Le Journal

This story was originally published in January 2023. After Stephen Dunn. This time of year, I love cold still nights when temperatures plummet to single digits. I love sitting by the woodstove and pulling old tip-ups from pack baskets. I love tying on fresh leaders, hooks right out of the package. I love the wooden clanks the traps make. I love a perfectly rigged trap with a button threaded so I can place bait exactly where I want. I love precision amidst our harshest season. I love the efficiency of a good trap, how it trips again and again, how its beams display years in dents. I love how each one folds down into something smaller. I love the first walk out, ice too thin for snowmobiles or four-wheelers. I love the shackless lake. I love the quiet, the lack of auger sounds. I love the view through black ice, how if you look long enough the frozen air bubbles resemble stars in space. I love how I can walk on water, or through the night sky. I love how easily my heavy sled drags over glare ice. I love the bite of crampons with every step. I love the newness of it, love knowing this all will melt in a couple of months. I love knowing there will be no Jet Skis. I love thinking of the fish’s view — giant lid over their heads. I love imagining them watching the bottoms of my boots. I love that first chisel into black ice. I love ice spray and the hollow thud right before I break through. I love how the lake seeps out, as if from a wound, how water pours and refreezes in uneven pools. I love the visual confirmation of safety: 3 inches of clear, black ice. I love standing atop cracks knowing I’m safe. I love the way water bobs in the chiseled holes the closer I walk. I love that others love it, too. I love walking single file, 50 feet apart from my friend, Jersey, whose real name is Steve; love that we both carry throw-bags, love that he doesn’t mind when I remind him what state he’s from. I love knowing we’re prepared and hope we never need those preparations. I love knowing Jersey’s summer job involves throwing rope to ejected rafters. I love that he shows up early every time we fish. I love that Jersey skims holes and sets traps with steady diligence. I love how he takes FaceTime calls from his young son, shows him the trap he’s resetting. I love his optimism. More than the tripped trap, I love the moment before, the flag held down by the tiny O-ring. I love the simple physics, the harnessed potential. I love the shape of the set trap, too, like half a heart. I love the moment of recognition: Flag! I love the way, once called, that word punctuates everything else: meals, conversations, it doesn’t matter. I love the possibilities the word contains. I love yelling it but I love hearing it yelled just as much. I love the way the flag hovers, a cloth beacon of hope. I love running, the way Jersey and I run, to the first tripped traps of the new year. I love being out of breath in winter clothes. I love how heavy my boots feel those last few yards. I love the moment before I see the spool. I love the way my mind turns, in that moment. I love the spool-blur only big fish produce. I love the direct connection — no rod, no reel. I love the headshakes, the long, finger-burning runs. I love lifting fish from the darkness, as if the lake has given birth. I love releasing fish, and I love keeping a few white perch for dinner — pan-seared, with a squeeze of lemon juice. I love the simplicity of jig poles. I love that salmon hunt just beneath the ice. I love that pike piss off the purists.I love that in the first photo of me fishing I’m sitting on the floor of an ice shack with my hand stuck in a Cheez-It box. I love that I only see certain people on the ice, year after year, though I know they live nearby all year round.I love how voices carry over ice. I love skillet-seared venison on a Coleman stove. I love bald eagles waiting for discarded baits. I love fishless days because we were out there trying. I love getting into bed, after. I love…

Those looking for an affordable property in northern Maine are in luck. While the average price of a home in Maine steadily rose since the pandemic to reach roughly $400,000, there are still properties for sale around the state with asking prices well under $100,000 — or even $50,000. They might require a little elbow grease — or need to be torn down entirely — but these sites are the perfect opportunity for someone with a little imagination and determination to build something new. Here are five property listings in northern Maine with asking prices of $30,000 or less. Madawaska, $19,000 Built in 1936, this 1,256-square foot house sits on a .2-acre lot on Main Street in Madawaska, directly across the street from the Acadia Family Health Center. While the listing stresses the four-bedroom, one-bathroom home is not habitable because it doesn’t have running water or working plumbing, it’s also a “blank canvas for a creative mind with the necessary skills.” The previous owner was