Published in the Current
Cape Elizabeth school officials have been able to trim $1.6 million from the plans to renovate the high school, and say they are not yet finished.
Large questions remain about how classes will use space, and whether the changes need to be made all at once or can be made over time.
A meeting of several school department staff members, building committee members and project architect Bob Howe led cuts in the high school project from $9.2 million to $7.6 million, School Board and building committee Chairman Marie Prager told the board’s Finance Committee on Tuesday.
That brings the total, for renovations at the high school and additions to Pond Cove School, to $10.1 million, down from $11.7 million.
“We were able to shave down some of the dollars,” Prager told the Current in an interview. Specific details will not be available until a Sept. 26 meeting of the building committee, she said.
“We took out things that were obvious to all of us had to come out,” she said.
Among the cuts, Prager told the Finance Committee, were some site work and a $500,000 sprinkler system. Also reduced were costs to pave the rear parking lot at the school, now a gravel area. The original plan included relocating the road behind the school, but Prager said leaving the road where it is could save as much as $70,000.
Other savings may come in work that can be completed by the schools’ maintenance staff.
The cuts so far are preliminary and are subject to the decision of the entire building committee, Prager said.
The board will hold a workshop Sept. 24 on all-day or extended-day kindergarten, to decide if the addition to Pond Cove needs to be as extensive as it is planned. If all-day kindergarten happens in the next several years, said Superintendent Tom Forcella, “it would be foolish not to build space for it.”
Enrollment that continues to exceed even the high end of the district’s projections is also cause for concern. So is the timeline: The board would like to have the school bond available for a referendum on the town’s election day in May, if the Town Council sends the question to the voters.
Prager said the building committee may get to a point with the project
where they turn to Howe with a total dollar figure and ask, “what can we get for that?”
Board member Kevin Sweeney pointed out the importance of getting everything organized the first time, saying there would not be a second chance to get the project past the council or the public.
Board member Susan Steinman worried about the process being driven by the building project’s urgency, rather than educational priorities. “What population do we want to be serving, to what degree?” she asked.
Also undecided are the total cost and construction timeline. “Alot of things are up in the air,” Prager said.
Prager said she and board finance Chairman Elaine Moloney are laying the ground work for extended dealings with the Town Council this year.
“We realize that we’re all not going to always agree,” Prager said.
But she said it was important for the two bodies to keep in close contact, especially with money so tight. “We’re headed for difficult times,” she said.
Building committee meetings will now have minutes recorded. The minutes will be sent to members of the School Board and the Town Council, to keep everyone informed, Moloney said. She expects to give the council a budget update in December or January as well, she said.
Not all the board members are ready to go along with the plan of improving school-council relations.
Board member George Entwistle, who took a strong stand against council budget cuts during last year’s school budget process, warned Prager and Moloney against getting too close to the council.
“I am very cautious about inviting the fox into the henhouse,” he said. “There’s a fundamental difference of mission.”
At the School Board’s regular business meeting, which followed the finance committee meeting, the board heard from:
– Superintendent Tom Forcella that several groups of school staff were recognized on the first day of school for their hard work and dedication. They included the seventh grade teaching team for their work with the laptop program, the entire staff of Pond Cove school for its literacy accomplishments, the maintenance department for helping save money in energy and maintenance costs, and the high school science department for organizing the new high school science curriculum.
– Pond Cove Principal Tom Eismeier that while first-grade teacher Kelly Hasson was not selected as the Maine Teacher of the Year, “we still think Kelly Hasson would be our teacher of the year. ”
– Seventh-grade teacher Beverly Bisbee about the first few days of work with the laptops, accompanied by a digital photo slide-show to the music of “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring.”
The School Board will hold a workshop meeting on the subject of all-day and extended-day kindergarten, at 7:30 p.m., Sept. 24, in the high school library. The board’s next regular business meeting will be Oct. 8, at 7:30 p.m., in the Town Council chambers.
Thursday, September 12, 2002
Chief wants more pay for firefighters
Published in the Current
Scarborough Fire Chief Michael Thurlow last week laid out his plan to increase firefighters’ pay, improve coverage throughout the town and reorganize some of the department’s administrative and training duties.
It is a sweeping plan, which could cost thousands of dollars a year in additional salary and benefits, but Thurlow told the Town Council at its Sept. 4 workshop the town needs it.
