Published in the American Journal
Over 300 middle school students and teachers gathered at Gorham Middle School on Saturday to explore ways schools can take better advantage of the state’s laptop computer initiative and to get a glimpse of the future.
A conference for the middle school students, who are on “iTeams” - groups of computer-savvy kids who help students and teachers alike with day-to-day classroom computing problems - the event taught kids not only how to do their in-school “jobs” better, but also how they can learn more through technology than would otherwise be possible.
Among the attendees were students from Westbrook, Gorham, Windham, Cape Elizabeth and SAD 6. The Cape and Gorham kids gave presentations on how their iTeams work, illustrating different ways they could meet similar needs.
Cape’s iTeam members are numerous enough that as students rotate with their normal class schedules, at least one iTeam member ends up in each classroom almost all the time. The students said they are available during class to help their fellow students and even teachers, who have problems with the laptops.
The team is also open to anyone interested in joining. “If they’re joining the iTeam, it’s because they want to know more,” said one student after the presentation.
By contrast, Gorham’s “tech team” members have hall passes and can be called out of their own classes to solve problems in other rooms. The team members talked about how they became members, often by application, or by being handpicked by teacher Tia Lord.
They have regular meetings and test out new software before other students are allowed to use it.
Members of the group dressed in their school colors and were available on a rotating basis throughout the conference, helping presenters and attendees use the school’s wireless computer network.
Students’ reactions
Students from local schools said they got a lot out of the conference. From Bonny Eagle Middle School, one student said she had learned a number of new troubleshooting skills. At lunch time, two other girls were looking forward to an upcoming session called “Let’s Chat,” helping students and teachers understand how to use Internet “chat” programs to enhance education, while keeping in mind Internet safety guidelines.
From Wescott Junior High School, student Brielle Merrifield said she had learned new stretches and important information about ergonomics while using the laptops, to avoid repetitive stress injuries. Student Spencer Graham said, “Coming here is probably going to help us and help other kids.”
From Cape Elizabeth, students said they saw important differences between the policies governing their use of the laptops, and the policies of other schools.
“I like how we get to take our laptops home,” said one student. Many other schools don’t allow students to leave school with the laptops.
Another student wanted administrative privileges for his laptop, to enable him to learn more about the computer system.
A third student not only learned practical skills – “how you can use a camcorder to make animations that are pretty smooth” – but also attended a presentation by Jen Gagne, a freshman at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
There, he learned that MIT students are being issued laptops too, though only one computer for every three students, and use some of the same software Maine’s middle-schoolers are using.
MIT students also submit homework assignments electronically, just like many of the state’s seventh- and eighth-graders. “These skills are essential,” Gagne said.
Technology projects
Other presentations explored the possibilities of laptop-enabled learning. Scarborough teacher Jim Doane showed other teachers how to plan an iMovie project, from organizing information before filming, through to filming and on-computer video editing. He used his own class work as examples, showcasing student-made videos on health issues.
After doing research projects on health subjects, students worked in groups to create public service announcement-style television ads about the issues. One on suicide had a particularly stark image: a coffee table covered in pill bottles and pills, with a hand slipping away, down to the floor.
The Maine Historical Society showed its Maine Memory project, which is looking to partner local historical societies with middle school students to digitize old photos and documents. Having them available on-line expands people’s access to them and helps reduce wear by researchers, who now must handle the artifacts. The two-year-old project has 130 organizations working together, and they have digitized 4,500 documents.
Other projects include tracking lobsters from where they are trapped to where they are finally purchased and consumed, linking Maine lobstermen to diners across the country, some of whom have begun corresponding regularly, according to a presenter from the Island Institute.
Future of program
How much learning can actually take place using the laptops depends on how far the project goes.
It is in the second of a four-year contract, in which the hardware now in use by seventh- and eighth-graders will be reused for two more years by students in those grades.
The big question is what happens to this year’s eighth-graders, when they get to high school and are forced to return to working with papers and pencils, rather than electronic documents.
“We actually will be making a bigger divide than we started with,” said Bette Manchester, who supervises the laptop project for the state Department of Education. Some state money may become available to help poorer districts afford laptops for their high schools, but many districts are already exploring buying their own machines.
Apple Computer has put together a package by which every Maine family with a child in public school can get a discount on purchasing their own Apple computer, according to Shaun Meredith, Apple’s manager of the laptop project.
School districts also qualify for a four-year lease at $1 per computer per day, if they want to buy their own computers.
One district many are looking to for insight about the future of laptops is Guilford. A small town north of Augusta, it got a private grant in 1999 to begin installing laptops in its middle school. When those students left the middle school, “they went to the high school and lost their machines,” said Crystal Priest, the schools’ technology coordinator. “It just killed them.”
Parents were in an uproar as well, because the laptops had improved student attendance, discipline and academic performance, even in a district with historically low per-pupil spending, Priest said. “It just opens up resources you wouldn’t believe.”
Last year, the schools got a grant to give each high school student a laptop. “The teachers were overwhelmed when we first started,” with only three days of training in the summer to prepare them.
Now, in the second year of the high school effort, “we couldn’t go back to teaching without them.”
In addition to curriculum-expanding work, like a planned collaboration with a school in Thailand, “the kids that normally struggle” are doing better in all their classes, discipline referrals are down 50 percent at the high school and attendance is up. A manufacturing technology teacher instructs students on how to repair hardware.
“It’s just been incredible,” Priest said.
Wednesday, January 14, 2004
Friday, January 9, 2004
Nobody’s doing it: What if you wanted to make a living as an actor in Southern Maine?
Published in the Portland Phoenix
Maine’s theaters and theater audiences depend, more than anything else, on the willingness of good actors to work for little or no pay. Without the actors, there would be no costumes or sets to design, no targets to aim lights at, no need even for stages.
No Maine-based stage actor is doing what non-actors might call "making it," at least financially speaking. "No matter where you live, it’s very hard to do. It’s the holy grail," says Caitlin Shetterly, who returned to Maine from New York about a year ago. She has done some acting work and is starting the Winter Harbor Theater Company, but relies mainly on her income as a freelance writer and radio journalist.
Even New York, she points out, is a hard place to make a living as an actor.
Lisa Muller-Jones has acted in San Francisco and Chicago. "I rarely got paid at all because it’s so competitive," she says. "I actually make more money here than I did there," though she attributes some of that to her increased scheduling flexibility here, running her own graphic design business.
"Being my own boss, I get to set my own hours," making her flexible for rehearsals on nights and weekends. "It’s probably the only way that I can do what I do," Muller-Jones says.
If she had a restaurant job, she’d have to give up the lucrative Friday and Saturday evening shifts to perform — after giving up weeknights to rehearse.
Christine Louise Marshall is dealing with just that. "What is living and working in the performing arts in Maine to me?" she emails. "It’s having three nearly full-time jobs, two part-time regular gigs, and any number (about three right now) of freelance one-timers (this is not counting the one I totally blew off last week because of the pipes freezing in my mother’s house, which I manage for my family . . . oop, there’s another job I forgot about.) . . . [Maine’s energetic and creative] people are maybe the real reason why I live and work here, although all the jobs put together only serve to keep me almost out of debt."
Perhaps the best shot for actors to make money in Maine is in community theaters, which draw huge audiences paying as much as $20 a ticket. They are cast almost entirely locally, and use large numbers of performers. And how much do those actors get paid, working hard in front of some of the largest theater crowds the state offers? Nothing. The irony is cruel for performers in struggling "serious" productions.
Several people are making livings doing "only theater," but none of them is a full-time actor. "Mostly, I think, those who are frequently onstage here teach or are involved with a theater in an administrative capacity," emails Muriel Kenderdine, who relies on retirement income and a job as a church keyboardist to make her ends meet.
Nancy Brown is on the "theater-only" track, teaching classes part-time at the Children’s Theater of Maine and adding costume design, set design, and stage management to her acting mix.
Even so, "it could stand to be supplemented by something else," she says. It has only been a few months, and already, "it’s been very hard."
"I don’t have very much luxury money," and could use a part-time job "just for the extras," those expenses beyond rent, food, and monthly bills. Like, say, going to the theater.
Daniel Noel agrees. Now 50 and a member of the Actors Equity union since 1978, he says, "I live hand to mouth. I could be totally destitute tomorrow, and I probably will be, after I pay all my bills."
In fact, it may be his Equity membership that’s hurting him. Equity rules are meant to protect actors from low-paying, exploitative theater managers. But when low-paying (though good-hearted) theater companies are all that exist, there’s no work for him.
What Equity work does come to Maine — at Portland Stage, Maine State Music Theater, the Theater at Monmouth, and the Public Theatre — is doled out only after national casting calls and auditions, again because of Equity rules.
"I can’t perform in any of the other theaters" except as a benefit, Noel said. If they wanted him, Maine’s small companies would have to pay him a minimum of $175 a week, including rehearsal weeks, as a "guest artist."
Compare that with how Shetterly describes her fledgling company’s compensation: They pay for tea and coffee, bottled water, flowers, and sometimes small stipends. "It felt like we were saying to them, even though it was a small amount, that we valued their work."
Or even that at Mad Horse, a long-established non-Equity theater company: "Everyone gets paid," says Muller-Jones. "It’s still a labor of love." So much so that "all of the actors that I know have another job."
The small compensation isn’t their fault. The donor pool is small, and audiences are, too. With low ticket prices — aimed at removing one excuse people use for not going to theater — the actors find themselves at the end of the line, waiting for what money is left after paying for rights to a play, set and costume pieces, renting space, insurance, and printing and mailing costs for promo pieces and programs.
