Journalist Russ Wiggins, who died in the fall of 2000 at 96, is the inspiration for an endowed academic chair at College of the Atlantic, Bar Harbor. The college is seeking $1.5 million for the James Russell Wiggins Chair in Government and Polity. After retiring from the Washington Post, Wiggins edited and published the weekly
A Christmas Carol Christens Waterman’s Stage
Rome wasn’t built in a day, and it’s certainly safe to say that neither was Waterman’s Community Center on North Haven. But for thousands of years before the Romans built their vast network of highways, people were walking roads and forging paths, getting where they were going whether there were cobblestones laid down yet or
New Library for Swan’s Nears Completion
After ten years of hard work, the Swan’s Island Public Library is almost ready to call its building renovation complete. In 1991, the village of Atlantic’s schoolhouse was left to the Swan’s Island Educational Society (SIES) for a new library. The years since have taken the building from a shell to a beautiful, functional space.
Islesboro Students Learn of Life in Afghanistan
Early last December, Susan Erb, project manager for Save the Children’s Afghanistan programs, met with Islesboro Central School students to discuss what life is like for children in Afghanistan. The presentation, arranged by guidance counselor Kathy Hayes, covered topics ranging from the details of daily life in Afghanistan, including school and chores, to how children
At Island Libraries, Business is Brisk
Maine island libraries loom distinctly large on lists of the state’s top ten in per-capita services to their patrons. A recently-released report on state library statistics for 2002 shows a disproportionate number of island libraries represented in categories of service such as “per capita circulation,” “per capita collection” and “per capita visits.” Are islanders more
Wyeth Prints to Benefit Museum and Gateway Center
The Maine Lighthouse Museum and Gateway Center planned for Rockland’s former Courier Gazette building will benefit from the generosity of artist Jamie Wyeth. Wyeth has agreed to donate proceeds from sales of a limited-edition print of his painting “Lighthouse Iris” toward the new museum, scheduled to open in 2005. The museum will house the world-class
Something Wrong Here?
Last fall there was a brutal killing of an animal over here, and I’m going to tell you about it because it needs to be told. The animal was our family cat, which was murdered, trapped in a mink trap and shot 15 times, then thrown out on our road for us to find. The
Institute Fellow Heads For an Island in New York
Nate Gray, who served two years as an Island Institute Fellow on Peaks Island, began a Senior Fellowship on Fishers Island, NY, in January. Gray will work with the community to inventory community assets and explore ways to enhance local communication and information management in order to bolster the year-round community of 200 people. “We’re
Right Skirt, Wrong Movie
To the editor: Although Vinalhaven’s Phil Crossman is possibly your best columnist, and certainly the most amusing, you should put a fact checker to work on his stuff. In his “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town” (Dec.-Jan.) he refers to a figure whose skirt “blew up a little like Marilyn Monroe’s in ‘Some Like it
From the Deck: A Remote Outpost with a Fiery History
Seal Island lies about eight miles southwest of Isle au Haut, nine miles south of Vinalhaven and six miles east of Matinicus in the mouth of Penobscot Bay. As we approached from Vinalhaven on a calm, cloudy day in early September, we saw it first as a dark crayon mark on the southern horizon with