Further, he said, it is far cheaper than the alternative: a fire service staffed entirely by full-time firefighters.
“It is inevitable that this community will grow to the extent that we need a full-time department, at some point,” Thurlow said. But in the meantime, there are some changes the Town Council can implement to keep the town’s fire protection level up while still keeping costs at a reasonable level.
Thurlow asked councilors to phase in firefighters’ pay increases for advanced fire and rescue training, pay firefighters for the hours they spend in training and pay increments for people who stay in the department over the long term. Also part of his plan is for additional full-time administrative and regulatory staff to handle the department’s paperwork, supervisory tasks and fire prevention responsibilities.
All firefighters now get paid $10 per hour, a rate Thurlow wants to use as the base rate for basic firefighters.
Thurlow asked the council to increase pay rates 50 cents per hour for each fire training level a firefighter attains, starting Jan. 1.
That could cost as much as $98,000 a year, Thurlow said, though there is no money in this budget for such an expense.
Rather, savings would need to be found in other areas of town spending, according to Town Manager Ron Owens.
Paying firefighters more would help the town retain its fire crews, Thurlow
said. The more on-call firefighters the town has, the longer it can last without a full-time fire service, Thurlow said.
He said the expense of increasing firefighters’ pay pales in comparison to what it would cost to pay full-time firefighters for similar service. “It is a much cheaper alternative to full-time staffing,” he said.
To further streamline department operations, Thurlow wants to add a full-time training coordinator to handle the 8,000 man-hours of training the department conducts each year, a full-time administrative assistant for the
rescue department and a fire prevention officer.
He also wants to add two daytime firefighters, who staff the town’s fire stations from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. each day, to ensure a faster response to fires. In addition to fire coverage, they can be used as shift supervisors.
The fire prevention officer, Thurlow said, could be partially paid for by fees the department now charges developers for reviewing fire safety plans.
That officer would also do fire safety inspections for businesses and visit the town’s schools, especially during October’s Fire Prevention Week, Thurlow said.
He went on to lay the groundwork for a future request for additional full-time staff, saying there may be a need for full-time emergency medical technicians at the stations, to supplement the paramedics now there. Further, he said, there may also be a need to increase firefighter coverage during the evening commute time. Presently, daytime firefighters leave work at 4:30 p.m., handing off coverage to on-call firefighters.
Bad traffic at the Route 22 intersection with Route 114 can keep firefighters from getting to the station quickly, to respond to fires in time, he said.
Thurlow said he expects to need to phase in these changes, to reduce impact on the budget, but said the changes need to happen quickly. “I’m hoping that we can accomplish a lot of it within the next three years,” he said.
Councilor and Finance Committee Chairman Patrick O’Reilly encouraged Thurlow to look at cooperation with neighboring towns for training purposes and staffing. The town has such an agreement with Gorham, in which one Gorham firefighter and fire truck are based at the North Scarborough fire station, which provides fire protection in North Scarborough and South Gorham.
Council Chairman Jeff Messer said he would support a 10 percent annual increase for the fire and rescue budget, with some of that money increasing pay and the rest of it used for additional full-time staff.
Town Manager Ron Owens cautioned Messer not to commit himself before reviewing the needs of the rest of the town’s departments.
O’Reilly said he wanted to know the numbers of people at each training level and longevity step. Thurlow said he would bring that to a follow-up meeting, to happen in October.
Scarborough Fire Chief Michael Thurlow last week laid out his plan to increase firefighters’ pay, improve coverage throughout the town and reorganize some of the department’s administrative and training duties.
It is a sweeping plan, which could cost thousands of dollars a year in additional salary and benefits, but Thurlow told the Town Council at its Sept. 4 workshop the town needs it.
Further, he said, it is far cheaper than the alternative: a fire service staffed entirely by full-time firefighters.
“It is inevitable that this community will grow to the extent that we need a full-time department, at some point,” Thurlow said. But in the meantime, there are some changes the Town Council can implement to keep the town’s fire protection level up while still keeping costs at a reasonable level.
Thurlow asked councilors to phase in firefighters’ pay increases for advanced fire and rescue training, pay firefighters for the hours they spend in training and pay increments for people who stay in the department over the long term. Also part of his plan is for additional full-time administrative and regulatory staff to handle the department’s paperwork, supervisory tasks and fire prevention responsibilities.
