Ever want to spend a day in the field with a state fish expert? One lucky winner and a friend will win just such an opportunity in the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife’s third “Keeper of the Maine Outdoors Experience” contest.

ixteen years ago, the last time a governor-initiated group attempted to better understand a growing ATV community in the state, the machines that riders were taking into the woods were small, light and mobile. That’s not the case anymore. And that’s why an ATV task force formed by Maine Gov. Janet Mills is tackling a new slate of ATV issues related to bigger, wider and heavier machines that have simply outgrown the existing ATV trail system.

Today, let’s take a deep breath, appreciate what we have, and reflect on how quickly everything could change. Perhaps we go out in the morning, walk into our back field for a bit of exercise, or to cut some wood, or to dig around for some gemstones that we know are waiting in that sandy pile of soil. And perhaps we never come back.

During a Sept. 4 school board meeting in the library Director of Building and Grounds Donnie Richards said the majority of three dozen heaters arrived earlier in the day. “The piping’s going well, most of the middle school classrooms are done and they’re working through the night,” he said about the contractors.

The American Legion 14th District -- Piscataquis County - will hold its first meeting of 2019-20 on Saturday, Sept. 14. It will be hosted by Conner-Trafton Post 119 at the Masonic Lodge, 34 Hudson Avenue.

Residents of the region looking to improve their lives through various academic and career programs can do so through the Piscataquis Valley Adult Education Cooperative, while also having the opportunity to take college courses through Eastern Maine Community College and the University of Maine-Augusta in the same building as the PVAEC main office at the Penquis Higher Education Center on Mayo Street.

Last week the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife’s advisory council approved a rule that sounds ominous, but will actually change very little for the state’s anglers. Simply stated, in the state’s north zone, the general fishing law will ban the use of live fish as bait.

U.S. Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine and Angus King, I-Maine announced that the State of Maine, Penquis and Through These Doors received a total of $1,993,850 to help stop domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking and protect victims.

Help, hope, and giving to our communities -- that is what Pine Tree Hospice volunteers do. We offer non-medical support to individuals and families in Piscataquis, Penobscot and Somerset counties who are dealing with progressive, life-limiting illnesses and/or grief.

The BJHS Alumni Association awarded 13 scholarships at the recent annual reunion to grandchildren and great-grandchildren of members of the Alumni Association or deceased members of the association.

The Piscataquis County Commissioners authorized district attorney’s office staff to purchase a replacement vehicle for Investigator Scott Arno to use, during an Aug. 20 meeting.

With students’ summer vacation nearing an end in several weeks, work continues on an upgrade to the heating system at the Penquis Valley School as well as an elevator installation for the building.

One year after announcing new President & CEO Lee Umphrey, EMDC (Eastern Maine Development Corporation) continues to evolve with a brand refresh and new website at https://www.emdc.org/.

This summer area Democrats undertook a “Write On” service project and collected 3,486 pencils for SAD 41 schools. Pencils came in from different areas of Maine as well as North Carolina and Washington.

Every five years the town of Bowerbank celebrates community with Bowerbank Days, held Aug. 9-10 in 2019 with a mid-morning parade on Saturday as the procession traveled down the Bowerbank Road past the town hall and fire station.

Recent Penquis Valley High School graduate Cymeria Robshaw, who will be attending the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts, was recognized as a Red Sox Service Scholarship recipient during a pregame ceremony at Fenway Park before the Red Sox-Tampa Bay Rays game on July 30. The program awarded students from public high schools across New England with $1,000 scholarships toward their college education based on academic performance, financial aid eligibility and demonstrated community service.

To alleviate cramped conditions and lack of privacy inside the main sheriff’s office in the same larger complex as the Piscataquis County Jail on Court Street in Dover-Foxcroft, in the spring of 2018 the patrol and investigation divisions moved up Route 15 to Guilford at the former primary school building. The law enforcement space previously was the home of the SAD 4 administrative office suite. With the school building for sale county officials are working with the town of Guilford on an agreement to rent and then purchase, following an affirmative vote at the annual town meeting in mid-March, the C.H. Lightbody Medical Center on Park Street.

On Tuesday evening, July 30 nearly 40 people gathered at the Brownville Community Church to view home movies recorded in Brownville Junction and along both the Canadian Pacific and the Bangor & Aroostook rail lines by Sam Michaud and his son Andrew in the 1940s and 1950s.