This week marks the beginning of my 37th year at UMM and my 47th consecutive September on a New England college campus. The times, they are a-changing.

American higher education is on the cusp of a financial, cultural and political reckoning that will leave it smaller, poorer, less popular, less powerful and decidedly diminished. Those changes, as deserved as they may well be, will probably not be accompanied by any recognizable change in attitude, humility, leftist indoctrination practices or self-regard and esteem.

After 11 weeks of total shutdown due to COVID-19 and another 12 weeks of curbside service to provide a safe alternative for library borrowing during the pandemic, Porter Memorial Library reopened to the public on August 27.

by Wayne Smith

Rebekah Cox talked about the Jonesboro Craft Fair and about her father, John Cox, and how he influenced clam and lobster fishing down the Chandler River in Jonesboro as she was growing up as a child.

Pot roast with mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans, carrots, cucumber salad, Janet's rolls and biscuits, homemade pies and cake will be on the menu for our September 5th public supper that will be held at the Hillgrove Community Building in Whitneyville. The supper begins at 5 p.m.  

Following COVID-19 rules and regulations, we still can only seat 50 people but takeout is also available by reservation. To reserve your takeout you can call the library at 255-8077 Monday to Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Reservations for takeout will be taken until Friday, Sept. 4 at 4 p.m.

by Hazel Stark

by Sarah Craighead Dedmon

Incumbent Machias Selectwoman Paula Johnson-Rolfe this weekend declared herself as a write-in candidate for the Machias selectboard. Municipal ballots will be cast Tuesday, Sept. 1, in advance of the annual Machias Town Meeting set for Wednesday, Sept. 2. 

Johnson-Rolfe initially declined to run for reelection but explained her change of heart with a public statement on social media.

September 14, 1938 - August 3, 2020

Eleanor M. Kilton, 81, peacefully passed away on August 3, 2020, at Down East Community Hospital, with her family at her side. She was born September 14, 1938, in Cherryfield, Maine, daughter of the late Amos and Maude (Randall) Matthews.

by Ruth Leubecker

Tariffs, the coronavirus pandemic and the entanglements of right whales were a heady mix of issues that last week threatened Maine’s most iconic fishery. Now it’s one down, two to go.

Save Maine Lobstermen provides the crux of a legal defense fund aiming to raise $500,000 to save the beleaguered lobster-fishing business.

by Sarah Craighead Dedmon

Les Haynes is the only person who completed candidacy paperwork in time to be on the Machias ballot for municipal elections, to be held next week on Tuesday, Sept. 1. Two seats on the five-person board will be vacated by selectwoman Paula Johnson-Rolfe and selectboard vice chairman Bill Kitchen. Each will have served one term.

by Sarah Craighead Dedmon

A football adaption designed during the Great Depression will soon come to Machias when Lion of Judah Football launches its first-ever foray into fall youth football with a six-man program.

“It was invented in the west during boom and bust times when towns couldn’t mount large teams,” said Coach Mike Karnas, who 15 years ago founded Lion of Judah football camps as a ministry outreach program.