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Heather Donahue had a short but impressive acting career in Hollywood, most notably starring in the well-known 1999 horror film “The Blair Witch Project,” about a group of student filmmakers who go into the woods to investigate a myth about a local witch.
Now Donahue has earned a different kind of fame. After moving to Maine in 2022 and buying property in the Waldo County town of Freedom, Donahue was elected to the Select Board last year. But she’s struggling to hold on to her elected position, as a group of residents push for her recall in a vote scheduled for a town meeting on April 23.
Critics of Donahue have argued that she violated the town charter when she painted 25 to 30 orange blazes on trees along a local road that’s the subject of a larger municipal dispute. The town has asserted that Beaver Ridge Road is public property, while some residents have argued it’s private and sued the town over the conflict.
Among other things, opponents now argue that Donahue — who lives on Beaver Ridge Road — was acting in a personal capacity when she painted the trees, while she has said that she was surveying the road in her role as an elected official.
Donahue is not the first celebrity who has come to the midcoast seeking a quieter rural life, only to get involved in local politics. In another example not too far away, the drummer for the rock band Phish, Jon Fishman, was elected to the Lincolnville Select Board in 2017 and also ran a local general store for a time.
But Donahue has touched a nerve in Freedom, a town of some 700 people, highlighting the strong reactions that longtime residents of a community can have to disputes over public and private land access.
In this case, those longtime residents include the Hadyniaks, a family that owns land along Beaver Ridge Road and has challenged the town over the road’s status. In a lawsuit filed last July, they asserted that their part of the road is abandoned and thus private, according to the Morning Sentinel. A copy of the lawsuit was not available for inspection this week at Waldo County Superior Court, according to a clerk.
But that conflict has also spawned the ongoing effort to recall Donahue, with petitioners arguing that she went beyond her official duties when she painted the trees, and that she did so despite the legal dispute over the road’s ownership.
The petitioners have also taken issue with Donahue’s conduct, pointing to statements she gave to the Morning Sentinel characterizing the Hadyniaks’ lawsuit as “extortion” and “peddling half truths.”
“This conduct is unwarranted of a municipal officer of Freedom whose job is ‘to manage town affairs and to provide leadership and oversight on issues of importance,’” the petition for Donahue’s recall says, quoting the town charter.
During a public hearing on the recall this week, Donahue reiterated her position that the town assigned her to serve as the point person for handling the Beaver Ridge Road matter.
“I was actually asked specifically by the town attorney to find out everything I could about this road, including, which he didn’t think I’d be able to find, the original taking,” Donahue said. “So I was doing all that under the assignment of the board and the town attorney, to be perfectly clear.”
People spoke both for and against recalling Donahue during the hearing.
“I encourage this recall because I believe as townspeople, we deserve leaders who are fair, who are impeccable in their approach to town government, who see everybody as a citizen with equal rights,” said Prentice Grassi, a member of the planning board and budget committee. “I have witnessed over the last year Heather degrading members of committees, sending … degrading emails and texts. In terms of her behavior, we deserve better than that.”
Donahue’s decision to paint the lines on the trees pushed Grassi over the edge, he said.
But another speaker, who did not share their name, thanked all members of the Select Board for their service — including Donahue.
“They had a big job on their hands this year, and coming into the positions that they have got into,” the resident said. “My hat goes off to all three of you, all three of you have taken the time to answer questions. Heather, you got my vote.”
In an interview after the meeting, Donahue said that she first ran for office out of her love for the town. Before she was elected, she came to her first meeting of the Select Board to ask her own questions about the ownership of Beaver Ridge Road, she said. Then she learned that an incumbent Select Board member was running unopposed and decided to throw her hat in the ring.
“I didn’t think I would win. I’d only lived in the town for two years before I got elected,” Donahue said. “I was just in it for the conversation, and now, here I am.”
