The year in review: Part II
As the page on the calendar changes to the month of January and a new year, it marks the occasion where the newspaper staff reviews the past 52 editions and highlights the biggest news of 2015.
The review of January through June ran last week; here’s the second half of the past year.
July
The Center Theatre reported a crowd of 8,000 attended the Maine Whoopie Pie Festival in Dover-Foxcroft which brought bakers from around the state together with artists, crafters, vendors and the public to celebrate the Pine Tree State’s official treat.
Dexter entrepreneur Susan Nordman, owner of Erda Handbags, testified during a hearing hosted by the U.S. Senate Aging Committee to the value of older workers.
Police were seeking the public’s help in their ongoing manhunt for murder suspect Robert Burton, who was believed to have killed his ex-girlfriend in Parkman several weeks earlier. Witness reports claimed to have spotted the subject on a snowmobile trail in Guilford and on Davis Pond in a stolen canoe/kayak.
A motorcycle procession in Monson kicked off the second annual 100-Mile Wilderness Walk for Warriors, an event that honors fallen members of the armed forces from Maine which in conjunction with the Summit Project raised money for various support programs for veterans and their families.
The tax rate in Milo was set at 28.7 mills, up from 21.3 in 2014.
In order for the Moosehead Lake region to attract new business and enhance its reputation as a prime tourist destination, Luke Muzzy, who chairs the MLR Economic Development Corporation, told county commissioners they should look “back to the future” and beyond county borders.
The Dover-Foxcroft Selectmen approved a tax rate of $18.60 per $1,000 of assessed property for the 2015-16 fiscal year. The rate was up from the previous year mark of 18.25 mills.
Meanwhile, Brownville officials set their mill rate at 19.30, a .40 mill increase from 2014-15.
August
Efforts to revitalize the former Moosehead Manufacturing plant on the Piscataquis River in Dover-Foxcroft were rewarded as officials gathered to celebrate the opening of the Mill Inn & Cafe — part of a larger Riverfront Redevelopment Project encompassing apartments and retail space in the repurposed factory complex.
With help and encouragement from her schoolmates, 6-year-old Lilly Burgess of Guilford supassed her ambitious goal of raising $6,000 for the Make-A-Wish Foundation.
For the second time in as many months, residents of School Administrative District 4 voted down a proposed $7.2 million school budget. The vote was 259-216 to reject the spending package for Guilford area education.
The man who spurred the longest manhunt in modern state history surrendered peacefully at the Piscataquis County Jail after 68 days on the run. Robert Burton was charged with the June 5 murder of Stephanie Ginn Gebo, a single mother of two young children who lived in Parkman.
September
After being sent back to the drawing board two times and modestly trimmed from an original $7.2 million to $7.16 million, the 2015-16 SAD 4 education budget gained approval by just 23 votes.
Media/English teacher Mia Morrison, representing Foxcroft Academy, was named a finalist for Maine’s Teacher of the Year and representing the best of Piscataquis County educators.
Hundreds of friends, family members, colleagues and complete strangers paid their final respects to a Dover-Foxcroft native and Dexter Regional High School graduate whose life-long passion for serving and protecting people was “part of his DNA.” Corey Dodge, 40, was killed Aug. 22 in Kabul, Afghanistan, when a car bomb exploded during a terrorist attack on his convoy.
By a 4-3 vote, Dover-Foxcroft selectmen opted not to put a community bill of rights ordinance on the ballot, favoring instead to set a series of meetings with supporters of the measure to prohibit corporations and governments from engaging in acquisition of land for, or the siting of, private and public-private transportation and distribution corridors. The town had received a petition carrying over 300 signatures in favor of holding a secret ballot vote on the proposed ordinance.
Later in the month, the panel voted 4-2 to deny the request to put the CBR matter to a public vote.
October
The town of Dover-Foxcroft landed a $240,000 state grant on behalf of GLOBEco Maine, a manufacturer of wood fiber cleaning cloths under the brand DuraFresh.The manufacturing facility, located in the front end of the Save-A-Lot supermarket on West Main Street, was expected to grow from a five- to a 40-worker company over the next year, according to business partners Phil Pastore and Mark Snyder.
Two Appalachian Trail thru-hikers, who had been stranded on a flooded section of trail in Blanchard, were airlifted to safety by a Maine Army National Guard UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter. Heavy rains had caused the east branch of the Piscataquis River to spill over its banks and make parts of the trail impassable.
During a presentation to the Greenville board of selectmen, a 43-point Moosehead Lake Region Branding, Development and Marketing Action Plan was outlined by Amanda Hunt, a member of the local economic development committee. The brand promise, she said, is “Moosehead Lake — America’s Crown Jewel.”
Maine Alternative Solutions in Milo, operated by Ron and Amy Demarais, was honored by the Piscataquis Chamber of Commerce as the 2015 Business of the Year. The company sells and services heat pumps and is expanding into solar power.
November
Following up on an earlier meeting with Maine’s Commissioner of Health and Human Services, proponents of improved access to DHHS services for Piscataquis County residents stepped up their efforts to reopen an office in Dover-Foxcroft that was closed almost 10 years earlier.
Piscataquis County voters narrowly rejected a referendum question asking for permission to spend up to $610,000 to construct a new Sheriff’s Office building at the intersection of East Main and School streets in Dover-Foxcroft. The actual vote was 1,427-1,323 against the measure.
December
Representing the committee that has been working on a community bill of rights for Dover-Foxcroft, Dr. Lesley Fernow addressed members of the town’s board of selectmen during a special meeting on the ongoing citizen-driven initiative to place a CBR ordinance question on the ballot. “Our goal is still to put an ordinance before the citizens for a vote, we look at it as a community rights issue,” she said regarding ongoing private efforts to build a transportation/communications corridor through the region.
Ralph “Eddie” Lewis was selected as the 2015 Warren “Pete” Myrick Community Service Award recipient during the annual meeting of the Piscataquis County Economic Development Council in Dover-Foxcroft. The town resident was honored for his efforts on behalf of the Kiwanis Club, D-F Fire Department and Piscataquis Valley Fair Association, among others.
County commissioners approved both the 2016-17 county budget at $4,018,000 and the spending plan for the unorganized territories, at $1,471,870, as well.