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In the third edition of Better Know Your Newspeople:
ANNE
This is Anne. Anne covers the Ellsworth city beat for The American with a little lobster and aquaculture reporting thrown in. She's a hawk when it comes to public records and Maine's Freedom of Access to Information Act but a dove when it comes to reporting on people and community. Find Anne in Castine with her two cats with her nose stuck in a sci-fi or horror novel or hiking a trail in the woods.
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Hey there Bulletinbats: It's Thursday, Dec. 24. As our editorial board points out this week, for the luckiest among us, 2020 is a detour from traditions with extended family and friends that can be picked up again next year. Others are mourning loved ones with whom they will never again celebrate. Food pantries and toy drives have experienced increased demand as local families struggle to make ends meet. Many Mainers report being stressed, anxious, isolated and depressed. But among all that bleakness is light, quite literally.
Hancock County is aglow. Christmas trees and light displays went up early this year in a show of determined cheer. Island Nursing Home, which has suffered a heartbreaking and deadly COVID-19 outbreak, has been so flooded with cards and gifts that staff have had to start gently turning them away. Volunteers have baked meals and stuffed stockings for area seniors. Anonymous donors paid off store layaways and handed out surprise cash gifts to store patrons. Even Santa has touched down in Hancock County for some socially distant appearances. Christmas, it seems, is alive and well.
So may you find comfort and joy this strange holiday season. As Tiny Tim said, “God Bless us, everyone,” or more, informally, Merry Christmas, ya filthy animals.
In the weather: Wet, windy and warm today and tomorrow, with cold returning Saturday.
High tide was at 6:24 a.m.; low is at 12:45 p.m.
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MOSHIER TAPPED FOR CITY MANAGER
After months of searching, the City Council has turned to Police Chief and interim City Manager Glenn Moshier to fill the role of city manager on a permanent basis. Moshier was named interim manager after former City Manager David Cole retired last September. Moshier joined the Ellsworth Police Department in 2004, was promoted to sergeant in 2008 and then to captain in 2016. He has been named the department’s Officer of the Year on three occasions. In early 2017, he was named police chief after serving on an interim basis since the previous December. Council Chairman Dale Hamilton said that “What the council has been looking for is a person who has demonstrated leadership and a demonstrated history of being able to collaborate with a diverse group. We want to have a city manager that is not only connected internally to city operations but is able to engage the community in a positive way.”
GLOVES MADE IN TRENTON ARE PART OF VACCINATION EFFORTS
For the last 40 years, Tempshield USA in Trenton has manufactured cryogenic products, including gloves able to withstand ultra-cold temperatures, sending them to countries across the globe. Now, that innovation at Tempshield is playing a critical role in the distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer. The gloves are proving to be crucial in the distribution of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine, which has to be stored at -94 degrees Fahrenheit. According to a Nov. 17 National Public Radio article, that is colder than winter in Antarctica. Luckily, Tempshield’s Cryo-Gloves provide protection against temperatures as frigid as -320 degrees Fahrenheit, according to the company’s website. “Right here, right out of little, old Trenton, Maine,” said Paul Larochelle, Tempshield’s chief operating officer, of the essential protective gear coming out of Downeast Maine.
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Didi Prestinaria (left) and Shelly Van Camp donned Christmas colors to lay wreaths on the graves of veterans on Saturday, Dec. 19, at Woodbine Cemetery in Ellsworth.
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SULLIVAN HOMEOWNERS, ALLEGING UNFAIR VALUATION, FILE SUIT
The Hancock County Commissioners were served notice last week that Sullivan property owners Deb and James Knowlton have filed suit in Hancock County Superior Court seeking property tax relief, a move that comes after commissioners on Nov. 3 denied a property tax abatement request for a Sullivan property the Knowltons purchased in June 2019. While the commissioners indicated that they agreed that the property was assessed too highly for tax purposes, they disagreed that it was the board’s role to grant the abatement because neighboring properties were assessed similarly. The couple’s property assessment was “grossly wrong but it wasn’t unfair,” Chairman Bill Clark said. “Everybody else’s was grossly over assessed.” Clark added: “If the town does not do a statewide revaluation sometime soon or make an adjustment in this tax neighborhood’s rate and we continue to get these dramatic disparities between the assessment and the appraisal… Sullivan may find the county and the Superior Court are going to start granting abatement requests,” he said.
