Published in the Current
The Cape Elizabeth Town Council voted to give $250,000 to the Cape Elizabeth Land Trust as a contribution toward the trust’s acquisition of Robinson Woods.
Of that money, $100,000 was from the town treasury, while the remaining $150,000 will be from funds borrowed by the town. Borrowing for this purpose was authorized in November 2000, said Town Manager Mike McGovern. The actual vote to give the money was made at the council’s regular monthly meeting on Feb. 11.
As part of the arrangement, the council accepted a conservation easement for Robinson Woods from the land trust.
The town also accepted a small piece of land near Stephenson Street for possible use in the town’s greenbelt project.
In other business, the council:
Accepted an application to receive storm water runoff from the Hawthorne Woods subdivision in South Portland (also known as Kristina’s Woods).
Approved the scheduling of two events at Fort Williams: a Portland Symphony Orchestra concert July 2, and an event sponsored by the American Cancer Society Oct. 6.
Set a no-parking zone near St. Albans Church on Oakhurst Road.
Thursday, February 14, 2002
Cape school technology expands
Published in the Current
Cape Elizabeth schools have more and better computer equipment than last year, and are on track to take technology even further in coming months, according to Gary Lanoie, technology coordinator for the town\ and the school district.
At the regular school board meeting Feb. 12, Lanoie presented the annual report on technology in the schools. He said teachers need time to learn how to use the new tools and to integrate them into the classroom.
He noted that the district is making progress in helping teachers feel comfortable using technology, by holding summer technology classes for staff and sending some teachers to classes and workshops outside the district.
In terms of equipment, this school year has seen the refitting of the Pond Cove School’s computer lab, the distribution of the old lab machines to classrooms around the building, the addition of a “mobile lab” of Internet-connected laptops for the middle school, the installation of a high-quality color printer in each building, and network and file-server upgrades to improve reliability and functionality of computers in the schools.
On the slate for the next school year, and under consideration during the budget process, Lanoie said, will be updating the middle school computer lab and moving the previous lab machines to classrooms in the middle school. Another consideration, Lanoie said, is a mobile lab for the high school, which he said “needs to be done at some point in time.”
One highlight is a new higher-speed Internet connection, which has enabled the addition of a distance-learning and video-conferencing lab in the high school’s underused lecture hall. The equipment needed for the lecture hall retro-fit cost $110,000 in state money, and requires about $6,000 annually for the district’s contribution toward the cost of Internet access.
That is slightly more than the district was paying for its previous, slower connection, and far less than the actual cost of the connection. About three-quarters of the total cost is covered by federal and state programs that subsidize Internet access fees for schools and libraries.
And, if it is successful, the governor’s laptop initiative will also affect the schools’technology infrastructure and teacher preparedness.
The initiative includes training time for teachers to get familiar with the laptops and the software they come with.
“This project is more about teaching and learning than about technology,” Lanoie said.
The district also has hired a new technology assistant, Ginger Raspiller, now working as an educational technician in the Westbrook schools. Raspiller will begin work in Cape Feb. 25.
Cape Elizabeth schools have more and better computer equipment than last year, and are on track to take technology even further in coming months, according to Gary Lanoie, technology coordinator for the town\ and the school district.
At the regular school board meeting Feb. 12, Lanoie presented the annual report on technology in the schools. He said teachers need time to learn how to use the new tools and to integrate them into the classroom.
He noted that the district is making progress in helping teachers feel comfortable using technology, by holding summer technology classes for staff and sending some teachers to classes and workshops outside the district.
In terms of equipment, this school year has seen the refitting of the Pond Cove School’s computer lab, the distribution of the old lab machines to classrooms around the building, the addition of a “mobile lab” of Internet-connected laptops for the middle school, the installation of a high-quality color printer in each building, and network and file-server upgrades to improve reliability and functionality of computers in the schools.
On the slate for the next school year, and under consideration during the budget process, Lanoie said, will be updating the middle school computer lab and moving the previous lab machines to classrooms in the middle school. Another consideration, Lanoie said, is a mobile lab for the high school, which he said “needs to be done at some point in time.”
One highlight is a new higher-speed Internet connection, which has enabled the addition of a distance-learning and video-conferencing lab in the high school’s underused lecture hall. The equipment needed for the lecture hall retro-fit cost $110,000 in state money, and requires about $6,000 annually for the district’s contribution toward the cost of Internet access.