Yet even with the pittance they get for their work, Noel still eyes small-company actors longingly. "I’m so jealous" of actors at Mad Horse, Good Theater, and others, "because they can work." He usually performs a couple of times a year at Portland Stage, in their Little Festival of the Unexpected and From Away play festivals, and in A Christmas Carol.
"I want to work in the community," but can’t. The reason? Equity. "Your union, that’s supposed to be helping you, and it’s holding you back," Noel said. "That’s ridiculous."
All the same, he hasn’t ever thought about leaving the union. The benefits — including health insurance, networking contacts, and recognition as a "serious" actor in larger markets — are too important.
He has had to work with producers to get around Equity rules. If they want him to perform on the cheap, it has to involve reading from a book — not a play — or must benefit some charitable organization.
Other Equity actors he knows have moved on to TV or film. Those still on stage in Maine get by with the same old tricks as the state’s non-Equity actors: They record audiobooks, appear in tiny films, do voice-over work for businesses, and travel to Boston or New York to pick up extra work.
Is there a way to fix this? Short of upping theater ticket prices — which could result in reduced audience numbers across the board — some local actors are already dreaming of ways they can make local work for themselves and others.
"Portland’s got the reputation now of being a workshop city," says Noel, where playwrights could come to collaborate with actors on plays-in-progress.
Shetterly sees Maine as a place that could be a "hotbed of theater beginnings," where budding directors and producers can "explore an idea without the kind of overhead you’d have in New York."
Muller-Jones and Marshall have done murder-mystery theme events for private gatherings.
Many actors here are growing and changing as actors and people, taking less money as a "leg up," while at the same time paying Southern Maine’s high rents. They are not whiners. All of them knew theater wasn’t a money-making business when they got into it, and stay in for love of the craft.
"There’s a long history of actors taking roles for less money because they really believe in the work," says Shetterly. But believing in food and heat and a roof don’t make them real.
"The actors that are doing their job should be compensated for that," Shetterly says. "It’s not an easy job — it’s a hard job. It’s a physical job, it’s an emotional job." Paying or compensating someone "says that you value their time and that it’s important to you."
Wednesday, January 7, 2004
Enjoying wildlife in a winter wonderland
Published in the American Journal
There’s plenty to do outdoors during the winter, even if you’re not a downhill skier or a snowmobiler.
Taking it slow – walking, snowshoeing or cross-country skiing – can be a great way to explore Maine’s winter and learn more about the wildlife all around us.
If you’re into birding, “the Scarborough Marsh is a good place to go,” said Phil Bozenhard, a wildlife biologist for the state Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife.
There are plenty of birds to be seen, including waterfowl. “Occasionally you’ll see a hawk or an owl flying around,” Bozenhard said.
Naturalist Margi Huber at Maine Audubon notes that Casco Bay is also a wonderful place to see all kinds of birds. “I think we forget what a jewel we have out there.”
You can take walks along Portland’s East End Beach, which has a flat walking path, often packed down for skiing or plowed. “You’ll see a lot of birds in half an hour,” Huber said.
If you’re lucky, you may spot a peregrine falcon that roosts on the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Portland and is often spotted near the B&M Baked Beans plant.
Another great place is Two Lights State Park in Cape Elizabeth, where “sometimes you can see owls and hawks” in the back area of the park or watch seabirds from the cliffs, which are kept clear of snow by the wind.
At Pine Point Beach, you can see eiders and even loons in winter plumage. “The loons winter on the coast of Maine,” Huber said.
On the Westbrook-Portland line is the Fore River Sanctuary, along Outer Congress Street, which includes trails for snowshoeing and skiing and plenty of trees and water for spotting all kinds of bird life.
Up in the Lakes Region are some other excellent spots for checking out freshwater birds. Behind the fire station on Route 202 in South Windham, “there’s an opening in the Presumpscot River” where a hooded merganser often hangs out.
“What you want to look for is open water,” Huber said.
Near the Gambo Dam, also on the Presumpscot, an eagle has been wintering there for a few seasons.
You may see other birdwatchers while you’re out on these trips, so feel free to ask them about other good spots. If you’re looking for a particular bird, check out Maine Audubon’s Web site at www.maineaudubon.org. It has a “bird alert” list that’s regularly updated with bird sightings throughout Maine.
Mammals
Birds may be easier to spot in the sky and because trees have lost their foliage, but some mammals are also very active in winter.
Many of them can be found along the sides of rivers and lakes throughout Southern Maine, as well as in wooded areas.
While the animals themselves may be elusive, winter is great for checking out tracks.
“A day or two after a new snow is probably the best time,” Bozenhard said. If the snow is too powdery, though, “they all look the same,” because loose snow fills the small parts that allow the tracks to be differentiated.
“It’s more interesting when you’re out there and you can identify the tracks,” he said. “It gives you a little bit of satisfaction in knowing what you’re looking at.”
Animals you may see tracks from include big ones like moose and deer, through coyote, fox, fisher and mink to small animals like squirrels, rabbits and snowshoe hares.
Some good spots to follow tracks include the Steep Falls Wildlife Management Area in Standish and Morgan Meadow Wildlife Management Area in Raymond, Bozenhard said. They have hundreds of acres to explore, including snow-covered roads and trails.
Guided adventures
If you’re looking for an expert to help you navigate and understand the winter wildlands, Maine Audubon is running several programs that may interest you. All require advance reservations, so call 781-2330 ext. 215 for times and fees.
On Saturday, Jan. 10, a family nature walk called “Surviving Winter” will teach adults and kids about how animals make it through the cold season.
On the same day, you can take a guided ferry cruise on Casco Bay to look at water birds, including possibly a glimpse of a bald eagle.
The following Saturday, Jan. 17, Maine Audubon is holding a workshop for outdoor artists, teaching not only basic landscape drawing techniques, but also how to adapt outdoor artwork to winter’s cold.
On Saturday, Jan. 24, a tracking program will teach everyone in the family
how to identify tracks and other signs left behind by animals. Children can make a plaster-of-paris mold of a track as part of the workshop. It also includes an outdoor nature walk to practice identifying tracks.
Also that day, a birding expedition will visit local “hot spots,” including
Back Cove, Willard Beach, Portland Head Light, Two Lights State Park and Kettle Cove, to look for a wide range of water birds.
On Saturday, Jan. 31, you can take a nature walk around Maine Audubon’s Gilsland Farm sanctuary in Falmouth to look at how plants handle the winter, and how to identify them in their winter disguises.
There’s plenty to do outdoors during the winter, even if you’re not a downhill skier or a snowmobiler.
Taking it slow – walking, snowshoeing or cross-country skiing – can be a great way to explore Maine’s winter and learn more about the wildlife all around us.
If you’re into birding, “the Scarborough Marsh is a good place to go,” said Phil Bozenhard, a wildlife biologist for the state Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife.
There are plenty of birds to be seen, including waterfowl. “Occasionally you’ll see a hawk or an owl flying around,” Bozenhard said.
Naturalist Margi Huber at Maine Audubon notes that Casco Bay is also a wonderful place to see all kinds of birds. “I think we forget what a jewel we have out there.”
You can take walks along Portland’s East End Beach, which has a flat walking path, often packed down for skiing or plowed. “You’ll see a lot of birds in half an hour,” Huber said.
If you’re lucky, you may spot a peregrine falcon that roosts on the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Portland and is often spotted near the B&M Baked Beans plant.
Another great place is Two Lights State Park in Cape Elizabeth, where “sometimes you can see owls and hawks” in the back area of the park or watch seabirds from the cliffs, which are kept clear of snow by the wind.
At Pine Point Beach, you can see eiders and even loons in winter plumage. “The loons winter on the coast of Maine,” Huber said.
On the Westbrook-Portland line is the Fore River Sanctuary, along Outer Congress Street, which includes trails for snowshoeing and skiing and plenty of trees and water for spotting all kinds of bird life.
Up in the Lakes Region are some other excellent spots for checking out freshwater birds. Behind the fire station on Route 202 in South Windham, “there’s an opening in the Presumpscot River” where a hooded merganser often hangs out.
“What you want to look for is open water,” Huber said.
Near the Gambo Dam, also on the Presumpscot, an eagle has been wintering there for a few seasons.
You may see other birdwatchers while you’re out on these trips, so feel free to ask them about other good spots. If you’re looking for a particular bird, check out Maine Audubon’s Web site at www.maineaudubon.org. It has a “bird alert” list that’s regularly updated with bird sightings throughout Maine.
Mammals
Birds may be easier to spot in the sky and because trees have lost their foliage, but some mammals are also very active in winter.
Many of them can be found along the sides of rivers and lakes throughout Southern Maine, as well as in wooded areas.
While the animals themselves may be elusive, winter is great for checking out tracks.
“A day or two after a new snow is probably the best time,” Bozenhard said. If the snow is too powdery, though, “they all look the same,” because loose snow fills the small parts that allow the tracks to be differentiated.
“It’s more interesting when you’re out there and you can identify the tracks,” he said. “It gives you a little bit of satisfaction in knowing what you’re looking at.”
Animals you may see tracks from include big ones like moose and deer, through coyote, fox, fisher and mink to small animals like squirrels, rabbits and snowshoe hares.
Some good spots to follow tracks include the Steep Falls Wildlife Management Area in Standish and Morgan Meadow Wildlife Management Area in Raymond, Bozenhard said. They have hundreds of acres to explore, including snow-covered roads and trails.
Guided adventures
If you’re looking for an expert to help you navigate and understand the winter wildlands, Maine Audubon is running several programs that may interest you. All require advance reservations, so call 781-2330 ext. 215 for times and fees.
On Saturday, Jan. 10, a family nature walk called “Surviving Winter” will teach adults and kids about how animals make it through the cold season.
On the same day, you can take a guided ferry cruise on Casco Bay to look at water birds, including possibly a glimpse of a bald eagle.
