Articles

Calendars are summer fundraisers

Community groups on Vinalhaven and Islesboro are raising funds with new calendars. Islands Community Medical Center on Vinalhaven is marketing a four-color calendar featuring images from a variety of photographers familiar with the island, along with tides for Carver’s Harbor supplied by Micronautics of Camden. The Medical Center calendar sells for $15.00. It is available

Continue reading...


Art gallery opens in the Long Island Library

The James L. and Shirley W. Dodwell Art Gallery was dedicated at the Long Island Library on Saturday, July 10 with three generations of the Dodwell family present and dozens more family friends and onlookers in the audience. Shirley Dodwell moved through the crowd, expressing her appreciation of this recognition of her family’s Long Island-inspired

Continue reading...


Safety conference set for Oct. 11

The 47th international meeting and safety conference of the International Association for Safety and Survival Training (IASST) is scheduled for Oct. 11 at Maine Maritime Academy, Castine. The conference is expected to include world leaders in the field of maritime safety training. Speakers will present papers on topics such as Fishing Vessel Safety, Search and

Continue reading...


LNG, Again

Last month we called for state leadership on the thorny question of siting a liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility on the Maine coast. At that time we’d been hearing from developers who wanted to bring LNG to Casco Bay and Sears Island; we complained that the existing siting process was allowing towns to compete for

Continue reading...


Without Walls

When Islesboro residents set out to create an island community center back in 2000, they were thinking in terms of a building, and in fact, two years later, they were given a site to work with. When that didn’t work out, the community center committee did what looks like the right thing: they regrouped and

Continue reading...


Twenty Years

This month the Island Institute celebrates its 20th anniversary as an organization. A handful of individuals have made a difference in a unique region, helping islanders and residents of isolated mainland communities come together to achieve common goals. This newspaper has been part of the effort, as have Island Fellows, the Penobscot Bay lobster research

Continue reading...


Group tours Casco Bay island libraries

On May 13, about 25 island librarians and island library supporters embarked on a daylong tour of the libraries of Casco Bay. Organized by the Island Institute Senior Fellow Dana Leath, the day was intended as a way for island librarians to gather ideas, create connections and appreciate each other’s hard work. Librarians from Peaks,

Continue reading...


Fire Departments

Ask anyone to name important community institutions and it won’t be long before they name the local fire department. It’s what protects us all from disaster, the first responder. When the World Trade Center was attacked, it was firefighters who responded, and many of them lost their lives in the attempt to rescue people. An

Continue reading...


Grow Your Own

A program to educate individuals about shellfish aquaculture has quietly gotten underway in Damariscotta and Blue Hill. It’s not a training program for commercial growers; instead, it provides an opportunity for ordinary citizens to learn about shellfish biology and husbandry, predators and diseases, environmental impacts and regulations. The program, Muriel Hendrix reports elsewhere in this

Continue reading...


LNG and Leadership

The current round of proposals to build LNG terminals, and the state’s response to them, is reminiscent of Maine’s flirtation with oil refineries a quarter-century ago. Back then, developers would poke their heads up here and there, counting on support from people in need of jobs, business-oriented citizens, tax-conscious politicians and local officials. Over about

Continue reading...