All firefighters now get paid $10 per hour, a rate Thurlow wants to use as the base rate for basic firefighters.
Thurlow asked the council to increase pay rates 50 cents per hour for each fire training level a firefighter attains, starting Jan. 1.
That could cost as much as $98,000 a year, Thurlow said, though there is no money in this budget for such an expense.
Rather, savings would need to be found in other areas of town spending, according to Town Manager Ron Owens.
Paying firefighters more would help the town retain its fire crews, Thurlow
said. The more on-call firefighters the town has, the longer it can last without a full-time fire service, Thurlow said.
He said the expense of increasing firefighters’ pay pales in comparison to what it would cost to pay full-time firefighters for similar service. “It is a much cheaper alternative to full-time staffing,” he said.
To further streamline department operations, Thurlow wants to add a full-time training coordinator to handle the 8,000 man-hours of training the department conducts each year, a full-time administrative assistant for the
rescue department and a fire prevention officer.
He also wants to add two daytime firefighters, who staff the town’s fire stations from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. each day, to ensure a faster response to fires. In addition to fire coverage, they can be used as shift supervisors.
The fire prevention officer, Thurlow said, could be partially paid for by fees the department now charges developers for reviewing fire safety plans.
That officer would also do fire safety inspections for businesses and visit the town’s schools, especially during October’s Fire Prevention Week, Thurlow said.
He went on to lay the groundwork for a future request for additional full-time staff, saying there may be a need for full-time emergency medical technicians at the stations, to supplement the paramedics now there. Further, he said, there may also be a need to increase firefighter coverage during the evening commute time. Presently, daytime firefighters leave work at 4:30 p.m., handing off coverage to on-call firefighters.
Bad traffic at the Route 22 intersection with Route 114 can keep firefighters from getting to the station quickly, to respond to fires in time, he said.
Thurlow said he expects to need to phase in these changes, to reduce impact on the budget, but said the changes need to happen quickly. “I’m hoping that we can accomplish a lot of it within the next three years,” he said.
Councilor and Finance Committee Chairman Patrick O’Reilly encouraged Thurlow to look at cooperation with neighboring towns for training purposes and staffing. The town has such an agreement with Gorham, in which one Gorham firefighter and fire truck are based at the North Scarborough fire station, which provides fire protection in North Scarborough and South Gorham.
Council Chairman Jeff Messer said he would support a 10 percent annual increase for the fire and rescue budget, with some of that money increasing pay and the rest of it used for additional full-time staff.
Town Manager Ron Owens cautioned Messer not to commit himself before reviewing the needs of the rest of the town’s departments.
O’Reilly said he wanted to know the numbers of people at each training level and longevity step. Thurlow said he would bring that to a follow-up meeting, to happen in October.
A father’s heartbreak on sending his son into battle
Published in the Current
Patriotism is a less certain thing for Kevin Sweeney now. Since Sept. 11, 2001, he has been engaged in internal conflict between what he sees in the world and what it means for his son, Brendan.
Brendan is a specialist in the 82nd Airborne Division, based at Fort Bragg, N.C. His unit is one of the first to head into harm’s way.
Sweeney, a New York native who received the coveted “New Yorker for New York” award in 1986, grew up, so he said, “watching the Twin Towers go up.” He lived in a working-class neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens and spent most of his life in the city, working to better his block and his neighborhood.
An Army veteran, who is not shy about expressing his pride in his son, Sweeney wonders and worries about the world his son – and all 20-year-olds – are living in.
Brendan called last Sept. 11 to say he and his fellow soldiers were in their combat gear, getting set to move. They didn’t go anywhere that day, but have been prepared to depart at a moment’s notice for a year.
“There is no sense of security in what Brendan will be doing from day to day,” Sweeney said.
There is a sense of relief when Brendan or his wife calls to say other units have been deployed, because it means at least six months before another unit
rotates overseas to replace it.
But, Sweeney said, with “war drums” beating like they are, it might not be six months, and could be far less.
Brendan is now slated to head to Germany in January for two weeks, and then on to a location officially undisclosed, but more than likely Afghanistan or Iraq, Sweeney said.
“It’s almost a relief to know he’s going in January,” Sweeney said. At least there’s a date to dread, though he knows departure could happen tomorrow.