The following Saturday, Jan. 17, Maine Audubon is holding a workshop for outdoor artists, teaching not only basic landscape drawing techniques, but also how to adapt outdoor artwork to winter’s cold.
On Saturday, Jan. 24, a tracking program will teach everyone in the family
how to identify tracks and other signs left behind by animals. Children can make a plaster-of-paris mold of a track as part of the workshop. It also includes an outdoor nature walk to practice identifying tracks.
Also that day, a birding expedition will visit local “hot spots,” including
Back Cove, Willard Beach, Portland Head Light, Two Lights State Park and Kettle Cove, to look for a wide range of water birds.
On Saturday, Jan. 31, you can take a nature walk around Maine Audubon’s Gilsland Farm sanctuary in Falmouth to look at how plants handle the winter, and how to identify them in their winter disguises.
Flu fears pack emergency room
Published in the American Journal
Fears of coming down with the flu have sent patients to Maine Medical Center’s emergency room in large numbers over the past two weeks. Many of them do not actually have the flu, though, and the hospital is suggesting people who are worried should call their regular doctors before visiting the ER.
Maine Med has seen “a tremendous number of adults and children coming in with flu-like symptoms,” said Dr. Michael Gibbs, the hospital’s head of emergency medicine.
Traffic has been up about 20 percent over the normal number of visits.
The hospital has been sending doctors and nurses from other departments to help at the ER.
“We’re going to be dealing with this for a couple of months,” said hospital spokeswoman Abby Greenfield.
Most of the patients do not have influenza itself. “There are a lot of other viruses that can cause flu-like symptoms,” Gibbs said.
“Any viral infection can be serious,” he said. “But (it) also depends on who has the infection.”
“Some people need to be concerned even if it’s not” technically the flu, including young children, the elderly and people with existing medical conditions.
Gibbs suggests calling your family doctor before coming to the emergency room. You may be able to stay home, or get some medication prescribed or recommended over the phone.
He also noted the risk of getting sick in the emergency room: If you’re there with a lot of sick people, you could catch something from them. Patients at Maine Med’s ER are wearing masks now, to reduce that risk.
If your doctor recommends you go to the ER, he or she will be able to call ahead to let emergency room staff know you’re coming, and to give them your full medical history, which can help them treat you faster and better.
People who are more likely to have their doctors suggest a visit to the hospital are those with “significant severe respiratory symptoms,” such as shortness of breath, or with persistent vomiting or a fever that won’t go away, Gibbs said.
Also, very small children, adults over age 65, or people with pre-existing medical conditions that may weaken their ability to fight disease should be prepared go to the hospital.
To prevent getting infected, doctors recommend you wash your hands. Contact with others’ hands, or things they have touched, can transmit the flu and other diseases.
Drink fluids. Staying hydrated helps your immune system stay strong. And stay rested.
Fears of coming down with the flu have sent patients to Maine Medical Center’s emergency room in large numbers over the past two weeks. Many of them do not actually have the flu, though, and the hospital is suggesting people who are worried should call their regular doctors before visiting the ER.
Maine Med has seen “a tremendous number of adults and children coming in with flu-like symptoms,” said Dr. Michael Gibbs, the hospital’s head of emergency medicine.
Traffic has been up about 20 percent over the normal number of visits.
The hospital has been sending doctors and nurses from other departments to help at the ER.
“We’re going to be dealing with this for a couple of months,” said hospital spokeswoman Abby Greenfield.
Most of the patients do not have influenza itself. “There are a lot of other viruses that can cause flu-like symptoms,” Gibbs said.
“Any viral infection can be serious,” he said. “But (it) also depends on who has the infection.”
“Some people need to be concerned even if it’s not” technically the flu, including young children, the elderly and people with existing medical conditions.
Gibbs suggests calling your family doctor before coming to the emergency room. You may be able to stay home, or get some medication prescribed or recommended over the phone.
He also noted the risk of getting sick in the emergency room: If you’re there with a lot of sick people, you could catch something from them. Patients at Maine Med’s ER are wearing masks now, to reduce that risk.
If your doctor recommends you go to the ER, he or she will be able to call ahead to let emergency room staff know you’re coming, and to give them your full medical history, which can help them treat you faster and better.
People who are more likely to have their doctors suggest a visit to the hospital are those with “significant severe respiratory symptoms,” such as shortness of breath, or with persistent vomiting or a fever that won’t go away, Gibbs said.
Also, very small children, adults over age 65, or people with pre-existing medical conditions that may weaken their ability to fight disease should be prepared go to the hospital.
To prevent getting infected, doctors recommend you wash your hands. Contact with others’ hands, or things they have touched, can transmit the flu and other diseases.
Drink fluids. Staying hydrated helps your immune system stay strong. And stay rested.
Highways to be renumbered
Published in the American Journal
Get set to revamp the directions you give to friends from out of town.
Starting this week and finishing in the middle of May, the state’s interstate highway system will be renumbered, with highways and exits changing their names and numbers.
The state’s main interstate highway, running from Kittery through Westbrook, Lewiston and Augusta to Houlton, will be known as Interstate 95. The toll portion of this highway, called the Maine Turnpike, will end in Augusta as it does now. There will no longer be a road called Interstate 495.
A secondary highway, starting in Scarborough and running through South Portland, along the coast to Brunswick and meeting up with I-95 in Gardiner, will be known as Interstate 295 along its whole length. At present, the southern end of this road is called I-295, but changes its name to I-95 between Falmouth and Freeport.
All of those signs will be changed over as of Jan. 10, at which point a project will begin to renumber all of the exits on both highways.
The new exit numbers will correspond to the nearest mile marker. At present, exit numbers increase by 1 each successive exit, leading to complications when adding new exits (as with Exit 7B in Westbrook, between Exits 7A and 8).
It can be confusing to realize that in the six miles between mile marker 42 and 48 on I-95 are six exits (numbered 6, 6A, 7, 7A, 7B and 8), but the next exit, number 9, is four miles away, at mile marker 52. Now those exits will be numbered 42, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48 and 52.
The new numbers “will give travelers a better sense of where they are and how far they need to travel,” according to a Maine Department of Transportation brochure detailing the renumbering.
The exit renumbering will be complete by May 15, and the total project is expected to cost the state between $260,000 and $280,000.
Signs showing the former exit numbers will be displayed at the bottom of at least two advance signs at each interchange; these signs will have black text on a yellow background. The “formerly” signs will remain in place until after Labor Day 2004.
Get set to revamp the directions you give to friends from out of town.
Starting this week and finishing in the middle of May, the state’s interstate highway system will be renumbered, with highways and exits changing their names and numbers.
The state’s main interstate highway, running from Kittery through Westbrook, Lewiston and Augusta to Houlton, will be known as Interstate 95. The toll portion of this highway, called the Maine Turnpike, will end in Augusta as it does now. There will no longer be a road called Interstate 495.
A secondary highway, starting in Scarborough and running through South Portland, along the coast to Brunswick and meeting up with I-95 in Gardiner, will be known as Interstate 295 along its whole length. At present, the southern end of this road is called I-295, but changes its name to I-95 between Falmouth and Freeport.
All of those signs will be changed over as of Jan. 10, at which point a project will begin to renumber all of the exits on both highways.
The new exit numbers will correspond to the nearest mile marker. At present, exit numbers increase by 1 each successive exit, leading to complications when adding new exits (as with Exit 7B in Westbrook, between Exits 7A and 8).
It can be confusing to realize that in the six miles between mile marker 42 and 48 on I-95 are six exits (numbered 6, 6A, 7, 7A, 7B and 8), but the next exit, number 9, is four miles away, at mile marker 52. Now those exits will be numbered 42, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48 and 52.
The new numbers “will give travelers a better sense of where they are and how far they need to travel,” according to a Maine Department of Transportation brochure detailing the renumbering.
The exit renumbering will be complete by May 15, and the total project is expected to cost the state between $260,000 and $280,000.
Signs showing the former exit numbers will be displayed at the bottom of at least two advance signs at each interchange; these signs will have black text on a yellow background. The “formerly” signs will remain in place until after Labor Day 2004.
Downs asks Augusta for help
Published in the American Journal
Scarborough Downs, following referendum defeats in Saco and Westbrook Dec. 30, will now ask the Legislature to remove the time limit to find a community that will accept a racino and for permission to look up to 75 miles away from the track’s existing site.
The Downs will also ask lawmakersto require slot income from the Bangor racino be shared with them, to increase purses at the track, even if they can’t find a home that will allow slots.
Downs owner Sharon Terry said she will hold members of the harness racing industry – including Bangor Historic Track owner Shawn Scott – to a pre-Nov. 4 agreement to seek and support the changes.
In addition to expanding the five-mile radius to 75, which is the closest state law says racetracks can be to one another, Terry will ask for an extension and “possibly a deletion” of the time limit imposed by the Nov. 4 statewide referendum.
“We’re asking for an expansion of our business,” she said.
The track needs to “take our time and make sure that we educate” people about racinos. “They might be able to see the benefits that go along with it,” she said. “It takes a period of time to be able to talk about it
logically” and get past negative advertising like what appeared before the Dec. 30 local elections in Westbrook and Saco.
“I still have confidence that we will be able to find” a new home for the track, Terry said. She said she has heard support from legislators, but does not have a new town in mind. “We’re going to have to take a look at an extension” before looking at specific towns.
Terry supports Gov. John Baldacci’s proposed changes to the racino law, including a gambling oversight commission and increased state police control over slot machines and the money that passes through them.
She said harness racing will die if slots are not allowed to expand in Maine. “If we can’t find a city, then we can’t find a city,” she said.
Citing Scott’s authorship and strong backing of the original racino referendum, Terry objected to following “a law put in there by someone who wants a monopoly.”
