Charles Shaffer of Sebec is announcing his candidacy for Piscataquis County commissioner, District 2, representing Sebec, Atkinson, Dover-Foxcroft, Medford and Orneville. A graduate of Quinnipiac University School of Law, he has a long history of advocacy and service to people with intellectual disabilities as well individuals dealing with mental health and substance abuse issues. Shaffer is currently a community case manager in Bangor.

While creating an arts community along the shore of Lake Hebron has been at the heart of the Libra Foundation’s efforts to revitalize the Monson area, a newly developed health center should serve as an equally important development for the town’s 680 residents. The Monson Health Center, located in the town’s former elementary school, already is home to primary care services for patients of all ages through Northern Light Health, which opened last week.

The Maine Department of Transportation is doing paving work along parts of Route 7 in Dexter, Garland and Dover-Foxcroft. One work area on Route 7 begins in Dexter, north of the intersection with Route 23, and extends north for nearly six miles, through Garland, ending in Dover-Foxcroft. Another work area is south of the intersection with Grove Street in Dover-Foxcroft.

The Center Theatre and Piscataquis County Ice Arena announced that they are partnering to bring a temporary drive-in movie theater to Dover-Foxcroft. The drive-in, which will be in the ice arena parking lot, is scheduled to show its first movie (“Wonder Woman”) on Friday, June 19 and Saturday, June 20. There will be one showing per night starting at 9. Currently the drive-in is scheduled to show movies for four weeks, but that may be extended depending on demand.

A devoted and dedicated group of hikers is not about to let the current COVID-19 pandemic keep them from honoring fallen soldiers. The 2020 Wilderness Walk for Warriors, created by Houlton resident Chris Robinson to pay tribute to fallen or injured soldiers, kicks off July 11 and features a 10-day, 120-mile journey along the Appalachian Trail to the top of Mount Katahdin.

Bishop Robert Deeley has announced that Fr. Roland Daigle, OFM Cap. has been appointed as a parochial vicar of Our Lady of the Snows Parish (St. Thomas Aquinas Church, Dover-Foxcroft; St. Anne Church, Dexter; SS Francis Xavier & Paul the Apostle Church, Milo) and St. Agnes Parish in Pittsfield.

State environmental officials are looking for a way for 115 communities now sending their trash to landfills after the recent closure of a Hampden waste plant to instead send it to an Orrington facility that burns waste to create electricity. 

Solutions will not happen overnight but some changes could be made to improve downtown Dover-Foxcroft for vehicular and pedestrian traffic alike. Nearly a year ago the town began to look for some possible solutions for the stretch of road where East Main, Pleasant, South, West Main, North and Lincoln streets converge having agreed to use up to $25,000 for the municipality’s 50/50 share with the Maine Department of Transportation (MDOT) on a cooperative agreement for a traffic study. The downtown includes the major routes to Bangor, Dexter, Milo and Greenville. Gorrill Palmer Consulting Engineers Inc. of South Portland came on board as a consultant.

Our plan is to host our Zoom conference series through the summer, every Thursday from 11 a.m. to noon. Each week we will have focused topics based on what we’re hearing from our communities. Our experts in the fields of medicine, infection prevention, human resources, mental health and more offer guidance, tools and materials so people can leave the session and apply to their situation.

On the morning of June 12, the long-awaited project for creating a waterfront park at the beginning of Lakeview Street in Greenville has come closer to completion with the signing of documents between landowner EJ Richardson and Steve Levesque, president and executive director of the Moosehead Lake Region Economic Development Corporation (MLREDC), which spearheaded this ambitious project for the people of Greenville and those that visit this beautiful part of the world.

Sen. Paul Davis, R-Sangerville has received the endorsement of the National Rifle Association (NRA) in his primary election to return to the Maine State Senate in District 4.

The Commons at Central Hall is collaborating with community partner organizations to present a series called “PTSD Conversations: Our Communities Response.” This series of four virtual presentations over the next four months will appear on Facebook Live and Zoom.  The first of the series called “A Journey Towards Healing” focuses on equine therapy for veterans and will occur at 1 p.m. on Wednesday, June 24.

In addition to her role as SAD 4 Superintendent, Kelly MacFadyen may be returning to the Greenville-based Union 60 but in a different capacity than before. SAD 4 officials are considering a potential service agreement between the district and Union 60 for superintendent services and other functions in the 2020-21 academic year.

But the RSU 68 superintendent of schools was more than willing to relive that experience along with the teachers and staff at the SeDoMoCha School, who toured the district Wednesday, June 10 morning to see their students in person for the first time in nearly three months due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The new waste plant in Hampden has had to temporarily close this month as it struggles to pay its expenses and faces a new lawsuit from a contractor that alleges it’s owed at least $1.2 million for staffing and running the facility. 

Upcoming events around the region.

Among the honorees is Ethan Chadwick of Abbot, who is studying precision machining technology at Northern Maine Community College in Presque Isle. Chadwick is a 2019 graduate of Piscataquis Community High School.

All genealogists want to share research with future descendants. Will your descendants celebrate you or will you be cursed as the genealogical equivalent of Cinderella’s stepmother? In other words, just how helpful are you being to future researchers? Here are some questions to ask yourself.