That is slightly more than the district was paying for its previous, slower connection, and far less than the actual cost of the connection. About three-quarters of the total cost is covered by federal and state programs that subsidize Internet access fees for schools and libraries.
And, if it is successful, the governor’s laptop initiative will also affect the schools’technology infrastructure and teacher preparedness.
The initiative includes training time for teachers to get familiar with the laptops and the software they come with.
“This project is more about teaching and learning than about technology,” Lanoie said.
The district also has hired a new technology assistant, Ginger Raspiller, now working as an educational technician in the Westbrook schools. Raspiller will begin work in Cape Feb. 25.
Neighborhood carries on as Gorman is charged with murder
Published in the Current; co-written with Brendan Moran and Kate Irish Collins
A grand jury indicted Jeffrey Gorman, 22, of Scarborough, for the murder of Amy St. Laurent Feb. 8, nearly two months after searchers discovered her body less than a half of a mile from his house.
Even though a small corner of Scarborough has become the center of an investigation into a murder police have called “sadistic” and “vicious,” neighbors say it hasn’t changed the way they feel about their neighborhood along County Road.
“We’re not that far from Portland,” said David Knight, who lives a half mile west of where the body was discovered. “Nothing really surprises us anymore.”
Knight’s family owns Smiling Hill Farm, which borders the Westbrook town line on County Road. He used to fish down at the pond where police spent weeks searching for evidence.
A yellow strand of police tape is still strung across the narrow dirt road that leads back into the vacant, wooded lot. The road is now buried under a deep layer of snow.
When asked if he will still fish back at the pond, Knight doesn’t hesitate. “Oh, yeah,” said Knight, “actually, I’ve been back there since.”
Knight’s mother owns land adjacent to the wooded area. One day their curiosity got the best of them. Knight and his mother walked toward the pond to see how close it was to her land.
But for one neighbor, the woods are too close. Wanda Donovan lives right next to the woods where St. Laurent’s body was discovered.
“I’m trying not to think about it too much,” she told the Current in December.
Most of the neighbors were as surprised as anyone by the discovery. They saw the searchers and heard the helicopters flying low above their neighborhood. But the police hadn’t told them why they were searching the area.
The next thing they knew it was all over the news. Television news crews were stopping along County Road to get footage of the wooded\ lot and the house at 68 County Road, where Gorman lived with his mother.
His mother has refused all requests for interviews. The house has since been posted with “keep out” and “private property” signs.
“I haven’t really thought of it that much,” said Don Cook, the owner of the First Stop convenience store, a half of a mile east of 68 County Road. “The news is right full of it. It’s too bad it’s happened.”
Cook recognized Gorman when he saw him on the news. Cook gave Gorman a job a couple years ago. It didn’t last long. After a couple of weeks, Gorman either didn’t show up or was fired. Cook can’t remember which.
The murder hasn’t altered Cook’s perception of the neighborhood where he’s done business for years. “Pick up the morning paper. It’s everywhere. It could have just as easily happened here as in-town Portland.”
Gorman, who spent most of his life in Alabama until moving to Scarborough two years ago, appeared in court on murder charges Tuesday. He walked into the courtroom shackled and wearing a yellow jumpsuit, the color worn by maximum-security prisoners. He slouched low in his chair until he was called in front of Chief Justice Nancy Mills to enter his plea of “not guilty.”
Later this month, Gorman will return to court for a bail hearing. He is being held without bail until around March 3 for violating his probation on unrelated charges.
His lawyer, Clifford Strike, has yet to see any of the evidence against Gorman. On request from Strike, Mills granted Gorman permission to change his plea once he has seen the evidence against him, leaving open the possibility that Gorman could change his plea.
Police have withheld much of the evidence against Gorman. Questions remain: How was St. Laurent killed and where? Did Gorman act alone? What were police searching for in the pond?
“This was a horrible, sadistic, vicious murder of Amy St. Laurent,” said Portland Police Chief Michael Chitwood. When the cause of death is released, “the public will be outraged.”
“It’s not part of the process to make this information public and I want to keep it that way,” said Assistant Attorney General Bill Stokes.