Local versus ‘from away’
Her complaint strikes a chord with Sen. Karl Turner, R-Windham and Raymond. He doesn’t like seeing a Maine-based business run down by someone “from away.”
“I’m not interested in seeing the expansion of racinos on the one hand. On the other hand,” the racino referendum was written by Shawn Scott and designed to hurt the Downs, he said.
“Scarborough (Downs) should be given some additional opportunity” to make up for it. At the same time, he does not believe towns would welcome a racino. “My guess is you’d be hard-pressed to find a community that would want to take on the problems associated with a racino.”
As a result, he is prepared to support a portion of the Downs’ request: that some revenue from Bangor’s slot machines be sent to the Downs, as well as to the agricultural fairs. Currently racetrack revenue supports Maine’s fairs.
“That makes it less important that we have a second one,” Turner said.
Rep. Harold Clough, R-Scarborough, Gorham, opposes the Downs’ requests, saying the money is the real issue and objecting to sending Mainers’ money to an out-of-state corporation. The slots at Scarborough Downs would be operated by Pennsylvania-based Penn National, which owns racinos and casinos across the country.
Though Mainers favored racinos at the statewide referendum, they know more now, he said. “People have finally learned what this is all about,” he said. And with that information, Scarborough, Westbrook and Saco have all said no.
Clough believes other towns will vote similarly.
“I just don’t see any reason to keep beating a dead horse, so to speak,” he said.
Deal-making
Politically speaking, making laws in the January session of the Legislature is harder than in the fall. Because the session is technically an “emergency” session, two-thirds of the members of each
house must vote in favor of a proposal for it to take effect.
Some legislators wondered whether the Downs’ requests might be linked to Baldacci’s, as proponents try to gather enough support to win a vote.
Clough stands firm, saying he would not change the governor’s proposals for regulations to allow the Downs more leeway.
Rep. Chris Barstow, D-Gorham, is also “against any amendments to the proposed law,” except those requested by the governor. He would oppose any bill in which the governor’s changes were linked to the Downs’ requests.
Rep. Gary Moore, R-Standish, will be among the first to handle the requests from both the Downs and Baldacci. He is the ranking minority member of the Legislature’s Legal and Veterans Affairs Committee, which oversees gambling.
“I’m very much opposed to tinkering with legislation that the citizens have passed,” he said. “In a sense you’re saying people didn’t know what they were doing.”
Still, he admits he would have to be “stupid not to want a strongly regulated” gambling environment in Maine. (He does question whether all of Baldacci’s proposals are necessary.)
And he believes that if the Downs doesn’t get slots, it will fail and harness racing will “perish.”
A longtime harness racing industry member – his family owned horses “for generations” but does no longer because the industry is not a money-maker anymore – he doesn’t want to see that happen.
“I’m inclined to view (the Downs’) suggestions favorably,” Moore said.
Counting votes
Rep. Ron Usher, D-Westbrook, and Rep. Joseph Bruno, R-Raymond and Windham, were leaning toward letting the Downs have their way, though both wondered if any town would welcome a racino.
Sen. Carolyn Gilman, R-Westbrook, Gorham and Standish, opposes the racino and is working “to get slots out of Maine entirely.”
Janet McLaughlin, D-Cape Elizabeth, opposes the Downs’ requests, saying they have “had their chance” with the statewide referendum and should have voiced any objections then.
If the Downs gets its way, Terry is not saying where she’ll look.
Moore, the Standish Republican, said, “I think that there is a town” that would accept a racino. “I don’t know which one.”
Pointing to Gorham’s tradition of harness racing, he wondered if it might go for the redevelopment of the track on Route 202.
Barstow of Gorham disputed that. “I don’t think Gorham would be a feasible option,” he said. “I think Westbrook and Saco are a good reflection as to how these communities in Southern Maine view this entity."
Scarborough Downs, following referendum defeats in Saco and Westbrook Dec. 30, will now ask the Legislature to remove the time limit to find a community that will accept a racino and for permission to look up to 75 miles away from the track’s existing site.
The Downs will also ask lawmakersto require slot income from the Bangor racino be shared with them, to increase purses at the track, even if they can’t find a home that will allow slots.
Downs owner Sharon Terry said she will hold members of the harness racing industry – including Bangor Historic Track owner Shawn Scott – to a pre-Nov. 4 agreement to seek and support the changes.
In addition to expanding the five-mile radius to 75, which is the closest state law says racetracks can be to one another, Terry will ask for an extension and “possibly a deletion” of the time limit imposed by the Nov. 4 statewide referendum.
“We’re asking for an expansion of our business,” she said.
The track needs to “take our time and make sure that we educate” people about racinos. “They might be able to see the benefits that go along with it,” she said. “It takes a period of time to be able to talk about it
logically” and get past negative advertising like what appeared before the Dec. 30 local elections in Westbrook and Saco.
“I still have confidence that we will be able to find” a new home for the track, Terry said. She said she has heard support from legislators, but does not have a new town in mind. “We’re going to have to take a look at an extension” before looking at specific towns.
Terry supports Gov. John Baldacci’s proposed changes to the racino law, including a gambling oversight commission and increased state police control over slot machines and the money that passes through them.
She said harness racing will die if slots are not allowed to expand in Maine. “If we can’t find a city, then we can’t find a city,” she said.
Citing Scott’s authorship and strong backing of the original racino referendum, Terry objected to following “a law put in there by someone who wants a monopoly.”
Local versus ‘from away’
Her complaint strikes a chord with Sen. Karl Turner, R-Windham and Raymond. He doesn’t like seeing a Maine-based business run down by someone “from away.”
“I’m not interested in seeing the expansion of racinos on the one hand. On the other hand,” the racino referendum was written by Shawn Scott and designed to hurt the Downs, he said.
“Scarborough (Downs) should be given some additional opportunity” to make up for it. At the same time, he does not believe towns would welcome a racino. “My guess is you’d be hard-pressed to find a community that would want to take on the problems associated with a racino.”
As a result, he is prepared to support a portion of the Downs’ request: that some revenue from Bangor’s slot machines be sent to the Downs, as well as to the agricultural fairs. Currently racetrack revenue supports Maine’s fairs.
“That makes it less important that we have a second one,” Turner said.
Rep. Harold Clough, R-Scarborough, Gorham, opposes the Downs’ requests, saying the money is the real issue and objecting to sending Mainers’ money to an out-of-state corporation. The slots at Scarborough Downs would be operated by Pennsylvania-based Penn National, which owns racinos and casinos across the country.
Though Mainers favored racinos at the statewide referendum, they know more now, he said. “People have finally learned what this is all about,” he said. And with that information, Scarborough, Westbrook and Saco have all said no.
Clough believes other towns will vote similarly.
“I just don’t see any reason to keep beating a dead horse, so to speak,” he said.
Deal-making
Politically speaking, making laws in the January session of the Legislature is harder than in the fall. Because the session is technically an “emergency” session, two-thirds of the members of each
house must vote in favor of a proposal for it to take effect.
Some legislators wondered whether the Downs’ requests might be linked to Baldacci’s, as proponents try to gather enough support to win a vote.
Clough stands firm, saying he would not change the governor’s proposals for regulations to allow the Downs more leeway.
Rep. Chris Barstow, D-Gorham, is also “against any amendments to the proposed law,” except those requested by the governor. He would oppose any bill in which the governor’s changes were linked to the Downs’ requests.
Rep. Gary Moore, R-Standish, will be among the first to handle the requests from both the Downs and Baldacci. He is the ranking minority member of the Legislature’s Legal and Veterans Affairs Committee, which oversees gambling.
“I’m very much opposed to tinkering with legislation that the citizens have passed,” he said. “In a sense you’re saying people didn’t know what they were doing.”
Still, he admits he would have to be “stupid not to want a strongly regulated” gambling environment in Maine. (He does question whether all of Baldacci’s proposals are necessary.)
And he believes that if the Downs doesn’t get slots, it will fail and harness racing will “perish.”
A longtime harness racing industry member – his family owned horses “for generations” but does no longer because the industry is not a money-maker anymore – he doesn’t want to see that happen.
“I’m inclined to view (the Downs’) suggestions favorably,” Moore said.
Counting votes
Rep. Ron Usher, D-Westbrook, and Rep. Joseph Bruno, R-Raymond and Windham, were leaning toward letting the Downs have their way, though both wondered if any town would welcome a racino.
Sen. Carolyn Gilman, R-Westbrook, Gorham and Standish, opposes the racino and is working “to get slots out of Maine entirely.”
Janet McLaughlin, D-Cape Elizabeth, opposes the Downs’ requests, saying they have “had their chance” with the statewide referendum and should have voiced any objections then.
If the Downs gets its way, Terry is not saying where she’ll look.
Moore, the Standish Republican, said, “I think that there is a town” that would accept a racino. “I don’t know which one.”
Pointing to Gorham’s tradition of harness racing, he wondered if it might go for the redevelopment of the track on Route 202.
Barstow of Gorham disputed that. “I don’t think Gorham would be a feasible option,” he said. “I think Westbrook and Saco are a good reflection as to how these communities in Southern Maine view this entity."
Enjoying wildlife in a winter wonderland
Published in the Current, the American Journal, and the Lakes Region Suburban Weekly
There’s plenty to do outdoors during the winter, even if you’re not a downhill skier or a snowmobiler. Taking it slow – walking, snowshoeing or cross-country skiing – can be a great way to explore Maine’s winter and learn more about the wildlife all around us.
If you’re into birding, “the Scarborough Marsh is a good place to go,” said Phil Bozenhard, a wildlife biologist for the state Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife.
There are plenty of birds to be seen, including waterfowl. “Occasionally you’ll see a hawk or an owl flying around,” Bozenhard said.
