It’s no secret what the most important challenges facing the high school sports officiating ranks around Maine and the nation are -- recruitment and retention. Jeff Benson of Auburn hopes to combat those challenges as the state’s first commissioner of officials.

For the 18th consecutive summer wrestlers in grades 5-12 from across Maine came to town to learn techniques and skills they can use during the upcoming scholastic season at the Foxcroft Academy Olympic Wrestling Camp held July 23-26. The camp features guest clinicians and this year the younger grapplers had the opportunity to learn from two Maine wrestlers who have gone on to earn collegiate All-American status.

DOVER-FOXCROFT -- In conjunction with Foxcroft Academy’s Alumni Weekend and the Dover-Foxcroft Shiretown Homecoming, the 23rd annual Pony Pride 5K will be open to all and run at 8 a.m. on Saturday, Aug. 3. For the fourth year in a row, the 3.1-mile event is starting and ending on the campus of Foxcroft Academy.

The Big Pine Gun Club Youth Foundation sponsored its first Conservation Camp the week of June 24 at the Big Pine Gun Club in Willimantic. Fifteen campers, aged 12-17, participated in the week-long camp. Campers learned to safely handle, load, unload, and shoot rifles, shotguns, crossbows, and standard archery equipment. They also practiced survival skills in the Maine woods and reviewed basic first aid.

Al Hackett, a member of the University of Maine and State of Maine Baseball Halls of Fame, died at his home in Orono on July 13 after a bout with cancer. He was 88.

But the South and its West region high school seniors from the 2018 season reasserted their collective strength Saturday at steamy Thornton Academy in Saco, racing out to a 21-0 first-quarter lead and cruising to a record-breaking 60-14 victory over the East.

Recently Maine’s new fish and wildlife commissioner, Judy Camuso, was a studio guest on Maine Calling, an interactive radio program on the National Public Radio station in Portland. She performed well as she outlined the goals and challenges of the Department in the months ahead. The control of coyote populations in the North Woods by IF&W contractors, as well as recreational hunters, was a hot topic. There was a pronounced “urban bias” as some callers railed against coyote-population control as an institutionalized policy implemented by the Department.

Luis Ayala, who has coached the Foxcroft Academy wrestling team to six state championships in 17 years, will be one of four new inductees into the Maine Amateur Wrestling Alliance (MAWA) Hall of Fame next month.

On July 4 three area residents took part in the 39th annual Walter Hunt Memorial 4th of July 3K from Brewer to Bangor.

Al Harris of Hampden and his brother-in-law, Joe Vachon of Toronto, spent a few days fishing together last week, landing an unlikely fish story in the process.

Both will be prominent during this week’s All-Star Game festivities at Progressive Field in Cleveland, Ohio, and both are using bats made in Maine.

Seventy runners took part in the annual Fourth of July 5K on Independence Day morning. Shawn Keenan, 41, won the race a time of 18 minutes, 40 seconds over the 3.1 miles.

Twenty two boats showed up to paddle in the annual Sebec Fourth of July canoe race this year.

Officials with the Penquis Youth Hockey Association had a great deal of fun debuting its “Zamboni” in the annual Fourth of July parade on Thursday in Sebec Village. The public is encouraged to keep an eye out for the float in future parades and events. T

That epitomized Fletcher, a longtime teacher, coach, athletic administrator and the site director of the Maine Principals’ Association Eastern Maine basketball tournaments at the Bangor Auditorium for 26 years. The Milo native died June 29 at the age of 88.

The Foxcroft Youth Track program kicked off the summer season with a June 27 USATF Group D meet at Old Town High School.

A Hex, or if your Latin is good, a Hexagenia limbata, is a bomber-size Mayfly that shows up on Maine trout ponds in mid-summer, usually early July. For a trout, they are a turkey dinner with all the fixin's - a chance to get the most amount of food for the least amount of effort.

Come July 14, a group of Maine Key Clubs, led by the club at Penquis Valley High School in Milo, will stage an event that you may want to consider supporting. Not your run-of-the-mill fundraiser, the first Schoodic Lake Bass Fishing Tournament is trying to share something that Maine has plenty of -- fresh water -- with countries that simply don’t have enough of it.