During an Oct. 12 council meeting, Town Manager Jim Chandler said he and Police Chief Kevin Wintle attended the recent MMA convention in Augusta with a number of sessions there concerning marijuana.

Jack, about six feet tall, thin, wearing baggy blue jeans and gray t-shirt, stepped from his company van. With dark circles around his eyes, a left eye that drifted slightly, and chin length light brown hair, Jack resembled television actor David Carradine (Kung Fu).

“You wimp,” Diane said. “I don’t believe this. The summit is just over that pile of rocks. I’m telling you the view is 360 degrees. It’s fantastic.” “Nope,” I said with conviction. “This is far enough. I ain’t goin.’”

For the first month of school students and families at the SeDoMoCha Elementary School had the opportunity to read “Lost on a Mountain in Maine” at home together during the eighth annual One Book, One School program -- copies of the book were provided by the school. The shared reading program concluded with a celebration on the evening of Oct. 5 with dinner, a nature walk, crafts and games.

During an Oct. 4 meeting of the SAD 41 school board, Superintendent Michael Wright said a week and a half prior the capital improvement committee met with Jim Lucy of Honeywell -- which has worked at the complex for a number of decades and would likely apply -- to discuss putting out request for qualifications to decide on a firm to help implement the QZAB funds before the end of year deadline.

The RSU 68 superintendent’s office will be relocated from the second floor of the SeDoMoCha School complex to a former Head Start building off of Autumn Avenue next to campus, as a $38,000 offer on the property was accepted by the owners of the structure. The move will be made to help deal with space issues.

After discussing the idea of following their counterparts in Somerset County by drafting a letter in formal opposition to additional industrial-scale wind development for customers in Massachusetts overlooking Moosehead Lake, the Piscataquis County Commissioners signed a document of their own during an Oct. 3 meeting.

There are good reasons for those who care about such things to fret about the future sustainability of our American hunting heritage. Recently, in an address to the members of the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation (RMEF) – an iconic leader in modern wildlife conservation-- well-known conservationist, Shane Mahoney, talked about the future. Some of his points:

I walk to the St. Augustine, Fla., beach to watch the sun rise on my second day of trying to make sense of whatever principalities of darkness possessed Las Vegas shooter Stephen Paddock. How frustrating that Mr. Paddock, to avoid capture, killed himself; taking with him, apparently, our best source for knowing the reasons for his wholly unreasonable madness.

The Maine Warden Service is pleased to announce the hiring of a new pilot to complement the air wing division. Pilot Christopher Hilton, 32, from Brunswick, was sworn in Oct. 5 in Augusta before warden service staff and family. Pilot Hilton will serve in the bureau’s third pilot position and began working as a game warden pilot at the start of the month.

From a pool of over 375 nominations to 16 county winners who were narrowed down to eight semifinalists and three finalists, there is just a single Maine 2018 Teacher of the Year. The honoree is SeDoMoCha School music teacher Kaitlin Young, and the award announcement was made by Maine Department of Education Commissioner Dr. Robert G. Hasson Jr. during a surprise assembly in the school gym on the morning of Oct. 4.

A huge pumpkin grown in Charleston has squashed the record for the heaviest one ever grown in Maine. But breaking the record wasn’t a slam-dunk for Elroy Morgan’s Atlantic Giant pumpkin, which topped the scales at 1,756 pounds.

If any non-human deserves a Nobel Prize, it’s the common fruit fly, according to a newly minted Nobel laureate and Maine retiree who used the tiny insect to unlock the mystery of the biological clock.

A grand opening for the new JD Foundation office building will be from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 14. Sen. Paul Davis, R-Sangerville will read a proclamation, three key to be announced figures will be honored and attendees can enjoy warm cider and donuts donated by Abbot Bakery.

The town of Dover-Foxcroft has joined numerous other municipalities and organizations in recognizing October as Domestic Violence Awareness Month, as the selectmen formally signed a proclamation during a Sept. 25 meeting.

Speaking this week with Dover-Foxcroft based musician/teacher, Susan Ramsey, I found out Foxcroft Academy's String Program, which she directs, is a model other rural Maine communities can follow. From the start, I was surprised at the extent of FA's overall music programs. But I especially could not fathom why the FA String Program was so popular.

The Aroostook County community of Limestone’s search for a new town manager has concluded with the selectboard hiring Matthew S. Pineo, who previously held the same position in Brownville and later Sangerville on an interim basis.

Heather Wheaton, Penquis Autism Community Services program manager, accepts a $1,200 check from representatives of the Widow Sons Temple Guard on Sept. 29 at Penquis’ Dover-Foxcroft office.