Naturalist Margi Huber at Maine Audubon notes that Casco Bay is also a wonderful place to see all kinds of birds. “I think we forget what a jewel we have out there.” You can take walks along Portland’s East End Beach, which has a flat walking path, often packed down for skiing or plowed. “You’ll see a lot of birds in half an hour,” Huber said.
If you’re lucky, you may spot a peregrine falcon that roosts on the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Portland and is often spotted near the B&M Baked Beans plant.
Another great place is Two Lights State Park in Cape Elizabeth, where “sometimes you can see owls and hawks” in the back area of the park or watch seabirds from the cliffs, which are kept clear of snow by the wind.
At Pine Point Beach, you can see eiders and even loons in winter plumage. “The loons winter on the coast of Maine,” Huber said.
On the Westbrook-Portland line is the Fore River Sanctuary, along Outer Congress Street, which includes trails for snowshoeing and skiing and plenty of trees and water for spotting all kinds of bird life.
Up in the Lakes Region are some other excellent spots for checking out freshwater birds. Behind the fire station on Route 202 in South Windham, “there’s an opening in the Presumpscot River” where a hooded merganser often hangs out. “What you want to look for is open water,” Huber said.
Near the Gambo Dam, also on the Presumpscot, an eagle has been wintering there for a few seasons. You may see other birdwatchers while you’re out on these trips, so feel free to ask them about other good spots. If you’re looking for a particular bird, check out Maine Audubon’s Web site at www.maineaudubon.org. It has a “bird alert” list that’s regularly updated with bird sightings throughout Maine.
Mammals
Birds may be easier to spot in the sky and because trees have lost their foliage, but some mammals are also very active in winter. Many of them can be found along the sides of rivers and lakes throughout Southern Maine, as well as in wooded areas.
While the animals themselves may be elusive, winter is great for checking out tracks.
“A day or two after a new snow is probably the best time,” Bozenhard said. If the snow is too powdery, though, “they all look the same,” because loose snow fills the small parts that allow the tracks to be differentiated.
“It’s more interesting when you’re out there and you can identify the tracks,” he said. “It gives you a little bit of satisfaction in knowing what you’re looking at.”
Animals you may see tracks from include big ones like moose and deer, through coyote, fox, fisher and mink to small animals like squirrels, rabbits and snowshoe hares.
Some good spots to follow tracks include the Steep Falls Wildlife Management Area in Standish and Morgan Meadow Wildlife Management Area in Raymond, Bozenhard said. They have hundreds of acres to explore, including snow-covered roads and trails.
Guided adventures
If you’re looking for an expert to help you navigate and understand the winter wildlands, Maine Audubon is running several programs that may interest you. All require advance reservations, so call 781-2330 ext. 215 for times and fees.
On Saturday, Jan. 10, a family nature walk called “Surviving Winter” will teach adults and kids about how animals make it through the cold season.
On the same day, you can take a guided ferry cruise on Casco Bay to look at water birds, including possibly a glimpse of a bald eagle.
The following Saturday, Jan. 17, Maine Audubon is holding a workshop for outdoor artists, teaching not only basic landscape drawing techniques, but also how to adapt outdoor artwork to winter’s cold.
On Saturday, Jan. 24, a tracking program will teach everyone in the family how to identify tracks and other signs left behind by animals. Children
can make a plaster-of-paris mold of a track as part of the workshop. It also includes an outdoor nature walk to practice identifying tracks.
Also that day, a birding expedition will visit local “hot spots,” including Back Cove, Willard Beach, Portland Head Light, Two Lights State Park and Kettle Cove, to look for a wide range of water birds.
On Saturday, Jan. 31, you can take a nature walk around Maine Audubon’s Gilsland Farm sanctuary in Falmouth to look at how plants handle the winter, and how to identify them in their winter disguises.
There’s plenty to do outdoors during the winter, even if you’re not a downhill skier or a snowmobiler. Taking it slow – walking, snowshoeing or cross-country skiing – can be a great way to explore Maine’s winter and learn more about the wildlife all around us.
If you’re into birding, “the Scarborough Marsh is a good place to go,” said Phil Bozenhard, a wildlife biologist for the state Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife.
There are plenty of birds to be seen, including waterfowl. “Occasionally you’ll see a hawk or an owl flying around,” Bozenhard said.
Naturalist Margi Huber at Maine Audubon notes that Casco Bay is also a wonderful place to see all kinds of birds. “I think we forget what a jewel we have out there.” You can take walks along Portland’s East End Beach, which has a flat walking path, often packed down for skiing or plowed. “You’ll see a lot of birds in half an hour,” Huber said.
If you’re lucky, you may spot a peregrine falcon that roosts on the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Portland and is often spotted near the B&M Baked Beans plant.
Another great place is Two Lights State Park in Cape Elizabeth, where “sometimes you can see owls and hawks” in the back area of the park or watch seabirds from the cliffs, which are kept clear of snow by the wind.
At Pine Point Beach, you can see eiders and even loons in winter plumage. “The loons winter on the coast of Maine,” Huber said.
On the Westbrook-Portland line is the Fore River Sanctuary, along Outer Congress Street, which includes trails for snowshoeing and skiing and plenty of trees and water for spotting all kinds of bird life.
Up in the Lakes Region are some other excellent spots for checking out freshwater birds. Behind the fire station on Route 202 in South Windham, “there’s an opening in the Presumpscot River” where a hooded merganser often hangs out. “What you want to look for is open water,” Huber said.
Near the Gambo Dam, also on the Presumpscot, an eagle has been wintering there for a few seasons. You may see other birdwatchers while you’re out on these trips, so feel free to ask them about other good spots. If you’re looking for a particular bird, check out Maine Audubon’s Web site at www.maineaudubon.org. It has a “bird alert” list that’s regularly updated with bird sightings throughout Maine.
Mammals
Birds may be easier to spot in the sky and because trees have lost their foliage, but some mammals are also very active in winter. Many of them can be found along the sides of rivers and lakes throughout Southern Maine, as well as in wooded areas.
While the animals themselves may be elusive, winter is great for checking out tracks.
“A day or two after a new snow is probably the best time,” Bozenhard said. If the snow is too powdery, though, “they all look the same,” because loose snow fills the small parts that allow the tracks to be differentiated.
“It’s more interesting when you’re out there and you can identify the tracks,” he said. “It gives you a little bit of satisfaction in knowing what you’re looking at.”
Animals you may see tracks from include big ones like moose and deer, through coyote, fox, fisher and mink to small animals like squirrels, rabbits and snowshoe hares.
Some good spots to follow tracks include the Steep Falls Wildlife Management Area in Standish and Morgan Meadow Wildlife Management Area in Raymond, Bozenhard said. They have hundreds of acres to explore, including snow-covered roads and trails.
Guided adventures
If you’re looking for an expert to help you navigate and understand the winter wildlands, Maine Audubon is running several programs that may interest you. All require advance reservations, so call 781-2330 ext. 215 for times and fees.
On Saturday, Jan. 10, a family nature walk called “Surviving Winter” will teach adults and kids about how animals make it through the cold season.
On the same day, you can take a guided ferry cruise on Casco Bay to look at water birds, including possibly a glimpse of a bald eagle.
The following Saturday, Jan. 17, Maine Audubon is holding a workshop for outdoor artists, teaching not only basic landscape drawing techniques, but also how to adapt outdoor artwork to winter’s cold.
On Saturday, Jan. 24, a tracking program will teach everyone in the family how to identify tracks and other signs left behind by animals. Children
can make a plaster-of-paris mold of a track as part of the workshop. It also includes an outdoor nature walk to practice identifying tracks.
Also that day, a birding expedition will visit local “hot spots,” including Back Cove, Willard Beach, Portland Head Light, Two Lights State Park and Kettle Cove, to look for a wide range of water birds.
On Saturday, Jan. 31, you can take a nature walk around Maine Audubon’s Gilsland Farm sanctuary in Falmouth to look at how plants handle the winter, and how to identify them in their winter disguises.
Highways to be renumbered
Published in the Current, the American Journal, and the Lakes Region Suburban Weekly
Get set to revamp the directions you give to friends from out of town. Starting this week and finishing in the middle of May, the state’s interstate highway system will be renumbered, with highways and exits changing their names and numbers.
The state’s main interstate highway, running from Kittery through Westbrook, Lewiston and Augusta to Houlton, will be known as Interstate 95. The toll portion of this highway, called the Maine Turnpike, will end in Augusta as it does now. There will no longer be a road called Interstate 495.
A secondary highway, starting in Scarborough and running through South Portland, along the coast to Brunswick and meeting up with I-95 in Gardiner, will be known as Interstate 295 along its whole length. At present, the southern end of this road is called I-295, but changes its name to I-95 between Falmouth and Freeport.
All of those signs will be changed over as of Jan. 10, at which point a project will begin to renumber all of the exits on both highways. The new exit numbers will correspond to the nearest mile marker. At present, exit numbers increase by 1 each successive exit, leading to complications when adding new exits (as with Exit 7B in Westbrook, between Exits 7A and 8).
It can be confusing to realize that in the six miles between mile marker 42 and 48 on I-95 are six exits (numbered 6, 6A, 7, 7A, 7B and 8), but the next exit, number 9, is four miles away, at mile marker 52. Now those exits will be numbered 42, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48 and 52.
The new numbers “will give travelers a better sense of where they are and how far they need to travel,” according to a Maine Department of Transportation brochure detailing the renumbering.
The exit renumbering will be complete by May 15, and the total project is expected to cost the state between $260,000 and $280,000.
Signs showing the former exit numbers will be displayed at the bottom of at least two advance signs at each interchange; these signs will have black text on a yellow background. The “formerly” signs will remain in place until after Labor Day 2004.
