Tom Walsh
Washington County bureau
Tom Walsh, who won numerous state, regional and national awards as a reporter for the Ellsworth American weekly newspaper from 2004-08, is based in the BDN's bureau located at 25 Main St. in Machias. Walsh worked as a science reporter for the Cedar Rapids (Iowa) Gazette from 2001-04 and also taught journalism at the University of Iowa, where he earned his degree in journalism in 1972. He earned a master’s degree in communication studies from Dublin City University in Ireland in 2002.
Three finalists to interview for Eastport city manager
EASTPORT, Maine — Closed-door interviews of applicants eager to become this Washington County seaside community’s next city manager will continue into next week. Citing “burnout,” current City Manager Jon Southern informed the city council last November that he would be stepping down after his employment contract expires on April 26, ...
Red Sox get support from experienced sports medicine team
FORT MYERS, Fla. — When the 2013 version of the Boston Red Sox open their season on Monday at Yankee Stadium, the starters who take the field will be backed by a small army of sports medicine professionals, ranging from Boston General Hospital orthopedic surgeons to a Japanese-speaking massage therapist. ...
Machiasport man to serve one year for sexual contact with child he was baby-sitting
MACHIAS, Maine — Kile Howard, 23, of Machiasport will spend one year in jail on an unlawful sexual contact conviction. Howard was arrested in August 2012 after being accused of having sexual contact with a child under 5 years old he was baby-sitting. Howard was sentenced Monday to five years ...
Distance learning program links rural students to Vanderbilt students and research faculty
SURRY, Maine — Imagine a fourth-grader getting off a school bus and offering this response to a parent asking what went on at school today: “We designed and we built and then we tested a new artificial leg.” It’s a response that could have come last Friday from any of ...
Landmark Cherryfield Academy being transformed into a community center
CHERRYFIELD, Maine — Ever since it was built in 1851, the locals have called it “Cherryfield Academy.” Now a push is on to have the cavernous, two-story Main Street school house overlooking the Narraguagus River be known instead as the “Cherryfield Academy Community Center.” A space that for six generations ...
Washington County land conservation pioneer Alan Brooks passes the torch
MACHIAS, Maine — “I stand for what I stand on.” That’s how Alan Brooks summarizes his 30-plus years of actively conserving miles of shoreline and thousands of acres of Down East headlands, farms, woodlands and marshes throughout Washington County. It’s a simple philosophy that Brooks says he shares with its ...
Milbridge town offices, library make their move — next door
MILBRIDGE, Maine — Whether it’s 300 feet or 3,000 miles, moving is always a pain. Milbridge town officials were feeling that pain on Thursday and will again in days to come as they undertake the laborious process of relocating the town office, the library, the police department and the ambulance ...
Washington County Jail clerk appealing her firing over alleged misuse of inmate funds
MACHIAS, Maine — Karina Richardson wants her job back. The longtime clerk of the Washington County Jail was suspended last December by Washington County Sheriff Donnie Smith, who accused Richardson of misappropriating funds from the jail’s inmate benefit fund for purchases that benefited her personally. During a five-hour hearing in ...
U.S. Coast Guard to honor Jonesport teen who drowned saving father in 1972
JONESPORT, Maine — It’s been more than 40 years since Alvin Beal drowned on Oct. 17, 1972, at the age of 17 while rescuing his father from a rogue wave off Great Wass Island that capsized the fishing vessel his dad had hand-built for hand-pulling heavy wooden lobster traps. The ...
Owner blames theft of nearly 100 lobster crates on stagnant Down East economy
JONESPORT, Maine — Becky Beal looks at the weekend theft of nearly 100 lobster crates from the wharf of her family’s waterfront business in Jonesport as “a sign of the times,” given a stagnant Down East economy. By Tuesday, she had a sign of her own, spending much of the ...
Amid ongoing finance probe, Donnie Smith says he will seek another term as Washington County sheriff
MACHIAS, Maine — Despite two tumultuous terms, including overseeing two recent firings and one resignation within the upper echelons of his department, and an ongoing state investigation, Washington County Sheriff Donnie Smith said Monday he’ll seek a third four-year term in 2014. Since he was first elected in 2006, Smith ...
