We continue our look at what made news in The County in 2025. Here we wrap up the year with highlights from July through December.
July
Houlton region:
The Maine Department of Environmental Protection found that Patten officials violated state regulations when they demolished the asbestos-laden historic recreation center on Founder’s Street without taking proper precautions and by not using a state-licensed removal expert.
The Aroostook County Commissioners approved the Aroostook County Jail Needs Assessment and authorized the county administrator to develop a request for proposal from architectural and engineering firms to design a new Aroostook County jail.
In a 338-to-180 referendum vote, registered voters said “No” to MSAD 70’s proposed $7.9 million school budget for next year, forcing school officials to begin building a new budget that residents of Amity, Haynesville, Hodgdon, Linneus, Ludlow and New Limerick can financially accept.
Central Aroostook:
Former Caribou resident Devin Madigan was sentenced to eight years in prison for possessing child sexual abuse images.Madigan was also ordered to undergo 10 years of supervised release and pay $20,500 in restitution.
Melanie Blais took over as superintendent and curriculum coordinator of the Fort Fairfield-based MSAD 20, where she began her teaching career two decades ago.
The University of Maine at Presque Isle announced it would add dwarf planets Haumea and Makemake to its roadside solar system model, expanding the length of the model to nearly 160 miles on Route 1, from Madawaska to Topsfield.
St. John Valley:
Van Buren’s Acadian Arts Facility, which was made possible via a $25,000 grant, announced plans to participate with Fort Kent’s Rivertown Community Arts Center in teaching classes. The collaboration will allow people in both towns to virtually attend classes taking place at the other center.
Officials announced that ground would soon break on a new fire station in Van Buren, which will replace the old facility that was built in 1972. Contractor A.M Construction & Roofing of Caribou came in with the lowest bid of $3.7 million on the station.
Maine artist Robert Brochu created a fine art sculpture for the University of Maine at Fort Kent campus. The installation, a three-sided obelisk, contains a message on each side emphasizing a different aspect of the school experience.
August
Houlton region:
For the third time in less than a year, a resident filed a complaint in Aroostook County Superior Court against the town of Houlton for allegedly violating the state’s Freedom of Access Act. Mark Lipscombe filed a petition for judicial review under Maine’s Rule 80B after the Houlton police allegedly failed to complete his request for documents related to a police interaction with his child.
David Slagger, 63, a member of the Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians and Woodstock First Nation in New Brunswick, accused U.S.officials at the Houlton and Calais border crossings of, among other things, handcuffing his fiancee while she was crossing the Canadian border to visit him, mistreating his feathers and confiscating a ceremonial drum that he made and has used for 25 years.
Documents obtained by the Bangor Daily News through a Freedom of Access Act request reveal that Houlton employees made regular use of the controversial security cameras that the town installed last year, searching them thousands of times for details about people and vehicles.
Central Aroostook:
The Presque Isle City Council rescinded its approval of a new airline recommendation process for the Presque Isle International Airport that experts say violated Maine’s open meeting law, less than two weeks after the Bangor Daily News began asking questions about the policy’s legality.
City and state officials held the groundbreaking for a $6-million, $72-acre aerospace research park named after former president John F. Kennedy at Presque Isle International Airport.
Two Limestone residents died and two more were seriously injured in a two-vehicle collision just over the Fort Fairfield town line.
St. John Valley:
The U.S. General Services Administration announced that the site of Madawaska’s former land port of entry would go up for auction. U.S. Customs and Border Protection officially closed the facility last year as a new port of entry and international bridge were built.
Local artist Dan Cayer pitched creating a 20-foot sculpture made out of the town’s former bridge to town officials, who all embraced the idea. The sculpture would be in the shape of an Acadian star, an important symbol for the St. John Valley’s heritage.
Mainers on the other side of the Canadian border mourned the death of legendary horse jockey Ron Turcotte, who was a well-known figure in the Van Buren and Grand Falls communities. Turcotte rode the horse Secretariat in 1973 into the first American Triple Crown victory in 25 years.
September
Houlton region:
Houlton Town Manager Cameron Clark was arrested by the Aroostook County Sheriff’s Office on charges of domestic violence assault and felony tampering with a witness.
Registered nurses at Northern Maine Medical Center in Fort Kent and Houlton Regional Hospital in Houlton authorized bargaining teams, represented by the Maine State Nurses Association and National Nurses Organizing Committee, to call a strike if their contract negotiations with management didn’t move forward.
The parents of missing Aroostook County teen Stefanie Damron spoke publicly about their daughter for the first time since her disappearance a year earlier, calling on law enforcement to do more in her search. Her father, Christopher “Dale” Damron, said Stefanie’s “case is losing the flame and it needs to be rekindled.”
Central Aroostook:
Four weeks into the school year, Caribou-based RSU 39 passed its 2025-26 budget in a third validation referendum after voters rejected it twice during the summer, the first two times in the district’s history.
A global aerospace company that retrofits wide-body aircraft such as 747 passenger jets moved in the famous arch hangar on the former Loring Air Force Base in Limestone.
Amazon held the grand opening for its delivery station in Caribou, the global ecommerce giant’s first facility in Maine.
St. John Valley:
Van Buren town officials celebrated the groundbreaking of a new fire station on State Street. The project was awarded to a local contractor for $3.7 million and the town received $2.2 million in congressionally directed federal funding to pay for the project.
MSAD 27 in Fort Kent prepared to present an even lower school budget to voters after it was rejected in June and again in August. School officials cut six positions in order to create the second budget and also began charging student athletes to play sports.