Get set to revamp the directions you give to friends from out of town. Starting this week and finishing in the middle of May, the state’s interstate highway system will be renumbered, with highways and exits changing their names and numbers.
The state’s main interstate highway, running from Kittery through Westbrook, Lewiston and Augusta to Houlton, will be known as Interstate 95. The toll portion of this highway, called the Maine Turnpike, will end in Augusta as it does now. There will no longer be a road called Interstate 495.
A secondary highway, starting in Scarborough and running through South Portland, along the coast to Brunswick and meeting up with I-95 in Gardiner, will be known as Interstate 295 along its whole length. At present, the southern end of this road is called I-295, but changes its name to I-95 between Falmouth and Freeport.
All of those signs will be changed over as of Jan. 10, at which point a project will begin to renumber all of the exits on both highways. The new exit numbers will correspond to the nearest mile marker. At present, exit numbers increase by 1 each successive exit, leading to complications when adding new exits (as with Exit 7B in Westbrook, between Exits 7A and 8).
It can be confusing to realize that in the six miles between mile marker 42 and 48 on I-95 are six exits (numbered 6, 6A, 7, 7A, 7B and 8), but the next exit, number 9, is four miles away, at mile marker 52. Now those exits will be numbered 42, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48 and 52.
The new numbers “will give travelers a better sense of where they are and how far they need to travel,” according to a Maine Department of Transportation brochure detailing the renumbering.
The exit renumbering will be complete by May 15, and the total project is expected to cost the state between $260,000 and $280,000.
Signs showing the former exit numbers will be displayed at the bottom of at least two advance signs at each interchange; these signs will have black text on a yellow background. The “formerly” signs will remain in place until after Labor Day 2004.
Downs asks Augusta for help
Published in the Current and the American Journal
Scarborough Downs, following referendum defeats in Saco and Westbrook Dec. 30, will now ask the Legislature to remove the time limit to find a community that will accept a racino and for permission to look up to 75 miles away from the track’s existing site.
The Downs will also ask lawmakers to require slot income from the Bangor racino be shared with them, to increase purses at the track, even if they can’t find a home that will allow slots.
Downs owner Sharon Terry said she will hold members of the harness racing industry – including Bangor Historic Track owner Shawn Scott – to a pre-Nov. 4 agreement to seek and support the changes.
In addition to expanding the five-mile radius to 75, which is the closest state law says racetracks can be to one another, Terry will ask for an extension and “possibly a deletion” of the time limit imposed by the Nov. 4 statewide referendum.
“We’re asking for an expansion of our business,” she said. The track needs to “take our time and make sure that we educate” people about racinos.
“They might be able to see the benefits that go along with it,” she said. “It takes a period of time to be able to talk about it logically” and get past negative advertising like what appeared before the Dec. 30 local elections in Westbrook and Saco.
“I still have confidence that we will be able to find” a new home for the track, Terry said. She said she has heard support from legislators, but does not have a new town in mind. “We’re going to have to take a look at an extension” before looking at specific towns.
Terry supports Gov. John Baldacci’s proposed changes to the racino law, including a gambling oversight commission and increased state police control over slot machines and the money that passes through them.
She said harness racing will die if slots are not allowed to expand in Maine. “If we can’t find a city, then we can’t find a city,” she said.
Citing Scott’s authorship and strong backing of the original racino referendum, Terry objected to following “a law put in there by someone who wants a monopoly.”
Local versus ‘from away’
Her complaint strikes a chord with Sen. Karl Turner, R-Windham and Raymond. He doesn’t like seeing a Maine-based business run down by someone “from away.”
“I’m not interested in seeing the expansion of racinos on the one hand. On the other hand,” the racino referendum was written by Shawn Scott and designed to hurt the Downs, he said.
“Scarborough (Downs) should be given some additional opportunity” to make up for it. At the same time, he does not believe towns would welcome a racino. “My guess is you’d be hard-pressed to find a community that would want to take on the problems associated with a racino.”
As a result, he is prepared to support a portion of the Downs’ request: that some revenue from Bangor’s slot machines be sent to the Downs, as well as to the agricultural fairs. Currently racetrack revenue supports Maine’s fairs.
“That makes it less important that we have a second one,” Turner said.
Rep. Harold Clough, R-Scarborough, Gorham, opposes the Downs’ requests, saying the money is the real issue and objecting to sending Mainers’ money to an out-of-state corporation. The slots at Scarborough Downs would be operated by Pennsylvania-based Penn National, which owns racinos and casinos across the country.
Though Mainers favored racinos at the statewide referendum, they know more now, he said. “People have finally learned what this is all about,” he said. And with that information, Scarborough, Westbrook and Saco have all said no.
Clough believes other towns will vote similarly.
“I just don’t see any reason to keep beating a dead horse, so to speak,” he said.
Deal-making
Politically speaking, making laws in the January session of the Legislature is harder than in the fall. Because the session is technically an “emergency” session, two-thirds of the members of each house must vote in favor of a proposal for it to take effect.
Some legislators wondered whether the Downs’ requests might be linked to Baldacci’s, as proponents try to gather enough support to win a vote.
Clough stands firm, saying he would not change the governor’s proposals for regulations to allow the Downs more leeway.
Rep. Chris Barstow, D-Gorham, is also “against any amendments to the proposed law,” except those requested by the governor. He would oppose any bill in which the governor’s changes were linked to the Downs’ requests.
Rep. Gary Moore, R-Standish, will be among the first to handle the requests from both the Downs and Baldacci. He is the ranking minority member of the Legislature’s Legal and Veterans Affairs Committee, which oversees gambling.
“I’m very much opposed to tinkering with legislation that the citizens have passed,” he said. “In a sense you’re saying people didn’t know what they were doing.”
Still, he admits he would have to be “stupid not to want a strongly regulated” gambling environment in Maine. (He does question whether all of Baldacci’s proposals are necessary.)
And he believes that if the Downs doesn’t get slots, it will fail and harness racing will “perish.”
A longtime harness racing industry member – his family owned horses “for generations” but does no longer because the industry is not a money-maker anymore – he doesn’t want to see that happen.
“I’m inclined to view (the Downs’) suggestions favorably,” Moore said.
Counting votes
Rep. Ron Usher, D-Westbrook, and Rep. Joseph Bruno, R-Raymond and Windham, were leaning toward letting the Downs have their way, though both wondered if any town would welcome a racino.
Sen. Carolyn Gilman, R-Westbrook, Gorham and Standish, opposes the racino and is working “to get slots out of Maine entirely.”
Janet McLaughlin, D-Cape Elizabeth, opposes the Downs’ requests, saying they have “had their chance” with the statewide referendum and should have
voiced any objections then. If the Downs gets its way, Terry is not saying where she’ll look.
Moore, the Standish Republican, said, “I think that there is a town” that would accept a racino. “I don’t know which one.”
Pointing to Gorham’s tradition of harness racing, he wondered if it might go for the redevelopment of the track on Route 202.
Barstow of Gorham disputed that. “I don’t think Gorham would be a feasible option,” he said. “I think Westbrook and Saco are a good reflection as to how these communities in Southern Maine view this entity."
Scarborough Downs, following referendum defeats in Saco and Westbrook Dec. 30, will now ask the Legislature to remove the time limit to find a community that will accept a racino and for permission to look up to 75 miles away from the track’s existing site.
The Downs will also ask lawmakers to require slot income from the Bangor racino be shared with them, to increase purses at the track, even if they can’t find a home that will allow slots.
Downs owner Sharon Terry said she will hold members of the harness racing industry – including Bangor Historic Track owner Shawn Scott – to a pre-Nov. 4 agreement to seek and support the changes.
In addition to expanding the five-mile radius to 75, which is the closest state law says racetracks can be to one another, Terry will ask for an extension and “possibly a deletion” of the time limit imposed by the Nov. 4 statewide referendum.
“We’re asking for an expansion of our business,” she said. The track needs to “take our time and make sure that we educate” people about racinos.
“They might be able to see the benefits that go along with it,” she said. “It takes a period of time to be able to talk about it logically” and get past negative advertising like what appeared before the Dec. 30 local elections in Westbrook and Saco.
“I still have confidence that we will be able to find” a new home for the track, Terry said. She said she has heard support from legislators, but does not have a new town in mind. “We’re going to have to take a look at an extension” before looking at specific towns.
Terry supports Gov. John Baldacci’s proposed changes to the racino law, including a gambling oversight commission and increased state police control over slot machines and the money that passes through them.
She said harness racing will die if slots are not allowed to expand in Maine. “If we can’t find a city, then we can’t find a city,” she said.
Citing Scott’s authorship and strong backing of the original racino referendum, Terry objected to following “a law put in there by someone who wants a monopoly.”
Local versus ‘from away’
Her complaint strikes a chord with Sen. Karl Turner, R-Windham and Raymond. He doesn’t like seeing a Maine-based business run down by someone “from away.”
“I’m not interested in seeing the expansion of racinos on the one hand. On the other hand,” the racino referendum was written by Shawn Scott and designed to hurt the Downs, he said.
“Scarborough (Downs) should be given some additional opportunity” to make up for it. At the same time, he does not believe towns would welcome a racino. “My guess is you’d be hard-pressed to find a community that would want to take on the problems associated with a racino.”
As a result, he is prepared to support a portion of the Downs’ request: that some revenue from Bangor’s slot machines be sent to the Downs, as well as to the agricultural fairs. Currently racetrack revenue supports Maine’s fairs.
“That makes it less important that we have a second one,” Turner said.
