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.

In a recent ceremony and reception held at the Abbot Town Hall, Selectman Mickey Knowles presented Abbot’s Boston Post Cane to nonagenarian Thelma Weymouth.

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.

Plans are well underway for the Piscataquis County Democrats annual fall fundraising dinner. The True Blue North Fundraiser takes place at the East Sangerville Grange on Saturday, October 19 with a social hour beginning at 5 p.m.

SAD 4 officials have found a solution for design and access issues with the district website at www.sad4.org and providing information to students, parents and the community. During an October 8 school board meeting at Piscataquis Community High School the directors authorized Superintendent Kelly MacFadyen to use up to $15,000 from the minor capital improvement fund to contract with Apptegy on revamping and then maintaining the website.

Valley Grange of Guilford notes that the fall event calendar includes plenty of opportunities for celebrating and strengthening American values and hometown roots.

Mindy Sanborn recently became the new director at Guilford Memorial Library. Sanborn has a strong background in technology and business management. She hopes to maintain much of the home-like feeling of the library while giving patrons access to modern technologies.

The Maine Legislature may be out of session at the moment but like many of his colleagues, Sen. Paul Davis, R-Sangerville is busy with important work that will help guide the next Legislative session when it begins in January. Sen. Davis has been appointed to the Working Group on Energy of the Maine Climate Change Council

A potential move of the patrol and investigation divisions of the Piscataquis County Sheriff’s Office from the former primary school building in Guilford across town to the C.H. Lightbody Medical Center on Park Street could be up in the air as the Piscataquis County Commissioners opted to table a decision on signing a lease with the town of Guilford during an Oct. 1 meeting. The commissioners were a bit unsure of signing a 3-year contract with another site in Guilford having recently come to their attention.

It's been a year since the names of nine hospitals stretching from Presque Isle to Portland changed to reflect the new identity of their parent group, Northern Light Health.

Doors to the Piscataquis County Ice Arena on West Main Street were formally opened with a ribbon cutting on Monday, Sept. 30. The $5.5 million project, funded by the Libra Foundation and being managed day-to-day by Foxcroft Academy, had some distinguished guests including Gov. Janet Mills and Hockey Hall of Fame member Ray Bourque who played for the Boston Bruins for more than two decades.

The Piscataquis Observer will be published on Friday each week beginning with the issue of Oct. 11. The change will allow us to provide you with more timely coverage of events occurring early to mid-week.

In 1820 Maine became the 23rd state, separating from Massachusetts, and the Grand Lodge of Masons in Maine was established. The first Governor of the State of Maine, William King, was also the first Grand Master of Masons in Maine. In recognition and celebration of these historic events Chris Russell, District Deputy Grand Master of Maine’s 5th Masonic District, has organized a celebration for Saturday, Oct. 5 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Piscataquis Valley Fairgrounds.

Partners for Peace, the domestic violence resource center serving Piscataquis and Penobscot counties, will be observing Domestic Violence Awareness Month with a local End Domestic Violence Days event from 6 to 8 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 3 at Stutzman’s Farm Stand and Bakery in Sangerville.

The nine newest Students of the Month at PCES are fifth-graders Chase Lander and Haylee Marshall, Violet Bolduc and Caleb McKusick representing grade 6; grade 7 students Shyann Dever and Devan Pelkey; and eighth-graders Dominic Cookson, Chy-Leigh Duncan and Emily Easler.

The parent company of the Bangor Daily News is the new owner of the Penobscot Times, a small weekly newspaper that covers Old Town, Orono and surrounding towns.