Spring

 

Jon Reisman

When I was growing up in Philadelphia, March and April meant spring. In my high school years in the late 60s and early 70s, warmer temperatures and longer days corresponded to tennis practice and matches. By mid to late April, temperatures in the high 70’s and low 80’s were not uncommon. The City of Brotherly Love was fully greened and often sweltering by May Day.

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The Festival of the Forest is Coming to Grand Lake Stream

 

Natalie Boomer
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Downeast Lakes Land Trust (DLLT) is bringing a new event to Grand Lake Stream.  On April 29, the Festival of the Forest will begin!

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CHS Drama Students Earn Top Honors

 

Jayna Smith
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Two members–Tristan Seavey and Cassidy Carr–of Calais High School’s drama program, The Calais Callbacks, recently received top honors at the state festival, earning the recognition of All Festival Cast.  

Both Seavey and Carr, seniors at CHS, have been members of the drama program since middle school.  The two were among the few chosen for the recognition due to their strong acting skills displayed at the festival.  

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SkillsUSA Maine Medalists

 

St. Croix Regional Technical Center students competed against other students from around the state in the State Conference in Bangor on March 18.
Earning medals were Cassidy Carr, silver in Prepared Speech, and Danielle White, bronze in Extemporaneous Speech.

Other students competing Joseph Jennings, Culinary Arts; Justin Carney, Job Interview; Katie Bitar, Job Skill Demonstration; Brady Cronister, Welding; Ti Bennett and Cole Dunphy, Welding Sculpture; and Cadence Baskerville, Alexis Donahue, and Lexi Doten, Health Knowledge Bowl.

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First National Bank Donates to Local Food Pantries

 

First National Bank recently announced that it has made donations totaling $17,500 to twenty-nine food pantries in the bank’s market area. “First National Bank is grateful for the critical services that our food pantries provide to our neighbors in need,” remarked Tony C. McKim, President and CEO. “As a Maine community bank, it is our goal to respond to the needs of these vital organizations that serve and help families put food on the table.”  

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Calais Businesses Welcome Back Canadians as Travel Restrictions Ease

Jayna Smith
[email protected]

Calais got a long-awaited economic boost last weekend, thanks to more lenient rules at the border.

Just a few weeks prior, Canada had scrapped its PCR testing requirements, making rapid antigen tests within 24 hours of crossing acceptable.  Finding a testing site, however, proved difficult for most.  

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MVH Board Votes to Keep Machias, Caribou Veterans Homes Open

Sarah Craighead Dedmon
 
The Maine Veterans Homes in Machias and Caribou will remain open, instead of closing on April 15 and May 1 as announced in February.  

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Calais High School Students Pitch in to Help Visitor Center with ‘From Maine to Ukraine’ Project

Jayna Smith
[email protected]

When additional resources or manpower are needed to complete a project, Calais High School’s student organizations often come to mind.  Such was the case recently when Vicki Farrell, manager at the Maine Visitor Information Center in Calais, asked for assistance with the food drive for those in Ukraine.

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Coast Guard Makes St. Croix River Rescue

 

On Saturday morning, April 2, the U.S. Coast Guard station in Eastport received a report from Washington County Regional Communications Center of a person who had fallen from their boat into the St. Croix River.

The call came in around 10 a.m. and the incident occurred near St. Croix Island.

The person who had fallen into the river was not wearing a life jacket.  

USCG responded and found the person severely hypothermic and holding on to the swamped paddle boat.

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The Alternative to Not Brandon

 

Jon Reisman

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New Garage Ready to Assist Locals with Automotive Repair and Maintenance

 

Jayna Smith
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Moore’s Auto Body has been a fixture at 219 Houlton Road in Baileyville for years.  Now, it has joined in a partnership with DC Automotive, owned by Christien Hooper.

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Cribbage Tourney Brings a Fun Rivalry, Money for Festival

 

Jayna Smith
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There was heavy pegging at Fitzgerald’s Tavern on Sunday for a cribbage tournament that benefited this year’s International Homecoming Festival.  
The festival planning committees on both sides of the border have begun organizing and raising funds to host the numerous events.  Fitzgerald’s owner Tim

Krug decided to raise some money in addition to providing his own donation, all while offering up a fun day of cribbage.

