On Sept. 7 the Piscataquis County Soil and Water Conservation District (PCSWCD) honored Alexandra Conover Bennett by presenting her with the Outstanding Educator of the Year Award at the East Sangerville Grange Farm-To-Table Suppah for her exceptional work over the years in natural resource ecology and education.

After years of uncertainty about what to do with the Derby Community Hall, the selectmen accepted a $5,501 bid made by Claude Marquis for the center during a Sept. 4 meeting. Marquis’ plans are to renovate the upper level of the building into a pair of apartments while keeping the basement open as a community space.

Pilots and spectators both flocked to Greenville over the weekend for the 45th annual International Seaplane Fly-In from Sept. 6-9. On the morning of Saturday, Sept. 8 crowds gathered on the shore of Moosehead Lake downtown to watch seaplanes land and take off from the water.

Reps. Seth Berry, D-Bowdoinham, Thomas Skolfield, R-Weld, and Norman Higgins, I-Dover-Foxcroft, have formed the House Broadband Caucus to advocate for building out Maine’s broadband infrastructure in rural parts of the state.

The Spotted Cat Winery is a wonderfully discoverable gem in the Greenville area; it is a small home-based farm winery specializing in natural and handcrafted wines, according to their brochure. This place is named for their cat, Aphrodite, who presides regally over her two diligent humans who grow the fruits and tend the tanks to create the varieties of small-batch wines they produce every year.

The steamboat Katahdin, historic flagship for the Moosehead Marine Museum, is back to plying the waters of Moosehead Lake after engine failure on July 20 led to her being out of commission. Her engines have been replaced and she began her regular cruising schedule on Friday, September 7.

There’s nothing quite like sipping a cold craft beer, enjoying a soft homemade pretzel and watching goats play.

Thanks to the generosity of a number of community partners, no student at Piscataquis Community Elementary School will be lacking school supplies this new academic year as dozens of backpacks and hundreds of items for the classroom have been donated.

Once again in the 2018-19 school year SeDoMoCha Elementary School families will have the opportunity to read together as part of a shared reading experience through the ninth annual One Book, One School program. For about a month through early October students and family members will read and discuss Laura Ingalls Wilder’s “Little House in the Big Woods” and then be able to attend an ending celebration on Thursday, Oct. 4.

Quilters of all experience levels are welcome to gather at The Commons at Central Hall from 1 to 3 p.m. each Tuesday. The Adult Quilting Group, facilitated by Cathy Flockton of Dover-Foxcroft and Roe O’Toole of Dexter, began in June, but “it seems like every two weeks a new person shows up, and that’s fine. The more the merrier,” O’Toole said.

Last month the Piscataquis County Commissioners gave approval to a radio system upgrade for the Piscataquis County Sheriff’s Office to replace antiquated dispatch equipment with components dating to the 1980s. County officials heard from Dispatch Sgt. Gary Grant who mentioned how he has been working for several years to upgrade the telecommunications division of the department through grants and funding sources -- totaling about $72,000 -- outside the county budget but said more money would be needed to complete the project.

The Piscataquis County Commissioners recently filed a motion to intervene in the state’s lawsuit against the owner of Moosehead Mountain Resort in the Greenville and Moosehead Lake region. The motion to intervene is the most recent significant development in ongoing legal proceedings of consequence to the future of the ski resort and the economic health of the region.

Each year the Piscataquis County Soil and Water Conservation District (PCSWCD) recognizes a cooperator in Piscataquis County who has implemented exceptional conservation practices on their land. This year, the Appalachian Mountain Club (AMC) Maine Woods Initiative will be honored for their outstanding on-the ground conservation efforts, educational outreach and overall excellence in sustainable management of the land.

Shaw Public Library in Greenville has been through some remarkable changes in the last five years. It has doubled its available space with the addition of a house adjacent to the original structure and become an invaluable destination for anyone looking to be enriched, entertained and enhanced by new learning experiences. It’s a delightful journey through this library from the Book Barn, where books are donated and shared, to the adult books and information in the original building.

On average, self-published authors sell 250 copies of their book over a lifetime. Emily Curtis -- a 2018 graduate of Foxcroft Academy -- has sold 14,000 in just over a year. Last June, Emily released her debut poetry collection “in the absence of the sun.” What started as a class project transformed into a publishing success.

A hard-hitting thunderstorm blew through the woods and lakes north of Moosehead Lake on Aug. 29, churning the air at speeds that reached nearly 70 mph and indicating to the National Weather Service that Maine may have seen its first tornado of the year.

Dover-Foxcroft Police Sgt. Todd Lyford was honored by the town for his response during a fiery car crash in late July, during an Aug. 27 selectmen’s meeting. Sgt. Lyford was presented with a formal award for valor recognizing his actions in getting the car driver out of the vehicle, at great risk to himself.

Three Maine teachers have been announced as state finalists for the 2019 Maine Teacher of the Year. Among the three is 2018 Piscataquis County Teacher of the Year Joseph Hennessey who teaches American, World, AP Literature and Composition and Camden Conference Seminar for grades 11-12 at Piscataquis Community High School. He has been teaching for six years.