Mon, 01/02/2023 - 8:45am

SUSAN JOHNS

Wiscasset Elementary School second grader Giemella Absalud and first grade teacher Trae Stover hug at a May 13 celebration, the morning after Stover was named Lincoln County teacher of the year. SUSAN JOHNS/Wiscasset Newspaper

Cutting the ribbon June 29 on Wiscasset Municipal Airport’s redone runway. SUSAN JOHNS/Wiscasset Newspaper

State Rep. Rachel Talbot Ross and attendee Pat Lewis at a Wiscasset event June 17 on Maine’s first James Weldon Johnson Day. SUSAN JOHNS/Wiscasset Newspaper

On a hot June 25 in Wiscasset, Laura Surrick and daughter Rebbeca Fox enjoy St. Philip’s Church’s first Strawberry Festival since the pandemic started. SUSAN JOHNS/Wiscasset Newspaper

Wiscasset visitor Katy Petersen, left, throws a rope to When and If crew member Luana Santana Aug. 18 when the Wiscasset-built schooner arrived for Schoonerfest. SUSAN JOHNS/Wiscasset Newspaper

Longstanding Woolwich ballot clerks Jane Albert, left, and Mary King conduct the selectmen’s race recount Nov. 14 at the municipal building. SUSAN JOHNS/Wiscasset Newspaper

Cutting the ribbon June 29 on Wiscasset Municipal Airport’s redone runway. SUSAN JOHNS/Wiscasset Newspaper

State Rep. Rachel Talbot Ross and attendee Pat Lewis at a Wiscasset event June 17 on Maine’s first James Weldon Johnson Day. SUSAN JOHNS/Wiscasset Newspaper

On a hot June 25 in Wiscasset, Laura Surrick and daughter Rebbeca Fox enjoy St. Philip’s Church’s first Strawberry Festival since the pandemic started. SUSAN JOHNS/Wiscasset Newspaper

Wiscasset visitor Katy Petersen, left, throws a rope to When and If crew member Luana Santana Aug. 18 when the Wiscasset-built schooner arrived for Schoonerfest. SUSAN JOHNS/Wiscasset Newspaper

Longstanding Woolwich ballot clerks Jane Albert, left, and Mary King conduct the selectmen’s race recount Nov. 14 at the municipal building. SUSAN JOHNS/Wiscasset Newspaper

From sewer needs, would-be waterfront and Whites Island projects, the ash ponds cleanup, Wawenock block repairs and Optimus Senior Housing, to the first James Weldon Johnson Day, Wiscasset rallying for a teacher’s child who had a stroke, the airport runway project. the first Strawberry Festival in years, a candy store coming to the former Big Al’s Super Values, Alna losing its plow firm near winter, Westport Island’s longtime road commissioner quitting, longtime Wiscasset Elementary School teacher Trae Stover earning Lincoln County teacher of the year, Ancient Cemetery having a fence again, and work starting on replacing a Route 1, Woolwich bridge, 2022 was a year. Here it is, drawn from Wiscasset Newspaper’s files.

January

Wiscasset Superintendent of Schools Dr. Terry Wood expected Maine Center for Disease Control’s newly updated guidance for schools handling a positive COVID-19 case would let more students attend school in-person, or not be out as long. A state news release said the changes reflected the U.S. CDC’s updated guidance on quarantine and isolation times, and aimed to help keep students in the classroom while protecting their and the staff’s health and safety.

Wet weather continued to plague work to dry out the ash ponds at Mason Station in Wiscasset. Town Manager Dennis Simmons told selectmen in a written report ahead of the board’s Jan. 4 Zoom meeting, rainstorms dumped a lot of water in the ponds; and the water table was so high that when the ponds were pumped dry, they had several inches of water in them the next day. This was delaying the project and upping the cost, he said. Work was on hold until the town and the firms involved could reevaluate and plan, he said.

In Alna on a Tuesday morning in January, Wiscasset, Waterville & Farmington Railway Museum’s volunteer track crew worked to clear crossings of worth of inches of ice and frozen mud. They braved freezing rain to salt, wait, then chip and shovel.

Wiscasset moved its free sandpile from the town garage to the transfer station to make it easier and safer for residents, especially elderly ones, to load up their buckets. Road Commissioner and Transfer Station Director Ted Snowden came up with the plan after he almost backed his truck into a car parked next to the big pile in the dark, cavernous town storage shed where the resident was trying to get some sand.

Alna residents and officials complained about plowing contractor Holbrook’s Excavating’s handling of a Jan. 5 icing event. It was a “real fail,” First Selectman Ed Pentaleri said of the job the Woolwich firm did that day. “I’m glad not to have heard about anyone getting injured or killed.”

Alna selectmen and attendees also mulled how best to do public comment at meetings, and be more civil. In a departure from several recent meetings, no one yelled.

To explore Wiscasset’s options for all of town to have fiber optic broadband, including how to ensure residents who cannot afford broadband, or do not know how to use it, can get it and learn it, the broadband committee plans to propose a budget of about $10,000, $5,000 to $7,000 of it town-funded, the rest a grant from Island Institute, member Carla Dickstein told selectmen Jan. 4. And to go all fiber optic, the town should expect to help fund the project, she said.

Most people who have so far answered Wiscasset’s marijuana survey want an ordinance to allow licenses, Selectmen’s Chair Sarah Whitfield told the ordinance review committee.