Rep. Harold Clough, R-Scarborough, Gorham, opposes the Downs’ requests, saying the money is the real issue and objecting to sending Mainers’ money to an out-of-state corporation. The slots at Scarborough Downs would be operated by Pennsylvania-based Penn National, which owns racinos and casinos across the country.
Though Mainers favored racinos at the statewide referendum, they know more now, he said. “People have finally learned what this is all about,” he said. And with that information, Scarborough, Westbrook and Saco have all said no.
Clough believes other towns will vote similarly.
“I just don’t see any reason to keep beating a dead horse, so to speak,” he said.
Deal-making
Politically speaking, making laws in the January session of the Legislature is harder than in the fall. Because the session is technically an “emergency” session, two-thirds of the members of each house must vote in favor of a proposal for it to take effect.
Some legislators wondered whether the Downs’ requests might be linked to Baldacci’s, as proponents try to gather enough support to win a vote.
Clough stands firm, saying he would not change the governor’s proposals for regulations to allow the Downs more leeway.
Rep. Chris Barstow, D-Gorham, is also “against any amendments to the proposed law,” except those requested by the governor. He would oppose any bill in which the governor’s changes were linked to the Downs’ requests.
Rep. Gary Moore, R-Standish, will be among the first to handle the requests from both the Downs and Baldacci. He is the ranking minority member of the Legislature’s Legal and Veterans Affairs Committee, which oversees gambling.
“I’m very much opposed to tinkering with legislation that the citizens have passed,” he said. “In a sense you’re saying people didn’t know what they were doing.”
Still, he admits he would have to be “stupid not to want a strongly regulated” gambling environment in Maine. (He does question whether all of Baldacci’s proposals are necessary.)
And he believes that if the Downs doesn’t get slots, it will fail and harness racing will “perish.”
A longtime harness racing industry member – his family owned horses “for generations” but does no longer because the industry is not a money-maker anymore – he doesn’t want to see that happen.
“I’m inclined to view (the Downs’) suggestions favorably,” Moore said.
Counting votes
Rep. Ron Usher, D-Westbrook, and Rep. Joseph Bruno, R-Raymond and Windham, were leaning toward letting the Downs have their way, though both wondered if any town would welcome a racino.
Sen. Carolyn Gilman, R-Westbrook, Gorham and Standish, opposes the racino and is working “to get slots out of Maine entirely.”
Janet McLaughlin, D-Cape Elizabeth, opposes the Downs’ requests, saying they have “had their chance” with the statewide referendum and should have
voiced any objections then. If the Downs gets its way, Terry is not saying where she’ll look.
Moore, the Standish Republican, said, “I think that there is a town” that would accept a racino. “I don’t know which one.”
Pointing to Gorham’s tradition of harness racing, he wondered if it might go for the redevelopment of the track on Route 202.
Barstow of Gorham disputed that. “I don’t think Gorham would be a feasible option,” he said. “I think Westbrook and Saco are a good reflection as to how these communities in Southern Maine view this entity."
Friday, January 2, 2004
Wishing well: Runs wet and dry
Published in the Portland Phoenix
When making New Year’s wishes, it’s important to keep a sense of perspective. Wishes, after all, don’t always come true. So if I did wish something, but the Great Wish-Granter in the Sky didn’t quite get to do the whole thing, would a small gesture at least be a push in the right direction?
It is in that spirit that I offer these wishes, requests to the Theater Deities in hopes that someone will take them up and make some progress, if not go all the way.
First off, I wish that more Mainers took the time to see the theater that surrounds them. Some of it is pure entertainment, and those theaters that focus on fun pack houses all the time.
But Mainers are a political bunch — at least if you believe the banter around diner counters and coffee-shop tables — and we could stand to have some of our ideas both illuminated and challenged. So if you’ve read this far, take $20 out of your next paycheck and go see a play. Not a musical — though they are fun! — but a spoken-word and physical-movement story performed live in front of your very eyes.
Not only will you enlighten yourself, but you’ll also help struggling "serious" theater companies around the state.
As a move toward further helping them, I wish for a greater spirit of collaboration between Maine’s theater companies, including not only administrators but directors and actors, too. There’s quite a bit of this already, and I have been watching with glee the recent discussions on a Maine theater email list about finding a space to store sets, props, and costumes, where anyone could come to borrow from what would effectively be a library of resources. It would prevent duplication of efforts, cut costs, and improve the quality of productions, as well as give everyone great ideas to build on.
I would also hope that theaters not just pick up the shows that were successful elsewhere in the area. I say to producers: If you want to bring a national show here, please do so. If you want to do it because it did so well up the road or down the coast, choose another, perhaps even a similar production. Help improve the diversity of theatrical offerings in Maine.
Aside from the obvious overabundance of A Christmas Carol performances, other shows seem to make the rounds of Maine playhouses. Everyone needs to make some money, but try doing it by being exciting and innovative, not by being copycats.
And now for some specific wishes:
• I wish for a full run of any play by Somali-born, Maine-dwelling playwright Omar Ahmed. It’s the next step, as Maine’s theater community explores issues its mainstream media won’t, including race, immigration, and discrimination.
• I wish for The Cast to begin to tell people when their shows are, in advance of opening night. They’re wonderful actors, and have wonderful lighting designers and stage managers as friends. They just need audiences to pay attention.
• I wish the Stage at Spring Point would put on a full run of an important show, and succeed at it. They figured out how to handle some of the bugs — quite literally — last summer. Let’s hope they continue to push their comfort zones and give a second effort to show their mettle. There’s potential there, which was misguided last time. Let it run free.
• I wish for Winter Harbor Theater Company to get its feet a bit more underneath them, and put on a full run of a play before the year is out. They cancelled one show, which had been scheduled for early in 2004, because they couldn’t get all the pieces together the way they wanted them. In keeping with the words of innovator Phil Daniels — "Reward excellent failures" — we applaud them for making a hard choice and not raising the curtain on something they thought wasn’t right. We hope they are able to get money, script, and actors together before the year is out, to continue their important, ground-breaking and status-quo-challenging work.
• I wish for the influences of theater centers from around the Northeast to bear fruit in Maine, as well as for Maine theaters to influence performance choices in other states. While there are too many wonderful New York theater companies to list (and some so small they must literally be stumbled upon in the streets), Long Wharf Theatre Company in New Haven, Connecticut, and the Vermont Theater Company in Dummerston, Vermont, both are in the midst of interesting seasons including wonderful shows Mainers would certainly enjoy. Among Long Wharf’s selection this season are The Syringa Tree (about black and white families handling the post-apartheid transition in South Africa), A New War (about news coverage of war), and The Story (about media coverage, privacy, and community life).
• Finally, I wish that I and all Maine theater-goers this year find our hearts aflutter, our bellies aching from laughs, our eyes wide, our fundamental beliefs in question, and our minds forced a bit more open, by performers on stages in or near our hometowns.
Friday, December 26, 2003
The ghost of theatrics past: The best of 2003 on local stages
Published in the Portland Phoenix
In this space at the very beginning of 2003, the Phoenix made several wishes and voiced those of others in the theater community.
The big challenge was to improve the diversity on Maine’s stages, and it was wonderful to see that happen this year, though I take no credit for the efforts of others.
The top prize goes to Portland playwright John Urquhart, who interviewed plenty of immigrants while putting together Lion Hunting on Munjoy Hill for the Children’s Theater of Maine. In two hours, it provided a thrilling look at the possibilities of diverse theater, a wonderful story and a strong warning about the plight of many refugees even after they reach the relative safety of Maine.
Just behind — and perhaps rightfully ahead of Urquhart — was the L/A Arts one-weekend production of Love in the Cactus Village, by Omar Ahmed, a Somali playwright living in the Twin Cities. I hope next time they get the word out beyond Androscoggin County.
I applaud these significant efforts to allow theater to play its true role, enlightenment during entertainment, and I look forward to more.
Also providing insight into other aspects of Maine’s diverse communities was Les Acadiens, again a Children’s Theater of Maine production, exploring the French-Canadian communities of Maine during the Second World War; and Thanatron, by perhaps Portland’s angriest playwright, Carolyn Gage, literally bashing men in the head with the empowered-lesbian brand of feminism.
Beautifully illustrating other cultures without relating them to Maine was USM’s magical production of Shakuntala and the Ring of Recognition, including puppets and traditional Indian music in the telling of an ancient Sanskrit legend; and Portland Stage’s production of Fences, setting an all-black cast on their stage in August Wilson’s story of a black man struggling with his identity before the civil rights movement.
This year also had a large helping of social and political commentary on stage. The most powerful was Winter Harbor Theater Company’s performances of Only We Who Guard the Mystery Shall Be Unhappy, by the politically outspoken American playwright Tony Kushner. Brilliantly performed, it carried a message so clear that it kept my wife and me up that night mourning children, the real casualties of American foreign policy. Those who didn’t see it missed a truly important experience.
Shakespeare’s timeless Julius Caesar at the Theater at Monmouth provided clues about how power is used and how people can reclaim it. The performances were stellar, and the environment — including cherubim watching from the ceiling — was stunning.
The intimate dialogical dances of the two characters in The Mercy Seat, put on by Mad Horse Theater Company, were beautiful and instructive about human nature, shedding light on post-9/11 life.
Also illuminating important issues was UltraLight, based on playwright Michael Gorman’s loss of his commercial-fisherman brother to heroin; and To Bear Witness at the Players’ Ring, focusing on the crucial developments of the teenage years, and the choice between struggle and survival, or surrender and suicide.
The work of Kittery playwright Evelyn Jones rounded out the year with reprise performances of her award-winning play Not On This Night, about a French farm girl defending Christmas from the inhumanity of war.
All of this is not to say that theater should not also entertain. Indeed, each of the above shows had strong acting and directing, with interesting scripts to expand the mind and heart beyond the everyday.