Chitwood told the Current in December that the police were looking for a murderer and others who may have helped conceal the crime. But Friday, he said the police now believe Gorman acted alone.
State Police Sgt. Matthew Stewart refused to comment on whether police had any other suspects Tuesday. “I’m not going to make any comment about the investigation,” said Stewart. “At this point, Mr. Gorman is the only one that’s being charged in the case.”
“I know the public is very interested in this case,” said Stokes. “But they have to be content to let the judicial process take its course. The process we have may not be as quick as people may want it to be.”
Stokes said that his team is trying hard to get murder cases to trial between nine and 12 months. “We should be bringing the case toward the end of this year, the first of next year,” Stokes said.
A grand jury indicted Jeffrey Gorman, 22, of Scarborough, for the murder of Amy St. Laurent Feb. 8, nearly two months after searchers discovered her body less than a half of a mile from his house.
Even though a small corner of Scarborough has become the center of an investigation into a murder police have called “sadistic” and “vicious,” neighbors say it hasn’t changed the way they feel about their neighborhood along County Road.
“We’re not that far from Portland,” said David Knight, who lives a half mile west of where the body was discovered. “Nothing really surprises us anymore.”
Knight’s family owns Smiling Hill Farm, which borders the Westbrook town line on County Road. He used to fish down at the pond where police spent weeks searching for evidence.
A yellow strand of police tape is still strung across the narrow dirt road that leads back into the vacant, wooded lot. The road is now buried under a deep layer of snow.
When asked if he will still fish back at the pond, Knight doesn’t hesitate. “Oh, yeah,” said Knight, “actually, I’ve been back there since.”
Knight’s mother owns land adjacent to the wooded area. One day their curiosity got the best of them. Knight and his mother walked toward the pond to see how close it was to her land.
But for one neighbor, the woods are too close. Wanda Donovan lives right next to the woods where St. Laurent’s body was discovered.
“I’m trying not to think about it too much,” she told the Current in December.
Most of the neighbors were as surprised as anyone by the discovery. They saw the searchers and heard the helicopters flying low above their neighborhood. But the police hadn’t told them why they were searching the area.
The next thing they knew it was all over the news. Television news crews were stopping along County Road to get footage of the wooded\ lot and the house at 68 County Road, where Gorman lived with his mother.
His mother has refused all requests for interviews. The house has since been posted with “keep out” and “private property” signs.
“I haven’t really thought of it that much,” said Don Cook, the owner of the First Stop convenience store, a half of a mile east of 68 County Road. “The news is right full of it. It’s too bad it’s happened.”
Cook recognized Gorman when he saw him on the news. Cook gave Gorman a job a couple years ago. It didn’t last long. After a couple of weeks, Gorman either didn’t show up or was fired. Cook can’t remember which.
The murder hasn’t altered Cook’s perception of the neighborhood where he’s done business for years. “Pick up the morning paper. It’s everywhere. It could have just as easily happened here as in-town Portland.”
Gorman, who spent most of his life in Alabama until moving to Scarborough two years ago, appeared in court on murder charges Tuesday. He walked into the courtroom shackled and wearing a yellow jumpsuit, the color worn by maximum-security prisoners. He slouched low in his chair until he was called in front of Chief Justice Nancy Mills to enter his plea of “not guilty.”
Later this month, Gorman will return to court for a bail hearing. He is being held without bail until around March 3 for violating his probation on unrelated charges.
His lawyer, Clifford Strike, has yet to see any of the evidence against Gorman. On request from Strike, Mills granted Gorman permission to change his plea once he has seen the evidence against him, leaving open the possibility that Gorman could change his plea.
Police have withheld much of the evidence against Gorman. Questions remain: How was St. Laurent killed and where? Did Gorman act alone? What were police searching for in the pond?
“This was a horrible, sadistic, vicious murder of Amy St. Laurent,” said Portland Police Chief Michael Chitwood. When the cause of death is released, “the public will be outraged.”
“It’s not part of the process to make this information public and I want to keep it that way,” said Assistant Attorney General Bill Stokes.
Chitwood told the Current in December that the police were looking for a murderer and others who may have helped conceal the crime. But Friday, he said the police now believe Gorman acted alone.
State Police Sgt. Matthew Stewart refused to comment on whether police had any other suspects Tuesday. “I’m not going to make any comment about the investigation,” said Stewart. “At this point, Mr. Gorman is the only one that’s being charged in the case.”
