Articles
Mount Desert Fluoride Vote Sparks Debate
It could be called the vote heard `round the world. On March 5, Mount Desert town residents voted to stop fluoridating the town’s water supply. The measure passed by a ratio of more than four to one, with 229 in favor of ending the practice to 42 opposed. The town became the first municipality in
Balancing Act Help one business and you make another one mad
Harmon’s Tires in Ellsworth is the kind of business most Maine communities would like to keep. Locally and family-owned and operated for 61 years, it employs 18 and has become a fixture in the city’s commercial district. But city officials recently announced a proposal to move a traffic light providing direct-access to the tire center
MDI Workforce Housing Project Goes Affordably Green
A planned Somesville village affordable housing project will incorporate green building techniques to make homes both affordable and environmentally friendly. Funded by the nonprofit Island Housing Trust, the proposed subdivision will sit on a 10-acre parcel of land donated to the trust by Mount Desert voters. Mount Desert town officials gave the plan final approval
One fisherman to another: ospreys get a helping hand
In the 1980s, Dennis Smith used to fish for alewives on Mount Desert Island. Now, he’s helping his fellow feathered alewife hunters do the same. Smith and partner Karen Zimmerman build osprey nest platforms, but don’t picture them shimmying up a tall tree with twigs in their mouths. They construct the platforms on the ground
Painting Freedom
An example of the tenacity of human spirit has been tucked away in a corner of the Blue Hill Library. Library patrons can be forgiven if they missed it, a tiny display of paintings and collages amid shelves of equally worthy books, sculptures, and other works of art. But those who found the small collection
Fish Ladders Return to Somesville
Dennis King used to harvest alewives in the Somes Pond-Long Pond watershed on Mount Desert Island. He said the springtime alewife run was a site to see. More than 200,000 alewives swam upstream to spawn; enough, legend has it, to walk across a brook on their backs. King said all those alewives attracted seals, ospreys,
MDI school serves up local lunches
A Mount Desert Elementary School in Northeast Harbor, there’s a lunchtime revolution afoot. Food at the school’s cafeteria is often fresher and more nutritious than in the past, coming, in part, from local farms right on Mount Desert Island. And some of the schoolchildren even have gotten their hands dirty harvesting their lunches. A Needed
Franklin USDA aquaculture center set to open
In Franklin, the University of Maine’s Center for Cooperative Aquaculture will soon have a new neighbor, as the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is poised to complete a National Coldwater Marine Aquaculture Center right next door. Together, the two will comprise one of the largest and most important coldwater aquaculture research centers in the United
Running Out Is development drawing down the well in Town Hill?
Recently, turning on a faucet has been stressful for Mike Staggs; he isn’t sure how much longer his home will have water. Staggs lives in Town Hill, part of Bar Harbor, on Mount Desert Island, in a subdivision where water already is in short supply. The past two summers, he has had to manage his
Salty Dogs: Quirks, Companionship and Sea Tales
Right now throughout coastal Maine, dozens of dogs lie close to a heat source, seemingly asleep. But if the right pair of feet put on a pair of boots and jingle a boat key, any one of those dogs will spring to life. Salty dogs are as much a part of Maine boating life as