District: Further negotiations not likely to lead to withdrawal agreement NEWRY — Newry Withdrawal Committee member William Andrews characterized a recent letter sent by the SAD 44 school board to Acting Department of Education Commissioner William Beardsley as being “like telling Mommy that somebody did something bad.”  The letter criticized the Withdrawal Committee for not having […]

Bethel’s Comprehensive Plan Committee has been in existence for two years but has accomplished little, and members are now in a stalemate on how to proceed, selectmen learned at their meeting last week. Some residents questioned whether there should even be a comprehensive plan. The panel is charged with updating the comprehensive plan, which was […]

UPTON — Selectmen have declined to sign a letter of support for a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposal to purchase 4,091 acres of land in the area of B Brook for the Umbagog National Wildlife Refuge. Town officials, who met with Refuge Manager Paul Casey and Tom Bourtureira of the Conservation Fund, expressed concern […]

BETHEL — Facing increasing costs and objections from the owners of older apartment buildings, Bethel selectmen have voted to recommend a new sewer fees rate structure that would shift some of the increased costs to single-family homes with average water usage. A public hearing on the proposal is scheduled for Jan. 25. Two years ago […]

BETHEL – The Board of Selectmen voted recently against allowing the Maine Mineral Gem Museum to keep its banners up until next spring. Town Manager Christine Landes said the board discovered at its Dec. 3 meeting that no formal application to hang them was filed, as required by the sign ordinance. She said the museum […]