MACHIAS, Maine — Weather permitting, the Washington County commissioners will meet at 4 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 12, in the County Commissioners’ Room of the Washington County Courthouse to discuss, among other topics, an application for a federal grant that would fund new computers for use by the Washington County Sheriff’s Office.
The $11,600 federal Justice Assistance Grant is being offered through the U.S. Justice Department. The funds would be used to purchase three “fully rugged” Dell Latitude laptop computers for the patrol division. The laptops would replace three existing computers that are more than 5 years old.
Also on the agenda for the monthly commissioners’ meeting is the quarterly report of the Machias-based Sunrise County Economic Council. That report notes that the latest statistics from the state’s Labor Center for Workforce Research and Information put Washington County’s unemployment rate for November 2011 at 8.3 percent. That compares with 7 percent statewide and 8.6 percent nationally, and is the highest unemployment rate for any county in Maine.
Those stats also showed that the unemployment rate for the Calais region has dropped from 10.6 percent in August 2011 to 9.8 percent in November 2011. Unemployment is down in the Machias region as well, falling from an August rate of 8.1 percent to a November rate of 7.2 percent. The numbers are not seasonally adjusted, nor do they include those with part-time jobs or those who have given up looking for work.
Your post is very uncalled for! Next time you buy blueberries, wreaths, lobsters, (or any fish product), or firewood, keep in mind that very hard working people helped to get that product to your home! These people are hard working people, who get paid very little, as it’s usually regarded as “piece work”. And the manual labor that is involved in their work is very under appreciated by the ungrateful of this country! I’d like to see you come here and do some of the backbreaking work these people do!
well said! O&M- Agreed!
Unemployment numbers are comprised of those that are in the job market for the past 30 days. It does not include those that have not been in the job market in the last 30 days: people who have given up looking; those that have gone off unemployment because it has run out. One solution to unemployment is High Speed Universities check it out
Even if we could get the unemployment rate in Washington County down to 5%, the big problem is what are these jobs paying? Other than those working in Customs/Border Patrol, the paper mill in the Calais area, there are few and far between jobs that pay a decent wage with benefits.
I do believe that the median income in Washington County is one of the lowest in the state, if not the lowest. The only thing cheaper in Washington County is the cost of buying a home. We pay more for heating oil, gasoline, groceries, etc.
Is it any wonder that we lose 80% of our HS grads to other states? Of the remaining 20% only a few decent jobs are available. There are a few more that wind up in dead end jobs. The rest settle into the drugs scene and unfortunately become frequent flyers at the jail. A very sad situation in one of the most beautiful parts of the state.
If the Commisioners wish to work on something, they need to work at improving the infrastructure in this county. Eastport needs a rail connection to it’s port. They should be working night and day to bring an LNG terminal to this county. They should be working to bring Rt.9 out of the 1940’s to the 21st century. It is embarrasing to see Canada building a modern divided highway from the new bridge in Calais that will hook it up to Halifax, Nova Scotia. We should be insuring that every part of this county has good cell phone connection. We should be insuring that every part of this county has high speed internet access.