Crime in Maine dropped for the seventh consecutive year in 2018, according to data from the Maine Department of Public Safety released Wednesday, but there were more assaults and homicides compared with 2017.

A number of events are planned for the weekend and on the holiday as part of the annual Dover-Foxcroft Halloween BooNanza. A full schedule and more information is available at http://www.boonanza.info/.

More than 300,000 Maine homeowners can expect a $100 check early next year under a new state law. The households that can expect the payment qualified for the homestead exemption in 2019. The homestead exemption reduces a home’s taxable value by $20,000, so a taxpayer pays property taxes on only $130,000 in value for a $150,000 home. Homeowners can only claim the homestead exemption on their primary residence.

The Center Theatre has announced that theatre officials are building a second movie screen and plan to have it open to the public in April of 2020. The new screen will seat 40 to 50 people and will be located in the space formerly occupied by the Center Coffee House.

The Piscataquis Observer’s Stuart Hedstrom picked up top honors in the food story/feature writing category among the state’s smaller weekly publications from the Maine Press Association in the 2019 MPA Better Newspaper Contest on October 19 during the organization's annual awards banquet at the South Portland DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel.

Ahead of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency’s National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day this Saturday, October 26, U.S. Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine and Angus King, I-Maine announced the locations of the Maine collection sites, the full list is at https://takebackday.dea.gov/. Area sites include the Dexter, Dover-Foxcroft, Greenville and Milo police departments and Piscataquis County sheriff’s office.

The Dover-Foxcroft Window Dressers workshop, with The Commons Energy Collaborative, completed its annual weeklong build on Saturday, October 19 at the Dexter Town Hall, constructing 300 insulating window inserts for 45 customers and with the help of over 45 volunteers.

The Dover-Foxcroft municipal airport at Charles A. Chase Jr. Memorial Field on Pine Street could become the home of a four megawatt solar project, the Dover-Foxcroft selectmen learned during an Oct. 15 meeting. In order for the project to move forward, the airport would need to be decommissioned and a public hearing on the proposal has been scheduled for 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, November 12 at the Morton Avenue Municipal Building.

Staff at the Hibbard Skilled Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Dover-Foxcroft want to wish one of their assisted living residents a very happy 100th birthday. Earl Chase was born in Augusta, on October 18, 1919.

The Commons at Central Hall is growing with programs and activities to serve the Piscataquis area. In order to fulfill the mission statement to “provide programs that create and preserve memories, build community, and enhance personal vitality by including people of all ages” successfully, a new program manager, Jeremy Loguercio, and a new volunteer coordinator, Jessica Brasier, were hired in September.

The Travis Mills Foundation has been providing support and respite to combat-wounded veterans and their families since 2013. Next month Bangor Savings Bank -- which has branches in Dexter, Dover-Foxcroft and Greenville -- will put the foundation on a literal fast track for growth when it gifts its primary Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series car sponsorship to the nonprofit for the race at Homestead-Miami Speedway in Florida.

Now, after decades of preparing and serving the county’s best food, the kitchen is in dire need of a serious renovation. Handed-down counters and boxes that are hung as cabinets without doors have become grossly inadequate -- the cement floor has become the scourge of volunteers’ backs.

For close to two decades nearly 3,000 third grade students across the region have each been given a dictionary thanks to the Valley Grange and the organization’s Words for Thirds Dictionary Project. The first batch of dictionaries for 2019 were given out on the afternoon of Oct. 15 to approximately 75 students from the four grade 3 classrooms at the SeDoMoCha Elementary School in Dover-Foxcroft. Pupils and teachers traveled to the Guilford Grange Hall to receive their books.

For the first time in three years, the Maine Teacher of the Year is from outside Piscataquis County. On Oct. 10 at Gorham Middle School the Maine Department of Education and Educate Maine named alternative education teacher Heather Whitaker Maine’s 2020 Teacher of the Year. She follows SeDoMoCha School music teacher Kaitlin Young in 2018 and Piscataquis Community High School English instructor Joseph Hennessey last year as recent honorees.

At a recent meeting the Kiwanis Club of Dover-Foxcroft inducted three new members. From left are Patty Davis with sponsor Paul Davis, Joy Gregory with sponsor Brian Woodworth and Kevin Sargent Sargent with sponsor Jack Clukey.

The Maine Grocers & Food Producers Association is proud to announce Will’s Shop ‘n Save of Dover-Foxcroft as the 2019 Grocer of the Year.

Andrew Torbett of Atkinson is formally announcing his intent to seek the Republican nomination to run for County Commissioner of Piscataquis County in District 2 -- which includes the towns of Bowerbank, Dover-Foxcroft, Medford, Orneville Twp and Sebec in addition to Atkinson Township.

Over 50 people gathered at Stutzman’s Farm Café in Sangerville on the evening of October 3 to observe Domestic Violence Awareness Month. Participants enjoyed soup, salad and wood-fired pizza while listening to the music of Craig Stutzman.