Each month outstanding pupils in grades 5-8 at are honored as Students of the Month. The last group of honorees for 2018-19 were presented with certificates in front of their peers during an assembly in the cafeteria to start the day on Friday, May 31.

The near $7.2 million spending plan is now moved to a referendum in the SAD 4 towns of Abbot, Cambridge, Guilford, Parkman, Sangerville and Wellington on Tuesday, June 11 with residents of the half dozen communities voting either “yes” or “no” to make a district-wide decision on the 2020 budget. More information on the financials is available at www.sad4.org.

Some of the wonderful things to enjoy in the Moosehead region, now that the snow has finally retreated, are the many hiking trails in the area. A nearly decade-old plan to improve and expand the trail system in the region continues to be implemented and volunteers are already working to maintain the trails.

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.

The town of Monson continues to get a remarkable facelift thanks to the Libra Foundation and the improvement efforts of local small business owners. This year the Monson Business Association will celebrate its second annual Nosin’ ‘Round Monson – a town-wide business open house from noon to 5 p.m. on Saturday, June 1.

It was mid-November in the Big Deer Woods. A northeast wind was rocking the hemlock tops and pushing a cold, pelting rain that seemed to penetrate the slicker beneath my wool hunting shirt. The damp, raw day was in my pores. Noon or not, it was time to call it a day.

U.S. Rep. Jared Golden, D-Maine spent Saturday, May 25 visiting with constituents from the Milo/Brownville area and touring local businesses. The day began with coffee and doughnuts at American Legion Post 41 of Milo where the Second District Congressman spoke individually with some veterans and then addressed the group thanking veterans for their service and reflecting on the significance of Memorial Day.

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.

Game Warden Alan Curtis and his K9 Sig located the body of a missing Blanchard man at 11:30 a.m. on Tuesday, May 28.

Larry Worcester, who is originally from Brownville and is a former Washburn High School teacher and long-time Aroostook County educator, has taken the helm of SAD 45 in Washburn and is bringing a spirit of collaboration.

Nearly seven years ago, on July 13, 2012, then-Rep. Ken Fredette, a Republican from Newport, stood behind a podium at the State House and held up a black gadget the size of a cellphone that had a circular strap. It was an electronic monitoring device that would alert authorities if alleged domestic violence offenders went to places where they were forbidden, such as their alleged victim’s home or workplace.

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.

Dexter Regional High School Principal Stephen Bell is honored to announce the Valedictorian for the Class of 2019 is Shannon O’Roak and the Salutatorian is Aino Rudloff-Eastman.

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.

Two cars with teenage drivers behind the wheel and peers in the passenger seats collided head-on. Soon emergency responders were on scene as family members of those in the accident arrived, seeing the horrific scene and fearing the worst about their loved ones. The crash was staged but the lessons were real as Dexter Regional High School hosted the Every 15 Minutes program on the afternoon of May 21.

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.