1. Jamboree will bring music, vendors, and ATVs to Machias this weekend

    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. 

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  2. Hospital CEO tackles Med-Surg/OB Merger, COVID fallout, nursing shortage

    by Will Tuell

    Down East Community Hospital CEO Steve Lail confronted a host of issues on the minds of local residents in a recent interview. Amongst them are the hospital’s plans to combine two key departments – Medical Surgeries and Obstetrics – which Lail sees as vital to the hospital’s long-term financial health, the continuing fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the hospital’s ability to address a worker shortage that has plagued the healthcare field. 

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  3. Feedback

    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.

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  4. Machias elects new selectmen, school board members

    by Sarah Craighead Dedmon

    Machias voters elected two selectmen and two school board members on election day, Tuesday, June 13. 

    Eighty-seven voters visited the polls.

    Two candidates submitted papers to run for two Machias selectboard seats vacated by outgoing chairwoman Paula Johnson-Rolfe and veteran selectman Les Haynes.

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  5. Scouts and Memorial Day

    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.

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  6. The Nature of Phenology: Common yellow wood sorrel

    by Joseph Horn

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  7. Machias Lady Bulldogs through to Class D regional final in wild week of action

    by Will Tuell

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  8. Machias high graduates 43 seniors at annual commencement service

    by Will Tuell

    Machias Memorial High School bid adieu to the school’s forty-three graduating seniors on Sunday, June 4, as family, friends, and the school’s faculty watched on from a packed gymnasium for the annual rite of passage. Graduates spoke to the challenges of going to high school in the COVID era, the hands-on education they received while at Machias, and the enduring nature of friendships they have formed as they head into the world as adults. 

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  9. Jonesport Elementary School budget ready; votes sought on funding, solar ordinance

    by Nancy Beal

    The Jonesport Elementary School school board met June 7 and finalized the budget for 2023-24. The total is $2,046,280, which is an increase of $80,199 over last year’s bottom line. The total local appropriation will be $1,581,130, which is $96,123 (6.47 percent) higher than last year’s amount. State subsidy is expected to be $215,144. The budget will go before voters at 5 p.m., Wednesday, June 21, in the JES gymnasium following a public hearing on a proposed solar panel farm ordinance, to be acted upon later in the budget meeting.

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  10. Elm Street Elementary School honors 8th graders, awards posthumous diploma

    by Will Tuell

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  11. Beals voters approve school budget, fill empty offices, appropriate $26K

    by Nancy Beal

    Approximately 20 Beals Islanders came out for a special town meeting June 6 to consider a budget for Beals Elementary School brought by the school committee. In 18 articles, they approved $1,224,233, an amount that is $226,250 more than last year’s budget. The first payment on the recent energy overhaul of the school’s heating, ventilation, insulation systems and other improvements accounted for much of the increase. That payment--the second of 13--was $124,629. All but $13,703 of last year’s payment was paid out of Covid relief funds.

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  12. Kilowatt Killers II

    by Jonathan Reisman

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  13. Second Annual Festival Celebrating All Things Rhubarb Hailed a Success

    by Jayna Smith

    Rhubarb is for Lovers was the theme of this year’s Rhubarb Festival, and it proved just that, with well over 300 people coming through the gates, according to organizer Georgie Kendall, despite the low temperatures in the mid-40s the drizzly day brought.

    The Rhubarb Festival, now an annual event hosted by Kendall Farm in Perry, took place on Saturday, June 3, with a line-up chock-full of activities for people of all ages to enjoy.

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  14. CCH introduces new 3D mammography machine

    A new, state-of-the-art Senographe Pristina 3D mammography machine is the most recent addition to the Calais Community Hospital radiology department.

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  15. The Nature of Phenology: Blackflies

    by Hazel Stark

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  16. Trooper Jeff Ingemi retires from Maine State Police after 25 Years

    by Will Tuell

    Months after the retirement of beloved state trooper Andy Foss, Washington County is losing another seasoned law enforcement officer. Jeff Ingemi, who came to Maine to attend one of two conservation law college courses in the nation at the time of his arrival – officially retired from the Maine State Police after twenty-five years of service May 31. 

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  17. Local high school baseball, softball teams compete in playoffs this week

    by Will Tuell

    As the school year winds to a close, several schoolboy baseball and schoolgirl softball teams will be taking the field in playoff action this week with an eye toward regional and state championships later this month. 

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  18. JBHS budget ready for voters; principal post still unfilled

    by Nancy Beal

    The members of the Moosabec CSD board that governs Jonesport-Beals High School met last week (May 30). There were four substantive items on the agenda, including a final vote on next year’s budget. A personnel issue to be taken up in executive session was the fourth. On a motion from Renèe Jordan-Chandler, the personnel issue was taken out of order, and the nearly 20 members of the public who had come for the public part of the meeting filed out of the school library and across the hall into a classroom.

