After more than a year of trying to get the project close to budget, a Piscataquis County Emergency Management Agency (EMA) four-bay storage garage for vehicles and equipment on the county’s East Main Street campus may be constructed this summer/fall.

Atlantic Partners EMS brought the Seat Belt Convincer and a distracted driving video simulator -- students could connect their own phones to the system -- to SeDoMoCha as eighth-graders learned about the dangers of distracted driving and the importance of traffic safety.

“Did the last bear referendum affect you in any way personally?” she asked. That question was unexpected. It caught me off guard. A good question, though. It took me back in time to the highly-charged bear referendum, when Maine voters decided the fate of recreational bear hunting as we know it.

When Amy Bagley Lake and her two children were killed by her estranged husband when he was out on bail in 2011 in Dexter, friends, family, co-workers and people across Maine dedicated themselves to trying to prevent such a tragedy from happening to others. By organizing and participating in an annual 5K race, they raised tens of thousands of dollars intended for the purchase of devices that could alert victims and police when alleged domestic violence offenders illegally showed up at the victims’ homes, schools or workplaces.

Local chapters of the National Honor Society.

On the evening of Friday, May 31 visual and performing arts students of Piscataquis Community High School in Guilford presented their second annual combined Arts Cabaret. This year’s theme was “An Ocean Odyssey.”

The summer food service program, sponsored by the RSU 68 food service program, returns this year from mid-June to mid-August at the SeDoMoCha School -- 63 Harrison Avenue. All children under 18 are welcome for free breakfast and lunch Monday through Friday with breakfast served from 8-9 a.m. and lunch from 11 a.m. to noon. All meals must be eaten on site, and no application is needed.

As state lawmakers continue to evaluate a bill that would allow Mayo Regional Hospital in Dover-Foxcroft to merge with the statewide Northern Light Health system, they must also consider a recent proposal that would give more control of the process to the communities that now oversee the hospital.

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.