Editor’s Note: The following is the first of two articles highlighting some of The Star City and Crown of Maine’s top news stories from 2022. This article highlights events from January through June.
The first half of 2022 featured many memorable stories happening across The County. There was no shortage of agricultural and environmental stories happening in northern Maine, along with stories of community resilience, through a year that saw record-breaking inflation and job shortages.
January
Aroostook County’s farmers aren’t sacrificing soil for solar yet, but the potato industry and farm preservationists are keeping close tabs on Maine’s largest tracts of prime growing land. Alternative energy developers have targeted some of Maine’s farmland as ideal sites to set up power arrays, because they favor large pieces of land that are easy to access, flat and located close to power transmission lines.
Dewey DeWitt, a longtime broadcaster who has been inducted into three halls of fame and was for decades the voice of Aroostook County sports, died Wednesday morning at the age of 99. The Foreston, New Brunswick, native began his career as a broadcaster in 1951 and he was the first person seen when WAGM-TV in Presque Isle launched in 1956.
Bears roaming through the Aroostook wilderness, pairs of moose dueling for dominance, eagles soaring through the air and the Northern Lights dancing in the night sky — Paul Cyr of Presque Isle has captured all of these through his photography, which has been published around the world. While Cyr isn’t a full-time photographer, he has accumulated tens of thousands of photographs, and sells to 30-40 vendors.
The people behind a Maine-based art contest are seeking submissions from Aroostook County artists on themes of community and reunion during the pandemic. Lights Out Art Consulting, an online-based business, recently launched #MaineReunited, a series of contests aimed at promoting artistic growth in Maine’s most rural counties. The group had recently ended a contest in Oxford County and then set its sights on finding new and established artists in Aroostook.
February
Maine potato growers have dealt with storage and shipping difficulties, having pulled a record harvest from the ground, but the bumper crop also means more spuds are going to markets across the country and into Canada. The state’s farmers planted more potatoes this year — more than 58,000 acres, compared with 51,000 the past two years — and also harvested 168,000 tons more than usual.
A group of amateur radio operators in Caribou have banded together to start Aroostook County’s first municipal-based emergency service, hoping to modernize the region’s use of technology during disasters.
After being snapped up by a national restaurant chain, Maine potatoes have 103 new places to call home. Ninety Nine Restaurants, based in Woburn, Massachusetts, is serving Maine potatoes exclusively across all of its locations. In what has been a stellar season for Maine’s top crop, from a record harvest to expanded marketing opportunities, the deal means Maine potatoes will be in restaurants in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Vermont, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and New York — as well as in Auburn, Augusta, Biddeford and Topsham in Maine.
One of Aroostook County’s youngest residents is home after a harrowing bout with COVID-19. Shane and Laken Buckley of Westfield welcomed their daughter, Caroline, on Nov. 12, when she was born at Northern Light A.R. Gould Hospital in Presque Isle weighing just 3 pounds and 6 ounces.
Shane and Laken Buckley of Westfield hold their daughter Caroline just before leaving the neonatal intensive care unit at Northern Light Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor. At 2 days old, Caroline Buckley of Westfield contracted COVID-19. Ninety-eight days later, she and her parents left for home.
(Courtesy of Northern Light Eastern Maine Medical Center)
The chair of the Aroostook County Democratic Committee who ran for the Maine House in 2020 resigned from her post amid accusations that she stole from and damaged her ex-boyfriend’s home as she moved out. Lillie Lavado, 39, of Presque Isle faced three felony charges, including two counts of theft by unauthorized taking and one of criminal mischief.
March
After two years of wearing masks due to COVID-19, SAD 1 will transition immediately to optional masking. During a special school board meeting on Feb.28 to discuss the district’s masking policy, Superintendent Ben Greenlaw reviewed all the changes to the COVID-19 standard operating procedure since January.
The small, rural East Ridge Union Church in Mars Hill helped with the evacuation of Ukraine, one donation at a time. The East Ridge Union Church, which had approximately 80 members, had collected money to send to Alexe Costea, a Romanian missionary who has had ties with the Mars Hill church for nearly two decades.
An Aroostook County military air base teemed with war preparations a decade after it closed to fight a tiny forest pest that is making its way back in the 21st century. In its heyday during World War II and after, the Presque Isle Air Base was a hub for aircraft heading to and from foreign airspace before it closed in 1961.
This unidentified group of aerial pesticide spraying personnel pose in front of a Lockheed P-2 Neptune, or P2V, aircraft during the June 1972 spruce budworm eradication program in Presque Isle. The plane was one of several former World War II aircraft that were used in the effort.
(Photo courtesy of Dick Graves and Maine Forest Service)
A herd of 10 bison escaped Craig Smith’s farm on March 16 and shut down Quoggy Jo Ski Center and the Nordic Heritage Ski Center. Smith and a group of volunteers spent much of the day trying to corral the small herd, and finally by 4 p.m., the bison were returned to their pasture.
Thousands of people visited maple sugaring operations across the state Saturday and Sunday to take tours, learn how syrup is made and sample treats in the first near-normal Maine Maple Sunday weekend since 2019. But one maple producer noted an unprecedented spike in interest surrounding the sugaring process, which is something he hadn’t seen before the COVID-19 pandemic thwarted the annual spring event for the past two years.
