By Nancy Beal

The Jonesport Elementary School Board met Oct. 6 and hired Jason Mills to coach the junior high girls’ basketball team. There have been no applicants for the junior high boys’ team, which is expected to field between five and ten boys. Interviews for the cheering coach position are in progress.

Officials Mum on ‘Botched’ Department of Justice Grant

By Paul Sylvain

A new, more restrictive grant and contract policy enacted by Washington County’s Board of Commissioners at their Oct. 9 meeting is not sitting well with county Emergency Management Agency Director Lisa Hanscom.

Simply stated, the policy, introduced by Washington County Commissioner Billy Howard, mandates “there will be no more grant applications, or no more contracts signed by department heads without commissioner approval.”

By Paul Sylvain

How does an $11 million bond referendum question become something much less? It happens when Washington County’s Board of Commissioners pledges to cap the amount to be borrowed to only what is needed to pay for the principal and interest on the county’s 2025 Tax Anticipation Note (TAN), due payable in full on Dec. 31, 2025.

Betty Louise Lovejoy

October 10, 1933 — August 30, 2025, Murphy

Our hearts are heavy as we share the news that Betty Louise Lovejoy, a cherished wife, mother, grandmother, and sister, went to be with God on August 30, 2025. She was 91 years old and passed away at her daughter Kim's home in Murphy, NC.

Betty's life was a testament to enduring love. She married her childhood sweetheart, Donald William Lovejoy, not once but twice. Together, they built a beautiful life, ran a business, and raised a family until his passing.

By Paul Sylvain

Members of the Washington County Legislative Delegation are taking matters into their own hands to hopefully find a way out of the county government’s current fiscal quagmire.

County Commissioners Courtney Hammond, Billy Howard, and Chairman David Burns are continuing to struggle without success in their efforts to find viable alternatives to an $11 million bond referendum question aimed at setting the county’s fiscal ship back on course. 

By Nancy Beal

The recent meeting of the Union 103 school board, which oversees schools in Beals and Jonesport, ended with a discussion of changing the schools’ policy regarding transgender students in sports. 

By Paul Sylvain

Earlier this year, Machias Police Chief Keith Mercier contacted several towns neighboring Machias regarding a plan he was floating to have those towns contract with his department for routine patrols and complaint responses. Among the towns that he approached were Machiasport, East Machias, Whitneyville, Jonesboro and Roque Bluffs.

By Will Tuell

Since its humble beginnings in the East Machias Municipal Building years ago, Wesley’s Tree Festival has been a big hit with local businesses, community organizations, and the public at large, raising hundreds of thousands of dollars for Downeast youth activities and paving the way for the foundation which started it in honor of four-year-old Wesley Keeton who lost his life in an ATV accident over a decade ago to purchase the fairgrounds across the way from Down East Community Hospital with visions of developing a multi-purpose youth rec center. 

New Member Casts First Votes Moments after Joining Planning Board

By Paul Sylvain

The Bluebird Motel finally received the Machias Planning Board’s blessing on Oct. 1 to proceed with plans to rebuild, Phoenix-like, from the ashes of a devastating late-night fire that began on a frigid Christmas Eve and was finally extinguished in the early hours of Christmas morning 2024.

By Jayna Smith

Baileyville’s annual Octoberfest kicked off on Oct. 6, with a community supper at the Spednic Club, and continues Friday, Oct. 10, with high-energy performer Jason Tardy, sponsored by Heatherwood Gardens.