Selectboard Approves Hiring Third FT Paramedic

By Paul Sylvain

In recent months, Machias Ambulance Service Chief Ryan Maker has led MAS in a transition from a volunteer ambulance service, staffed by per-diem drivers and techs, to a full-time emergency medical service agency boasting three full-time paramedics.

By Paul Sylvain

Maine State Police Major Crimes Unit North is conducting an investigation in the Feb. 19 death of an inmate found unresponsive  in an intake cell at the Washington County Jail in Machias.

Jail Administrator Richard Rolfe said on Feb. 20 that 27-year-old Joseph Shields was arrested on a charge of disorderly conduct late morning on Feb. 19 and booked into the jail. At about 5:15 p.m., Shields, who was still in an intake cell, was found unresponsive by officers at the jail. 

By Paul Sylvain

Sarah Craighead Dedmon can now add “Machias Town Manager” to her growing list of accomplishments.

Dedmon, who resides in neighboring Machiasport and serves that town as an elected member of its selectboard, was offered the full-time permanent town manager’s job in Machias by the town’s selectboard at its Feb. 12 meeting. 

By Doss Dennison

The junior high East and West basketball finals both took place last Monday evening, with the East side playing their games at the Machias Memorial High School gymnasium, while the West side played at the Narraguagus High School gym. Most of these contests were extremely close through two or three quarters, with a few of them going right down to the final buzzer.

By Paul Sylvain

Sardines. You either love ‘em or you hate ‘em. But either way, for many people in small coastal towns like Machiasport, sardine canneries provided a much-needed source of income to families living nearby them.

According to the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, there were as many as 89 sardine canneries, employing upwards of 8,000 people in Maine in the early 1900s. NOAA Fisheries, meanwhile, reports that by the mid-1950s, that number had dwindled to around 75 Maine sardine canneries. 

By Paul Sylvain

The Machias selectboard learned at its Feb. 12 meeting that a former 2.5-acre municipal landfill from 1930 until capped in 1996, is leaching per- and polyfluoroalkyl, or PFAS, substances near and possibly into the Middle River marsh behind the site, adding yet another complication to the seesaw battle over the future of the Machias dike replacement. 

The Machias landfill occupied an area near the Marshfield town line, behind the current transfer station off Broadway.

by Jonathan Reisman

Maine’s 2020 Climate Action Plan and 2024 Update commit Maine to:

• reducing our Greenhouse Gas Emissions (GHG);

• transitioning away from fossil fuels and gas-powered vehicles;

• promoting equity;

• increasing public conserved lands to 30% of the state by 2030. 

What you will not find in the Plan/Update is:

• any estimate of how much climate change will be averted by the GHG emission reductions;

Eastport Arts Center is pleased to present the first of a recurring series of drawing classes on Saturday, Feb. 22, from 10 a.m. to noon. Ann Cannizzaro will lead sessions in “Zentangle: A Mindful Drawing Practice” in February, March, and April, at the Center. The sessions are offered for students ages 12 and up.

By Nadine Preston 

University of Maine Cooperative Extension is hosting online informational sessions for adults interested in becoming Maine 4-H volunteers. Participants can choose from two options: noon to 1 p.m. Fridays, Feb. 21 and 28, or 6-7 p.m. Mondays, March 3 and 10.