At Alna’s annual town meeting in March, Ralph Hilton wants fellow residents to consider an ordinance for recalling elected town officials. He said the petition he has turned in stems from selectmen’s handling of town business Dec. 1. At that meeting, residents took issue with selectmen’s handling of road, ballot and other issues.

February

Over Zoom Feb. 1, Wiscasset selectmen authorized Simmons to spend up to $7,500 in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds for the broadband committee to plan buildout, and plan how to help those lacking skills or funds for high speed broadband.

First Congregational Church in Wiscasset welcomed Interim Pastor Rev. Dr. Amy Lignitz Harken of Sabattus. She started Feb. 1. Harken perceived a call to ministry while working for the Associated Press. She and husband Bruce have lived in New England over 10 years.

Sheepscot Valley Regional School Unit 12 Superintendent of Schools Howard Tuttle announced Feb. 20, the district would move from required to optional masking starting Monday, Feb. 28. The move followed a board vote Feb. 10 and a change in Maine Center for Disease Control COVID-19 procedures.

Maine Department of Transportation’s project of replacing Station 46 Bridge in Woolwich got underway. It was expected to take years to finish.

Wiscasset Community Center reported its annual father-daughter dance Friday night, Feb. 11 had 129 daughters attending with their fathers, grandfathers, stepfathers, older brothers and family friends. The youngest girl there was Hannah Rogers, 13 months, and the oldest was Bridget Harmon, 15.

Titan Energy’s Adam Teff told Wiscasset selectmen Feb. 15, the town has gotten a net energy billing offer from Ameresco totaling $566,355 in savings on Central Maine Power bills over 20 years, and another, from ReVision Energy, totaling $514,868. The board voted 5-0 to approve the contract with Ameresco contingent on a review by the town’s law firm, Bernstein-Shur.

Alna selectmen Feb. 16 passed a public comment policy. Someone who wants to speak is to raise their hand and, when the chair calls on them, give their full name. The policy calls for keeping comments respectful and, if on an agenda item, relevant.

The same night, Alna selectmen approved up to another $2,500 for Calderwood Engineering’s work on the Egypt Road Bridge project.

Winterfest at Wiscasset Community Center the weekend of Feb. 19 did not get snow but had fun and fundraising.

Also in February, Cindy Collamore spoke about how she is transferring from her longtime job as administrative assistant at Wiscasset Elementary School – including when it was Wiscasset Middle – to the same job at Wiscasset Middle High. “I’ve done all the grade levels now,” she said.

March

A Wiscasset police officer would make $16,000 more a year in Waldoboro, Wiscasset Officer Jonathan Barnes told Wiscasset selectmen in an email Chair Sarah Whitfield read aloud March 1. The board then agreed to a $4 an hour raise for police.

An executive session was anticipated for selectmen March 15 about the still unfixed Wawenock block facade on Main Street, Town Manager Dennis Simmons said. He said it after resident Susan Blagden’s latest query to the board. Noting it has been about a year since the bricks fell, she said someone’s feet should be held to the fire. Simmons said owner Ralph Doering has engineers working on what to do.

This summer, Wiscasset will open Scout Hall’s bathrooms to the public. Selectmen’s decision March 15 is the latest turn in a longtime local topic, one Town Manager Dennis Simmons wants the board to resolve. Simmons said downtown bathroom ideas have been “tossed around” for years and he doesn’t want that to continue another 15 years. “I want some direction. What do you guys want to do? Somebody make a decision here.” Chair Sarah Whitfield said she did not really want bathrooms on the pier. “That takes away from the pier, for me personally.” She favored the status quo plus the bathrooms at Scout Hall. Selectman Terry Heller called the portable toilets messy. Resident Kim Dolce called them nasty. She said the town’s bathrooms at the harbor master’s office and the ones at Scout Hall are enough. Depending on what the town does, it could go from being the prettiest village to the prettiest pit stop, Dolce said.

Between a grant conditionally awarded and others Midcoast Conservancy has found to try for, Alna’s next Ben Brook Bridge might be free, First Selectman Ed Pentaleri said March 16. Work might be in 2023, he said. Maine Department of Environmental Protection’s condition on its $125,000 award is a contract DEP and the town will negotiate, Pentaleri said. He said the sum is the highest DEP is awarding this year, and Alna’s application scored second of 44 received. The outcome reflects the project’s high priority and benefits to fish and wildlife passage, he added.

Wiscasset residents are showing support for Ukraine via the blue and yellow of its flag. And March 15, selectmen said banners Selectman Terry Heller bought that look like the Ukraine flag could go up downtown.

Rev. Tom Junkert, priest-in charge at St. Philip’s Episcopal Church in Wiscasset, told Wiscasset Newspaper in mid-March, his grandparents on both sides of his family immigrated from Ukraine. Their families had taken Catherine the Great up on her offer to move to Russia and, for generations, including in the Midwest, “were known as ‘Germans from Russia,’” he said. His grandparents arrived in New York from Odessa around 1903 and later settled in Washek, North Dakota. There, they met. Of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, he said, “You kind of wonder when you see the images of all they are bombing, what’s going to be left of that country.”

Gov. Janet Mills and Commissioner of Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry Amanda Beal toured Dresden’s Goranson Farm for Maine Maple Sunday March 27. Owners Jan Goranson and Rob Johanson showed them around and Mills had a Maine maple sundae.

