by Sarah Craighead Dedmon

Most of us are familiar with the concept of adult education and probably associate it with the old GED given to people who left high school early but still wanted a diploma. 

Today, it’s no longer called a GED, it’s a HiSET (High School Equivalency Test), and that isn’t all that’s changed. Washington County Adult and Community Education (WCACE) helps students of all ages with everything from getting a high school diploma to resume writing to learning how to play the ukulele. 

by Nancy Beal

Representatives of Charter Communications, parent company of Spectrum, came to Jonesport last week to pitch a plan that would bring internet to all households in town. The company had been invited by selectmen, who have been exploring ways to use the American Rescuer Plan Act (ARPA) money that communities received during the Covid-19 pandemic to help with municipal expenses. Broadband build-out is one of the allowable expenditures. Jonesport received $369,000.

The Boston Tea Party Ships and Museum organization will travel to Whiting next week to place a marker on the grave of Brigadier General John Crane for his service during the Boston Tea Party.

by Sarah Craighead Dedmon 

Students at Machias Memorial High School and Milbridge Elementary School are invited to dress in red this Friday, Sept. 23, in a show of support for Maine’s lobster industry. The schools’ displays are only two of dozens popping up around the county as Maine’s most lucrative fishery faces damaging regulatory changes from the federal government, which asserts Maine lobstermen could be harming the endangered right whale.

by Sarah Craighead Dedmon

After 24 years operating a restaurant and bar in Machias, Sylvia Pouliot says she and her husband Ron will be selling or closing the Thirsty Moose.

“We have it on the market, and someone is looking at it,” said Pouliot, who has listed the business with First Choice Realty. “Whether they’re buying it or not, we are closing.”

“The Moose,” as it’s known locally, could close as soon as the last day of September unless new owners would like to keep the business open. 

by Sarah Craighead Dedmon

Preparations are underway for the construction of three local community solar projects in Machias, Machiasport, and Whitneyville. All three sites are under development by Loki Solar and will be constructed and owned by Minnesota-based Novel Energy, also doing business as Dublin LLC.

In Machias, clearing and land work have begun on a 20-acre parcel located near Route 1 just north of the Kennebec Road. Site work has also begun on the Machiasport solar farm, which is located not far from Downeast Correctional Facility, in Starboard.

Machias area businesses are donating several hundred dollars worth of prizes for winners of the first annual “Scarecrows of Machias” Flash Fiction Contest organized by the Machias Arts Council.

The contest, open to residents of any age in Washington County, calls for short stories of around 500 words or less about scarecrows. The contest runs parallel to the Machias Bay Area Chamber of Commerce’s annual Scarecrow Contest, which awards prizes for actual scarecrows created by local residents and businesses.

by Hazel Stark

As the result of a joint investigation with the Washington County Sheriff’s Office, agents assigned to Maine Drug Enforcement’s Downeast Task Force (MDEA) have arrested a mother and son from East Machias, along with two men from the Bronx, New York, and charged them all with drug trafficking offenses.

by Nancy Beal

This November, when Mainers pick their next governor and congressmen, Jonesporters will also get a say on whether they want to break with tradition and allow the on-premise consumption of liquor. The measure has come to the front as the result of a plan by Dr. Wayne Yee, a dentist-entrepreneur and new owner of Harbor House, to create a restaurant in the historic building overlooking the marina and Sawyer’s Cove.

by Sarah Craighead Dedmon 

It was the bloodiest conflict in American history, it began 100 years — almost to the day —  before Machias’s Battle of the Margaretta, and it’s the subject of the next Authors at the Last Page event series, sponsored by Porter Memorial Library.

by Jonathan Reisman

In 1973 I got my driver’s license, purchased a 1966 Delta 88 (8 miles/gallon) for $500 with my saved paper route earnings, drove it to Waterville, Maine, to start college, and watched the price of gasoline double to $.70/gallon during the first OPEC oil embargo. America had gasoline rationing and long lines at gas stations. President Nixon was hobbled/distracted by Watergate, and the country seemed to be paralyzed.

by Sarah Craighead Dedmon

The idea to host a gathering of living history reenactors came to Arthur and Linda Langley before the pandemic, and this weekend it’s coming to fruition. On Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, Sept. 16-18, the public, historical reenactors, and anyone interested in local history is invited to attend the 1st Annual Living History Heritage event, to be held on Hardwood Point in Harrington.

Arthur says a wide range of people might enjoy the gathering.

by Sarah Craighead Dedmon

Senator Susan Collins Friday, Sept. 9,  announced the Maine Department of Transportation will receive $33 million in funding to rehabilitate 68 miles of Route 1 through Washington County, stretching from Machias to Calais. 

In total, Collins secured $77.1 million in funding through the federal INFRA (Infrastructure for Rebuilding American) grant program, including $44 million to complete a two-lane 6.3-mile truck bypass of Presque Isle’s Main Street, also Route 1.

by Nancy Beal

At a school board meeting attended by several parents and high school students Aug. 31, the CSD school committee that governs Jonesport-Beals High School listened to complaints and suggestions from that audience and reached a consensus on the use of cell phones in school, as well as a discipline code and a simplified dress code.

by Sarah Craighead Dedmon

Whoopie pie lovers already knew they could grab that iconic Maine confection and a cup of coffee at Expressions Floral, Bakery, and Unique Gifts in Machias. Now they can stop in for breakfast treats and so much more because the Expressions Bakery just got bigger. Owner Sandi Malagara says her expanded menu was created in response to customer demand.

“We had numerous people asking for more baked goods, so we wanted to offer them and see how the town would respond,” says Malagara. 

by Jonathan Reisman

One reader recently chastised me for my “disrespectful tone” towards President Brandon and Vice President Kamala, archly opining that my arguments against “President Biden and Vice-President Harris” lost credibility due to my lack of respect.

Michael Tougias is a New York Times bestselling author and co-author of 30 books for adults and 7 for children and young adults. On Wednesday, Sept. 21, Tougias will be in Machias as a guest of Porter Memorial Library, to give a talk and slide presentation on King Philip’s War, the war between the Colonists and Native Americans in 1675-76. The event is the second in the library’s Authors at The Last Page series, which is supported by a grant from Maine Public Library Fund. The Tougias presentation will take place at 7 p.m. at the UMM Performing Arts Center. Admission is free.

by Sarah Craighead Dedmon

More than half of the July 27 Machias selectboard meeting was spent discussing a permit request from Bad Little Brewing Company to expand its outdoor eating and drinking area by the addition of four tables. Prior to the selectboard receiving the permit request, the Machias Planning Board approved it.

by Sarah Craighead Dedmon

Machias Police Chief Keith Mercier wasn’t sure if he should bring his covered trailer to last weekend’s “Stuff the Cruiser” diaper donation event at Hannaford in Machias.

“We would have been in trouble if I didn’t,” he said Monday morning while hauling boxes of diapers, wipes, baby food, and baby formula out of the full trailer and into the nonprofit We Care Baby Center located on Water Street in Machias.

by David Dahl, Maine Monitor

State environmental regulators issued a “Notice of Violation” against the developer of an ambitious, $1 billion project in Washington County after inspectors found the company built several dozen cabins, a restaurant, roads, and parking areas without obtaining necessary permits.