Three prestigious awards were announced at Foxcroft Academy’s 2018 Alumni Banquet, the Dr. Mary Chandler Lowell Award, the Tillson D. Thomas Award and the James S. Holmes Award. This year’s respective recipients are Linda Clark Howard ’63, Gene Philpot and Dr. Albert S. Buck.

The Maine Warden Service promoted a 25-year-veteran of the service to the position of Lieutenant on Aug. 14 in Augusta. Lieutenant Dan Menard was selected to oversee one of five Warden Service divisions based in Sidney. Lt. Menard filled a vacancy created after Lieutenant Tim Place retired a short time ago after serving more than 31 distinguished years with the Maine Warden Service.

Columnist and author Lew-Ellyn Hughes says she “grew up everywhere,” being the daughter of an often transferred service man. But Greenville was where she felt most at home.  “My parents were born and brought up in Greenville as well as my maternal grandparents – so this was really home. My father wanted to make sure we had roots; we always came back to Moosehead for summers.”

Following a decade of work to preserve and rebuild the more than 135-year-old Central Hall on East Main Street in Dover-Foxcroft, the newly christened The Commons at Central Hall was formally opened to the public in mid-May. The building is the site of an event center on the upper level and a senior commons/gathering space on the first floor with an adult day service center planned for the future at the back end of the first floor.

The Piscataquis County Soil and Water Conservation District (PCSWCD) is part of the effort with its American chestnut germplasm conservation orchard at the Law Farm on the Lee Cemetery Road. A sign informing visitors of the orchard, with over 100 seedlings, was installed during the late afternoon on Aug. 2.

The Piscataquis County Economic Development Council (PCEDC), in partnership with Helping Hands with Heart (HHH), has received a $10,000 grant from a component fund of the Maine Community Foundation to investigate shared concerns about workforce development, youth aspirations, local youth and the barriers to successful employment in the towns served by five area school districts.

Each year, the Piscataquis County Soil and Water Conservation District (PCSWCD) honors an educator working in the county with the Outstanding Conservation Educator of the Year award. The awarded educator’s dedication to fostering students’ learning and understanding of natural resource ecology and related curriculum is why they were selected. This year, the PCSWCD staff and board of supervisors will present Alexandra Conover Bennett, Maine guide and professor at the College of the Atlantic.

On Saturday, Aug. 4 at approximately 12:45 p.m. Maine Warden Service divers being pulled underwater with planing boards located the body of Robert Hammond, 66, of Hanson, Mass.

The eighth annual Depot Celebration and Railroad Workers Reunion takes place at the Greenville Junction Depot on Saturday, Aug. 18, so mark your calendars! Everyone is invited to take a tour of the old station and learn about railroad history in this area from those who knew, those who worked for the railroad or had family involved.

The SAD 41 directors had hoped to start the combined project this summer, but instead the plan will be for the elevator to be installed prior to the start of classes and the sprinkler work to be done in the summer of 2019.

The pilot of the plane that crashed in Greenville had flown for 10 years and was described by a family friend as “meticulous.” Local authorities identified the three people who died in the Monday, July 30 plane crash as a Canadian couple and their adult daughter.

The Academy of General Dentistry, a professional association of more than 40,000 general dentists who are dedicated to professional excellence through the pursuit of continuing education, is pleased to announce that Daniel L. Steinke, DDS, MAGD of Steinke & Caruso Dental Care in Dover-Foxcroft has earned the 2018 Lifelong Learning and Service Recognition for his commitment to lifelong learning, volunteering his services to communities in need, mentoring associates and new dentists and participating in organized dentistry. This is the second time Dr. Steinke has received this prestigious award.

Observer photo/Stuart HedstromTALES OF THE WATER — A mid-morning parade from outer Elm Street to the downtown athletic field helped celebrate Guilford’s annual Piscataquis River Festival on Saturday, July 28.

Three people died Monday, July 30 when their small plane crashed in Greenville on its way to Prince Edward Island, police said.

Maine’s rich and colorful outdoor heritage has over the years produced a parade of prominent and not-so-prominent personalities, all of whom helped shape and imprint this memorable and lasting legacy. Greenville bush pilot Dick Folsom was a man who left his mark in the annals of Maine’s outdoor history.

U.S. Marine Corps Sgt. Gregory A. Sloat of Dover-Foxcroft, who perished in the crash of an HMH 463 helicopter in Vietnam on Feb. 18, 1971, will be awarded the Purple Heart, thanks to the diligence of his fellow Marines.

The man accused of stealing a Dexter police cruiser while handcuffed in May and leading police on a high-speed chase down rural roads was indicted July 26 by the Penobscot County grand jury on nearly a dozen charges.

The selectmen set the tax commitment for the 2018-19 fiscal year during a July 23 meeting, with the mill rate rising 30 cents from last year to a rate of $21.20 per $1,000 in assessed property.