Slips at the recreational pier and showers at the harbor master’s office are possible if Wiscasset seeks a grant and is willing to chip in, the waterfront committee told selectmen and the budget committee March 22. A preliminary report from the waterfront committee recommends seeking a Maine Department of Transportation small harbor improvement program grant; the report estimates the project would take a one-time, $174,250 local match and $10,000 a year in labor to collect fees on and maintain the new features. Budget committee member Tom Joyce predicted they would “at a minimum” take two full-time workers. “I don’t think you could do it without that,” based on his experience at marinas, he said.

For nearly a million and a half dollars, including a possible grant of up to half a million, a project on and near Wiscasset’s White’s Island could restore access to it with footbridges estimated to together cost about $348,200 and linked by an estimated $50,000 railroad crossing, all disabled-accessible; and for about $613,300 have trails, a picnic area, canoe and kayak portage, a pavilion for small gatherings and entertainment such as a two-piece band; signage on the island’s history; and a nautically themed playground with a ship to climb on and swing from, selectmen and the budget committee heard March 29 from Parks and Recreation Director Duane Goud and landscape architect Peter Wells. Some panelists raised cost concerns. The town’s potential million dollar share is more than it can afford right now, and some of the work like the playground could wait a year or two, Selectman Pam Dunning said. “I’m all for getting people back out to White’s Island, but I’d rather see the roads paved,” she said.

Woolwich’s Edie Bailey has donated handmade quilts that will be distributed to patrol deputies to have for situations involving children “who may need to be comforted or kept warm and secure,” a Sagadahoc County Sheriff’s Office Facebook post announced. “These beautiful quilts were made with love and compassion ...,” the March 28 post read.

April

Wiscasset selectmen on April 5 got pared down versions of a possible White’s Island project and got a lot of feedback on those and the concepts aired March 29. Resident Bill Maloney liked the revised options better, but opposed work this year except to remove planks to keep people off the deteriorating bridges. He said this is no time to be spending nearly $300,000, the local match to a grant Parks and Recreation Director Duane Goud has said the town could seek, if the town commits to its share.

To get Wiscasset Community Center an automated external defibrillator (AED), Nancy and Alton Wyman tapped the account they have for awarding annual scholarships in their late son Daniel Leeman’s name. “And we figured (an AED) would be a good way to do something more using a little bit of that money,” Nancy said. The AED was $995, she said.

Wiscasset should not let Route 1 be the only place for marijuana manufacturing and testing facilities, ordinance review committee member Al Cohen said April 11. Those businesses could be away from the public, while providing jobs and tax money, he said. He and others supported Gardiner Road as an option. Members still wanted the proposed ban on marijuana businesses on property within 1,000 feet of a school, childcare facility, or church; a municipal “safe zone” under state statute; ballfield, courthouse, or the municipal building.

Wiscasset’s June ballot will have no White’s Island project questions. Selectmen’s Chair Sarah Whitfeld announced April 12, at a budget meeting and ahead of it on Facebook, Parks and Recreation Director Duane Goud has pulled a proposal from consideration. She said he did this to provide time to get updated costs, especially for a railroad crossing; and more public input ahead of another try, likely for the November ballot, Whitfield said.

Wiscasset Town Manager Dennis Simmons told selectmen April 12, he is “pressing really hard” about Old Ferry Road’s importance, as he seeks help from Maine’s Congressional delegation for a stream crossing culvert project there.

April 14, the members of Lincoln Lodge #3 in Wiscasset presented a $1,500 check to Erin Bean, chief of Wiscasset Ambulance Service, to help WAS buy new automated electronic defibrillators (AEDs).

Spending is eyed to be up for 2022-23 at Wiscasset School Department, but taxpayers’ education tab is not. Finance Manager Cathy Coffey told the school committee April 14, to keep the local assessment flat with this year’s, the draft budget proposes using $797,217 of the fund balance.

Also April 14, Wiscasset Middle High School Principal Charles Lomonte announced graduation will be at Wiscasset Speedway for a third year. He went by a vote of the seniors, he said.

Alna General Store was slated to change hands. After five years owning it, Ken and Jane Solorzano announce in late April that Newcastle’s Jasper Ludwig and husband Brian Haskins will begin their plans with the building on May 1.

April 19, hours after Wiscasset selectmen got proposed changes to Maine Art Gallery’s would-be 20-year lease of the former Wiscasset Academy, the board put off voting on it. Some members said they needed time to review the document again with its proposed new parts, and they want the town’s legal counsel to, also.

The southern intersection of George Wright Road and Route 1, in Woolwich, was announced to be closed to all traffic starting April 28 at 8 a.m. and for the duration of the Station 46 bridge project on Route 1. Access to Route 1 from George Wright Road would be from the northern intersection of George Wright Road and Route 1 and from the Nequasset Road intersection with Route 1.

Alna’s Les Fossel announced at selectmen’s April 20 meeting, he and wife Merry decided to buy Jon Luoma’s watercolor aerial scene of Alna Meetinghouse and offer the painting on permanent loan to the town. Les Fossel told Wiscasset Newspaper April 24, the scene was iconic to the town, just like the meetinghouse is, “So the people of Alna should be able to see it.”

