State agriculture officials traveled to Washington, D.C. last week to work with Maine’s congressional delegation and other officials about the demise of the 2008 Farm Bill, which expired Sept. 30, and its disastrous impact on Maine’s dairy farmers.
The town of Ludlow is once again mulling the possibility of withdrawing from SAD 70 with the intention of joining SAD 29.
A public hearing was held last week in the town, giving those both in favor or opposed to the withdrawal plan to ask their questions of superintendents Bob McDaniel (SAD 70) and Mike Hammer (SAD 29). About two dozen residents attended the hearing, trying to come up with concrete answers to questions that remain difficult to lock down.
“Don’t touch that dial.”
It’s a term that was made popular in the 1950s and ‘60s when television programs used that catch phrase to keep people from turning the dial on their sets to change channels during commercials. It’s also a phrase that seems to follow me as I grow older.
Housing Choice Vouchers is a federal program that helps low-income families, the elderly, and the disabled afford safe and sanitary housing in the private market. Also known as Section 8, this program provides rental subsidies that are vital to making ends meet for many families.
A solemn scene played out Monday morning as the body of Sgt. First Class Aaron Henderson of East Hodgdon arrived home via a chartered airplane at Houlton’s International Airport. Law enforcement officers, firefighters, veterans and members of the United Veterans Motorcycle Club joined the Henderson family for a motorcade through town.
His given name was Roscoe but he was and will always be Uncle Billie to me. He was my mother’s brother: one of 14 children and he was one of the most important male figures in my life. I loved him.
Erica Fitzpatrick Peabody remembers working on her dad’s potato harvester for the first time when she was 9 and receiving her first week’s paycheck of $36. At the time she thought she could buy the world.
Working for a newspaper puts one under a microscope like few other jobs. It requires a thick skin since for every person that praises the work you do, chances are there is another out there waiting to chastise you for the very same effort that is put forth.
Many people have asked me over the years how the paper chooses the stories it writes in a given week and why one story may get published while another may not. It’s a fair question, and not one with an easy answer.
It was late September and a swift, sharp rain hammered down upon northern Aroostook County. It was a day designed for a book, a fleece blanket, and a hot cup of my Grammy McIntyre’s Red Rose tea, with just a nip of cream. It was Saturday and despite my longing to succumb to the will of the rain, I found myself driving to Presque Isle, my eyes in sync with the movement of the car’s wipers.
“I’m bored. There’s nothing to do.” It is a sentiment young people in southern Aroostook County have bemoaned for decades, claiming there was a lack of activities.
It begs the question, “Is there really nothing to do?” or have today’s youth simply lost interest in activities that involve physical activity? I tend to think it is more of the latter.
