Full scholarships were granted to area high school students by the Unobskey Family Foundation for a summer program. The program will again be offered to six Washington County and six Charlotte County students for the Summer Session 2023. Pictured from left to right are Antonio Vizcarrondo, Shead HS; Skylar Russell, St Stephen HS; Megan Hannan, Fundy HS; Abigail Legacy, St. Stephen HS; Maya Vekelic, St. Stephen HS; Joey McLauchlan, Calais HS; Anna Patterson, Washington Academy; and Amy Scouten, St. Stephen HS. (Photo by Moira Sherwood)

The Calais Veteran’s Center is working to raise money for a heat pump for their facility. If you would like to donate to the heat pump fund, please send donations to Calais Veteran’s Center PO Box 1005, Calais, ME 04619.

Local wildlife/portrait artist Ann Dalton (Reilly) has found yet another creative avenue.  Among her many offerings and talents to make the world a more colorful place, she has literally brought new life to the scene with plants.  She has approximately 500 plants, with a large portion of them including African violets and succulents.

Ricky Cleghorn

The hours of operation for the Vanceboro, Maine Port of Entry will be reduced from 24 hours a day to only 12 hours a day–from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.--beginning September 11, 2022, per a press release from U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

According to a CBP spokesperson, the change to operational hours comes as an attempt to better allocate resources during peak travel periods within the Calais area of operations.

School Year 2023 free and reduced-price meal benefit applications are available for families with students enrolled in Calais School Department which is participating in the National School Lunch Program (NSLP). Meals will be provided to enrolled students at no charge in Maine public schools participating in the National School Lunch Program due to State of Maine Legislation.   

Jon Reisman

Gina McCarthy is the first White House National Climate Advisor under President Biden. Before that, she was the EPA administrator under President Obama, where she trail blazed the practice of using an e-mail alias to avoid transparency and pesky freedom of information requests from deplorable non-believers and “deniers.”

From the Alexander news column by Cassie Oakes: The Alexander Grange Hall was a busy place this past week. It all began on Tuesday the 16th when Kids at the Grange met with guest speaker and Granger Lenny Hanson. The topic of the day was safe hiking. The kids then decorated backpacks and filled them with some items that would be helpful during a hike. Of course, there is always some unplanned fun when the kids found some mushrooms and quizzed herbalist and Granger Esther Tozer about them.

Jayna Smith
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With summer fun and festivals nearly behind us, Calais will once again see the return of the Harvest Festival this October.

This annual event is organized and executed by Calais Downtown Revitalization Coalition (CDRC) and will bring music, fun, and more to downtown.

Sarah Craighead Dedmon

Five more small earthquakes have been reported in central Washington County, bringing August’s total to 13, which constitutes a “swarm,” according to Maine Geological Survey’s Henry Berry. [See previous earthquake story in the Aug. 18 edition of The Calais Advertiser]

Local lore says the earthquakes are caused by a fault line running under Centerville, but that’s only partially true, says Berry.  

The 56th Peskotomuhkat Ceremonial Dances took place on Sunday, August 14th at the 56th Annual Passamaquoddy Days Celebration at Sipayik Indian Reservation at Split Rock in Perry. (Photo by Natalie Boomer)

Jayna Smith
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A popular event of International Homecoming Festival is one held at the skatepark, the Skate4Life event.  This was the second year the important event took place, all in an effort to not only have fun, but to also raise awareness of and provide resources on mental health and suicide prevention.

Jayna Smith
[email protected]

On Thursday, August 11, Calais City Council met for its regular meeting.  Present were Mayor Billy Howard and Councilors Mike Sherrard, Marcia Rogers, Mark Carr, James Macdonald, and Elery Beale.

The council approved the minutes of the previous meeting, along with departmental reports and treasurer’s warrants.

From Cassie Oakes Alexander news column: The Alexander Grange Hall was hopping on August 9th when the Kids at the Grange arrived for a day of fun. The weather did not cooperate, so their plans of visiting the Alexander Art Trail got washed away with the rain. But never fear, there were back up plans that included learning a little bit about the Grange, sharing some fun facts about butterflies, designing personal jigsaw puzzle, and playing BINGO (with everyone going home with two prizes). The day ended with some singing and dancing thanks to Jen Sanford’s piano skills

Jon Reisman

The unprecedented August 8th raid on former President Trump’s Florida home has loosed the whirlwind (to reference Senator Schumer’s public threats to Supreme Court Justices Gorsuch, Kavanaugh and Coney Barrett) Like Fort Sumter, it will be noted in history as the action signifying the formal start of the second American Civil War, although the roots and divisions go back many years. They just cannot be papered over any more, even though the legacy media and our own Bangor Daily News will do their best (see the August 10 editorial).

Jayna Smith
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Despite the missed international parade, this year’s International Homecoming Festival was hailed a success by its organizers, all in celebration of the friendship between Calais, Maine and St. Stephen, New Brunswick.

U.S. chairperson Theresa Porter said the attendance at the numerous events was high.  “It’s always hard to judge what kind of crowds to expect, but in spite of 90 plus degree heat, there were still a lot of people around enjoying the events.”

Natalie Boomer
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The Calais Free Library hosted its first ever Annual Art Show for Youth last week. Elementary, middle, and high school students were invited to bring their artwork to the library and put it on display on Thursday, August 4th, as part of an event for the International Homecoming Festival.

What started as a small Blue Seal Feed outlet in 1982,  has now become a thriving family-owned farm supply business, the area’s largest Canadian package receiving hub, and a six-unit apartment complex. To celebrate the Eldridge family establishment, and to honor the muscle behind the business’ growth, the second “Clyde’s Classic Car Show” is being coordinated for September 11th.

Last Friday, August 5, as part of the International Homecoming Festival, Dancing in the Street was in downtown St. Stephen. Hayden and Friends played from 4 to 6:30 p.m., Boundry Street Blues Band played from 7 to 9:30 p.m. and Saving Sweet Polly played from 10 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. Pictured are Hayden and Friends. (Photos by Pierre Little)

Jon Reisman

A Few Choice Orwell Quotes:
“There is no swifter route to the corruption of thought than through the corruption of language.”
“Political language is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.”
“The most effective way to destroy people is to deny and obliterate their own understanding of their history.”

Jayna Smith
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A trip to the grocery store is not typically fun for most, but when summer school students from Woodland Elementary School recently visited Calais IGA for a field trip, a good time was had, all while learning valuable life skills.

For the second consecutive year, students visited Calais IGA as part of their learning.  The 17 students who took the trip to the grocery store also each earned a sweet reward at the end.

Jayna Smith
[email protected]

There’s nothing like a hometown celebration, and that’s just what the Town of Robbinston will be doing on Saturday, August 13, thanks to the Robbinston Historical Society (RHS).

According to Jane Honeck, one of the organizers, Robbinston Days will be an annual event.  “Last year, we celebrated the 200th birthday for the State of Maine and The town of Robbinston.  Because it was such a huge success, we decided to make Robbinston Days an annual event.”