Carl and Veda Ferris of Woolwich are going on a trip of a lifetime in September, Maine Lottery announced in April. Carl entered a non-winning Big Country Cash ticket into the “I’m With the Band” promotion, and his name was drawn as the first of three winners.

May

Alna selectmen May 4 agreed to a 10-year loan at 3.95% from Androscoggin Bank for $405,000 in Cross Road projects. Voters approved the spending at town meeting in March.

Wiscasset should do a town-wide property revaluation next year, Town Manager Dennis Simmons told selectmen May 3. “I just want it out there, because everyone gets a little upset when you talk about revaluation, especially now with home prices being so incredibly high (and) it doesn’t appear ... they’re going to be going down anytime soon. ,He said a revaluation does not mean taxes will rise, it just “re-equalizes everything to where they should be with respect to market rates. So it’s something we need to think about pretty seriously.”

Sheepscot Valley Regional School Unit Superintendent of Schools Howie Tuttle told the district board May 5, he still does not know if one-time member Wiscasset will want to keep taking SVRSU high school students other schools refuse, when it no longer has to. That status as SVRSU’s high school of record runs out in June 2023, Tuttle said; the arrangement was part of the withdrawal deal. Wiscasset Superintendent of Schools Terry Wood and Wiscasset School Committee Chair Michael Dunn declined comment except to note the committee would need to know more and talk more before any decisions were made.

May 12, Maine Department of Education named longtime Wiscasset Elementary School first grade teacher Trae Stover Lincoln County teacher of the year. After a next day, all-school celebration of the honor, Stover was feeling “overwhelmed.” Thirty-five years in, was she retiring any year soon? “I’m not going anywhere. They may never get rid of me.”

More than a year since bricks fell from the Wawenock block’s facade and part of the sidewalk was closed, Wiscasset Town Manager Dennis Simmons said work started May 12 on repairs. “It’s not going to be real evident for a while because most of the work has to start inside, but (a crew is) there (and) they’re looking to complete (work) by Nov. 1.”

May 21 at Morris Farm, 115 students and recent graduates of Wiscasset Middle High School attended the school’s first prom since the start of the pandemic.

Wiscasset announced in May, a $2,489 Safety Enhancement Grant from Maine Municipal Association Workers Compensation Fund would be used to buy ergonomically correct office equipment for the town office staff.

Wiscasset Parks and Recreation Department’s first mother-son dance in seven years Friday evening, May 13 drew nearly 50 boys with their mothers, grandmothers and mother figures. The youngest son was Winston Johnson, 2, there with his mother, Arianna Johnson. The oldest son was Andrew Lincoln, 23, with his mother, Kristy Lincoln.

In May, Boothbay Harbor’s Meagan Cope was setting up surprise flockings of fake flamingos around Wiscasset, including at the town office, Wiscasset Water District, houses and at businesses including Possibilities Salon and Coastal Electronics. Cope, crowned Ms. Central Maine 2022 on Feb. 16 and planning to “compete for my dream job of Ms. Maine American Women of Service at the Maine American Women of Service Pageant” in Portland in September, said the flockings were “to raise money for my journey and for Crossroads, a 501c3 youth organization nonprofit.”

On May 30, American Legion Post 54 Cmdr. William Cossette Jr. told a Memorial Day gathering at Wiscasset’s veterans wall, they were there to honor those who made it possible to gather there in peace, and who made this way of life possible. “They truly are the guardians of our freedom.” Then he said there was one more thing to say: He said people ask, “Why should I belong the American Legion?” The post spends $2,000 a year to maintain the American flags along the street, he said. It also gives out scholarships and other awards, takes part in funerals and gives to food banks, Cossette said.

June

Wiscasset’s 18 sewer pump stations could fail at any time, an engineer whose firm studied the town’s sewers, pump stations and plant told residents June 7 in Wiscasset Community Center’s gym. He said the 60-year-old system can probably be upgraded, which he said would cost less than moving the plant. And whatever Maine Department of Environmental Protection determines, the threat of climate change flooding the site could help get outside funds toward a multi-million dollar solution, Bill Olver of Olver Associates said. He and Town Manager Dennis Simmons cautioned, to be eligible, a system must be adequately funded locally. Proposed rate hikes to up revenue by 46% and then smaller, yearly hikes are needed to get revenues in line with costs, town officials said. Olver said if the system’s rates are too low, a project would not qualify for funding.

A June stroke paralyzed WES teacher Samantha Crawford’s daughter Angelina, 12, from the neck down. Fundraising and other support from the school and community followed. In an update Sept. 22, her mother said Angelina was continuing to work hard at regaining movement, was weaned off the ventilator and on Sept. 19 got medically cleared to leave Shepherd Center in Atlanta, Georgia for her first outing from the hospital: A trip to Starbucks with her occupational therapists and a peer.

Woolwich, Wiscasset and other towns responded to help Bath put out a fire June 10 at Dike-Newell School. A Bath man was arrested June 11 on burglary and arson charges in connection with the fire.

Wiscasset school committee candidate Jonathan Barnes asked voters to vote for someone else. He decided he would not take a seat if he won one of the two up for election June 14. “I’m trying to quickly spread the word between now and the vote to let people know, ‘Hey, vote for the candidate you want if you want to have a say, versus leaving it up to the school board,’” the Wiscasset police officer and anticipated school resource officer said in a phone interview. Barnes said the SRO would not be a school department employee, but a community member asked about a possible conflict of interest and, due to how the SRO would be funded, there was a “gray area (and) I’m not willing to taint my badge, my reputation and my position. The school resource officer position is way more important to me than the school board position.”

