By Will Tuell

The Machias Board of Selectmen continued discussions on whether to update the town’s adult-use marijuana ordinances during their July 12 meeting.

by Jonathan Reisman

By Nancy Beal

For the second time in a decade, Jonesport will become a movie set. The first film endeavor was entitled “To Keep the Light” and used Moosepeake Lighthouse as the backdrop for a nineteenth-century story about perseverance on that harsh landscape. Later this month, Maddie Jones, a 26-year-old Pennsylvania film student, will borrow from the Moosabec seascape to create a nostalgic story entitled “Beyond Us,” reaching back into the childhood of two friends coping with modern-day problems.

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

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

At their June 23 meeting, Washington County Commissioners Vinton Cassidy (R-Calais), John Crowley Sr. (R-Addison), and Chris Gardner (R-Edmunds) have selected Lubec Town Manager Renée Davis Gray as their new county manager beginning in January 2024. In the meantime, Davis Gray will serve as Deputy County Manager, working under longtime manager Betsy Fitzgerald who announced earlier this year that she would be scaling back her duties over the summer with the goal of retiring by year’s end. 

by Nancy Beal

Following their approval of the elementary school budget on June 21 (see related article), Jonesporters turned their attention to two ordinances and some funding that was needed after last March’s town meeting. The ordinances in question were a new, proposed commercial solar ordinance and a revised land use ordinance.

by Nancy Beal

The Jonesboro Union Church is hosting a community assistance outreach event beginning at 5 p.m. on Saturday, July 15. Join us for an evening of boisterous singing as we sing along to sailors’ work songs (chanteys) from the Great Age of Sail. The chanteys will be led by Stephen Sanfilippo of Pembroke, and Jim Sherman, of Machiasport, who have been performing together for 20 years and have been singing historic songs of the sea for 50 years.  They have performed throughout Maine and other parts of New England, New York, and the Maritime Provinces.  

by Joseph Horn

by Nancy Beal

Maine lobstermen notched a huge win over the federal government last week when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit found in favor of the Maine Lobstermen’s Association in its challenge to federal fishing regulations that most fishermen fear would put them out of business.

by Sarah Craighead Dedmon

Hundreds of miles of recreational trails intersect in Machias, making it the perfect location for Machias’s 2nd Annual ATV Jamboree, set to kick off Friday, June 23, with a 7 p.m. twilight ATV trail ride led by the Machias Ridge Riders Trail Club. 

You don’t need an ATV to enjoy the weekend’s festivities, including live music, games, raffles, scavenger hunts, and a parade. But if you want to bring an ATV but don’t have one, you’re in luck. 

by Jonathan Reisman

I do not get (or give) a huge amount of feedback, but I appreciate it. Criticisms, praise and suggestions are delivered via e-mail, snail mail, in grocery store aisles and by the side of the road. Praise is good for the ego, but criticism is better for the product for fifty years, the Beatles and The Prince have both battled and stayed with me. Niccolo Machiavelli counseled that it is better to be feared than loved; John Lennon countered that all you need is love.

Scouts from Pack 125 in the Machias area assisted the Bay View Cemetery Association of Larrabee in honoring veterans this year. The scouts placed flags on the grave sites of veterans and helped place memorial flowers.

by Will Tuell