“I know the public is very interested in this case,” said Stokes. “But they have to be content to let the judicial process take its course. The process we have may not be as quick as people may want it to be.”
Stokes said that his team is trying hard to get murder cases to trial between nine and 12 months. “We should be bringing the case toward the end of this year, the first of next year,” Stokes said.
Cape reassessment to begin mid-March
Published in the Current
For the first time in eight years, Cape Elizabeth property owners will have their land and buildings assessed by the town for tax purposes.
Many homes will see higher assessments, though Town Assessor Matt Sturgis said he expects some property values to remain unchanged and others to decrease.
“We’ll try to bring properties in Cape Elizabeth up to full market value,” he said.
At the Town Council meeting Feb. 11, Sturgis outlined the plan for the reassessment. The project will begin in mid-March and continue through the spring, summer and fall. Data will be compiled by May or June 2003,
and adjustment hearings will be scheduled for property owners who want to correct errors on their assessments. In late July 2003, the assessments will be fixed and tax bills should go out in the first week of August 2003, Sturgis said.
Assessors will be knocking on doors around town asking to look through homes, to check for improvements like finished basements or other internal modifications that would affect value. If no one is home, assessors will be
inspecting land and building exteriors and attempting to schedule return visits to see inside homes.
Sturgis said homeowners are not required to permit assessors into their homes or onto their property, but if they don’t allow them in, the law says the owners give up their right to appeal the amount of an assessment.
“The hardest part of the whole project is determining the land values,” he said.
Some types of property may see bigger increases than others, Sturgis said. For example, the assessed value of most shorefront property in 1999 was about 65 percent of the market value for those properties.
But by 2001, Sturgis said, the market value had increased so that the assessment was about 44 percent of market value.
“It’s a pretty significant drop,” Sturgis said.
Lower-value homes may see less change than some of the higher-end homes in town, he said. And newly built homes are unlikely to change much either, Sturgis said, since those were assessed when they were built and have had little time to change.
Sturgis noted that there are two parts to property tax bills: the assessment value and the tax rate, which is set by the Town Council. He also said exemptions for homesteads or veteran status will continue and residents do not need to reapply for them.
He said any residents with questions or concerns should call his office at 799-1619, though he said he won’t be able to answer the question on every resident’s lips: “What will my assessment value be?”
For the first time in eight years, Cape Elizabeth property owners will have their land and buildings assessed by the town for tax purposes.
Many homes will see higher assessments, though Town Assessor Matt Sturgis said he expects some property values to remain unchanged and others to decrease.
“We’ll try to bring properties in Cape Elizabeth up to full market value,” he said.
At the Town Council meeting Feb. 11, Sturgis outlined the plan for the reassessment. The project will begin in mid-March and continue through the spring, summer and fall. Data will be compiled by May or June 2003,
and adjustment hearings will be scheduled for property owners who want to correct errors on their assessments. In late July 2003, the assessments will be fixed and tax bills should go out in the first week of August 2003, Sturgis said.
Assessors will be knocking on doors around town asking to look through homes, to check for improvements like finished basements or other internal modifications that would affect value. If no one is home, assessors will be
inspecting land and building exteriors and attempting to schedule return visits to see inside homes.
Sturgis said homeowners are not required to permit assessors into their homes or onto their property, but if they don’t allow them in, the law says the owners give up their right to appeal the amount of an assessment.
“The hardest part of the whole project is determining the land values,” he said.
Some types of property may see bigger increases than others, Sturgis said. For example, the assessed value of most shorefront property in 1999 was about 65 percent of the market value for those properties.
But by 2001, Sturgis said, the market value had increased so that the assessment was about 44 percent of market value.
“It’s a pretty significant drop,” Sturgis said.
Lower-value homes may see less change than some of the higher-end homes in town, he said. And newly built homes are unlikely to change much either, Sturgis said, since those were assessed when they were built and have had little time to change.
Sturgis noted that there are two parts to property tax bills: the assessment value and the tax rate, which is set by the Town Council. He also said exemptions for homesteads or veteran status will continue and residents do not need to reapply for them.
He said any residents with questions or concerns should call his office at 799-1619, though he said he won’t be able to answer the question on every resident’s lips: “What will my assessment value be?”