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Calais Callbacks Tackle Major Issues in Selfie

 

Kaileigh Deacon

It has been a while since The Calais Callbacks were able to take to the stage with a live audience, but this past weekend, they brought their competition performance to the stage of Calais High School. During the peak of the pandemic, the group was still able to meet and put on a play but were unable to attend their competition or put on a performance for friends and family as they had done in the past.

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Calais High School Students Expand World Central Kitchen Collection Efforts

Jayna Smith
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Many Calais High School students have been busy collecting donations to help support World Central Kitchen, Inc. (WCK), an organization that provides meals in response to humanitarian, climate, and community crises.  

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Dinner and Auction Set to Support Sarah’s House of Maine

Jayna Smith
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Sarah’s House of Maine is a cancer hospitality house located in Holden.  It serves many from all over the state who are receiving treatment, with Washington County residents making up the majority–42 percent.

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Passion Journey

 

Palm Sunday began with St. Kateri Parish’s Passion of Christ reenactment, which travelled through the streets of Calais, marking the start of Holy Week. (Photo by Pierre Little)

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Down East Hospice Volunteers Received Sponsorship for 31st Cobscook Bay Race

 

Barbara Barnett, Executive Director of Down East Hospice Volunteers receives a sponsorship donation from Ian Pratt of Pratt Chevrolet for the 31st annual Cobscook Bay Race taking place on June 5, 2022 in Pembroke. To donate and or to participate go to www.cobscookbayroadraces.org.  All proceeds go to Down East Hospice Volunteers of Washington County.  Join others in our community and support this signature fund raising event.  (Submitted photo)

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Washington County Community College’s 2022 Student of the Year

 

Washington County Community College is proud to announce that Graca Muzela, a student in the Residential and Commercial Electricity program, is the 2022 Student of the Year.

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Justin Day, RIP

 

Jon Reisman

Justin Day, who served Down East Maine with honor and dignity for more than 50 years, passed away last week. He was 86 years old.
Justin served as the First Selectman of Cooper for many years. He was also the primary assessor, land surveyor, a major land owner and blueberry grower, and the link between the Town and County and State government.

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County High School Softball Teams Eager to Take a Swing at Season

Jayna Smith
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With temperatures warming up and playing fields drying after the snowmelt, high school softball teams are back on the diamond for the 2022 season.  Teams at Calais, Jonesport-Beals, Machias, Narraguagus, Shead, Washington Academy, and Woodland High Schools have been practicing for nearly a month in anticipation of this year’s regular season.
 

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Rhubarb Art Competition for June’s Rhubarb Festival

 

Art teachers Sara Myrick of Shead High School & Eastport Elementary School & Bobbi Tardif of Calais Middle/High School are wonderful with their students. They had students create 15 pieces of incredible rhubarb art to compete to be on the Rhubarb Festival poster. We will have all of the artwork made by these students on display in the Kendall Farm barn during The Rhubarb Festival. Thanks to the 10 judges from Calais, Eastport, Perry, Robbinston, Lubec and Dennysville who judged the art for this competition.

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Navigation Program Aims to Offer Helpful Hand Toward Recovery

Jayna Smith
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Washington County has been noted as a “hot spot” for both opioid and all overdoses in the State of Maine.  Even more, the state is the leader per capita in opioid and all overdoses in the entire New England region.  Now, to help curb the drug epidemic, a new program is available in Washington County.  

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Pembroke Residents Push Back Against Mining Company’s Plans

Kate Cough, Maine Monitor

The Wolfden Resources Corporation is making plans to mine for silver in Pembroke, but residents of the Washington County town near the Canadian border are fiercely against the idea and packed a public hearing last week to voice opposition.

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Daughters of Isabella in Eastport Raise Over $1,000 for Ukraine

 

The Daughters of Isabella Circle #871 of St. Joseph Church in Eastport wanted to help the innocent in Ukraine but like many, weren’t sure what they could do.
“An idea was brought forward by member Dawn Noonan,” said Kathy Lawrence, vice regent of the circle. “And it was a good one!”

The making and selling of handmade chocolate bunnies and roses (see photos) as a fundraiser, with all of the proceeds going to Catholic Relief Services’ ongoing efforts to assist those in need in Ukraine.