Now that Alna’s Cross Road is no longer a 1.6-mile speed bump, people are going too fast on it; that is the complaint First Selectman Ed Pentaleri said he has been hearing since the road’s recent repaving and edging. Pentaleri said June 8, he has contacted Maine Department of Transportation. MDOT will do a speed study, the only way to legally post speed limits, he said. Different parts of the road will probably have different speed limits, Pentaleri added.

Wiscasset School Department is continuing safeguards after the latest results on lead. It was found at “elevated” levels, meaning greater than four parts per billion, in water from six fixtures at Wiscasset Middle High School and 20 fixtures at Wiscasset Elementary School, according to Maine Department of Health and Human Services Center for Disease Control and Prevention Drinking Water Program documents posted at wiscassetschools.org. Maintenance and Transportation Director John Merry tells the school committee in documents released ahead of the June 14 Wiscasset School Committee meeting, Staff has been instructed to ... continue following the drinking water procedure that was put in place after initial test results were received.” In a phone interview June 14, Merry said that means the schools will keep only using drinking water locations without elevated levels. And the department is making longer term plans that could include replacing some plumbing, he said.

A memorial to James Weldon Johnson in Wiscasset, where the poet-civil rights advocate died, took about nine years of off and on talks among clergy, townspeople, local and state officials and others. And on a sunny morning June 17, his birthday and Maine’s first annual James Weldon Johnson Day, at St. Philip’s Church and the town common, with singing, poetry, handholding and amens, it came to pass. Selectman Dusty Jones built the memorial, a bench Maine lawmaker Rachel Talbot Ross, of the James Weldon Johnson Day Task Force, said was in a perfect spot, on the common near a church, library and courthouse, for a man whose faith grounded him and who wrote poetry, hymns and other works and worked for justice and democracy. June 7, selectmen had accepted the Task Force’s gift of the bench.

Wiscasset Town Manager Dennis Simmons told selectmen June 21 and in his written report ahead of the meeting, he, Maine Department of Environmental Protection and engineering firm Ransom Consulting did a final inspection June 17 of the cleaned up ash ponds at the former Mason Station. Seeding will be the town’s responsibility; silt fencing has been placed to keep loose soils out of the river, Simmons wrote. He told selectmen in the meeting, the cleanup was a long process, years in the making. “It’s nice to see it done. It looks nice.”

June 25, St. Philip’s Episcopal Church’s annual strawberry festival happened for the first time since the pandemic began. Having it nearly all outside helped it be held this year, longtime St. Philip’s member and volunteer Gretchen Burleigh-Johnson said. “(I’m) very excited that we’re able to come back, and celebrate being together, being masked if you want to be masked, or not if you don’t ... You have that option, and that’s great.”

Wednesday night, June 29 at Wiscasset Municipal Airport, pilots, the town, contractors and Wiscasset Area Chamber of Commerce feted the runway rebuild Stantec Consulting Service Senior Aviation Planner Ervin Deck said cost about $3.5 million. The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act and other federal funds are covering all but about $20,000, the town’s share, said Deck, a past manager of the town-owned airport off Chewonki Neck Road.

Alna will use a $2,000 Assistance with Specific Know-How (ASK) grant from Lincoln County Regional Planning Commission to have a traffic consultant recommend safety aids at Pinkham Pond, besides the off-street parking concept the town has been looking at, First Selectman Ed Pentaleri said June 29.

July

Robert “Bob” England Jr. started as Wiscasset’s interim superintendent of schools July 1. He said there is a “new energy” he can see and wants to support, that includes committed administrators and staff.

Citing fast vehicle sales and firms’ reluctance to bid on something they won’t build for years, Wiscasset Town Manager Dennis Simmons on July 5 sought and got selectmen’s OK to, for six months, use his discretion to seek bids or not. These days, it can delay an order or make the town miss out on a truck on a lot, officials said.

July 11, Wiscasset’s planning board passed Ames True’s proposed expansion of its outdoor storage space. The project would add 157,750 square feet of paved and gravel surfaces to store bulk items such as trailers, picnic tables and chairs, rental equipment and drainage pipe.

The Wiscasset School Committee heard from officials July 12, the department was continuing to try to fill teacher and other jobs, and double bus runs are being looked at as an option for 2022-23 if driver jobs can’t be filled.

As in 2020 and in 2021, Alna’s property tax rate this year will be $18.95 per thousand dollars of assessed valuation. Selectmen set the rate July 13.

Wiscasset held off July 19 on a purchase and sale deal for the tanker truck voters approved for the fire department. Officials said the latest cost from vendor Allegiance Fire & Rescue of Walpole, Massachusetts is $392,592, with no guarantee on the cost of the chassis on order, and with the town, depending on when and if it backs out, having to pay 10% or more of the Pierce Manufacturing truck’s cost without getting the truck.

July 19, Wiscasset selectmen let Wiscasset Municipal Airport’s redone runway open even though the Federal Aviation Administration could not yet certify the airport to open as safe, due to a new utility pole that resulted from the years-long effort of getting easements and removing obstructions before the runway project could proceed. The board agreed to have Town Manager Dennis Simmons and Airport Manager Richard Tetrev work with Central Maine Power on the “most suitable, quickest” plan for the pole and in the meantime open the airport.