Sweeney takes some comfort in knowing that he will get a call to say Brendan has gone overseas, because Brendan’s wife will let the family know. Other soldiers, ordered to pack up and get on airplanes double-quick, may not get a chance to let their families know they are leaving until much later, if at all.
It is not what Sweeney envisioned when Brendan graduated from Cape Elizabeth High School two years ago. At that time, Brendan had little interest in college and no concrete plans. Sweeney encouraged him to join the Army, knowing Brendan was interested in law enforcement and needed some training.
Back then, long before Sept. 11, Sweeney said he saw the Army as a way to get young men like Brendan shaped up, with opportunities for future educational scholarships, chances to get paid for training, and even management and supervisory roles.
Now that has changed. He thinks of Brendan, and all soldiers, differently.
“We have had to talk about things that no father should ever have to discuss with his son,” Sweeney said, his voice breaking. He has helped Brendan with a will and a power of attorney in case his son can’t act on his own behalf.
Some of the father-son time has been more sinister. “You shouldn’t have to go out with your son and buy personal sidearms,” Sweeney said. But that is what they did, when Brendan was home recently.
Sweeney, a self-described curmudgeon, is near tears when talking about Brendan. His depth of emotion springs from both pride and fear.
Proud to serve
“I’m damn proud of him,” Sweeney said. He expands that to the other “kids,” as he calls them, in Brendan’s unit and throughout the Army. “It makes you think,” he said, about all the families across the country, all worried about their own kids.
But he knows Brendan is special, one of the elite fighters the Army spends thousands to train and equip.
“Brendan is one of the few who is in combat arms,” Sweeney said. “They go in harm’s way just training.”
To show his support for his son, Sweeney flies an Airborne flag in front of his house, and wears Airborne jump wings – the symbol of a qualified Army paratrooper – on his lapel.
Sometimes, for variety, he substitutes a pin version of the 82nd Airborne division patch.
But Sweeney also harbors fears for Brendan.
During the Vietnam War, Sweeney said, “people took out their frustration on the individual service member. That bothers me a lot, and I don’t want that to happen again,” he said.
He worries about a lack of popular support for an attack on Iraq. President George W. Bush and his administration are talking about invading Iraq, though national opinion polls indicate the public is about roughly split on the issue.
Former national security advisers and a number of top generals don’t want to go to war either.
Sweeney recalled a statement by Gen. Anthony Zinni, a U.S. envoy to help negotiations between the Israelis and the Palestinians: “The people who seem to be most inclined to go to war are the ones who have never been there,” he said.
If Brendan – or any American soldier – dies in Iraq, Sweeney said he will want strong proof that Saddam Hussein does have weapons of mass destruction, as the Bush administration alleges. Sweeney vowed to hold the administration to account for any missteps.
“I want the United States to be aware of the implications,” Sweeney said.
Putting a face on war
He doesn’t challenge the government out of enmity for the U.S. Rather, it is the opposite. “If there’s anything I do that’s patriotic, it’s playing devil’s advocate and asking the questions,” Sweeney said.
He is scared that with John Ashcroft and others in the administration making policy changes to “improve security” by taking away civil rights, what the terrorists had hoped to achieve with their attacks, “they have, in fact, accomplished to some degree.”
He reminded Brendan that he swore an oath to uphold the Constitution, and he reminds himself of others who fought to defend American freedom, and what they believed in. Today’s leaders, he said, are different.
“There are people who think that in order to protect those same liberties, we have to take them away,” Sweeney said. But rather than give up his rights and follow along blindly, Sweeney has a simple question: “Why is it so important to go to war?”
He also wants people to understand the true cost of war.
There are about 400,000 soldiers out of nearly 300 million U.S. citizens. “Most people don’t know a real soldier,” Sweeney said. Those who serve in the armed forces are people, too. He wants the politicians to remember that. “These soldiers have moms, dads, brothers, sisters, wives and kids,” he said.
War is a big decision, and the distance between soldiers and Washington policymakers can be dangerous, he said.
“It’s easy to send somebody else’s kid,” Sweeney said. The solution? “Make them faces. They’re people, and for the most part they’re kids,” he said.
