With about a week and a half until the end of 2011, it’s time to reflect on the year’s ups and downs.
January
• Members of the Limestone Board of Selectpeople began discussions with RSU 39 officials about whether or not the town should be charged a fee for housing the Limestone Recreation Department on school grounds.
• It was announced that Maine Military Authority officials would be laying off 152 workers. At the time of the announcement, MMA employed 350 people.
• Caribou’s Sesquicentennial Celebration Committee gave the City of Caribou a belated gift for it’s 150th birthday. The new Community Message Board purchased by the committee is dedicated to the City of Caribou and resides in front of the Caribou Wellness and Recreation Center.
• The Caribou Public Library turned 100 years old.
February
• It was a world-renown week as the 2011 World Cup Biathlon was held at the Nordic Heritage center in Presque Isle. The event’s opening ceremonies included the talented students of The Maine Dance Academy, the Caribou Marching Band and even members of Caribou’s varsity ski team. The county certainly put its best ski forward.
• The Woodland School grounds ran rampant with current and former woodchucks, all bundled up and celebrating the annual Winter Carnival.
• Cary Medical Center officials unveiled their “Healthy Hearts Campaign,” made possible through the Astra Zeneca HeahthCare Foundation. The $187,000 grant focused on encouraging healthy eating styles (including a plant-based diet approach).
• A legislative bill created for the annual Youth in Government event held at Augusta’s Statehouse not only won Maine School of Science and Mathematics junior James Jelin the “Best Bill Award,” it picked up support by his home-town legislator Alan Casavant; along with MSSM history instructor Daniel Melega, Jelin traveled down to Augusta to testify at a real state-legislator public hearing for LD-115 — the bill modeled after his own.
March
• The 2011 Northern Stars were not only announced, they wowed the crowd. DeShawn Russell of Bridgeport Conn. (a student of the Loring Job Corps Center) and siblings Gabrielle and Christian Sirois of Drummond, N.B.
• A new SHARPS program kicked off at Cary Medical Center, with $3,500 of support from the Caribou Rotary Club for the program to purchase a new Safe Sharps Disposal Kiosk found a home at the Caribou Police Department. Through the program, individuals will be able to bring their personal sharps containers to the Police Department for safe disposal.
• The Caribou Chamber of Commerce and Industry board of directors approved the split of the CCC&I into two entities — the Caribou Area Chamber of Commerce and the Caribou Economic Growth Council.
• Miles Williams was appointed to serve on the Caribou City Council after Councilor Karla Bell resigned; council members also voted Chris Bell to serve as deputy mayor.
• The 75th annual Snö Carnival was celebrated by residents of New Sweden, Stockholm and Westmanland. With a multitude of races, the oldest participant was Carl Anderson, 67, and the youngest was two-year-old Landin Spooner.
• Asset Theme Day and its pro-tolerance, anti-bullying message were embraced by Caribou Middle School students and staff. The event aimed to help promote positive peer relationships and focused on the importance of understanding that “Everybody has a story; Get to know it” (as the slogan read).
April
• During the Caribou Area Chamber of Commerce’s Annual Recognition Dinner, Carol McElwee was named Citizen of the Year. Commissioner of Economic and Community Development Philip Congdon, guest, spoke at the event.
• The Maine School of Science and Mathematics’ Math Team won the Division “A” State Math Meet held in Portland.
• New Sweden kindergarten and first-grade teacher Katie Martin-Stephens received the Aroostook Right to Read Literacy Award and the annual Young Authors’ Institute held at the University of Maine at Presque Isle.
• Advocates of helping grow Aroostook’s white tail deer population were able to voice their concerns to a panel of concerned parties, including Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and wildlife Chandler Woodcock, at UMPI.
• Construction on the Walls of Honor at the Northern Maine Veterans’ Cemetery was underway.
May
• Education and Community Development Commissioner Philip Congdon resigned from office following allegations of offensive speech at two Aroostook Gatherings in April, including the Caribou Area Chamber of Commerce’s Annual Recognition Dinner.
• Limestone Police Officer Ivan Mazius volunteered his time to teaching self-defense courses to women of the Limestone community. The two-month course was so successful that two additional classes were scheduled.
• Richard Schmitt, Jr. of Woodland was named one of 16 national winners in the 20th annual Zaner-Bloser National Handwriting Contest. A month later, it was announced that he was the Grand National Winner, meaning he pretty much has the best handwriting out of any seventh-grader in the country.
• Over a million gallons of untreated wastewater discharged in to the Greenlaw Stream in Limestone after build-up in the wastewater pipe lead to its eventual break. Maine DEP officials had the site cleaned up in about a week.
• Two-hundred and forty students of The Maine Dance Academy performed “The Wizard of Oz” as part of their annual recital.
• Students of the Maine School of Science and Mathematics launched a weather balloon into the stratosphere during an appropriately named ExSTRATOganza.
June
• At $18,559,551 the RSU 39 budget for 2011-12 was approved by the communities of Caribou, Limestone and Stockholm.
• Caribou Middle School students completed a hallway mural project, commissioned by Director of the Gifted and Talented Program Beth Alden.
• Caribou’s Farmer’s Market took root at 159 Bennett Drive. Organized by the Caribou Area Chamber of Commerce Director Jenny Coon, the community welcomed the new market with open arms.
• Relay for Life was held at the Caribou High School track. Nearly 850 participated in the event.
• Two tornadoes touched down on June 8 and another touched down on June 9 in a storm system that included over two inches of rain falling in under two hours, as recorded in Caribou on June 9. The estimated price tag of the damaged cause from the weather exceeded $1,000,000.
• The Avenue of Flags was dedicated at the Northern Maine Veterans’ Cemetery; over 30 flags line the proud avenue.
• The Caribou Charter Commission presented their amendments made to the city’s charter during a public hearing held at the Caribou Performing Arts Center.
• A budget of nearly $1.5 million was approved during Limestone’s Annual Town meeting; most departments were budgeted similarly to last year, save the Police Department which was given a $30,000 decrease — a cut that represents about a half a mil by itself. (A mil is just about $53,000).
• Betty Walker was named Name Hospital Association’s 2011 Caregiver of the Year; Walker has worked with Cary Medical Center since 1986.
• Caribou’s mil rate was set at 26.1 by members of the Caribou City Council; the rate reflects a two-mil increase from 2010.