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  19. Health and Human Services Committee gives nod to four Moore bills

    by Will Tuell

    Senator Marianne Moore (R-Calais) has seen three of her bills garner unanimous support of the Legislature’s Health and Human Services committee in recent weeks, with a fourth unanimously rejected by the committee, and a fifth positioned for floor debates once it comes to the floor later this month. The bills range from increasing reimbursement rates for municipal general assistance to providing additional oversight of the state’s beleaguered child and family services agencies. 

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  20. Especially in June, Machias history is all around us

    by Sarah Craighead Dedmon

    Take a book and sit by the old stone fireplace of Porter Memorial Library, and you’re sitting just feet away from the work of the Machias woodsmen who had just stolen a British Royal Navy warship. 

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  21. Kilowatt killers: Blame the climate cultists

    by Jonathan Reisman

    Five thoughts as summer blackouts loom:

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  22. DECH Auxiliary donates $1000 to Safe Sleep Initiative

    Down East Community Hospital Auxiliary President Pat Hennessey presented CNO John Marshall and OB Nurse Sarah Tustian, RN, with a $1,000 check for the Down Eash Community Hospital Safe Sleep Initiative.  DECH is a Safe Sleep Certified Hospital through the Cribs for Kids National Safe Sleep Hospital Certification Program.

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  23. Strout bill to stop offshore wind in Gulf stalls

    by Will Tuell

    Representative Tiffany Strout’s (R-Harrington) bill to stop the development of offshore wind power in the Gulf of Maine was rejected by an 8-5 margin in the Legislature’s Energy, Utilities, and Technology committee on May 25, with Democrats voting to kill the bill while minority Republicans sought to keep it alive. 

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  24. The Nature of Phenology: Asters

    by Hazel Stark

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  25. County manager Betsy Fitzgerald to retire after 13 years in post

    by Will Tuell

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  26. Beals to hold special meeting on school budget, election of officers

    by Nancy Beal

    The Beals Elementary School board finalized its budget for the island school early last month, and June 6 has been set as the date for a town meeting to consider it. The total cost after subtracting a balance from previous years is $1,049.233. Taxpayers will shoulder $988,855 of that amount, an increase of $175,759, or 21.6 percent, over last year.

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  27. Machias ambulance elects Maker new chief as longtime director steps down

    by Will Tuell

    After forty years, Lois Libby, a name that has become synonymous with the Machias Ambulance Service, has retired as the organization’s director – effective immediately. In a statement released by the ambulance, crew members have elected paramedic Ryan Maker of East Machias as their new Chief and Libby’s successor, though Libby will continue as a “per diem” employee of the ambulance service on a limited basis.

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  28. Machias receives $786k grant to complete pump station siphon

    by Sarah Craighead Dedmon

    Thanks to a sizable grant, Machias has moved one large step closer to finishing its sewer reconstruction project, which began before the pandemic but stalled due to an increase in the cost of materials.

    The grant of $786,440 will not require a matching payment from the town, and adds to more than $2 million in funds already set aside for the project.

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  29. Get ready to 18th-century dance the night away at the first ever Machias Liberty Ball

    by Sarah Craighead Dedmon

    The Machias Historical Society wanted to expand events around its annual celebration of the Battle of Machias, the first naval battle of the American Revolution, which took place in Machias on June 11-12, 1775. 

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  30. Defying DEI

    by Jonathan Reisman

    “Two wrongs don’t make a right”- philosophy proverb 

    “Yes they do “- DEI and anti-racism advocates

    “DEI stands for Discrimination, Exclusion and Indoctrination”- Ron DeSantis

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  31. Machias students unveil revolutionary 3D Smart Rocket at Bangor’s Challenger Center

    Educate Maine, the Maine Space Grant Consortium, and MaxIQ Space, an international team that specializes in student space programs, announced this month that they would team up with 34 high-school students from across Maine to launch a high-altitude balloon and unveil a first-of-its-kind-in-the-world 3D Smart Rocket program. The event took place May 25, at the Challenger Learning Center of Maine, and showcased the technology of space exploration and inspired a new generation of aerospace pioneers. 

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  32. Dr. Brodsky retires after 21 years at DECH

    Down East Community Hospital bids a fond farewell to Anesthesiologist Dr. Leonid Brodsky after 21 years of dedicated service.  In 2002, Dr. Brodsky and his wife Helen came to Machias, and he began his employment at Dr. Massaad’s general surgery practice.  Dr. Brodsky has been a member of the Down East Community Hospital medical staff since 2002, and he came on as a full-time Anesthesiologist at DECH in 2007.

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  33. The Nature of Phenology: Blue-eyed grass

    by Joseph Horn

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  34. Accident injures one, knocks out power for Machias homes, grocery store

    by Sarah Craighead Dedmon

    A single-car collision with a Machias utility pole sent one man to the hospital and shut off the power to almost 300 Machias meters on the evening of Sunday, May 28.

    Across local social media, shoppers shared photos of empty refrigerated shelves at the Hannaford Machias which lost power due to the accident. Shelves were beginning to be restocked on Monday, May 30.