He said even the national media has gotten carried away, encouraging war and not questioning government officials enough. Sweeney said he recently wanted to call up the war-hawk TV talk show “Fox and Friends,” to say, “You’re talking about killing my son.”
He has worked to help Cape Elizabeth’s members of the armed forces stay in the minds of town residents, especially the children. Last year, classes in the middle school adopted service people, writing them letters and sending them reminders of home.
The activity is one way Sweeney can avoid being overcome by fear. In a phone conversation from North Carolina, Brendan once said he was scared. Sweeney reminded him that fear is normal.
“Courage is not an absence of fear, it’s perseverance in the presence of fear,” Sweeney told his son.
The father’s heartbreak is still palpable, though, as Sweeney begins to cry, thinking about the last time he saw Brendan.
“I can’t say goodbye to him without being in tears,” Sweeney said, “because I don’t know if I’m ever going to see him again.”
Patriotism is a less certain thing for Kevin Sweeney now. Since Sept. 11, 2001, he has been engaged in internal conflict between what he sees in the world and what it means for his son, Brendan.
Brendan is a specialist in the 82nd Airborne Division, based at Fort Bragg, N.C. His unit is one of the first to head into harm’s way.
Sweeney, a New York native who received the coveted “New Yorker for New York” award in 1986, grew up, so he said, “watching the Twin Towers go up.” He lived in a working-class neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens and spent most of his life in the city, working to better his block and his neighborhood.
An Army veteran, who is not shy about expressing his pride in his son, Sweeney wonders and worries about the world his son – and all 20-year-olds – are living in.
Brendan called last Sept. 11 to say he and his fellow soldiers were in their combat gear, getting set to move. They didn’t go anywhere that day, but have been prepared to depart at a moment’s notice for a year.
“There is no sense of security in what Brendan will be doing from day to day,” Sweeney said.
There is a sense of relief when Brendan or his wife calls to say other units have been deployed, because it means at least six months before another unit
rotates overseas to replace it.
But, Sweeney said, with “war drums” beating like they are, it might not be six months, and could be far less.
Brendan is now slated to head to Germany in January for two weeks, and then on to a location officially undisclosed, but more than likely Afghanistan or Iraq, Sweeney said.
“It’s almost a relief to know he’s going in January,” Sweeney said. At least there’s a date to dread, though he knows departure could happen tomorrow.
Sweeney takes some comfort in knowing that he will get a call to say Brendan has gone overseas, because Brendan’s wife will let the family know. Other soldiers, ordered to pack up and get on airplanes double-quick, may not get a chance to let their families know they are leaving until much later, if at all.
It is not what Sweeney envisioned when Brendan graduated from Cape Elizabeth High School two years ago. At that time, Brendan had little interest in college and no concrete plans. Sweeney encouraged him to join the Army, knowing Brendan was interested in law enforcement and needed some training.
Back then, long before Sept. 11, Sweeney said he saw the Army as a way to get young men like Brendan shaped up, with opportunities for future educational scholarships, chances to get paid for training, and even management and supervisory roles.
Now that has changed. He thinks of Brendan, and all soldiers, differently.
“We have had to talk about things that no father should ever have to discuss with his son,” Sweeney said, his voice breaking. He has helped Brendan with a will and a power of attorney in case his son can’t act on his own behalf.
Some of the father-son time has been more sinister. “You shouldn’t have to go out with your son and buy personal sidearms,” Sweeney said. But that is what they did, when Brendan was home recently.
Sweeney, a self-described curmudgeon, is near tears when talking about Brendan. His depth of emotion springs from both pride and fear.
Proud to serve
“I’m damn proud of him,” Sweeney said. He expands that to the other “kids,” as he calls them, in Brendan’s unit and throughout the Army. “It makes you think,” he said, about all the families across the country, all worried about their own kids.
But he knows Brendan is special, one of the elite fighters the Army spends thousands to train and equip.
“Brendan is one of the few who is in combat arms,” Sweeney said. “They go in harm’s way just training.”
To show his support for his son, Sweeney flies an Airborne flag in front of his house, and wears Airborne jump wings – the symbol of a qualified Army paratrooper – on his lapel.
Sometimes, for variety, he substitutes a pin version of the 82nd Airborne division patch.
But Sweeney also harbors fears for Brendan.