August

Lt. Brendan Kane of Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office explained the ALERRT (Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training) program LCSO has been trained on to the Wiscasset School Committee Aug. 9. “It is the model we use for teaching response to any type of violence at schools, hospitals or any other workplaces where a dangerous threat, such as an active shooter, is taking place,” said Kane. The committee thanked Kane and will consider using LCSO for ALERRT training.

Students of Wiscasset Elementary School filled their backpacks for the fast approaching school year with things like pencils, erasers, glue sticks, notebooks, scissors and more, all given away free Sunday afternoon, Aug. 14. The program, now in its fourth year and known as “Set For Success,” was sponsored by Feed Our Scholars through St. Philip’s Episcopal Church on Hodge Street and offered to all pre-k through fifth grade students.

Some of Woolwich’s early assessing records will be copied into digital format. Ned Baxter of Bath-based Sagadahoc Preservation told Woolwich selectmen Aug. 15, he can do the work at almost no cost to the town.

Plans called for Optimus Senior Living to get back to Wiscasset’s planning board Aug. 22 with answers to the board’s questions from Aug. 8. The needs included an estimated project cost and an up-to-date boundary survey. Also Aug. 8, the board set an Aug. 16 site visit for that proposed project, Wiscasset Senior Housing at the former Wiscasset Primary School, 146 Gardiner Road. Eric Dube of Trillium Engineering Group in Yarmouth told the board the playground and front parking lot will go, parking on the site’s southeast side will stay and the facility will have less traffic for Gardiner Road than the school did. The building will get a three-story addition, he said.

Short turnout led to changes in the high school fall soccer season for Wiscasset: Varsity was out. Athletic Director Cameron Bishop said Aug. 24, “So right now the girls are going to play JV games, as many as I can schedule (and) the boys team right now, they’ve only had about five to six boys routinely showing up. So if more trickle in, I’ll try to schedule some seven on seven JV games. But in either case, the coaches are still going to offer practice and skill sessions throughout the week.”

In late August, Maine Department of Transportation said a temporary bridge built to keep Route 1 traffic moving during replacement of the Station 46 bridge in Woolwich would open following the Labor Day holiday. The $25 million project began last January and was expected to continue through January 2025.

Thanks to selectmen’s OK Aug. 16 and an anonymous Wiscasset Schoonerfest donor, waterfront-goers got to hold up their phones and see Hesper and Luther Little in the harbor where the two vessels succumbed years ago. Schoonerfest Co-Admiral Peter Wells planned to return to selectmen to pitch a permanent display for accessing the “augmented reality” image of Hesper and LutherLittle, the schooners that became a landmark as they wasted away here. The temporary plaque with the instructions for viewing the image is near the recreational pier, in time for the second annual Schoonerfest. The event, which runs through Aug. 21, celebrates Wiscasset’s nautical and boatbuilding heritage.

Aug. 25, a client caught and released a nearly four-foot sand tiger shark on Captain Dean Krah’s boat about a mile north of Donald E. Davey Bridge that spans the Sheepscot River from Edgecomb to Wiscasset. Sheepscot-raised and chartering out of Wiscasset for over 40 years, Krah has been going out on the local waters for over 60 years; and he had never had a catch that looked like the one they made that day. Maine Department of Marine Resources’ Matt Davis said “it’s not entirely possible to deduce why this one ... was where it was, but (there) could be ... a number of factors such as foraging opportunities, temperature preference, or predator avoidance.”

September

Sept. 2, Steve Jackson of Holderness, New Hampshire told Wiscasset Newspaper the former Big Al’s Super Values on Route 1, Wiscasset will become his fifth Sweetz & More store. Al Cohen said the lease to Jackson will run at least five years. “This is going to be a local attraction. I think it’s amazing,” Cohen added.

No Zoom echoes, Organ Society members realized and laughed about Sept. 7 as they settled in to do business in person, in First Congregational Church of Wiscasset’s Fellowship Hall, for the first time since the pandemic moved meetings online. The Society turned 200 years old this year. First Congregational’s interim minister, Rev. Dr. Amy Lignitz Harken, said lasting that long shows the group has taken care to adapt to societal change and stay relevant. Meeting with and aiding nonprofits that serve today’s needs, combined with keeping up long traditions such as pie sales, is “a really healthy blend,” Harken said.

Thursday night, Sept. 8, Wiscasset selectmen set the tax rate at $20.08 per $1,000 of assessed valuation – the same rate as last year. To do it, they took $275,000 from the fund balance.

Wiscasset School Department tapped federal funds to start offering students free activities at Wiscasset Community Center on early release days.

Wiscasset’s planning board Sept. 12 passed the planned Optimus senior housing project, Wiscasset Senior Living, at the former Wiscasset Primary School, contingent on sewer issues and costs being resolved. Plans called for the facility to have 113 beds and 20 employees.

Due to having a lot of new staff and the school department’s new goal of collective efficacy, Wiscasset Middle High School Principal Charles Lomonte wanted the school to have a year off from work on renewing the school’s accreditation with New England Association of Schools and Colleges. He sought and got the extension from NEASC, Lomonte told the school committee Sept. 12.

Sept. 26, Woolwich kept its tax rate at $15.40 per thousand dollars of assessed valuation for the third year in a row.

