Hello Islanders. Hope you are enjoying this glorious fall weather! Lots of changes on the tech front as we try to bring Westport Island into the 21st century.
 

Thank you for your patience as we continue to upgrade and sync our platforms. We understand that we have a number of kinks to tend to, and we are! We should be back to normal soon, but are being methodical in our approach. 

We appreciate your understanding that nothing is simple, and we want, just as much as you, to get the WNP back to doing what it does best: Provide you with news, a place to comment and participate, and a platform for the sharing of important information.

Thank you!

Maine-based non-profit health insurer Community Health Options is the new administrator for CarePartners, MaineHealth’s program providing free or low-cost health care for low-income, uninsured adults. The collaboration ensures members will continue to have access to affordable, high-quality care.

Pastor Aram Mitchell will begin his part-time tenure at Edgecomb Community Church on Sunday, Sept. 29, at the 9:30 a.m. worship service. 

It took 25 voters about 20 minutes to pass an article authorizing the Woolwich selectboard to move forward on a collaborative project with Maine Connectivity Authority and Consolidated Communications for the construction of a community-wide broadband fiber optic network. The special town meeting at the municipal building preceded a regular meeting of the selectboard, Wednesday, Sept. 18.

Two Bridges Regional Jail Authority is looking for a little help from its friends in solving a major capital improvement project. Last month, Jail Administrator Col. James Bailey reported the 20-year-old prison is showing signs of aging. He proposed a project which would cover immediate security improvements costing about $1.5 million and another $1 million in supplemental repairs.

The Department of the Interior (DOI) announced Sept. 16 it will hold its first wind energy lease sale in the Gulf of Maine. Eight areas will be leased, two of which are around 60 miles from the Boothbay Peninsula. The auction is scheduled for Oct. 29.  

According to DOI, if fully developed, the areas have a potential capacity of about 13 gigawatts of energy, enough to power over 4.5 million homes. The lease areas are in previously identified wind energy areas offshore of Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts. 

The Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office responded to 377 calls for service for the period of Sept. 10 to Sept. 17. Year to date, LCSO has responded to 11,259 calls for service.

Summonses

Anthony J. Pallis, 65, of Dresden was issued a summons Sept. 10 for Criminal Trespass, on Gardiner Road, Dresden, by Deputy Justin Drake.

Joshua Wright, 22, of Edgecomb was issued a summons Sept. 11 for Operating under the Influence, on Englebrekt Road, Edgecomb, by Deputy Kasey Doyle.

Wiscasset’s waterfront festival, Schoonerfest, will provide a day of free dockside fun this Saturday, Sept. 21 from noon until nightfall, concluding with a fireworks display over the Sheepscot River.

St. Philip’s Help Yourself Shelf (HYS), 12 Hodge St., Wiscasset, has been designated to receive the proceeds from the Damariscotta Hannaford store’s Fight Hunger Bag program for October.  Each time a patron purchases a Fight Hunger bag, $1 is given to HYS to help ease food insecurity. With ever increasing costs and more people seeking help from the Shelf, each and every dollar is quickly put to use in that effort.

Over the next 24 hours, we will be undergoing site maintenance and there may be brief periods of intermittent access. We appreciate your patience with us during this process.

In estimates Wiscasset Superintendent of Schools Kim Andersson shared Monday night, tuitioning out the high school grades, closing Wiscasset Elementary School and having all the grades up through eighth at the remaining school would save a few hundred thousand dollars a year.

Is that worth what would be lost, asked some members of the Wiscasset Future of the Schools Committee.

Last year, the selectmen-appointed, voter-requested panel said closing the high school grades might cost the town more for education. But after the committee restarted, the math was redrawn. 

Charles “Charlie” Presby, 97,  is Woolwich’s newest holder of the town’s Boston Post Cane. The selectboard awarded Presby the ceremonial walking stick at his home on Nequasset Road Sept. 16; the cane serves as a symbol of honor and respect for the community’s current longest living resident.

Historic Alna, a 501(c)(3) organization created to help support the maintenance, preservation, and restoration of Alna’s rich historical heritage, will celebrate completing recent repairs and repainting of Alna’s 1789 meetinghouse by sponsoring “Music at the Meetinghouse” on Saturday, Sept. 21, at 5 p.m.

he Lincoln County Democratic Committee (LCDC) has announced the date, time and location for their biannual “Rally for Democracy.” The event, which will be held rain or shine, is scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 19, from 3 to 6 p.m. at the American Legion in Damariscotta. Parking is available next door at the CLC YMCA, at 525 Main St., with accessible spots reserved at the Legion for those with appropriate plates or placards.

“Resilient communities leverage the interconnectedness of housing, health, education, civic engagement, and socio-economic opportunities, etc.” Noël Bonam, Maine State Director ~ AARP.

Kelp forests are a foundational feature along Maine's coastline, providing the food, habitat, and clean water needed for a rich marine ecosystem. But these forests are in flux due to changes in modern fisheries and, more recently, due to rapid warming.

The Maine Republican Assembly (MERA) will be meeting on Sept. 19 at the American Legion Post 36, 25 Industrial Park Road, Boothbay from 5 to 7 p.m. The special guest speaker will be lawyer, Mike van der Veen  who represented Donald Trump in his second fake impeachment trial. The Maine Republican Assembly is a branch of the National Federation of Republican Assemblies. For membership information, contact Bill Morrison at Mainerepassy@gmail.com.

Delight in the final Wiscasset Art Walk of the 2024 season on Thursday, Sept. 26, from 4 to 7 p.m. Enjoy the Village collection of fine galleries, one-of-a-kind shops, a variety of excellent food stops including MAZU food truck, and lots of sidewalk activities. 

The monthly meeting of Lincoln County Republicans will be held Wednesday, Sept. 25 at the Water of Life Lutheran Church, 618 US-1, Newcastle.

Beginning at 6 p.m. the public is invited to attend Larry Lockman’s presentation.

Lockman co-founded Maine First Project in 2015, The conservative non-profit focuses on Maine's worsening illegal immigration crisis, and the failure of Maine's government-run K-12 schools to teach the basics and respect parental rights. Larry co-founded the non-profit during his second term in the Legislature.