During the Vietnam War, Sweeney said, “people took out their frustration on the individual service member. That bothers me a lot, and I don’t want that to happen again,” he said.
He worries about a lack of popular support for an attack on Iraq. President George W. Bush and his administration are talking about invading Iraq, though national opinion polls indicate the public is about roughly split on the issue.
Former national security advisers and a number of top generals don’t want to go to war either.
Sweeney recalled a statement by Gen. Anthony Zinni, a U.S. envoy to help negotiations between the Israelis and the Palestinians: “The people who seem to be most inclined to go to war are the ones who have never been there,” he said.
If Brendan – or any American soldier – dies in Iraq, Sweeney said he will want strong proof that Saddam Hussein does have weapons of mass destruction, as the Bush administration alleges. Sweeney vowed to hold the administration to account for any missteps.
“I want the United States to be aware of the implications,” Sweeney said.
Putting a face on war
He doesn’t challenge the government out of enmity for the U.S. Rather, it is the opposite. “If there’s anything I do that’s patriotic, it’s playing devil’s advocate and asking the questions,” Sweeney said.
He is scared that with John Ashcroft and others in the administration making policy changes to “improve security” by taking away civil rights, what the terrorists had hoped to achieve with their attacks, “they have, in fact, accomplished to some degree.”
He reminded Brendan that he swore an oath to uphold the Constitution, and he reminds himself of others who fought to defend American freedom, and what they believed in. Today’s leaders, he said, are different.
“There are people who think that in order to protect those same liberties, we have to take them away,” Sweeney said. But rather than give up his rights and follow along blindly, Sweeney has a simple question: “Why is it so important to go to war?”
He also wants people to understand the true cost of war.
There are about 400,000 soldiers out of nearly 300 million U.S. citizens. “Most people don’t know a real soldier,” Sweeney said. Those who serve in the armed forces are people, too. He wants the politicians to remember that. “These soldiers have moms, dads, brothers, sisters, wives and kids,” he said.
War is a big decision, and the distance between soldiers and Washington policymakers can be dangerous, he said.
“It’s easy to send somebody else’s kid,” Sweeney said. The solution? “Make them faces. They’re people, and for the most part they’re kids,” he said.
He said even the national media has gotten carried away, encouraging war and not questioning government officials enough. Sweeney said he recently wanted to call up the war-hawk TV talk show “Fox and Friends,” to say, “You’re talking about killing my son.”
He has worked to help Cape Elizabeth’s members of the armed forces stay in the minds of town residents, especially the children. Last year, classes in the middle school adopted service people, writing them letters and sending them reminders of home.
The activity is one way Sweeney can avoid being overcome by fear. In a phone conversation from North Carolina, Brendan once said he was scared. Sweeney reminded him that fear is normal.
“Courage is not an absence of fear, it’s perseverance in the presence of fear,” Sweeney told his son.
The father’s heartbreak is still palpable, though, as Sweeney begins to cry, thinking about the last time he saw Brendan.
“I can’t say goodbye to him without being in tears,” Sweeney said, “because I don’t know if I’m ever going to see him again.”
Thursday, September 5, 2002
Rabid animal attacks cats in Cape
Published in the Current
Cape Elizabeth police are warning residents to keep an eye on their pet cats, in the wake of three recent encounters between cats and rabid animals. Two of the incidents involved raccoons and the third was with a skunk, according to Animal Control Officer Bob Leeman.
The most recent encounter, on the night of Sept. 4, was on Ocean House Road between Mitchell Road and Spurwink Avenue. The cat in that encounter was put down because its rabies shots were not up-to-date, and because there were children and other pets in the home.
“I know I’ve got cats out there that aren’t up to date on shots,” Leeman said. “That’s scary. ”
He said cat owners who discover unexplained injuries on their animals should have them taken to the veterinarian for an examination. He said cats might not even show signs of a fight or animal bite, but could bring rabies into the house unnoticed. If humans are exposed to the virus and do not receive rapid treatment, the disease is fatal.
If an animal is suspected of having encountered a rabid animal, Leeman said, the vet will administer a rabies booster shot and the animal will be quarantined for 45 days to be sure it is rabies-free. Leeman said most quarantined animals are kept in their homes under closer supervision than normal.
Rabid animals wander around town, Leeman said, meaning there is no way to specify that one area of town is riskier than others. “It’s everywhere out here,” he said.
