Following more than two months of learning about how to resist drugs and alcohol, make good decisions and more, SeDoMoCha Middle School fifth-graders celebrated completion of the Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E.) program with a graduation ceremony on the morning of Tuesday, June 11 in the school cafeteria.

The 2019 Maine Whoopie Pie Festival has expanded this year to include a new event at Dover True Value Hardware. The store will be hosting its first annual "Dover True Value Homeshow Expo" in the business parking lot from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, June 22.

Matthew Spooner has been hired as the director of operations for the soon to be completed Piscataquis County Ice Arena (PICA). He will start the new position July 1 as the arena is on target to open in September.

The state legislation that’s required for Mayo Regional Hospital in Dover-Foxcroft to merge with Northern Light Health could be approved by next week, but it won’t include conditions proposed by a Piscataquis County lawmaker that would have given the towns that now own the hospital more control over the deal.

After more than a year of trying to get the project close to budget, a Piscataquis County Emergency Management Agency (EMA) four-bay storage garage for vehicles and equipment on the county’s East Main Street campus may be constructed this summer/fall.

Atlantic Partners EMS brought the Seat Belt Convincer and a distracted driving video simulator -- students could connect their own phones to the system -- to SeDoMoCha as eighth-graders learned about the dangers of distracted driving and the importance of traffic safety.

Local chapters of the National Honor Society.

The summer food service program, sponsored by the RSU 68 food service program, returns this year from mid-June to mid-August at the SeDoMoCha School -- 63 Harrison Avenue. All children under 18 are welcome for free breakfast and lunch Monday through Friday with breakfast served from 8-9 a.m. and lunch from 11 a.m. to noon. All meals must be eaten on site, and no application is needed.

As state lawmakers continue to evaluate a bill that would allow Mayo Regional Hospital in Dover-Foxcroft to merge with the statewide Northern Light Health system, they must also consider a recent proposal that would give more control of the process to the communities that now oversee the hospital.

In less than a month thousands of people will be coming to downtownDover-Foxcroft for the 11th annual Maine Whoopie Pie Festival. Leading up to and during the event scheduled from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, June 22, several roads will be closed to vehicles and the selectmen reviewed the traffic plan with festival organizer/Center Theatre Executive Director Patrick Myers during a May 29 meeting.

A proposed $11,784,238 RSU 68 budget for the 2019-20 academic year was approved at the annual district budget meeting on May 28 at the SeDoMoCha School. The spending package will now go to a referendum in the towns of Charleston, Dover-Foxcroft, Monson and Sebec on Tuesday, June 11 with residents of the four communities voting either “yes” or “no” to make a district-wide decision on the total amount.

American Legion Post 29 Commander Adrienne Clarke gave the keynote address during the 2019 Memorial Day observance in Dover-Foxcroft on Monday, May 27. A parade proceeded from Summer Street to Monument Square for a ceremony where Clarke addressed the crowd on what Memorial Day signifies. The procession then moved down East Main Street for a wreath and flower ceremony over the Piscataquis River bridge and then marchers walked to the courthouse.

In observance of Arbor Week 2019 from May 19-25, the town of Dover-Foxcroft conducted its annual tree planting. Pictured are, from left, the maintenance crew of Erin Speed, Gabie Johnson and Maintenance Director Tom Riitano. They planted two red bud and two flowering crab trees at Browns Mill Park on the Vaughn Road.

The Forest Society of Maine (FSM) is responsible for monitoring the Moosehead Region Conservation Easement (MRCE), 359,000 acres of permanently conserved working forestlands located east and west of Moosehead Lake. When the MRCE was put in place in 2012, a related effort was launched to identify 121 acres, within the MRCE boundaries, where non-motorized trails should be constructed or improved, and made permanent with trail easements. Decisions about trail locations were largely driven by a local committee, of which FSM Executive Director Karin Tilberg was a member.

The 11 students are Ella Weber, kindergarten; Grace Wasel, grade 1; Jordon Dill, grade 2; Evie Wasel, grade 3; Jenna Hartford, grade 4; Samantha Kinney, elementary unified arts; Susan LaBree, grade 5; James Estes, grade 6; Tristan Turner, grade 7; Eli Sharrow, grade 8; and Evalyn Fisk, middle school unified arts.

Many visitors to Baxter State Park, the Golden Road, the Katahdin Woods and Waters Scenic Byway and other destinations in and near Piscataquis County will be able to learn more about the region, and use some new public restroom facilities, at a forthcoming Maine Department of Transportation (MDOT) information hub at Millinocket Lake by the North Woods Trading Post and the Golden Road in T1 R9.

A 10-year-old who battled a brain tumor took a step toward his dream of one day becoming a firefighter by being named an honorary junior firefighter with the Dover-Foxcroft Fire Department during a presentation at the station on May 17. Brayson Dunton, who is a fourth-grader at the SeDoMoCha Elementary School, also had the opportunity to take a ride in the cab of his favorite ladder truck, being joined for the trip by his friend and classmate Evan Seavey.

Two Dover-Foxcroft women who have worked to provide comforting blankets to countless children through Project Linus and helped provide a happy holidays for numerous families via the Dover-Foxcroft Kiwanis Community Christmas Project, among other volunteer efforts for each, have been honored by the Valley Grange with the organization’s 2019 Community Citizen of the Year honor. Barbara Austin and Judy Raymond received the recognition on the evening of May 17 at the Grange Hall.