Anyone who suspects someone they know may be a victim of elder abuse or would like to know more about the topic and how to help is invited to a free elder abuse awareness and response workshop from 8:30 a.m. to noon on Friday, Nov. 15 at The Commons at Central Hall, 152 East Main Street.

Growing up in Dover-Foxcroft, Carlson Williams’ family often told stories about local history around the dinner table. One of his favorite tales to hear was also among the most gruesome: the story of the murder of Alvin Watson in the nearby town of Parkman in June 1881.

Piscataquis County winners of the 2019 Spirit of America Foundation Tribute for outstanding community service will be honored at a ceremony on Friday, Nov. 15 starting at 7 p.m. at the Valley Grange Hall (172 Guilford Center Road). The event is open to the public.

Fifteen pupils in grades 5-8 at Piscataquis Community Elementary School are October Students of the Month. The month’s honorees were presented with certificates in front of their peers and teachers during an assembly in the cafeteria to start the day on Oct. 31.

The students and staff of SAD 4 are inviting area veterans and the general public to attend the annual Veterans Day celebration at 8:45 a.m. on Friday, Nov. 8.

More than two dozen students in the younger grades at Piscataquis Community Elementary School are now HEROs for their outstanding conduct. The HERO honorees were recognized with the presentation of certificates during the elementary morning meeting on Thursday, Oct. 24.

With the state’s firearms hunting season for deer looming, the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife’s deer specialist says he expects plenty of hunters to fill their tags this year after a banner year in 2018.

Crime in Maine dropped for the seventh consecutive year in 2018, according to data from the Maine Department of Public Safety released Wednesday, but there were more assaults and homicides compared with 2017.

More than 300,000 Maine homeowners can expect a $100 check early next year under a new state law. The households that can expect the payment qualified for the homestead exemption in 2019. The homestead exemption reduces a home’s taxable value by $20,000, so a taxpayer pays property taxes on only $130,000 in value for a $150,000 home. Homeowners can only claim the homestead exemption on their primary residence.

The Piscataquis Observer’s Stuart Hedstrom picked up top honors in the food story/feature writing category among the state’s smaller weekly publications from the Maine Press Association in the 2019 MPA Better Newspaper Contest on October 19 during the organization's annual awards banquet at the South Portland DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel.

Ahead of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency’s National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day this Saturday, October 26, U.S. Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine and Angus King, I-Maine announced the locations of the Maine collection sites, the full list is at https://takebackday.dea.gov/. Area sites include the Dexter, Dover-Foxcroft, Greenville and Milo police departments and Piscataquis County sheriff’s office.

In a recent ceremony and reception held at the Abbot Town Hall, Selectman Mickey Knowles presented Abbot’s Boston Post Cane to nonagenarian Thelma Weymouth.

For close to two decades nearly 3,000 third grade students across the region have each been given a dictionary thanks to the Valley Grange and the organization’s Words for Thirds Dictionary Project. The first batch of dictionaries for 2019 were given out on the afternoon of Oct. 15 to approximately 75 students from the four grade 3 classrooms at the SeDoMoCha Elementary School in Dover-Foxcroft. Pupils and teachers traveled to the Guilford Grange Hall to receive their books.

For the first time in three years, the Maine Teacher of the Year is from outside Piscataquis County. On Oct. 10 at Gorham Middle School the Maine Department of Education and Educate Maine named alternative education teacher Heather Whitaker Maine’s 2020 Teacher of the Year. She follows SeDoMoCha School music teacher Kaitlin Young in 2018 and Piscataquis Community High School English instructor Joseph Hennessey last year as recent honorees.

Plans are well underway for the Piscataquis County Democrats annual fall fundraising dinner. The True Blue North Fundraiser takes place at the East Sangerville Grange on Saturday, October 19 with a social hour beginning at 5 p.m.

SAD 4 officials have found a solution for design and access issues with the district website at www.sad4.org and providing information to students, parents and the community. During an October 8 school board meeting at Piscataquis Community High School the directors authorized Superintendent Kelly MacFadyen to use up to $15,000 from the minor capital improvement fund to contract with Apptegy on revamping and then maintaining the website.

Valley Grange of Guilford notes that the fall event calendar includes plenty of opportunities for celebrating and strengthening American values and hometown roots.

Mindy Sanborn recently became the new director at Guilford Memorial Library. Sanborn has a strong background in technology and business management. She hopes to maintain much of the home-like feeling of the library while giving patrons access to modern technologies.