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Local Hospitals Promote National Donate Life Month

 

Please join Calais Community Hospital (CCH) and Down East Community Hospital (DECH) in the celebration of National Donate Life Month this April. The month-long celebration showcases various perspectives of those touched by donation and transplantation.  

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Volunteers Sought for Weekend Project at Skatepark

Jayna Smith
[email protected]

Since 1999, the Calais Skatepark Committee has worked hard on its park with upgrades and upkeep, as well as hosting many events for the area’s skaters and BMX riders.  Now, the group, through the Brendan Leddy Memorial Fund, is ready to add a mini ramp.

The park already includes several q-pipes, along with starter ramps and others.  The addition of the new ramp, according to committee member Nate Gardner, is the first mini ramp for the park.  

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CHS Students Place at JMG Career Symposium

 

Trinity Jones Awarded Difference Maker Scholarship
 
Throughout the month of March, students from across the state took part in the annual Jobs for Maine’s Graduates Career Symposium.  For the second straight year, events were held virtually through on-demand and live competitions.  

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The Left Hates Free Speech

 

Jon Reisman

..the peculiar evil of silencing the expression of an opinion is that it is robbing the human race; posterity as well as the existing generation; those who dissent from the opinion, still more than those who hold it. If the opinion is right, they are deprived of the opportunity of exchanging error for truth; if wrong, they lose, what is almost as great a benefit, the clearer perception and livelier impression of truth produced by its collision with error.- John Stuart Mill, On Liberty

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First National Bank Donates to Community Caring Collaborative

 

First National Bank recently announced a $3,000 donation to the Community Caring Collaborative towards The Joy Fund.

Established in March 2022, The Joy Fund assists first-time home buyers in Washington County make the transition to homeownership by providing funds for home inspections related to a home purchase.  Georgiana (Georgie) Kendall, a 5th generation Downeaster, started this fund to support folks who would like to live, work and play here in Washington County.

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Planned Outage Cuts Power for Over 10,000

 

Jayna Smith
[email protected]

Customers of Eastern Maine Electric Co-op were encouraged weeks in advance to prepare for Sunday’s power outage.  

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Level of THM in City Water Exceeds Federal Standard

 

Jayna Smith
[email protected]

Calais residents received in the mail last week a drinking water notice indicating the level of trihalomethanes (TTHM) in the City of Calais’s drinking water exceeds federal drinking water standard.

The city’s notice reported that water testing done recently found the high level of TTHM to be 81.2 parts per billion.  “This is above the maximum contaminant level allowed for total trihalomethanes in drinking water which is 80 parts per billion,” the notice read.

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Dr. Shah Among Speakers Set for WCCC Graduation

 

Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Nirav Shah will be the guest speaker for the Class of 2022 Washington County Community College graduation to be held in Calais on May 20. Maine Community College President David Daigler will also present, along with distinguished faculty speaker Greg Smith. A student address will be given by WCCC Student of the Year, Graca Muzela. (Photo courtesy Maine.gov)

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Fishing Spot Bench Not to be Replaced after Vandalism

 

Jayna Smith
[email protected]

For the second time in a year, the wooden bench installed at the Moosehorn National Wildlife Refuge’s public fishing platform has been vandalized.  The platform is located just off the Charlotte Road.

According to Keith Ramos, manager at the refuge, the bench, which was fastened to the platform, was thrown into the stream.  “It sure took some effort from the individual or individuals that committed the vandalism,” he shared to social media.

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$10k Reward Offered for Information Surrounding Murder of Kimberly Neptune

Sarah Craighead Dedmon

A reward of $10,000 is offered by the Pleasant Point Police Department for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person responsible for the death of Kimberly Neptune, 43, of Perry, who was found dead in her home Thursday, April 21.

Police today named Neptune’s death a homicide. Maine State Police Major Crimes Unit North is investigating Neptune’s death with the assistance of the Pleasant Point Police Department.

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Annual Amphibian Walk

 

Saturday night’s annual Amphibian Walk at Moosehorn National Wildlife Refuge, despite cool temperatures in the mid 40s, saw 84 participants.  Each learned about and searched for salamanders, frogs, and other critters in the refuge’s vernal pools and impoundments.  (Photos by Tomi Ellsmore and FWS Volunteer Tabitha Ramos)

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