redoing the home and removed both the stairs to the upper floor and basement, but further information on what was done is limited. The property was listed the day after Christmas and the asking price of $19,000 has remained steady since then, the home’s Zillow listing shows. Grand Isle, $19,600 This .4-acre property in Grand Isle, which holds a 400-square-foot building, has an asking price of $19,600. Credit: Courtesy of Tammy Gagnon The seller slowly worked on this 400-square-foot building on Main Street in Grand Isle in warmer weather, as it isn’t heated, and stripped it to the studs before putting it on the market last September for $22,000. The listing has seen a series of price cuts since then to reach its current asking price of $19,600. If the property doesn’t sell by April, the owner will likely take it off the market and continue to renovate it, said Fred Dobbs of Dobbs Realty, the agency listing the property. If someone wants to knock it down and build something new on the .4-acre lot, Dobbs said the property already has a well for water and septic system in place, which will minimize building expenses. “It has good bones, it just needs someone to go in and do the work,” Dobbs said. Bridgewater, $24,900 This nearly .8-acre lot on Route 1 in Bridgewater has a 1,400-square-foot home that was built in 1940, but needs some work to make it livable. The property is available for $24,900. Credit: Courtesy of Andrew Mooers This nearly .8-acre property on Route 1 in Bridgewater has a 1,400-square-foot home that was built in 1940 and needs some work to make it liveable. The three-bedroom, one-bathroom home was listed for sale on Nov. 26 with an asking price of $24,900, which has remained in place since then. “The land alone is worth that,” said Andrew Mooers of Mooers Realty, the listing agent for the property. “It’s like a Charlie Brown Christmas tree, it just takes the right buyer.” The property could be the perfect opportunity for a group of friends to pool their funds and turn it into a shared hunting camp or summer oasis, Moores said. Or, the home could be an affordable way for someone handy to break into homeownership without the burden of a mortgage. “It’s like a car with fenders that don’t match,” Moores said. “It might not be pretty, but it gets you from point a to point b and it’s yours.” Caribou, $27,400 This .2-acre property near downtown Caribou has a three-bedroom, two-bathroom home that needs some significant repairs. The home is on the market for $27,400. Credit: Courtesy of Big Bear Real Estate Company This three-bedroom, two-bathroom home on Glendale Road near downtown Caribou offers nearly 1,200 square feet of living space. The property, which has a two-car detached garage and sits on a roughly .2-acre lot, was listed on Nov. 11 for $44,900, but the price has been slashed to $27,400. The home needs some significant work, including foundation repairs, but holds glimmers of what it once was and could be again. One bathroom, for example,…

AUGUSTA, Maine — A network of 12 volunteer mentors is linking up with Mainers looking for ways to start, grow or improve their businesses. The state’s northern chapter of Service Corps of Retired Executives, more commonly known as SCORE, provides free one-on-one assistance to local entrepreneurs from the southern end of Knox County to the Canadian border. International business consultant David Green of Bangor heads the chapter and travels to some of northern Maine’s most remote locations to help bring out the best in people, he said. Maine is a state of mainly small businesses and Green said he wants it to be a place where people can make a comfortable living and thrive. “The Small Business Administration says people with a mentor are twice as likely to succeed and that’s what we do,” Green said. What started out as a northern Maine road trip with Green and two other SCORE executives three years ago to meet people in places such as Caribou, Van Buren, Presque Isle and Houlton has grown into a network of partnerships and cooperative events with rural towns as a way to reach out to local businesses, Green said. The chapter works with local Chambers of Commerce, the Northern Maine Development Commission and the Southern Aroostook Development Corp., to name a few, and provides free business-related training sessions in addition to one-on-one mentoring. Additionally, they work with school programs and other community organizations to provide business-related training and assistance. The total in-person session attendance grew 30.2% last year, from 232 in 2024 to 302 in 2025; total services increased 28.4% from 1,165 in 2024 to 1,496 in 2025; and total local services from 836 to 934. This month, the Northern Maine Chapter earned the U.S. Small Business Administration’s 2026 National Chapter of the Year Award, ousting much larger metropolitan chapters this year. “The secret sauce is we have created partnerships in these areas and are doing more of what people need,” said