. 13 meeting, authorized Public Works Director Mike Schoppee to purchase the truck from the Town of Berwick for $77,500. Schoppee had asked the board to forgo the normal bid process since this was a used vehicle being offered to Machias at a price the board agreed was a “rare find.”

The Downeast Food System Partnership (DFSP) is a new 2-year program created by GrowSmart Maine, Healthy Acadia, and Sunrise County Economic Council in collaboration with the Hancock County Planning Commission. The goal of the DFSP is to improve food production and distribution across Washington and Hancock Counties.

On Nov. 13, Governor Janet Mills announced $7 million in grant awards from her Maine Jobs & Recovery Plan to help Maine technology companies create jobs and strengthen Maine's innovation economy. Locally, Nautical Farms of Machias received $250,000; Carver Shellfish, Inc. of Beals was awarded $97,500; and Pen and Cob Farm in Pembroke received $20,200.