Voters to Consider Food Sovereignty Ordinance

By Paul Sylvain

Machiasport residents will be gathering to elect a selectboard and a school committee on Monday, June 23, with polls open at Fort O’Brien School from noon to 6 p.m. The annual town meeting to act on a 49-article combined education and municipal funding warrant follows that same evening, beginning at 6 p.m. in the FOB gymnasium.

By Nancy Beal

Citizens of Beals and Jonesport got a chance to act on next year’s proposed budget for their joint high school last week, and the meeting reverted back to the typically quiet school budget meetings of the past decade: a small audience consisting mostly of school board members, teachers, their families and a handful of others who asked few questions and routinely authorized what their school boards had calculated.

Arlene Porter has been the Washington Academy librarian for fifteen years, but her history with WA spans a lifetime. As a child, she grew up playing in what is now the Cates Dormitory; she met her husband, Scott Porter, '80, at Washington Academy and then lived in the very same house she used to play in when Mr. Porter was the Assistant Head of School and Athletic Director.

By Paul Sylvain

“The British are coming! The British are coming!” 

On April 19, 1775, the first shots of the American Revolution were exchanged between British troops and the citizen army called the Minutemen at Lexington Common and North Bridge in Concord, Massachusetts. On June 12 — one week shy of two months later — Machias patriots, armed with a few rifles, pitchforks, and clubs, would claim their rightful place in history by chasing after and capturing the armed British schooner HMS Margaretta near Round Island in Machias Bay.

By Paul Sylvain

From opening gavel to motion to adjourn, it took about two dozen Machias voters just 57 minutes to dispense with a 47-article annual town meeting warrant on June 11.

Moderator Betsy Fitzgerald wasted no time moving the meeting along from article to article. It also helped that, with the exception of a handful of articles, there was little or no discussion as each item was brought up. In the end, every article passed intact, as presented, without amendment.

By Paul Sylvain

If Randy Sinclair had thoughts about getting a quick resolution to a nearly seven-month stop-work order on his multi-unit storage project on Outer Dublin Street, he might want to think again.

Sinclair’s storage project was abruptly halted by the selectboard last November after numerous violations of the building permit, which had been approved by the planning board in 2023, came to light.  

By Nancy Beal

Town meetings in the Moosabec area for the purpose of voting on proposed school budgets are traditionally low-key affairs, attended mainly by selectmen, school board members, a few teachers, and their families. This spring, it was different. A lot different.

Last month, the Jonesport Elementary School budget was rejected by a handful of voters and has since been reworked. It will go before voters on June 18. 

By Paul Sylvain

After nearly three decades of service as a Machias firefighter, of which 22 years were as the department’s chief, Joey Dennison has resigned from the department to spend more time with his family and enjoy other pursuits. 

In his June 14 letter of resignation, Dennison wrote, “While this role has been a central part of my life, I have come to realize that family must now take priority. I am choosing to step away to spend more time with my loved ones and to finish a long-standing personal goal.” 

Board Rebukes Clam Committee for Recommending Approval

By Paul Sulvain

An application from Kennth Faas for a 2025 resident clamming license that was denied by Machiasport Town Clerk Marcia Hayward resulted in an emergency meeting of the town’s selectboard on June 4.

By Nancy Beal

According to an old (1963) edition of Reader's Digest’s Great World Atlas, there are several Jonesboros and Jonesvilles in the United States, but only one Jonesport. In the age of sail, when ships hailed one another at sea, captains from the Downeast port of Jonesport would often declare 'Jonesport, America!' — a phrase every seafarer recognized, for all knew exactly where Jonesport was.