The Lincoln County News

A citizens petition for the town of Westport Island to pledge $50,000 toward the purchase of a 144-acre property on Squam Creek for conservation met with some opposition and a lot of support during a public hearing at the town hall Thursday, May 26.

The elimination of on-street parking, the impact on business during construction, what many said was inadequate opportunity for input, and future maintenance for expanded sidewalks were just a few of the reasons listed by Wiscasset business owners as they pledged to vote against the Maine Department of Transportation’s design proposals for Wiscasset village.

In the final week of May, a team from Ransom Consulting, an environmental engineering firm with an office in Portland, was combing through areas of concern on the 33 acres known in Wiscasset as the Mason Station peninsula.

The U.S. Department of Energy has cleared the University of Maine’s offshore wind project and two other over-water wind farms to receive up to $40 million more to build full-scale demonstration projects.

In less than half an hour, the Wiscasset School Department’s $8.9 million budget for 2016-2017 was approved at the budget meeting May 25 with near-unanimous support from the few people in attendance.

Very big, beautiful paintings of trees – that is what one will see at contemporary realist painter Jane Dahmen’s “Four Seasons” show, which will open at the Portland Art Gallery on Thursday, June 2. Dahmen’s paintings, it should be noted, are so large because she paints on doors.

Filmed on Monhegan in late 2013, part-time islander Robert Mrazek’s new movie “The Congressman” first opened in late April of this year in Washington, D.C. On May 6, it hit the big screen in nearby Portland. By Friday, May 20, when it opens at the Lincoln Theater in Damariscotta, the Maine-made movie will have been viewed by audiences across the United States, including in Los Angeles and New York City.

The Maine Department of Transportation and Cianbro are preparing to open the new drawbridge in South Bristol to both vehicles and boat traffic prior to the end of the month.

Wiscasset’s new police chief has arrived. Jeffrey Lange was sworn in and began duty on Monday, May 16; he brings nearly 30 years of public safety experience to his new role as head of the Wiscasset Police Department.

The manager of the Nobleboro-Jefferson Transfer Station was recently recognized with an award from the Maine Resource Recovery Association.

The Boothbay Harbor Country Club celebrated the completion of its new clubhouse with a ribbon-cutting ceremony May 11, a week prior to the club’s opening May 18.

Residents and town officials convened at the Waldoboro town office to discuss the future of the A.D. Gray School and come up with ideas for what to do with the vacant structure Tuesday, May 17.

Edgecomb residents have long requested the ability to register vehicles online. At the annual town meeting Saturday, May 21, residents will have the ability to vote on it.