by Hazel Stark

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

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.

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.

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.

by Hazel Stark

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. 

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.