By Paul Sylvain

Gov. Janet Mills has appointed Courtney Hammond of Columbia Falls to fill the District III Washington County Commissioner vacated by John Crowley Sr., effective immediately, dependent on Hammond’s being sworn in “as soon as possible” by a Dedimus Justice. 

Hammond, who owns Lynch Hill Farms and is a former Maine state forest ranger, will complete the unexpired term of John B. Crowley Sr., of Addison, who resigned effective April 30, due to ill health. Hammond’s term will expire on Dec. 31, 2026.

By Paul Sylvain

Construction, like spring, is in the air, and a flood of new building permit applications is promising a busy evening for Machias Planning Board members when they gather for their monthly meeting at 6 p.m. Wednesday, May 7, at the Machias Town Office at 17 Stackpole Drive.

By Nancy Beal

Every year around this time, a group out of the governor’s office known as Volunteer Maine gives a list of its top volunteers to the Bangor Daily News, which devotes an entire page to the list. It consists of the names of folks who have logged 500 or more hours of volunteerism within the past year, along with the number of hours each has devoted to his or her cause. 

By Paul Sylvain

Plans are taking shape for the first-ever Kitchen Kup Memorial Golf Tournament and fundraiser, slated for May 31.

Former Machias Town Manager Bill Kitchen’s love for promoting live music might only have been surpassed by his love for golf. Kitchen passed away unexpectedly last Sept. 9.

By Paul Sylvain

The General Services Administration (GSA) announced that bids are being accepted on the nearly 10-acre former U.S. Coast Guard housing area on Route 187/Mason’s Bay Road, about two miles north of the town center in Jonesport.

Cooke USA organized or participated in shoreline cleanups in six municipalities over five days in April, in and around Earth Day on April 22. The cleanups were coordinated by Cooke USA's fish health team, which includes fish health technicians Jessica Lindsay, Jaelynn Matthews, and Susana DeFrank. 

One of those cleanup events took place earlier in April and was coordinated by the town of Machiasport and its harbormaster, David Cale. About a dozen employees from Cooke’s operation in Machiasport’s Bucks Harbor district participated in that effort. 

by Jonathan Reisman

Forty Mays ago, my late wife Ernie and I moved into a largely unfinished house on Cathance Lake in Cooper. May is lovely — cool, bugless mornings, full of sunrise concerts from songbirds, ravens, and woodpeckers, with loon warbles and serenades in the evening.

By Phil Stuart

Liam O’Connor of Machias and Layla Cates Wright of Machiasport were selected to receive the first Mike Worcester Defensive Player and Hustle Awards at the recent Machias Memorial High School winter sports award ceremony. 

By Paul Sylvain

Over the past three centuries, the waters of the Machias River between the falls and the dike have served as a backdrop for numerous events. English sailor-turned-pirate Samuel “Black Sam” Bellamy is said to have used Machias as a safe haven to repair his ship. Legend has it that Black Sam buried a never-found treasure somewhere in the woods of Machiasport.

By Paul Sylvain 

A pair of bills designed to reduce response times and fight crime in rural areas has made their way through the Legislature in recent weeks. On May 1, LD 477, sponsored by Madison Rep. Jack Ducharme, a Republican, cleared an early procedural vote on the House floor by a 117-26 margin. That same day, a similar proposal exclusive to Washington County, LD 461, sponsored by Calais Republican Sen. Marianne Moore and the local legislative delegation, cleared the Senate on a voice vote.

By Paul Sylvain

On March 26, a handful of Machias voters enacted separate 180-day moratoriums on solar and wind farm applications to give town officials time to draft regulatory ordinances addressing both. Seven weeks later, and with both moratoriums set to expire on Sept. 22, work has yet to begin on either.

On May 8, Sheriff Barry Curtis and Deputy Director Joshua Rolfe, along with Washington County Regional Communications Operational Supervisor Lieutenant Dennis Perry and Sergeant Michael Congelosi, attended the 27th Annual Maine NENA (National Emergency Number Association) awards ceremony in Portland. Perry was nominated and chosen for the 2024 Director/Operations Manager of the Year. 

by Jonathan Reisman

Higher Education in America is in for some change. The change process is not pretty or pleasant, but it is necessary because American higher education is the source of quite a bit of the toxic ideology and idiocy that has poisoned America in recent years, including identity/oppression politics, critical race theory, equity, and climate alarmism. DEI divas and defenders were created and trained on America’s campuses.