April
As evidence of “forever chemicals” contamination in Maine grows, so did concern about the state’s crops and whether they were safe to eat. The greatest PFAS — per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances — levels tested so far have been found at dairy farms in southern and central areas, causing some farmers to shut down temporarily or even permanently. Fish have also been affected.
The Washburn Veteran Memorial Park has undergone several renovations in the last few years, but it soon would have another addition — a brick walkway containing the names of veterans. Larry Harrison, who is a retired US Air Force master sergeant, said that many of the local veterans have wanted to do a brick walkway for a couple of years now, but the project couldn’t get off the ground. This year, Harrison was determined to get the project moving.
Railcars for fuel oil and other products sit on tracks just off the Mapleton Road in Presque Isle on April 14. Aroostook County’s Maine Northern Railways will receive $12.9 million in federal funds for upgrades. Credit: Paula Brewer / Star-Herald
Aroostook County’s railroad network planned to use nearly $13 million in federal money to make trains faster and safer, and more inviting for industries to ship by rail. The Maine Department of Transportation received $12.9 million to spend on railroad infrastructure improvements in northern Maine through the 2022 Federal Appropriations Act.
After more than a century of male dominance, women are becoming commonplace in one of the state’s oldest fraternal organizations. On April 1, Elizabeth Grant was sworn in as the newest exalted ruler for the Houlton Lodge. It marks the first time in the 119-year history of the Houlton Lodge of Elks No. 835 that a woman has been elected to its highest post.
Recent results of lead testing in SAD 1 schools show 16 percent of its water fixtures had levels above what Maine finds acceptable, though school officials confirmed no drinking water sources were affected. Out of 144 sinks tested throughout the district’s six buildings, the greatest number — 121 of them — showed no concerning levels, according to test results from A & L Laboratory in Auburn.
May
Aroostook County has a critical shortage of qualified dental assistants. That is why a nonprofit Aroostook dental clinic partnered with local adult education programs and a Maine dental training business to create the first adult education-based dental assistant program in the state. Prior to COVID-19, Aroostook dentists had access to a small but reliable group of trained dental assistants and largely avoided a widespread shortage.
Maine potato researchers have 45,000 new varieties in various testing stages each year, but now they are grappling with breeding tubers that can weather a warming climate. Today’s spuds are bred to have certain attributes — disease and pest resistance, proper moisture levels for processing and more. Changing climate trends have sparked a greater urgency to create varieties that can grow better with the warmer temperatures and increased rain predicted for Maine.
Beth Plummer, scientific technician at the Aroostook Research Farm in Presque Isle, collects potato blossom pollen to be used to start a new variety of the crop. Credit: Paula Brewer / Star-Herald
In Aroostook County, where numerous commercial crops depend on bees for pollination, the insects face a lot of perils, even cellphone towers. Jonas Swartzentruber, who hosted a session at his Easton farm on keeping bee colonies alive, was left with just two hives alive out of 14 at winter’s end. Bees and other pollinators — butterflies, moths, beetles, flies, ants, bats and hummingbirds — are crucial to crops like squash, almonds, avocadoes, apples and berries.
Because of the growing need for commercial truck drivers in the Bangor area, two community colleges have partnered to bring a successful Aroostook County course south, free of charge. Together with Eastern Maine Community College, Northern Maine Community College will expand its eight-week driving academy to Bangor with funds from the Maine Jobs and Recovery Plan, as well as the Harold Alfond Center for the Advancement of Maine’s Workforce.
Public unrest over taxes in Fort Fairfield that began a year ago has led to the resignation of a member of the town’s new budget advisory committee. Former Town Clerk Billie Jo Sharpe resigned her position on the committee during Wednesday’s Fort Fairfield Town Council meeting.
June
Main Street in Presque Isle has something new to make residents proud. Twenty new banners decorate the poles, paying tribute to local veterans. The banners were placed just before Memorial Day, and are phase one of a program undertaken by the Downtown Revitalization Committee.
Jacob Poitraw begged for help to deal with his mental illness for years, but lost his battle on Sunday when he died after police shot him. Poitraw’s mother, Renee Duarte, remembered her son on Thursday as an average kid who wanted to help anyone in need. Law enforcement sought Poitraw, 25, Sunday after he allegedly threatened people with a rifle.
Three years after scaling back activities due to COVID-19, people in Maine’s only Swedish colony once again came together to celebrate the arrival of summer in similar fashion as their ancestors. Hundreds gathered in New Sweden last weekend for the newly returned Midsommar festival, which dates back to the earliest days of the Swedish colony in Aroostook and honors the return of sun and warmth after the long winter months.
Engineers are hatching big ideas for the tiniest satellites in an office at Presque Isle’s General Aviation Terminal. Vertical Air-Breathing Launch Technology, better known as VALT Enterprizes Inc., moved its headquarters to Presque Isle last June from Sanford, where Karl Hoose and Elise McGill founded the business.
The VALT Enterprizes team gathers outside their Presque Isle headquarters at the General Aviation Terminal. From left are: Jeffery Laughton, CNC machinist; Benjamin Malone, engineering intern; Elio Angile, senior mechanical engineer; Colin Patterson, engineer; Kelly Gorham, facility operations safety director; Karl Hoose, founder and chief technical officer; Kameron McGill, director of human resources; Theo Strid and Alex Ezzy, engineering interns; and Ryder Soucy, lead engineer. Credit: Courtesy of VALT Enterprizes