Green. Green, like all SCORE volunteers, brings a wealth of career knowledge to entrepreneurs seeking guidance. An engineer, he worked with Hewlett-Packard and ITT in the UK before moving to Canada to work for Nortel for 25 years. He now owns Bangor-based WardGreen Group consulting with his wife, Ginger Ward-Green. He takes on a new SCORE client every week, he said. One woman, who owns a consulting business and does strategic planning, process improvement, leadership development and coaching, has been working with him to pivot her business to leverage AI, he said. “My help so far has been to introduce her to people who are on the leading edge of AI so she can refine her business model to focus on work she wants to do and where there is a market need,” Green said. Some of the contacts Green has helped with include a city development director, a nationally known entrepreneur embarking on her next big thing using AI, and one of SCORE’s AI subject matter experts. Another client in a small town had bought an old building with a commercial kitchen and asked for help starting a sandwich shop. “By the time I met with her she had changed her mind about the sandwich shop and thought instead of renting the kitchen to someone she knew,” he said. “We brainstormed other options and one was an event center using a range of catering options from self catering to a high-end chef.” Still, despite concerted outreach initiatives into Maine’s northernmost regions, many budding business owners, some struggling to stay afloat, are not aware of the help these executive volunteers offer. Others are reluctant to reach out for help, often because they don’t want anyone to know, said Houlton entrepreneur Fred Grant, who has been a volunteer SCORE mentor for nearly two years. “If that’s the case, the business can request a mentor from somewhere else,” Grant said. Fred Grant, owner of the Temple Theatre in Houlton, talks with patrons before a screening of the award-winning documentary “A Moment…

Bangor police are investigating complaints about a property management company that reportedly owed thousands to landlords when it abruptly closed last year. Roland “Chip” Foss told clients that he planned to file for bankruptcy when he shut down his company, Real Property Management Acadia, in January 2025. The sudden decision alarmed his clients, many of whom had been reaching out for months about missing rent payments, security deposits and other complaints about how the company managed their properties. Some of his former clients eventually contacted Penobscot County District Attorney Chris Almy, who confirmed the police investigation. A landlord who trusted Foss’s company to manage a rental home in Old Town, Michael Bunker of Cumberland, said a detective contacted him in December. It represents a major development in the effort by Foss’ former clients to recoup their money and hold him accountable for his conduct. There is no record that Foss or his company ever filed for bankruptcy in the year since he shuttered the business, a move that prompted at least seven former clients to describe their troubling experiences in a Bangor Daily News article. “The fact that he hasn’t filed for bankruptcy an entire year later? It shows he doesn’t plan on it,” Kristen Al-Sharafi, who told the BDN last year that Foss owed her more than $5,000, said. “It’s not showing any accountability. It feels like he’s getting away with it.” Foss could not be reached for comment. He did not respond to an email at a personal address, and an email sent to the address associated with his former company bounced back. The phone number he gave to his former clients has been disconnected. He did not respond to a message sent to his LinkedIn account. A Bangor police spokesperson declined to comment because the department does not confirm or deny ongoing investigations that have not resulted in criminal charges. Landlords mostly described positive experiences with Real Property Management Acadia when the company came online in 2018. But the relationship soured in the months leading to its closure as Foss gave vague answers for why he wasn’t sending them rental income. When he informed his clients in an email that he was closing for business and filing for bankruptcy, he acknowledged “financial obligations that we will work to resolve, as that is a [sic] something we find morally responsible, but that will take time.” He never provided a clear explanation of the company’s problems to landlords who followed up with him, according to interviews with former clients and corroborating documents they shared with the BDN. He eventually stopped responding to their questions entirely. Two former clients said in interviews last week that they had not heard from him since, although they suspect he remains in the Bangor area. Another former client sent them an email in December saying he had spotted Foss at the Bangor airport in a uniform signifying that he now works for a private company.