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V O L . X X V I N O. X X I I S E P T E M B E R 2 1 , 2 0 2 0 6 First retail marijuana licenses issued Four years after the state legalized the recreational use of marijuana by adults, the Office of Marijuana Policy issued a total of six active licenses — three for cultivation facilities, two for marijuana stores and one to operate a marijuana testing facility. Beginning Oct. 9, active retail license holders will be permitted to sell marijuana products to consumers 21 years of age or older. In addition to "active" licenses, permits are issued on a "conditional" or "pending" status. e entities receiving their active licenses are: Gele LLC, South Portland, for cultivation; Grass Roots Marijuana LLC, Auburn, for cultivation; Nelson Analytical LLC, Kennebunk, for testing; Room 5 LLC, Detroit (Somerset Co.), for cultivation; Sweet Relief Shop LLC, Northport, for a store; eory Wellness of Maine LLC, South Portland, for a store. Three Maine colleges in Top 25 A national ranking places three of Maine's liberal colleges among the top 25 in the country. Bates, Bowdoin and Colby colleges all made the grade in the prestigious U.S. News & World Report Best Colleges ranking. Among the three, Bowdoin ranked high- est at No. 6, tied with Claremont McKenna College, in California, and the U.S. Naval Academy. Colby ranked No. 15 and Bates was No. 22 in the annual comparison, which this year evaluated more than 1,400 colleges and universities on 17 indicators of academic qual- ity. College of the Atlantic, a Bar Harbor school with 350 students, placed No. 101 in the national ranking of liberal arts colleges. N O T E W O R T H Y S T A T E W I D E The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services awarded a total of $75 million to 10 Maine organizations through various department programs to help combat the opioid crisis. Maine Health and Human Services received $6.3 million while other recipients included Wabanaki Health B U S I N E S S M A I N E Business news from around the state S T A T E W I D E In a nod to the times, Westbrook chocolate maker leaves behind a name with racial overtones B y P e t e r V a n A l l e n W e s t b r o o k — Three months after announcing that it would change its name after concerns were raised about the origin of its name, Black Dinah Chocolatiers is now Ragged Coast Chocolates. The change was brought on by the recent Black Lives Matter movement and heightened concerns about the origin and interpretation of "Black Dinah." "We do a lot of explaining," Kate Shaffer, a co-owner of the Westbrook company, said in a news release. "No small company needs that kind of barrier. It feels both practical and meaningful to approach the end of 2020 with engage- ment, evolving perspectives and hope." In a social media post on June 9, Shaffer said that while the company was originally named for Black Dinah Mountain on Isle au Haut, where the company was founded, it can also be a term applied to enslaved Black women. In a later social media post that month Shaffer wrote, "I have always imagined that if Black Dinah Mountain was named for an actual person or persons, she was strong and powerful and wise. But I'm beginning to understand that it is not my place, nor the place of my brand — perceived or actual — to use her name…for profit or to push my own unrelated agenda." The chocolate company, which has won awards and praise in Gourmet magazine and the New York Times' food section, moved from Isle au Haut to Westbrook in 2015, eight years after its founding. It had considered a name change even at that point, though things came to a head in fall 2019, Shaffer said. "The company had been considering a name change since their move from Isle au Haut in 2015. They were not, at any point, pressured by any person or persons to change their name. Owners Steve and Kate Shaffer have received numerous queries about the name over the years, and in the fall of 2019, decided to pursue a name change out of respect and consideration for the BIPOC community, as well as to poise the company for entrance into a larger national market," the email said. Its new name, Ragged Coast Chocolates, "pays homage to our hardy island roots while also celebrating Maine's unique beauty and traditions which we work hard to reflect in our handmade chocolates," she said. The company hired Toderico Creative, a Portland design company, to create the Ragged Coast Chocolates logo. The new logo features a strong, hand-embellished font and a unique puffin icon. "Maine is the only state in the U.S. that has puffin nest- ing sites," says Shaffer. "We feel that the icon is evocative of how the landscape and food sources in Maine uniquely influence both the look and the fun creative development of our chocolates." As part of the new brand launch, Ragged Coast Chocolates will partner with Friends of Maine Coastal Islands National Wildlife Refuge for a fourth quarter fundraising campaign to benefit the organization's work to conserve island nesting sites for seabirds in Maine. Ragged Coast Chocolates will offer a limited edition gift set which will feature a custom chocolate assortment, a campaign t-shirt, and a full-color map of Maine's seabird nesting islands. A percentage of profits from the gift set will be donated directly to Friends of Maine Coastal Islands. B R I E F Steve and Kate Shaffer founded Black Dinah Chocolatiers in 2007, naming it for a mountain near them on Isle au Haut. Now based in Westbrook, they changed the name to Ragged Coast Chocolates. F I L E P H O T O / T I M G R E E N WAY It feels both practical and meaningful to approach the end of 2020 with engagement, evolving perspectives and hope. — Kate Shaffer

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