Wiscasset’s planning board on Sept. 26 passed J.V. Properties’ proposed expansion of NAPA Auto Parts, 693 Bath Road.

Amid a statewide drop in families completing meal applications after meals became free, Wiscasset Interim Superintendent of Schools Robert “Bob” England Jr. was asking students’ families in September to complete the forms because, he said, that information factors into state and federal aid.

Late September, the chair of Westport Island’s road committee, Jim Cromwell, agreed to be the town’s road commissioner. Longtime road commissioner Garry Cromwell resigned after selectmen asked for a plan for roadwork spending. Cromwell told Wiscasset Newspaper, voters approved the roads budget, and he was not going to do something now the new board was asking for that he had not been doing all along. He was in the first year of his latest three-year term when he resigned. Said Selectman Jeff Tarbox, “We did not seek, and are very saddened by, Garry’s resignation.”

Sept. 20, Wiscasset special town meeting voters agreed to tap surplus for the $23,982 overdraft in Parks and Recreation’s last budget. The overdraft was due mainly to a large increase in use of Wiscasset Community Center and its programs, and due to “explosive” costs for supplies, fuels and electricity, Town Manager Dennis Simmons said. The department’s revenues surpassed projections by $128,500, but due to the budget overdraft, a special town meeting was needed, he said.

Sept. 24, Westport Island officials and others gathered at Morton “Mort” and Patti Mendes’ home to honor Mort, 96, with the Boston Post cane as the town’s oldest resident.

Wiscasset Wastewater Superintendent Rob Lalli said Sept. 29, the options of building a wall and taking other steps, versus moving the plant – and, if so, where, at what cost, and how much government aid there might be for either option – are questions Wiscasset, like some other towns with plants along the water, will weigh when adapting their sewer plants for sea level rise.

October

Student Council officers declined Principal Charles Lomonte’s offer to redo Wiscasset Middle High School’s Oct. 7 homecoming dance after students and others reported girls were turned away due to exposed shoulders. But the council will get some financial help and will have input into the dress code policy, including getting to talk with the policy committee, Superintendent of Schools Robert “Bob” England said in a phone interview Oct. 14. Lomonte apologized for the dance’s dress code issue he said was a mistake.

Wiscasset’s Ancient Cemetery, fenceless since a partly rotted, wooden one was removed in June 2021, got a new, $53,500, black aluminum one in October.

Wiscasset in October announced the waterfront committee approvedforming a working group, operating as a subcommittee to the WFC, to develop an overall waterfront plan to benefit the town and become part of the town’s comprehensive planning process. Initial priorities are repairing the launch ramps,replacing the town landing pier, repairing the seawall between·the recreational pier and the commercial pier, and evaluating the uses and potential uses of the town-owned piers. Voters in June had rejected proposed funding of a waterfront project.

Rescue Charlie’s Friends in Woolwich hosted the first of what co-founders Janine Hague and husband Lee hope to be an annual event at the nonprofit’s recently donated facility on Saturday, Oct. 22 and Sunday, Oct. 23.

The north wall of Wiscasset’s Sunken Garden was being dismantled and put back together. All the granite stones are the ones that have made up the wall since the 1800s, Public Works Director Ted Snowden said Oct. 27. The rebuild should be fine for 20 years, at least, he said. Over the years, the trees had grown into the wall and pushed it in, Snowden explained. “I had deemed it unsafe because, the way the rocks were leaning, it could have fallen in on someone ... We saved the trees and they will be replanted.”

Woolwich Historical Society announced in October, this year’s Distinguished Service Award for dedicated volunteerism was going to Debbie Locke of Days Ferry. “I’ve always considered her the face of our Historical Society,” said Selectman Jason Shaw. “Debbie has worked tirelessly over the years, and I honestly can’t think of anyone more deserving.”

November

In an email Friday night, Nov. 4, Chewonki Foundation in Wiscasset announced the closure of its elementary and middle school at the end of the school year, on June 7, 2023. Chewonki spokesman Cullen McGough said Friday was a sad day, after trustees’ months of consideration about the grades one through eight program he said started as a pilot program in 2015 and makes up about 6% of Chewonki’s annual budget. “We didn’t end up with a financially viable model for the elementary-middle school.” Some students’ parents voiced upset over the closure decision and its handling. They said they were not included in the decision or any talks on how to possibly avoid it. McGough said the process was consistent with those of other trustee boards of non-profit foundations Chewonki’s size.

According to results Election Day, Nov. 8, Woolwich Selectman Dale Chadbourne won another term, with 1,207 votes; the night’s count also showed Allen Greene keeping his seat, with 724 votes to challenger Thomas Davis’s 720. Davis asked for a recount, town officials said last week. And Monday, the recount upstairs in the municipal building showed a different outcome for the second seat up for election: Davis, 716 votes; Greene, 711.

Addressing the Wiscasset school committee Nov. 9, school nurse Marilyn Sprague expressed concern over a high number of student absences – having had a high for the school year that day of 63 students out. Sprague explained the schools are dealing with illnesses besides COVID this year including hand, foot and mouth disease, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and an illness with a cough that may or may not be RSV. Sprague said due to a shortage of tests, people are now only being tested for RSV if hospitalized.

