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So far, the team is undefeated.

On August 18, Fort Kent beat Van Buren 3-0.  A week later, on August 24, the team tied Presque Isle 2-2.

The average lifespan for Americans is about 72 years.  If we have any sense about us, we know that this journey is marked by certain signposts such as baldness, failing eyesight, aching joints, or your first heart attack. Yet it is difficult to tell if any specific symptom is because of old age, just as it is difficult to tell if any particular weather event is the boogeyman of climate change.  It seems we blame just

By Julie Daigle
When I was in my late teens and early twenties, I lived in North Carolina for several years.  There are lots of things that I like better about Maine, as evidenced by the fact that I am here and no longer there, but there are some things that I really miss about the communities that I lived in down south.

One is the presence of music in everyday life.

FORT KENT -The University of Maine at Fort Kent's Blake Library Gallery will feature an exhibit of photographs by UMFK alumnus Darrell McBreairty, entitled "Allagash Summers: The Philip Calvin Hughey Sr. Photographs."

FORT KENT - The schools of MSAD 27 closed at 1 p.m. today, Wednesday, September 1, because of unseasonably hot weather.

Weather predictions indicate the temperature will rise to a scorching 93 degrees today.  Because the schools have no air-conditioning, temperatures in the buildings could go even higher.

Buses leave at 1 p.m.

There were no after-school activities.

FORT KENT - "It's quite a little project here," said Rob Johnson of the Fort Kent Lions Club.

FORT KENT - On Monday night, August 23, the Fort Kent Town Council lost the chair of the planning board, Danny Nicolas, because of a split vote of 2-2.

The discussion became heated at times.  Council Priscilla Staples raised an objection after John Bouchard made a motion to reappoint Nicolas to the position on the planning board.  Nicolas has held a seat on the planning board for 30 years.

Staples said, "I have problems with Mr. Nicolas."

She said Nicolas has a bias against her, primarily around the issue of the windmill ordinance.

FORT KENT - Fort Kent's Bengals soccer team won their first game of the season on Thursday night before a sizable opening crowd.

Several fans sitting in the stands noted that Robert Wesleyan College would be a challenge for the University of Maine at Fort Kent.  By the end of the first half of Thursday night's game, even though no team had scored, it was obvious the home team was dominating the field.

FORT KENT - Police said Shelley Bruey, 44, took a 1999 Ford pickup from Kirk Voisine on Saturday morning.

According to Officer Richard Martin, Bruey then drove the black pickup through the stop sign at North Perley Brook and Market.  The truck crossed the road, went onto the lawn and hit a parked vehicle that was in the lawn.  After the collision, she took off north on Market Street, dragging a bumper down the roadway.

From an anonymous tip, police located Bruey and the vehicle on Highland Avenue.

FORT KENT - Police in Fort Kent have charged a thirteen-year-old boy with criminal mischief for vandalism committed last Thursday, August 19.

Fort Kent Police Chief Kenneth Michaud said the boy broke bottles on Hall Street and the Heritage Trail.  He also pulled up signs on the Heritage Trail.

Michaud said the boy apparently "...just did it because he felt like it."  Michaud speculated the youngster may be trying to get attention.

The juvenile will appear in court in October.

About twelve or so months ago, while he still had some of that innocence that makes child-rearing somewhat rewarding and enjoyable, I took my eldest son aside, and I explained to him what he should expect as he moves into his teenage years.

In a very serious voice I said, "Now Son, don't be scared, but alien beings from another planet are going to kidnap you sometime in the next year or so."

FORT KENT - It is always a boost to a community when a new business opens up, and Fort Kent received a boost last week when Curtis and Christine Saucier opened Home Solutions on Main Street in Fort Kent.

MSAD 27 - Administrators and teachers are calling it the No Touch Policy.

In general, the policy is in place to discourage aggressive physical contact.

FORT KENT - Seven years ago, I traveled to Colorado to visit my friend Alisha and meet her first child, Caleb. Alisha was always someone I wanted to emulate when the time came to have a family of my own.  As a lot of first time parents tend to do "these days", she'd done a ton of research on ways she could help her child's development skyrocket.  It was no surprise that I found myself walking into a music class for her and her six-month-old

Fort Kent Police Chief Kenneth Michaud said, "The employees went to the Dumpster and the raccoon was hissing at them."

The employees called the police department and Michaud went to investigate.

