A Piscataquis County Sheriff’s Office lieutenant who has served as the DARE officer in area schools for more than two decades, goes above and beyond the call of duty and who gives back in other ways is now the Grange Northeast Region Law Enforcement Officer of the Year. Lt. Jamie Kane received news of the honor during a surprise presentation by Valley Grange Lecturer and Program Director Walter Boomsma during a morning grade 5 DARE class on Friday, March 29 at Piscatquis Community Elementary School.

Game Warden Investigator Josh Bubier was honored as the Maine Game Warden of the Year as the Maine Warden Service celebrated its 139th anniversary March 27 at the Winslow VFW with the annual awards banquet. Bubier is stationed in Division D in Greenville.

On Saturday, April 27 residents will gather in the gymnasium at the Morton Avenue Municipal Building at 9 a.m. to vote on a nine-article warrant during the annual town meeting. Items approved on April 27 go to a referendum ballot on Tuesday, June 11.

Medical cannabis was legalized in Maine 20 years ago and since that time patients either cultivated their own plants or authorized a caregiver to do it for them. This past December a new medical cannabis law took effect giving Maine’s approximately 50,000 medical patients broader access to cannabis and cannabis products, thus making the process safer and laws easier to enforce.

American veterans who served their country richly deserve our appreciation, no matter where, when or how they served. If they wore a U.S. military uniform, they were in the freedom-preservation business. Next to those who made the ultimate sacrifice, stand another very special American serviceman or woman – the disabled vet.

Food Animal Concerns Trust (FACT), a national nonprofit that promotes the safe and humane production of meat, milk and eggs, awarded a Fund-a-Farmer Grant to Turning Page Farm, owned by Joy and Tim Bueschen. This grant is designed to expand humane farming. Turning Page Farm will use its award to improve pasture and install fencing for goats and chickens on pasture.

Each month outstanding pupils in grades 5-8 at Piscataquis Community Elementary School are honored as Students of the Month. The 10 March honorees were presented with certificates in front of their peers during morning meeting in the cafeteria on Wednesday, March 27.

January and February Students of the Month at Piscataquis Community High School in Guilford.

Premium Choice Broadband is nearing the final stages of its latest project to bring high-speed fiber internet connections to rural Maine. The company has invested $2 million in private funds and installed over 40 miles of fiber-optic cable connecting Dover-Foxcroft and downtown Monson with what is the fastest internet connection in the state.

SeDoMoCha Builders Club Adviser Heather Whitten presents a $750 check to Foxcroft Academy Key Club President Kelli Black for the club’s Thirst Project fundraising to benefit the non-profit organization with an aim to bring safe drinking water to communities around the world where it is not immediately available.

Citizens of the 13 Hospital Administration District 4 member communities should have a voice in determining the fate of the potential merger between the district’s Mayo Regional Hospital in Dover-Foxcroft and the statewide Northern Light Health system, Sebec residents indicated with their vote at a special town meeting during the evening of March 21 at the Harland A. Ladd Municipal Building.

A Superior Court judge has dismissed a lawsuit that sought to halt the ongoing merger between Mayo Regional Hospital in Dover-Foxcroft with Northern Light Health, the statewide health care organization that includes Northern Light Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor.

The Foxcroft Academy Marching Band’s most recent fundraiser for a return trip to Disney World involved selling Krispy Kreme donuts to the community. On March 22 Foxcroft Academy/SeDoMoCha School Resource Officer Pete Dennis volunteered his time to help deliver the donuts around town, joking that what is funner than a cop delivering donuts.

Dexter Regional High School’s Seeds Of Peace students led a dialogue session on Tuesday, March 19. Student leaders from clubs and organizations at the high school were invited to address issues and begin to discuss solutions.

A 23-year-old LaGrange man who stole two separate vehicles last spring -- a Dexter police cruiser and a Toyota Celica belonging to a veteran of the Iraq War -- and led authorities on a high-speed chase that ended when he crashed the Celica will serve five years of a 10-year sentence.

Next month a half dozen Penquis Valley High School students will be immersed in a different culture and environment, switching from pine tree forests to rainforests, as they spend April vacation in Central America on their “Exploring Costa Rica’s Natural Wonders” trip with Spanish teacher Michele Cabral through EF Education Tours.

The board of directors at Northern Light Health unanimously voted March 20 to merge with Mayo Regional Hospital in Dover-Foxcroft, which would make the small Piscataquis County hospital the health care system’s 10th.

The Piscataquis County Emergency Management Agency (EMA) is moving ahead with the plans to construct a new agency storage garage for vehicles and equipment on the county’s East Main Street campus.