Island Commons, the adult family care hope operated by Chebeague Care Resource, will celebrate its fifth anniversary next month with a wine-tasting party on June 21, the summer solstice, and is planning other fundraising activities. Nonprofit groups assisting the elderly can have difficulty bridging the gap between actual cost and reimbursements, and Island Commons is
Islesboro Easter Baskets
Islesboro Central School’s K-1 class, with a little help from parents and friends, made over 15 dozen cookies and Easter baskets to share with Islesboro’s senior citizen luncheon group, which meets monthly at the Second Baptist Church fellowship room. Students donned bunny masks and joined the group for their meal on April 19. Their teacher,
Solar van transports, teaches at the same time
Every day, North Haven Community School’s student-built electric vehicle gets used for its intended purpose: carrying single or multiple passengers for school-related trips on North Haven. The vehicle is a converted Volkswagen Vanagon Syncro with four-wheel drive and seating for seven. It looks and operates like a conventional vehicle, but at the end of the
Young families leaving Peaks Island
Peaks Island is about to undergo a radical change: As many as a dozen families with young children have either moved off the island or plan to leave, most by the end of this summer. The number of children among them is roughly 22. That may not sound like a lot to many, but for
Maine-connected Coast Guard vessels serve in Iraq War
On March 28 the Coast Guard cutter WRANGELL escorted the first commercially transported humanitarian aid shipment into the Iraqi port of Umm Qasr. The 110-foot WRANGELL is based in Portland. This shipment, aboard the Motor Vessel MANAR, consisted of 700 tons of food, water, first aid and vehicles. M/V MANAR was supplied and coordinated by
Urchin harvesters argue against reductions
Determined to hold on to their fishing days in the urchin season, draggers from the eastern end of Zone 2 turned out in full force at April’s Zone 2 Urchin Summit and at the Sea Urchin Zone Council (SUZC) to argue down a 30 percent reduction in landings for their zone. More than a month
Time tested: After a century and a half, Shaw and Tenney still makes the same product
In 1858 the first trans-Atlantic telegraph cable was laid, at great expense after many years of work. Minnesota, while still very much on the frontier, was that same year petitioning for statehood, and Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas also met that summer for their seven famous senatorial election debates on the issue of slavery. In
Microwire tags for lobsters to continue
Diane Cowan of the Lobster Conservancy and Island Institute Fellow Dan O’Grady have continued to implant microwire tags in lobsters at Deep Cove on Friendship Long Island in Muscongus Bay. This season’s exceptionally low temperatures have limited tagging trips. Juvenile lobsters tend to lose limbs with alarming ease when the air temperature is below 201/4F.
Legislature to study cruise ship pollution
The Legislature’s Natural Resources Committee heard two bills regarding cruise ship pollution in March. The topic is relatively new for the committee, and members wanted input from the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). Rep. Herb Adams’s (D-Portland) bill, LD 1271, was changed into a resolve directing the DEP to study the issues in two separate
Irreverence and direct honesty
To the editor: Reader John Clouse [letter, April 03] must not have much of a sense of humor if he can be “offended” by the writing of Rusty Warren. In my view, as a frequent visitor from away, Rusty’s column reflects the wonderful irreverence and direct honesty that characterize many Mainers. Maybe Mr. Clouse really