Year in review 2016
In February, a technician from ReVision Energy assembles the solar panels on the community solar farm at Morris Farm on Route 27 in Wiscasset. PHIL DI VECE/Wiscasset Newspaper
Around sunset May 12, a well-known Newcastle home lies in ruin from a midday fire. SUSAN JOHNS/Wiscasset Newspaper
In August, Woolwich Selectman Jason Shaw shows some of the trash bags the town was still trying to sell. Woolwich was forced to buy back the bags from WasteZero when a pay-as-you-throw (PAYT) program ended in January. PHIL DI VECE/Wiscasset Newspaper
U.S. Sen. Angus King, I - Maine, left, chats with then-School Committee Chairman Steve Smith, center, and committee member Eugene Stover June 2 before the start of Wiscasset Middle High School graduation in Stover Auditorium, named for Stover. SUSAN JOHNS/Wiscasset Newspaper
Attorney Richard Elliott, left, and Kenneth Hatch at Hatch’s arraignment at Knox County Courthouse on Aug. 23. GINA HAMILTON/Wiscasset Newspaper
On June 14, Keith Rendall, left, and Quincy Brimstein stand next to the driveway at the Wiscasset Community Center, where residents were voting on a downtown project and other issues. SUSAN JOHNS/Wiscasset Newspaper
One runner’s leg ends in front of Wiscasset’s former customs house June 25, and a teammate’s leg begins, during the inaugural running of the Rock Lobster Relay from Bar Harbor to Portland. SUSAN JOHNS/Wiscasset Newspaper
Dresden Selectman Allan Moeller picks up trash with an excavator at a June cleanup of an illegal dump site. ART MAYERS/Wiscasset Newspaper
In Wiscasset in May, Michelle Devoe of Ransom Consulting and Jace Pearson of Environmental Projects, Inc. collect soil vapors using a geoprobe drill rig near the spec houses at Point East Maritime Village. GINA HAMILTON/Wiscasset Newspaper
In February, a technician from ReVision Energy assembles the solar panels on the community solar farm at Morris Farm on Route 27 in Wiscasset. PHIL DI VECE/Wiscasset Newspaper
Around sunset May 12, a well-known Newcastle home lies in ruin from a midday fire. SUSAN JOHNS/Wiscasset Newspaper
In August, Woolwich Selectman Jason Shaw shows some of the trash bags the town was still trying to sell. Woolwich was forced to buy back the bags from WasteZero when a pay-as-you-throw (PAYT) program ended in January. PHIL DI VECE/Wiscasset Newspaper
U.S. Sen. Angus King, I - Maine, left, chats with then-School Committee Chairman Steve Smith, center, and committee member Eugene Stover June 2 before the start of Wiscasset Middle High School graduation in Stover Auditorium, named for Stover. SUSAN JOHNS/Wiscasset Newspaper
Attorney Richard Elliott, left, and Kenneth Hatch at Hatch’s arraignment at Knox County Courthouse on Aug. 23. GINA HAMILTON/Wiscasset Newspaper
On June 14, Keith Rendall, left, and Quincy Brimstein stand next to the driveway at the Wiscasset Community Center, where residents were voting on a downtown project and other issues. SUSAN JOHNS/Wiscasset Newspaper
One runner’s leg ends in front of Wiscasset’s former customs house June 25, and a teammate’s leg begins, during the inaugural running of the Rock Lobster Relay from Bar Harbor to Portland. SUSAN JOHNS/Wiscasset Newspaper
Dresden Selectman Allan Moeller picks up trash with an excavator at a June cleanup of an illegal dump site. ART MAYERS/Wiscasset Newspaper
In Wiscasset in May, Michelle Devoe of Ransom Consulting and Jace Pearson of Environmental Projects, Inc. collect soil vapors using a geoprobe drill rig near the spec houses at Point East Maritime Village. GINA HAMILTON/Wiscasset Newspaper
In 2016, Wiscasset gained White’s Island, hiked taxes another 14 percent, cut the asking price on the former primary school to $525,000, voted for a multi-million-dollar downtown project from the state, and let firefighters keep washing their personal vehicles at the station after a series of selectmen’s decisions against the practice.
None of that news cracked the list of the year’s 20 most viewed articles on our website at wiscassetnewspaper.com, however. Sex and drug crimes, fires and accidents drew the most interest.
More than 19,000 read about the June arrest of Lincoln County Sheriff’s Deputy Kenneth Hatch on felony charges of sexual abuse of a minor; 17,000-plus readers viewed our coverage of the Freedom Center fire in Dresden in October; 5,600 read about a May fire that destroyed the Newcastle landmark home known as Two Rivers Farm; and in November more than 6,400 read about a fatal Damariscotta crash.
In other news around area towns, Alna swapped Wiscasset Ambulance Service for CLC Ambulance and pondered moving the town office into the fire station. Dresden cleaned up an illegal dump and voted to form an exploratory committee to look at the town’s contract with Regional School Unit 2.
Edgecomb saw interest from new and expanding businesses, launched a new website, continued looking for public access to the Sheepscot River or Damarascotta River and Irene Marchenay, Edgecomb resident and Wiscasset Middle High School teacher, kept track online in August as son Dave Hughes took fourth place in men’s 470 sailing at the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
LincolnHealth planned a $13.7 million professional building at the Miles Campus in Damariscotta; in Newcastle, Sherman Marsh residents raised grievances with the state’s plans for their properties; and Woolwich tried to sell its many orange trash bags left over from a pay-as-you-throw (PAYT) program that ended in January.
Mason Station delivered a December surprise, pitching an idea for a marijuana facility in Wiscasset.
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