Articles by Kathryn Olmstead
KATHRYN OLMSTEAD
Beware car warranty scams
The envelope resembled those that contain rewards coupons or important tax information or even checks — the mailers with tabs on the edges reading: “Remove both side stubs first. Fold, crease and remove this stub at perforation.” But screaming in capital letters above my name and address were so many ...
KATHRYN OLMSTEAD
Border issues require added planning for World Acadian Congress
It is possible that on Aug. 15, 2014, visitors to Madawaska, Maine, will enlarge the town of 4,000 by six or seven times. No one can say for sure how many people will travel to the St. John Valley for the 2014 World Acadian Congress, but organizers are planning for ...
KATHRYN OLMSTEAD
Towns that lose newspapers lose a gift of democracy
The Houlton Pioneer Times calls itself “the only newspaper in the world interested in Houlton, Maine.” That’s no exaggeration. The claim can be made by any small-town newspaper, and its significance takes on new meaning as towns such as Belfast and Bar Harbor lose weekly newspapers. As staffs and resources ...
KATHRYN OLMSTEAD
Record-breaking temperatures cause unprecedented early ice-outs in Aroostook
I couldn’t believe it. I returned from a late afternoon walk March 20 and rapidly flowing water was carving a dark channel through the ice on the Aroostook River in front of my house. Could it be? I can’t remember an ice-out before April since I moved here in 1992. ...
KATHRYN OLMSTEAD
Inventive Aroostook County residents find creative ways to protect mailboxes
Anyone who travels the roads of Aroostook County has to appreciate the lengths to which people go to protect their mailboxes from the snowplow and other threats. I have not had a mailbox for years. Between Halloween pranksters and winter snowplows, I just can’t keep one standing. So I have ...
KATHRYN OLMSTEAD
Maine gardeners, growers asked to help feed the hungry
Maine is the most food-insecure state in New England — ninth in the nation. That means one in five children under the age of 16 in this state lives in a household uncertain of having, or unable to acquire, enough nutritious food for all its members. This information, based on ...
KATHRYN OLMSTEAD
Aroostook ties run deep, pay big dividends
Generosity is not a trait typically associated with the nation’s wealthy in this age of anger among the “99 percent.” Yet recent and past gifts to Aroostook County provide a counterpoint to popular stereotypes of the affluent. I remember back in the 1980s when townspeople in Easton were surprised by ...
Maliseets bless new six-unit housing complex in Houlton
By Kathryn Olmstead, Special to the BDN on Feb. 10, 2012, at 1:52 p.m.
HOULTON, Maine — Families in the Houlton Band of Maliseets have begun to move into new homes in a six-unit apartment complex on Clover Circle in Houlton that was opened officially in a ceremony Feb. 9. Tribal Chief Brenda Commander cut the ribbon held by Undersecretary Dallas Tonsager of U.S. ...
KATHRYN OLMSTEAD
Global warming forum moves some participants to action
An OpEd by author and environmentalist Bill McKibben in the Jan. 23 Bangor Daily News probably attracted more readers than it would have had it not appeared on the heels of a Jan. 20 statewide forum sponsored by the University of New England Center for Global Humanities and the Maine ...
KATHRYN OLMSTEAD
The dying art of making ash wood baskets
When Roldena Sanipass was a girl she watched her mother weave strips of brown ash into traditional Micmac baskets. She could be seen in the background, pounding ash or cleaning splints while her mother, well-known basket maker Mary Sanipass, demonstrated her craft, but she didn’t have the confidence to weave ...
KATHRYN OLMSTEAD
‘Naturally, beautifully friendly’ residents of Fort Kent made German bride feel at home
Just a year ago, the Bangor Daily News was advertising a forum at the Bangor Public Library for readers to talk with Philomena Baker, the subject of a seven-part series of articles titled Flight to Freedom that appeared in the paper between Dec. 25, 2010, and Jan. 1, 2011. People ...
KATHRYN OLMSTEAD
Loring structure’s refusal to collapse is symbolic of Aroostook County resilience
It was to be the largest implosion in the state of Maine. The building that had served as the heating plant for Loring Air Force Base from 1953 until the base closed in 1994 was expected to collapse in on itself in six seconds. Demolition crews had spent weeks removing ...
KATHRYN OLMSTEAD
Aroostook farmer the face of organic growers’ fight against Monsanto
I have wanted to catch up with Bridgewater organic farmer Jim Gerritsen ever since he was named in October to the 2011 list of 25 visionaries who are changing the world by the national magazine Utne Reader. When I finally succeeded last weekend, he was on his way to New ...
KATHRYN OLMSTEAD
Only travel medicine clinic north of Bangor saves Central American trip
It was not until the week before my departure for a trip to Central America that I read the details about immunization. I had focused on the sentence: “No immunizations are currently required for visiting Belize,” in the materials we received weeks ahead of the journey. When I read on, ...
KATHRYN OLMSTEAD
Home birth was first in Grand Isle in 40 years
The Grand Isle town clerk was a little nervous when Marada Cook and Ryan Redmond brought their infant to the town office to be registered July 23, 2007. “Seems we were all three a little nervous,” Clerk Marie Sirois recalled recently. “It was a first-time experience for me.” In her ...
KATHRYN OLMSTEAD
Moose welcome to visit anytime
Wouldn’t you know. A moose walks into my front yard and I can’t find my camera. The little case is empty. Where did I put it? I gaze at the huge animal munching on the leaves of the apple trees outside my kitchen window. I guess I will just have ...
KATHRYN OLMSTEAD
Blowout highlights kindness of residents in Aroostook
It wasn’t a big hole, but it was deep, very round and too close to avoid after I saw it — a black space in the white line beside the road. My front right tire took the hole squarely with a thud and the warning light on the dash glowed ...
Boundaries mean something different to residents of borderlands
What do borders mean? It’s an intriguing question that drew residents of both Maine and Canada to a pair of discussions in Houlton and Frenchville on Sept. 16 and 17. Sponsored by the Maine Humanities Council, the programs asked participants to explore and expand their views of the border as ...
KATHRYN OLMSTEAD
Defending Aroostook in midst of New York Times article
A first visit to Aroostook County can be a myth-defying experience. Aroostook myths germinate in a segment of the population prone to the comment: “I’ve lived in Maine all my life (or for X number of years) but have never been to Aroostook County,” spoken with a hint of pride. ...
KATHRYN OLMSTEAD
Aroostook Birders find silver lining in polluted water
I never thought I would see any benefits in water pollution, but a recent excursion with the Aroostook Birders taught me there is a silver lining to our polluting past. Back in the 1960s and ’70s, Aroostook County farmers were temporarily sold on the idea of growing sugar beets as ...
Police seeking tips about pickup truck possibly connected to Glenburn teen’s disappearance
Dixfield teen riding atop car roof pinned under it after rollover
Since 1971, seven Maine children reported missing have not been found
Aggressive out-of-town buyers swarm midcoast real estate market
A better way to help people escape welfare
A letter to Michelle Obama in light of military sex assault epidemic
Five steps to remedy IRS wrongs
Military sex assault
Manchester 15-year-old off to impressive start for Earnhardt Jr.’s JR Motorsports
Houlton council, community still concerned about costly Millar Civic Center
Bangor’s Marcus Davis hopes to counter opponent’s height, reach advantage in Lewiston MMA main event
Kitchen Nightmares meltdown or: How to lose an argument online
Farmers markets embracing food stamps with the help of USDA
Arguments over gun control and abortion will never be settled
A spot of tea, a spread of treats, at Camden’s Fromviandoux