Holbrook Excavating is no longer Alna’s plowing contractor, First Selectman Ed Pentaleri and the Woolwich firm’s owner Evan Holbrook each confirmed Nov. 10. “Holbrook quit,” Pentaleri said. The firm and town were in the third year of a three-year plow deal. In a Nov. 2 selectmen’s meeting, Pentaleri recalled issues with service last winter and voiced concern service might be no better this winter, and might be worse. In a Nov. 6 phone interview, Holbrook expressed surprise at Pentaleri’s Nov. 2 statements. He said those did not foster a good relationship and made him less desire to move forward with the town. Other than confirming he had “resigned” from plowing for Alna, Holbrook had no new comment Nov. 10.

An “active shooter” hoax Nov. 15 affecting Wiscasset Middle High School and several other Maine schools had local, state and federal agencies investigating the threats, reassuring families and the public and continuing to work on safety. Once it was confirmed all the incidents were hoaxes, police and school staff told students everyone was safe, fielded their questions, told them to tell an adult if they ever hear of any threats or if they know someone is harming themselves; and said students will be part of further training for incidents. Some parents picked up their students from school.

Woolwich residents like the idea of making a traffic signal at the Route 1/Nequasset Road intersection permanent but urged Maine Department of Transportation officials to add turning lanes to improve driver safety. Discussion of the traffic light took center stage at a Nov. 15 informational meeting that included an update on the Station 46 bridge replacement project. Also discussed were planned improvements at the intersection of George Wright and Nequasset roads. The traffic light installed earlier this year was supposed to be temporary during construction of the new Station 46 Bridge, but when Selectman Jason Shaw asked the 50 or so residents assembled in the Woolwich Central School gym if they wanted it to stay, almost every hand went up in approval.

Nov. 15, Wiscasset selectmen gave Town Manager Dennis Simmons two more years in the job and a $20,000 a year raise. The raise, retroactive to July 1, brings his yearly salary to $105,000.

The state decided in Taste of Orient’s favor Nov. 16 on the Wiscasset restaurant’s liquor license renewal request that selectmen had opposed after hearing from Police Chief Lawrence Hesseltine. Maine Bureau of Alcoholic Beverages & Lottery Operations Deputy Director Timothy Poulin wrote: “While there may have been repeated ... calls for service related to potential breaches of the peace and disorderly conduct at Schooner Inn, no evidence has been provided to establish a link between such incidences and Taste of Orient.” Cecilio Juntura said he owns both the inn and the restaurant.

Late November, Wiscasset All Sports Boosters Club and Wiscasset Middle High School’s athletic department announced the purchase approval of a new scoreboard for the upper soccer, track and field complex at WMHS. The purchase is made possible through Wiscasset Ford’s sponsorship, the announcement said.

December

Woolwich selectmen Dec. 5 agreed to name a committee to develop a proposed ordinance allowing future solar projects in rurally zoned areas. The board’s decision came in response to a petition filed by resident Debra Foss.

Wiscasset selectmen Dec. 6 agreed to tap American Rescue Plan Act funds for up to $75,000 in light-emitting diode (LED) street lights. The lights will save the town about $30,000 a year in power costs and would have paid for themselves by now if put in a few years ago, Town Manager Dennis Simmons said. The split vote favoring the ARPA tap came after a discussion that touched on other possible uses for ARPA money, such as broadband, sewer and more.

The extent of federal aid coming to Maine for broadband access is unprecedented and “will never happen again,” Axiom Chief Executive Officer Mark Ouellette told Wiscasset, Woolwich and Dresden selectmen, broadband committee members and others Dec. 1 as he explained some options and prospects for the three towns. Ouellette has been working on a report the towns sought on feasibility and planning, according to the evening discussion at Lincoln County Regional Planning Commission in Wiscasset and carried over Zoom.

With nomination papers available starting Dec. 14, as of Dec. 9, neither Alna selectman whose term is up in March, Second Selectman Linda Kristan or Third Selectman Charles Culbertson, had decided if they will seek a second, two-year term.

The Maine’s First Ship vessel, the Virginia, sailed from Bath to Wiscasset Monday, Dec. 12, arriving at the town dock in early afternoon, participants said. Selectmen on Sept. 6 agreed to rent out a float at the recreational pier for the vessel to winter in Wiscasset. The ship is a reconstruction of a 1600s ship, according to Wiscasset Newspaper files.

Students in the Wiscasset school system will soon have access to telehealth services, Superintendent of Schools Robert “Bob” England Jr. announced at the school committee meeting Dec. 13. The services will be provided virtually through Avel of Sioux Falls, South Dakota. England said 22 schools in Maine now use telehealth services.

Also Dec. 13, the school committee approved Wiscasset Speedway for the location of graduation again in 2023 after learning the seniors voted for it.

Alna special town meeting voters Dec. 15 approved plowing funds. Selectmen had picked contractor Mike Jewett of Whitefield after Holbrook Excavating of Woolwich pulled out on year three of its pact.

Axiom’s Mark Ouellette told Wiscasset selectmen Dec. 20, “it is relatively clear that the numbers do work” for publicly owned broadband. Or he said the town could stick with provider-owned and avoid financial risk but miss out on the greater control he said ownership offers. Selectmen planned to learn more about the options.

Alna selectmen agreed Dec. 28 to hire Sarah Perkins of Pittston as clerk, tax collector and registrar of voters. Michelle Cameron had resigned to become Nobleboro’s treasurer.