Guidelines for lead screening in children
Lead screening and blood testing for lead is based on a child’s risk for lead poisoning. Since children rarely display symptoms of lead poisoning, a blood test is the only way to know for sure whether a child has been exposed. Children ages 1 and 2 are especially at risk ...
Cherryfield’s complicated stand-alone school process quickly nearing July 1 deadline
CHERRYFIELD, Maine — The Washington County community of Cherryfield is now immersed in the complicated process of seeking state and local approval to withdraw its elementary school from Maine School Administrative District 37 and going it alone, perhaps as soon as July. The multifaceted process involves preliminary and final approval ...
Fishing community gathers to mourn crew of Foxy Lady II
STONINGTON, Maine — As snow fell outside, tears were falling inside the Island Community Center on Sunday as the tight-knit fishing community of Stonington-Deer Isle gathered to remember two local fishermen lost at sea in December. Arriving in the snow long before the 2 p.m. memorial service began, Joyce Gray, ...
Washington County business plans expansion to turn lobster plant’s waste in lobster compost
MARION TOWNSHIP, Maine — Sometimes the oft-dreaded “unintended consequences” of a business deal can wind up being good ones. That seems to be the 1+1=3 calculation behind the retrofit of the former Stinson Seafood cannery in the Hancock County community of Prospect Harbor. The ongoing project has sparked plans by ...
VIDEO
Bill pulls sustainability, legality of seaweed harvesting into spotlight
LUBEC, Maine — Proposed legislation that would explore statewide regulation of the commercial harvesting of seaweed along Maine’s 3,000 miles of craggy coastline has re-energized years of debate over whether cutting rockweed and other species of seaweed should be allowed at all. Rep. Ellen Winchenbach, R-Waldoboro, a member of the ...
$80 million wood pellet production facility planned for Eastport, could create 100 jobs
EASTPORT, Maine — The venture capital firm that breathed new life into paper production in East Millinocket is poised to jump-start the economy of Washington County through plans to construct an $80 million wood pellet production facility on a 40-acre site near the Port of Eastport cargo facility. A source ...
Heroin, marijuana and cash seized, charges filed in Addison probation check
ADDISON, Maine — Two men were arrested on drug charges Wednesday by Washington County sheriff’s deputies, who also seized $11,000 worth of heroin, a small quantity of marijuana and $400 in cash from a home in Addison. Byron Carver, 33, of Jonesport was charged with possession of heroin. After deputies ...
Failed guy wire anchor likely caused Washington County Route 1 blockage
CALAIS, Maine — Indications are that the daylong closure of busy Route 1 and a power outage that affected 790 homes and businesses in Washington County on Tuesday were caused by the failure of two guy wire anchors that were embedded in granite. Two utility poles owned by Eastern Maine ...
Award-winning Camden children’s author to tour Washington County
MACHIAS, Maine — Award-winning children’s book author and illustrator Chris Van Dusen will discuss his work Tuesday, Feb. 26, at the Porter Memorial Library in Machias and in elementary schools throughout the Down East region. Sponsored by the Bar Harbor-based nonprofit Island Readers & Writers program, Van Dusen’s Porter Memorial ...
Former Bangor YMCA building sold to new dental technology school
LePage tells legislative leaders he’s moving out of State House because of ‘censorship’
Maine Sports Hall of Fame member, DJ Dana Wilson convicted of child pornography possession
Community members rally in memory of Nichole Cable; events, fundraisers planned
After 27 years, a father continues to search for his daughter, presumed dead
The scramble to fill the 2nd District seat if Mike Michaud runs for governor
Rep. Diane Russell’s fool’s errand
How the omnibus energy bill will benefit Maine
Goodwin steps down as Brewer High School boys basketball coach
Bucksport’s Cassidy Adams strikes out 19 in single game
New University of Maine hockey coach expected to be named next week
UMaine trails Binghamton 8-2 in suspended game at America East baseball tourney
Live Updates: UMaine baseball vs. Stony Brook in America East tourney
‘All That’ actress Amanda Bynes arrested after allegedly tossing bong out apartment window on 36th floor
Maine School of Science and Mathematics alumni drawn to give back to magnet school
5 Things To Do This Weekend, May 24-27: Raindrops can stop falling on my head anytime they’d like, thanks.
Maine’s beer industry continues to brew double-digit growth
New York City rumble showcases Maine’s lobster roll dominance