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  35. Siren in Machias: Emergency agencies meet to plan disaster response

    by Sarah Craighead Dedmon 

    Wearing yellow hardhats, workers at Maine Wild Blueberry filed calmly out of their building as a siren wailed above it, kicking off an emergency response exercise that drew 30 state and local agencies to Machias on Monday, May 8.

    “This exercise was a continuation of our preparedness for not just [an ammonia leak] but any kind of emergency that could happen at the plant or within our community,” said Maine Wild Blueberry Environmental Coordinator Daniel Bowker, who also serves as the Marshfield Fire Chief.

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  36. In Augusta, Lawmakers debate, reject bill to scrap income tax

    by Will Tuell

    A bill that would have phased out Maine’s income tax in the next five years went down to defeat in the House of Representatives last week, with majority Democrats and breakaway Republicans like Rep. Ken “Bucket” Davis (R-East Machias) delivering the fatal blow on the grounds that such a bill would come at the expense of Maine’s elderly and low-income property taxpayers and cost $214,000,000 the first year alone. 

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  37. Quick Jonesport FD action averts forest fire on Beals’ Great Wass Preserve

    by Nancy Beal

    “We’d still be there!” That was the answer given by Jonesport Fire Chief Boyde Crowley three days later when asked what would have happened if his crew had needed 15 more minutes to respond to a brush fire in the Black Duck Cove area of Great Wass Island May 13.

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  38. Local schools prep for graduation ceremonies; area churches to host ‘launch’ party for HS seniors

    by Will Tuell

    As May comes to a close, many parents, students, and school administrators have ramped up plans to close out the 2022-23 school year with commencement activities. For some, it will be the ending of one academic chapter and the beginning of another, while others will be headed out into the world for the first time. The Machias area is no exception, as both high schools – Machias Memorial High School and Washington Academy in East Machias – and several elementary schools have announced plans for their end-of-year activities. 

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  39. Evelyn Davis reflects on a century of living Downeast

    by Sarah Craighead Dedmon

    It was standing room only when family and friends gathered to celebrate Evelyn Watts Davis just days after she turned 100 on Wednesday, May 10, and just a few miles from where she was born in Roque Bluffs. 

    Davis has lived in the Kennebec district of Machias for 75 years, in the same house she and her husband Millard refurbished not long after they were married at the Roque Bluffs Baptist Church.

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  40. Legislative update and education epitaph

    by Jonathan Reisman

    I submitted the following testimony to the Education and Cultural Affairs committee in support of LD1129, An Act to Enact the Curriculum Transparency Act, and LD 1589, Resolve, directing the Department of Education to Adopt Rules Prohibiting Teachers in Public Schools from engaging in Political, Ideological, and Religious Advocacy in the Classroom.

    Senator Rafferty, Representative Brennan, members of the Education and Cultural Affairs Committee:

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  41. An interview with local author/illustrator duo Tona Mareglia and Rebekah Guiltner

    The Children’s Library at Porter Memorial Library hosted Tona Mareglia and Rebekah Guiltner, the author and illustrator of Manny and Lizzy, a children’s book about the friendship between a moose and a blue lobster. They presented to two classes from Rose M Gaffney Elementary School.  Ms. Whitney’s and Ms. Reed’s classes visit the library on a regular basis and were treated to the story and discussion about Manny and Lizzy. After the story and a discussion about the story and how it came into being, Ms. Mareglia and Miss Guiltner were interviewed by a volunteer at the library. 

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  42. WA science teacher receives Washington County Teacher of the Year Award

    Washington Academy Head of School, Judson McBrine, proudly announces WA science teacher, Mrs. Colleen Maker, has been selected as the 2023 Washington County Teacher of the Year by the Maine Department of Education (MDOE). Mrs. Maker has inspired and mentored countless WA science students during her four years at WA. Her nineteen years of educational experience in the field are impressive; however, her outstanding relationship-building skills and desire to build a strong community of student collaborators make her teaching style dynamic and impactful. 

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  43. The Nature of Phenology: Bobolinks

    by Joseph Horn

    Several years back, some dear friends of mine moved to a house on the edge of a quiet saltwater bay. The house was erected the same year that Maine became a state, and, as was typical in those days, it was built right on the edge of the road. But behind the house is a rolling field that cascades over a few acres, where it eventually turns into an oak border that demarcates the boundary between the fields and the silty cliffs that meet the water. The spot is like a bucolic oil painting of old. It is also a lot of lawn to mow. 

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  44. Officer LeBlanc joins Machias Police Department in moving swearing-in ceremony

    by Sarah Craighead Dedmon

    Machias town officials, police officers, and more than a dozen of Taylor LeBlanc’s family members looked on as he signed his name and began a career in law enforcement on Wednesday, May 10.

    Machias Police Chief Keith Mercier planned LeBlanc’s swearing-in ceremony and, after administering his oath, presented LeBlanc with some gifts to commemorate the event, including a blue bracelet.

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  45. Democrats, Republicans spar over teenage work requirements

    by Will Tuell

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