DOUBLE SHOOTING SUSPECT IS JAILED
Two men were shot at a Trenton residence Sunday night and a Milbridge man has been arrested and charged with attempted murder and robbery, according to Hancock County Sheriff Chief Deputy Patrick Kane. A judge on Monday set bail for the alleged shooter, Larry Smith, 50, at $250,000 cash, according to District Attorney Matt Foster. Authorities were alerted to the situation with a 911 call, which came into the Hancock County Regional Communications Center at 8:25 p.m. Foster said Monday the two victims have survived the shooting. "This incident remains under investigation,” said Kane. “Additional arrests are likely. There are no further safety concerns for the public.”
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RESTORATION HOUSE OFFERS HOPE AND A HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS
Christmas for the seven men living in the Restoration House in Ellsworth will be far different than last year. Arriving from North Carolina, Florida, Louisiana, New York, Texas, Sudan and Bar Harbor, and all seeking recovery from alcohol and drug addiction, they will spend the holiday with their new family at Rise Church. As will Daniel Stewart, an alumnus of Restoration House and pastor of Rise Church, which runs the residential program that helps men rebuild lives ravaged by their addiction and bad decisions. The men affectionately call him “Pastor Dan.” “Whether you’re struggling with addiction, depression, mental health issues, I think there can be a tendency to isolate,” Pastor Dan said. “When you stay connected with a community and bring things out in the open, into a community and support system of people you trust, that’s when you see healing begin.”
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OUTBREAK AT ISLAND NURSING HOME WINDS DOWN
As of Monday, the Island Nursing Home had lost 14 residents to COVID-19, according to Matthew Trombley, senior executive director. There are now 47 residents. “We are at 14 [deaths], but we are at 98 percent recovered,” Trombley said. One resident had not yet fully recovered on Monday. The outbreak at the nursing home began the day before Thanksgiving and spread rapidly among the population of 62 residents and 85 staff members. All residents and 38 staff members would eventually test positive. “Depending on the individual, everyone is on their own journey with how to cope,” Trombley said. “For the most part, people are trying to be a little bit more present and cheerful. We were able to get our Christmas decorations up.”
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SEW RUGGED
On Friday, March 13, Liz Meadows left her office looking forward to the weekend. Meadows, owner of The Natural Alternative, had been a massage therapist for 17 years, many of them spent at the Maine Grind building building in Ellsworth. Like everyone, she adapted: cleaning more, and differently; adding a health questionnaire for each appointment. After several months, Meadows made the decision to shut her practice. But she wasn't gone for long. Less than a month after closing The Natural Alternative, Meadows was back with a new undertaking: Sew Rugged, an all-around production, design and repair sewing service based out of her home in Sedgwick. “People got it right away,” said Meadows. “The second week it was like ‘Can you fix this? Can you fix this?’” Clients have asked for projects ranging from designing insulated chicken coop cartons to repairing a tear in a leather glove. “It’s just a broad range of different things I’ve been able to do. That keeps it really interesting.”
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Sumner cheerleaders and coaches and members of Whitney Doughty’s family pose for a photo during the team’s state championship reception Feb. 8 in Sullivan. The Tigers rolled to Downeast Athletic Conference, Penobscot Valley Conference, Class C North and state titles in a season it dedicated to Doughty, a former Sumner cheerleader who passed away in an accident last May. JESSICA SNOWDEAL PHOTO
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RSU 24 REVERSES SPORTS DECISION
The Regional School Unit 24 (RSU 24) Board of Directors voted to approve a winter sports season for middle and high school athletics, reversing its initial decision. The 7-1 decision follows what has been an impassioned debate for the RSU 24 community since the beginning of the academic year, when the Board voted to cancel the fall sports season. Board member Alison Johnson was the sole dissenting vote. Board member Andrea St. George Jones was not present. Johnson discussed statistics of those who have been affected by the coronavirus. “Those are numbers until you know someone. Well, I know someone. I lost my sister in the spring,” she said.
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Heard Around Town: It took many hands and minds to create Acadia National Park’s Wild Gardens of Acadia over more than a decade starting in 1961. The work didn’t stop there since the gardens, teeming with over 300 native plant species displayed in nine separate areas, require thinning, pruning and thoughtful tweaking.
Among the steadfast volunteers is Carolyn Miller, who recently was awarded the Bar Harbor Garden Club’s Lifetime Membership. The Bar Harbor resident, who has been a club member for 50 years, is one of eight people interviewed by the club about their memories of the gardens’ early formation.
From their inception, the gardens have been a collaboration between Acadia and the club. Miller, whose late spouse Keith Miller served as park superintendent from 1971 to 1978, recalls him being most appreciative of the club members’ voluntary work in the gardens during his tenure. Thanks to Carolyn Miller for the photo, and congratulations!
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