The University of Maine at Fort Kent drew hundreds of guests for their homecoming weekend. The event featured balloon rides, a presentation of a newly-installed sculpture, soccer games and live music.
October
Houlton region:
Houlton’s largest departments filed letters of no-confidence in the town manager and the Town Council in the wake of the town manager’s arrest. Two Houlton town councilors, Jon McLaughlin and Alexis Brown, citing moral and ethical differences with the council’s decision to keep him on the job.
Amidst escalating tensions between town officials and the community, eight Houlton registered voters gave written notice to Town Clerk Khylee Wampler that they were moving forward with proceedings to propose an ordinance for the recall of elected officials in Houlton.
The town manager was placed on administrative leave, three town councilors resigned in protest, leaving the town without a governing body without a quorum. The remaining two councilors appointed three men to one-year terms.
Central Aroostook:
A Minnesota-based company announced it would open Maine’s first artificial intelligence data center in a 115,000-square-foot warehouse on the former Loring Air Force Base in Limestone.
Food Pantries prepared for a surge in demand with Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits set to expire amid the longest federal government shutdown of all time.
Aroostook County Administrator Ryan Pelletier announced he will leave The County’s top non-elected position in January to become the city administrator of Saco.
St. John Valley:
An auction for Madawaska’s former land port of entry that began in August was indefinitely suspended as a result of the government shutdown. The old port of entry is roughly 65 years old, and replaced with a new facility that was larger and more energy efficient.
Madawaska town officials held a groundbreaking ceremony for a project worth more than $200,000 to renovate its Bicentennial Park. The new park will include an Acadian Pavilion that will replace a gazebo that was torn down, amphitheater seating, a skate park and electricity hookups for musicians and food trucks.
Freckle Farm, a family-run farm based on St. David, won the Maine Institute for Family-Owned Business’ Shep Lee Community Service Award. The award recognizes businesses of any size that demonstrate commitment to giving back to the community, volunteerism, and employee service to the community.
November
Houlton region:
The Houlton Town Council agreed to remove the controversial surveillance cameras in a settlement agreement with three local men who were prepared to sue the town, seeking legal restraints on the town’s use of the technology. In exchange for getting rid of the cameras and the data, the men will not sue the town.
Houlton Regional Hospital registered nurses picketed outside the hospital, beginning a two-day strike over the alleged refusal of the hospital administration to improve staffing, nurse retention and contract negotiations.
Two resigned Houlton town councilors, Alexis Brown and Jane Torres, were elected to serve three-year terms. Brown declined to accept the seat and the council appointed local entrepreneur Fred Grant to fill the vacancy for one year.
Central Aroostook:
The Presque Isle City Council approved changes to the city’s land use ordinance designed to hide large solar arrays from public view, reaching a compromise with its planning board after several months of back and forth.
Maine Attorney General Andrew Frey found that the three police officers who fatally shot at a Portage Lake man during a Feb. 3 standoff acted in self-defense.
International potato product producer McCain Foods purchased Penobscot McCrum, the specialty potato product producer that operates a more than 115,000-square-foot processing plant in Washburn.
St. John Valley:
A community group began working to ensure that the Long Lake Public Library can continue serving patrons in St. Agatha and surrounding towns for years to come. The Daughters of Wisdom Fund for Long Lake Public Library was established by a small group of community members to keep the facility going.
Officials at the University of Maine at Fort Kent are looking for public input regarding its upcoming 150th anniversary celebration in 2028. The university had humble beginnings as the Madawaska Training School when it first opened in 1878.
Students in America and France participating in Fort Kent Community High School’s French exchange program with an English class in Cholet, France discovered that they both shared a common ancestor.
December
Houlton region:
The Houlton Town Council ends town manager Cameron Clark’s contract after felony arrest without cause, effective immediately.
A blaze ripped through Patten’s downtown destroying the Outback Garage, an upstairs apartment and a low-income senior housing building, leaving several employees without work and more than a dozen without a home, including 11 seniors.
Patten physician Ron Blum was awarded the 2025 Wallace H. “Bud” Jeffrey Award for distinguished service to youth through his work with the Maine High Adventure Program, part of the Katahdin Area Council of Scouting America.
Central Aroostook:
The districts that oversee Presque Isle and Caribou High School, the two largest high schools in Aroostook County, announced with nearby Fort Fairfield High School that the schools are exploring consolidating into a single 9-16 regional high school that would include a trade center and a higher education center.
Northern Maine Community Trails, a new nonprofit formed by community leaders in central Aroostook, purchased the 700-acre former Nordic Heritage Outdoor Center for $1 million, reopening the facility after a yearlong closure.
The University of Maine at Presque Isle received its largest ever gift, totaling $2.1 million, from the estate of former UMPI President Don Zillman and his wife, Linda.
St. John Valley:
A building on 58 Main St. in Van Buren and an unoccupied structure on 56 Main Street were both destroyed in a fire. The owner of the 58 Main Street building suffered smoke inhalation and was taken to a local hospital.
Van Buren’s St. Bruno-St. Remi Catholic Church brought back its Christmas Eve Mass, a long-standing tradition that went away after the COVID-19 pandemic first hit in 2020. The return of the Mass is part of an overall revival of the church under the leadership of Rev. Anthony Korir.
Local Toys for Tots organizer Rudolph St. Peter was injured in a head-on collision in New Canada, but was back to work the next morning working on gathering donations and helping kids in need in time for Christmas. Last year, the program gave toys to 2,382 local children.