Another encounter was between a black cat and a raccoon in the Brentwood area. Both the raccoon and the cat ran off before being captured, Leeman said, so he is not sure what happened to the animals. He did contact residents in the area whom he knew had black cats, but failed to find the animal.
“It worries me because there are so many cats in town,” Leeman said.
Cape Elizabeth police are warning residents to keep an eye on their pet cats, in the wake of three recent encounters between cats and rabid animals. Two of the incidents involved raccoons and the third was with a skunk, according to Animal Control Officer Bob Leeman.
The most recent encounter, on the night of Sept. 4, was on Ocean House Road between Mitchell Road and Spurwink Avenue. The cat in that encounter was put down because its rabies shots were not up-to-date, and because there were children and other pets in the home.
“I know I’ve got cats out there that aren’t up to date on shots,” Leeman said. “That’s scary. ”
He said cat owners who discover unexplained injuries on their animals should have them taken to the veterinarian for an examination. He said cats might not even show signs of a fight or animal bite, but could bring rabies into the house unnoticed. If humans are exposed to the virus and do not receive rapid treatment, the disease is fatal.
If an animal is suspected of having encountered a rabid animal, Leeman said, the vet will administer a rabies booster shot and the animal will be quarantined for 45 days to be sure it is rabies-free. Leeman said most quarantined animals are kept in their homes under closer supervision than normal.
Rabid animals wander around town, Leeman said, meaning there is no way to specify that one area of town is riskier than others. “It’s everywhere out here,” he said.
Another encounter was between a black cat and a raccoon in the Brentwood area. Both the raccoon and the cat ran off before being captured, Leeman said, so he is not sure what happened to the animals. He did contact residents in the area whom he knew had black cats, but failed to find the animal.
“It worries me because there are so many cats in town,” Leeman said.
New Cape deputy fire chief
Published in the Current
Mark Stults, a 10-year veteran of the Cape Fire Department and current captain of Engine 2, has been selected to fill a deputy fire chief position made vacant by the death of Jimmy Murray in June.
Murray’s official radio call sign, “Car Two,” will transfer to Deputy Fire Chief Peter Gleason, and Stults will pick up Gleason’s old call sign as “Car Three.” Fire Chief Philip McGouldrick is “Car One.”
Stults spent 11 years as a firefighter in Falmouth, where he also served as an engine company captain. He works full time for the Town of Scarborough as a firefighter-paramedic on duty with the ambulance at Dunstan Station, and will be able to keep his job there.
“I’m excited,” Stults said. “I’m very pleased to feel the energy that everyone has.”
He took office Sept. 1, so not a lot has happened yet, but he is working with McGouldrick and Gleason to keep things running smoothly at the fire department.
The biggest issue facing the department, he said, is pressure to keep enough on-call firefighters available, and reduce or eliminate the need for full-time paid firefighters.
Full-timers are more expensive than on-call crews, Stults said.
“We’ve got a great group of people on board now,” he said. He expects to continue to focus on keeping a strong pool of volunteers, including paying attention to young people in town who are interested in the fire service.
Mark Stults, a 10-year veteran of the Cape Fire Department and current captain of Engine 2, has been selected to fill a deputy fire chief position made vacant by the death of Jimmy Murray in June.
Murray’s official radio call sign, “Car Two,” will transfer to Deputy Fire Chief Peter Gleason, and Stults will pick up Gleason’s old call sign as “Car Three.” Fire Chief Philip McGouldrick is “Car One.”
Stults spent 11 years as a firefighter in Falmouth, where he also served as an engine company captain. He works full time for the Town of Scarborough as a firefighter-paramedic on duty with the ambulance at Dunstan Station, and will be able to keep his job there.
“I’m excited,” Stults said. “I’m very pleased to feel the energy that everyone has.”
He took office Sept. 1, so not a lot has happened yet, but he is working with McGouldrick and Gleason to keep things running smoothly at the fire department.
The biggest issue facing the department, he said, is pressure to keep enough on-call firefighters available, and reduce or eliminate the need for full-time paid firefighters.
Full-timers are more expensive than on-call crews, Stults said.
“We’ve got a great group of people on board now,” he said. He expects to continue to focus on keeping a strong pool of volunteers, including paying attention to young people in town who are interested in the fire service.
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