Monday, February 11, 2002
Fairchild responds to marketplace shift, moves to LVDS
Published in Interface Tech News
SOUTH PORTLAND, Maine ‹ Reacting to the increased prevalence of low voltage differential signaling (LVDS) as a device-communication protocol, Fairchild Semiconductor is now manufacturing a high-speed crosspoint switch for use as a building block of more complex devices.
"Our role on this is low functionality, high performance," said Paul Kierstead, Fairchild's interface marketing director.
Fairchild spun out of Santa Clara, Calif.-based National Semiconductor five years ago and aimed for the niche of simple, high-performance components to be used as elements of a wide variety of electronic equipment.
Getting data moving at higher rates between devices in networking equipment is an important factor in expanding overall throughput.
With the older transistor-transistor logic (TTL) bus technology, in which data is broadcast to all devices on the bus, Kierstead said, "You've got to get wider to get faster."
LVDS, by contrast, operates over pairs of wires directly connecting components. The receiver looks at the difference between the two signals, allowing for noise to be eliminated from the transmission. While it does require two wires where before one would suffice, Kierstead said, it can reach speeds of 622 megabits per second, as compared with 64-bit bus speeds.
Fairchild's new switch converts between TTL and LVDS, Kierstead said, allowing manufacturers to choose the best mix of technologies for their purposes. "It really begins to tie the signaling level issues together," he said.
The crosspoint nature of the switch improves its versatility, he said. "It allows you to have multiple inputs that are switchable and routable to multiple outputs," Kierstead said.
With only two ports, it is small, but faster and easier to manage than some of its larger competitors, which get as big as 128 pairs in and out, Kierstead said.
"This is the building block of the crosspoint switch," he said. Fairchild will start from this base, he added, and move to larger arrays of switches with additional functionality. He noted that the company plans to move into packet-oriented switches, as well.
Fairchild is also working on optimizing power consumption, and sees that area as a major opportunity for growth.
Analyst Charles Mantel, vice president of Mountain View, Calif.-based Selantek, said Fairchild seems to be holding up well.
"Nobody's had a great time of it," Mantel said, but Fairchild is not doing as badly as some of its competitors. "They went less downhill than many companies," he said.
SOUTH PORTLAND, Maine ‹ Reacting to the increased prevalence of low voltage differential signaling (LVDS) as a device-communication protocol, Fairchild Semiconductor is now manufacturing a high-speed crosspoint switch for use as a building block of more complex devices.
"Our role on this is low functionality, high performance," said Paul Kierstead, Fairchild's interface marketing director.
Fairchild spun out of Santa Clara, Calif.-based National Semiconductor five years ago and aimed for the niche of simple, high-performance components to be used as elements of a wide variety of electronic equipment.
Getting data moving at higher rates between devices in networking equipment is an important factor in expanding overall throughput.
With the older transistor-transistor logic (TTL) bus technology, in which data is broadcast to all devices on the bus, Kierstead said, "You've got to get wider to get faster."
LVDS, by contrast, operates over pairs of wires directly connecting components. The receiver looks at the difference between the two signals, allowing for noise to be eliminated from the transmission. While it does require two wires where before one would suffice, Kierstead said, it can reach speeds of 622 megabits per second, as compared with 64-bit bus speeds.
Fairchild's new switch converts between TTL and LVDS, Kierstead said, allowing manufacturers to choose the best mix of technologies for their purposes. "It really begins to tie the signaling level issues together," he said.
The crosspoint nature of the switch improves its versatility, he said. "It allows you to have multiple inputs that are switchable and routable to multiple outputs," Kierstead said.
With only two ports, it is small, but faster and easier to manage than some of its larger competitors, which get as big as 128 pairs in and out, Kierstead said.
"This is the building block of the crosspoint switch," he said. Fairchild will start from this base, he added, and move to larger arrays of switches with additional functionality. He noted that the company plans to move into packet-oriented switches, as well.
Fairchild is also working on optimizing power consumption, and sees that area as a major opportunity for growth.
Analyst Charles Mantel, vice president of Mountain View, Calif.-based Selantek, said Fairchild seems to be holding up well.
"Nobody's had a great time of it," Mantel said, but Fairchild is not doing as badly as some of its competitors. "They went less downhill than many companies," he said.
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