As we looked back at the past year, we took a look at the stories that drew the most interest and feedback from our readers.
Whether it was news of industry, a century-old icon shutting down part of its operation, or people working together to free a vehicle mired in a frozen lake, here are the 10 Aroostook County stories TheCounty and Bangor Daily News readers responded to most in 2024, starting with number 10.
Houlton businesses close after eclipse
Following the fervor over the total eclipse on April 8, during which more than 20,000 visitors poured into Houlton, seven local businesses announced they would close their downtown locations: Shire Ale House, Shiretown Gaming, Lotus & Leaf teas and chaga brews, Erathan Emptor crystals and minerals, Serpents’ Edge knives and swords, Ritual Ink Tattoo and True Cyan tie dye.
The ale house, Ritual Ink and Erathan Emptor closed permanently.
Lotus & Leaf Teas closed its brick-and-mortar location in Market Square, but now runs a busy delivery business, owner Randi Farrar said. She will soon open a drive-thru in Hodgdon.
True Cyan operates part-time from a home studio, owner Christina Carroll said.
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Shiretown Gaming and Serpent’s Edge have moved to Ludlow, according to their social media pages.
Former police officer charged
The hunt for a missing Washburn man took on another facet when a former police sergeant was charged with allegedly falsifying records in the case.
Erik Foote of Washburn was reported missing last January and in April was found dead by the Aroostook River in Caribou.
Chandler Cole, 54, was arrested by the Aroostook County Sheriff’s Office on March 29 and charged with aggravated forgery, tampering with public records or information, falsifying physical evidence and unsworn falsification related to the case, according to court records. The records stated he had altered his police reports after seeing Foote. He waived his initial court appearance and later pleaded not guilty.
5 businesses for sale
Five local businesses were listed for sale in April, from garages to retail stores to restaurants. The opportunities were varied, with price tags ranging from nearly $2 million to under $200,000.
Some business owners were nearing retirement and made a tough decision to look for new buyers, hoping to find just the right ones to carry on their legacies.
The story profiled Acadian Cabinet and Woodworking in Madawaska, owned by Cliff Cyr; Riverside Inn Restaurant of Presque Isle, owned by Danny and Sandy Collins; Seiders Variety and Sporting Goods of Hodgdon, owned by Laura and Geno Seiders; Bacon Auto and Truck Care of Caribou, owned by James Bacon; and Al’s Dairy Freeze of Fort Kent, owned by Allen Bouchard.
New potato chip plant in the works
Bruce Sargent and Jim Pelkey of Falcon Transportation in Presque Isle said in February they planned to locate their new Taste of Maine Potato Chip Co. at Loring Commerce Center, the 3,800-acre industrial and commercial park that opened after the base closed in 1994.
The men chose the site of the former Damon Elementary School to build an 80,000-square-foot production plant, along with a $2.5 million solar garden. They anticipated a potential 2025 opening, employing 75 people at first then expanding to about 100 employees.
Anti-government group recruiting
Right-wing group Tactical Civics was making appearances and recruiting members in northern Maine, appearing at local events and running advertising campaigns.
The group aims to teach people how to lobby municipal governments to pass ordinances and create local grand juries and militias.
Tactical Civics is listed with the Southern Poverty Law Center as an extremist anti-government group.
Racing to free a truck
A grapple skidder fell through the ice on Portage Lake in February. Driver and owner Gary Belanger luckily was unhurt. He had checked the ice but hit an invisible soft spot.
With an already mild winter, soft ice and a warming trend approaching, workers needed to free the vehicle before the ice melted.
Crews from Rafford Construction worked with Belanger using an excavator, and by late afternoon on the second day the skidder was free. The vehicle had lost around 20 gallons of diesel fuel, which Maine Department of Environmental Protection’s hazardous waste response personnel cleaned up.
A small town has big crime concerns
Patten residents shared concerns of burglaries and overdoses with the Maine State Police last January.
About 40 residents talked about middle-of-the-night home break-ins, transient trespassing, suspected drug houses, drug overdoses in the town playground and long wait times for police.
Lt. Brian Harris said staffing shortages are part of the problem. He offered safety tips for residents and urged them to keep reporting concerns along with detailed information and photographs, if possible.
PFAS plan hits a snag
The Mi’kmaq Nation discovered hemp plants can extract forever chemicals from soil, and the tribe planted industrial hemp on land it owns at the former Loring Air Force Base that was still contaminated from the use of firefighting foam.
They ran into a major problem, though: no one knew how to get per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, out of the hemp without it going back into the environment.
Starting in 2025, the Mi’kmaq Nation, Central Aroostook Soil and Water Conservation District and others will use a four-year, $1.6 million EPA grant to continue hemp planting at Loring and testing potential ways to extract PFAS from harvested hemp.
Cheap power for the win
When it came to attracting new businesses, Van Buren decided to publicize something it has to offer that most towns don’t: cheap power.
The century-old Van Buren Light & Power sells electricity at 12.5 cents per kilowatt hour, about 10 cents cheaper than the state average. Only Houlton, in southern Aroostook County, offers electricity for less at 11.4 cents per kilowatt hour.
Town Manager Luke Dyer happened to be talking with U.S. Sen. Angus King and mentioned the electricity rates. King suggested they capitalize on that, and a new marketing campaign was born.
Loss of a County icon
When Houlton Farms Dairy announced it would stop producing white milk at its century-old operation, jaws dropped. Readers lit up our websites and various social media sites, making this our number-one most read story of 2024.
Generations grew up drinking Houlton Farms milk, from schoolkids who got the familiar half-pint cartons on lunch trays, to grocers who couldn’t keep it stocked fast enough. The family cited increased costs and declining milk sales.
The dairy still makes ice cream, butter and chocolate milk. One carton won’t go away: the 9-foot wooden one that marks the Presque Isle Houlton Farms dairy bar.
