Next month a new county manager will start work as the Piscataquis County Commissioners appointed Michael L. Williams of Greenbush to the position during a June 18 meeting. Williams will start work on Monday, July 8, succeeding the retiring Tom Lizotte.

Moose are a pretty common sight in the Maine woods and along rural roadways, but seeing one coming out of a building is pretty rare. A Piscataquis County Sheriff’s Office corrections officer happened to be passing by when a moose exited a former pizzeria in downtown Dover-Foxcroft early Friday morning, stepping through the plate-glass window it apparently had smashed to enter the building.

Following more than two months of learning about how to resist drugs and alcohol, make good decisions and more, SeDoMoCha Middle School fifth-graders celebrated completion of the Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E.) program with a graduation ceremony on the morning of Tuesday, June 11 in the school cafeteria.

A Dexter police dog helped detect narcotics in a car that police stopped at about 10 a.m. Saturday, June 8. Dexter police said they arrested a Dexter man and woman after they stopped the car and charged them with aggravated trafficking of scheduled drugs.

Maine game wardens received a report of a hiker suffering a medical emergency on the Appalachian Trail shortly after noon on Friday, June 7. Penobscot Sheriff’s Office received the 911 call from Devin Kaufman, 25 of Fairfield, who reported he was hiking southbound near Big Beaver Pond before dispatchers lost contact with him.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Game wardens located a man lost northeast of Kokadjo on Saturday, May 18. Gregory Schaefer, 63 of Newcastle, became lost late in the morning while looking for shed moose antlers near Seventh Roach Pond.

A 10-year-old who battled a brain tumor took a step toward his dream of one day becoming a firefighter by being named an honorary junior firefighter with the Dover-Foxcroft Fire Department during a presentation at the station on May 17. Brayson Dunton, who is a fourth-grader at the SeDoMoCha Elementary School, also had the opportunity to take a ride in the cab of his favorite ladder truck, being joined for the trip by his friend and classmate Evan Seavey.

On Saturday, May 4 American Legion Unit 41 Auxiliary of Milo hosted a luncheon to thank area first responders. There were 35 in attendance, representing the Milo Police Department, Three Rivers Ambulance and the Milo, Brownville, Sebec and LaGrange fire departments. Each organization was presented with a plaque and certificate in recognition of all the work done to protect the communities.

A Maine Warden Service aircraft located two missing Millinocket women at 8:30 a.m. on Tuesday, April 30 finding the pair standing alongside their disabled vehicle on the Caucomgomac Road in T6 R15 in northern Piscataquis County near the Somerset County line.

Two police officers were involved in the shooting of a 40-year-old man in Medford on Friday, according to Piscataquis County Sheriff Robert Young.

The impaired driving simulation event “Every 15 Minutes” comes to the Penquis Valley School on Tuesday and Wednesday, May 7-8. Every 15 Minutes is a two-day program which demonstrates to high school students the impact drinking and driving (as well as distracted driving) has on friends, family and their community.