The Loyal Biscuit Co., an independently owned pet supply store owned by Heidi and Joel Neal of Rockland, opened Aug. 14 in downtown Hallowell at 160 Water St. The new store offers a healthy selection of food for dogs and cats and has a selection of toys, treats, harnesses and more.

The Hallowell store will be run newly promoted manager Grace Chavis. She is joined by Rachel Theriault, a former employee of PetLife in Augusta.

A grand opening celebration, planned for Saturday, Sept. 21, will offer an array of raffle items. All store locations will offer Chips N’ Dip and Pup-kin Spice Lattes for visiting dogs. They also will be raffling off a $60 gift card at each store as well as making a $500 donation to the Kennebec Valley Humane Society. Anyone who wishes to visit all six locations with their dog on Sept. 21 and provide photographic evidence, will be rewarded with a $100 gift card.

For more information, visit loyalbiscuit.com.

Oakland Business Committee raises $500 for ShineOnCass Foundation to support local school food pantries

The Oakland Business Committee, dedicated to helping make Oakland the place to live, work and play, recently raised $500 for the ShineOnCass Foundation to help support its initiative with the local school food pantries in Regional School Union 18.

This charitable gift was made possible by the donation of an aluminum dock from Maine-ly Docks, located on Main Street in Oakland, that was raffled off as part of the Oakfest festivities at the end of July.

The committee is made of up business owners and residents of Oakland who are interested in building community support through involvement and strengthening community relationships. The group meets once a month at the Cascade Room at the Police Department. For more information or to join, visit its Facebook page.

MDIFW’s Fisheries and Hatcheries sections honor outstanding employees

Wes Ashe, a fisheries biologist stationed in the Belgrade Lakes region of the state, was honored as the Fisheries Section Employee of the Year; and Derik Lee, a fish culturist who works at the Grand Lake Stream hatchery was honored as the Hatcheries Section Employee of the Year. The pair were recognized during the Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife’s Fisheries and Hatcheries annual division meeting, according to a news release.

The Fisheries Section Employee of the Year Award Winner biologist Wesley Ashe, with MDIFW Fisheries Director Francis Brautigam and MDIFW Commissioner Judy Camuso. Photo courtesy MDIFW

“Both Wes and Derik are extremely deserving of the award, not only for the accomplishments over the past year, but for consistently working above and beyond what is expected,” said Francis Brautigam, director of Fisheries and Hatcheries at MDIFW, according to the release.

Ashe was lauded for his work managing the department’s brown trout strain evaluation project where he compiled the data from regions across the state, then analyzed performance of each strain which allowed the department to better make a decision on which strain to choose. He also does public speaking and has been praised for being an ambassador who regularly presents fisheries projects to school groups, professional organizations and other groups.

Lee was praised for his work and dedication with the aerial stocking program throughout the state this year.

In addition to the two individual awards, two team awards were also given out.

In the hatcheries section, a cross section of the agency that worked on the Grand Lake Stream Hatchery water intake construction project was honored. This $4 million project upgraded the hatchery’s water intake supply and involved the support of multiple people throughout the agency, including the Maine Warden Service Dive Team, director of Engineering Rick Parker and his crew, environmental program manager Bob Stratton, superintendent of Hatcheries Todd Langevin, and the Grand Lake Stream hatchery crew of Dave Marsanskis, Derik Lee and Joshua Kuester.

The fisheries section honored the team that developed the Fishing Laws Online Angling Tool (FLOAT), which was released last spring. FLOAT is a culmination of five years of effort spearheaded by fisheries biologist Jim Pellerin, and assisted by biologists Matt Lubejko and Nick Kalejs, fish culturist Ashley O’Neal, and designer Ray Corson. Pellerin worked with other regional staff to create a statewide regulations database that then could be combined with a GIS mapping program that would give users an intuitive, easy to use, map based regulation program that would increase understanding and compliance of MDIFW’s fishing laws.