FORT KENT - University of Maine at Fort Kent President Wilson Hess told an assembly of Community High School freshmen that the university would provide a $1000 scholarship to all freshmen who graduate on-time from CHS and qualify for entry into UMFK.

Hess made the announcement at the beginning of an orientation program that the ninth grade team of teachers had designed for the first day of high school.

Ninth grade team leader Brigitte Morse said, "That's awesome."

FORT KENT - Practice began last week for the University of Maine at Fort Kent Men's Soccer Team, and it began with a vengeance right after the parade.

The 2011 U.S.

On Saturday, Bossie landed a 40 and 1/2-inch muskie that stayed at the top of the leader board until the derby officially ended at 5 p.m. on Sunday.

FORT KENT - Earlier this week there was a crisis.  The iconic bell, which organizers mount at the muskie weigh station near BeeJay's, was missing.

But lucky for the derby, the Musky Planning Committee found the bell.

Darlene Kelly-Dumond said, "I found it."

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Linda Cyr said, "It was right where it was supposed to be."

FORT KENT - There will be several dozen, if not hundreds, of bicyclists on the road on Sunday because of the annual Tour de la Vallee fundraising event.

Rachel Charrette, project director for Power of Prevention, said it is a good time to remind people of the rules of the road.

For Motor Vehicles

FORT KENT - Town Manager Don Guimond described the current tax commitment, saying, "By far it's the largest increase I've seen in my tenure."

On Monday night, the Fort Kent town council voted unanimously to approve a tax commitment of $3,468,029.66.  Last year $3,076,263.28

Check out our coverage of one of the most amazing festivals in northern Maine:

Derby & Fest

Fest Guide

A car slob is a person who never cleans his or her car, can never find the time for the automatic car wash, and thinks a cup holder is a general purpose device that will hold not only cups but pens, paperclips, and bits of loose change stuck to the furry coffee stains at the bottom of the holder.

EAGLE LAKE - John Kaleta of Eagle Lake said, "This should just be fun."

For the twentieth time, folks from the surrounding towns participated in the impromptu Eagle Lake Triathlon on Saturday.

The

JERICHO, Vermont - It seems as if summer has gone by so fast. Can you believe that it's already August?

Even though summer is beautiful in Fort Kent, to me, fall is the best season in The County.

He may be the only UMS president who has eaten whale blubber.

Dr. Wilson Hess, the new president of the University of Maine at Fort Kent, said he had the unique opportunity to eat whale blubber while studying native groups in Canada when he was the executive director of the Audubon Expedition Institute out of Belfast, Maine.

(For a video of Dr. Hess' opening remarks to the UMFK Board of Visitors, please click HERE)

His PhD is

By Andrew Birden

I suppose changing a tire should be a rather easy affair, but it never is simple.  The problem of course is that it happens when you are in a hurry to get somewhere. Yet it is always a surprise when you're driving along and suddenly your car feels like a moose has decided to start water skiing behind it.

It seemed innocent at first.

Noelle Dubay's purse disappeared from the Fox Auditorium on Friday, July 23, during the busy week leading up to the first performance of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. Other players had lost items and then recovered them in the sometimes chaotic environment.

FORT KENT - On Saturday, members of Scout Troop 189 set up a vegetable stand in the Farmer's Market across from the St. Louis Catholic Church and sold vegetables to raise money for their troop.

FORT KENT - She's belted out songs of patriotism, love and hope for state and national leaders, for military veterans and for judges at competitions across the North American Continent.  She can sing tunes from classical to jazz, Disney to folk tunes.  Yet things have been changing for the maturing young singer.

FORT KENT - In June, 29 athletes went to the regional meet in Caribou where they performed so well, nineteen qualified for the state meet.

On July 6, all nineteen of these young athletes, coming from the towns of the SAD 27 schools, traveled to the Cameron Stadium in Bangor, Maine, for the Maine State Hershey Track Meet.

At this meet, where hundreds of participants came from all across Maine, our athletes performed so well that by the time the meet was over, they had taken seven first place wins and seven second place positions.

By Noelle Dubay

In May of 2003, mountain climber Aron Ralston was hiking in the canyons of Utah when a boulder dislodged and trapped his right arm against a canyon wall. Unable to free himself for days, Ralston eventually resorted to sawing his own arm off with a dull blade in order to survive. Such measures must have been prompted by a state of total helplessness not hitherto experienced by the human psyche. That is, until today, when I got my car stuck in the car wash at DOC's.

By Troy Jackson