There was plenty of that from other quarters, too, this year. Among the best were the Public Theatre’s productions of Proof, a heartfelt drama with a light touch, and Red Herring, a film-noir piece with plenty of laughs.
At Maine State Music Theater there was Hans Christian Andersen, a reworked original with a fantasy feel and wonderful, wonderful singing.
And there was the side-splitting (and crotch-splitting) antics at Arundel Barn’s showing of Grease, including a very real moment when an actor’s acrobatics got the better of his costume and his castmates had to, well, cover for him.
For sheer acting quality and local hard work, the Cast — J.P. Guimont, David Currier and Craig Bowden — were a true highlight of the year in theater. Humble guys with a passion for finding good scripts and doing them simply and well, these are three we should hope to keep. (Guimont has threatened to escape to points west; anyone who loves Maine’s own theater should wish otherwise.) They don’t draw big audiences, but they should.
Their production of Pvt. Wars, looking at war and home from the perspective of combat-wounded soldiers, was a funny and heartening, yet deadly serious, portrayal of the effects of violence on humanity.
Their festival of one-act plays, Hey, We’re Acting Over Here, enlightened, amused and provoked thought, as these talented actors explored nuances and foibles rarely portrayed so well on stage anywhere.
Friday, December 19, 2003
Shaking the tree: Nutcracker Burlesque brings holiday cheer
Published in the Portland Phoenix
Adapted by Ellen Joyce, Brigitte Paulus, and Joe Paulus. At the Portland Stage Studio Theater, Dec. 18-21. Call (207) 773-1951.
Few production groups are brave enough to put their rehearsal schedules on the Internet. Fewer still go into brutally honest detail about what will be covered in each rehearsal. The Nutcracker Burlesque crew has done both, specifying scenes to be worked on for several weeks, and then, leading up to tech week, describing in a single word the events of each night’s practice: "panic."
There was, however, little actual panic at a recent practice session, in which dancers tried on their handmade costumes — these performers are also brilliant with needle and thread — and got their groove on for an adaptation of The Nutcracker unlike any other.
Ellen Joyce and Brigitte Paulus, friends since high school, grew up dancing in the annual traditional Nutcracker performance, like every other kid who took dance classes through the holiday season.
Over time, they came to wonder, "what else could we do with this show?" Joyce says. They had talked about a burlesque version, using the style that has become popular recently, reaching wide audiences with movies like Moulin Rouge and Chicago.
They had seen shows in New York, New Orleans, and Las Vegas, and thought it would be fun to put on a flashy, curvy show in Portland.
Last spring, when both were involved in Two Lights Theater Company’s dance performance Heroine’s Journey, they saw an independent production could be done and decided to go for it, adapting The Nutcracker into a show that would be "a nice entertaining break" from holiday stresses, and add something to the local holiday performance circuit.
"The Nutcracker really invites interpretation because of that second act that’s kind of like a variety show," Joyce says. And rather than use Tchaikovsky’s European-slanted compositions of various ethnic musical traditions, they thought, "wouldn’t it be fun to do a Nutcracker where the regional pieces are authentic?"
The original gave them a good jumping-off point for this production, which departs from the narrative story at the outset. Most notable is the lack of children on stage. It’s a burlesque, which includes comic skits, what some might call "ribald" dancing, and suggestive body language used in a comic way. They didn’t want kids involved, and don’t want kids in the audience, either.
Still, "it’s comic almost above everything else. It’s a little corny, even," Joyce says. The story starts with a grown-up Clara at an office holiday party. She begins a journey through a polyethnic urban winter wonderland of Spanish dancers, Arabian opium dens, and more.
"It’s, like, sexy and clean at the same time," Joyce says. "We don’t want someone who would normally be at Platinum Plus. You could find something racier on television at pretty much any time of day."
It is a visual symphony, though, of body parts flowing and undulating around the stage. For those sitting in the front row, there are some exciting glimpses if you know where to look. Don’t lean too far forward, though, because there are also some high kicks that might realign your nose.
The dancing itself — there is no dialogue — is excellent. Even in a rough rehearsal during the aforementioned "panic" phase, the group was working well together and molding the action to the stage and the mood.
At the auditions, "all these dancers came out of the woodwork," Joyce says. Many were longtime dancers, and others had some beginning dance experience and little beyond that. "It’s really exciting to work with people like this and see them learn," Joyce says.
Costumes are more seat-of-the-pants, especially for the office party scenes, in which dancers will supply their own clothes. For the fantasy wonderland scenes, the costumes are either handmade or adapted from store purchases. "We’re a little light on the ostrich feathers," Joyce says. They’re expensive; each year they’re hoping to get more flamboyant garb.
The show’s ticket sales will benefit the Preble Street Teen Center, a drop-in support facility for homeless teens and youth at risk. They picked the benefactors because of Brigitte Paulus’s own experiences as a teenager in New York, trying to make it as a dancer.
For eight months, she was homeless, and used a similar drop-in center for support, food, and a hot shower. The shows creators also knew kids in high school and since, who, "for various reasons their home life was unbearable," Joyce says.
"It seemed like a really good fit" with the teen center, though teens are not the intended audience for the show, and the center has been hesitant about the publicity connecting a possibly racy show including opium dens with helping kids. "We never said this was appropriate for teens. It’s a benefit for teens," Joyce says. Next year, they’ll choose another local charity.
"We were hoping they would get a lot of awareness," and the performers used the cause as motivation. "I don’t think we would have done this show for vanity alone," Joyce says.
Nutcracker BurlesqueAdapted by Ellen Joyce, Brigitte Paulus, and Joe Paulus. At the Portland Stage Studio Theater, Dec. 18-21. Call (207) 773-1951.
Wednesday, December 17, 2003
Local pizza house hurt in tax scam
Published in the American Journal
Steven Orr, the owner of Pizza Time of Westbrook, is frustrated with the state, the IRS and his former accountant, John Baert, owner of Harmon-Baert Associates of Saco.
“I’m one of the people that he didn’t pay any taxes for,” Orr said Monday. His federal payroll taxes haven’t been paid for two or three years, leaving him with a bill “in excess of 10 grand.”
He isn’t very firm on that number, though. When he called the IRS, he learned “they can’t even give me exact figures” on what he owes. He also doesn’t know if penalties and interest will be waived because of the circumstances of the case, in which Baert allegedly failed to pay millions of dollars in payroll taxes for dozens of companies over the course of the past three years.
Baert is facing three counts of mail fraud in a Portland federal court.
U.S. Sen. Susan Collins has requested the IRS waive those extra fees. Nobody expects the agency to forgive the taxes that have not been paid. “In essence we’re double-paying the money,” said Orr, who has filed a civil lawsuit against Baert seeking repayment of the money Baert should have given the IRS.
Orr may have to borrow money to make good on the debt, but it won’t shut down his business. “We’re not going to close.”
It will have a negative impact, though. He had been planning to remodel and open longer hours, hoping to participate in and encourage Westbrook’s downtown revitalization.
“That’s going to have to be put on hold,” he said.
Baert also prepared Orr’s business income tax returns, but Orr paid those bills himself and mailed them in. Orr also made his own sales tax payments to the state. His state payroll taxes are also in good shape, but Orr is unhappy with the state, which was supposed to make sure payroll firms were licensed and posted bonds to secure the money they handled.
“We also feel like the state’s responsible,” he said. “If the state’s receiving money from this person, you’d think they’d check on the person.”
One of the problems Orr has figuring out how much he owes the IRS is that Baert had a lot of the company’s financial records. The IRS may have seized them in late November, when agents searched Baert’s home and business. Orr hasn’t seen them, though he hopes to get access to the records soon.
“We have to create the payroll for the last two to three years,” he said. “We just don’t have the records.”
Orr had been using the payroll firm for 15 years – like many other pizza restaurant owners around the state – when he bought his business from two men who had started dozens of pizza joints in Maine.
Those men had used Arthur Harmon, Baert’s father-in-law and founder of the business, as their accountant, so Orr stuck with the firm.
When Harmon died and Baert took over, “we just automatically assumed” everything was above-board.“He’s not the person that we thought he was,” Orr said.
Paul Bureau of the Real Estate Store in Scarborough was also surprised at the news of Baert’s alleged wrongdoing. A customer of Harmon and Baert for 29 years, Bureau said Baert “did great. He was always terrific. I had no complaints.”
Baert did not handle Bureau’s payroll tax money, but did provide other accounting services to his firm.
“We were all shocked,” Bureau said. “It just seemed out of character.”
One big question still lurks in Orr’s mind. Saying he has seen records showing Baert had about $200,000 in liquid assets and a $200,000 home: “We don’t know what he did with the money.”
Steven Orr, the owner of Pizza Time of Westbrook, is frustrated with the state, the IRS and his former accountant, John Baert, owner of Harmon-Baert Associates of Saco.
“I’m one of the people that he didn’t pay any taxes for,” Orr said Monday. His federal payroll taxes haven’t been paid for two or three years, leaving him with a bill “in excess of 10 grand.”
He isn’t very firm on that number, though. When he called the IRS, he learned “they can’t even give me exact figures” on what he owes. He also doesn’t know if penalties and interest will be waived because of the circumstances of the case, in which Baert allegedly failed to pay millions of dollars in payroll taxes for dozens of companies over the course of the past three years.
Baert is facing three counts of mail fraud in a Portland federal court.
U.S. Sen. Susan Collins has requested the IRS waive those extra fees. Nobody expects the agency to forgive the taxes that have not been paid. “In essence we’re double-paying the money,” said Orr, who has filed a civil lawsuit against Baert seeking repayment of the money Baert should have given the IRS.
Orr may have to borrow money to make good on the debt, but it won’t shut down his business. “We’re not going to close.”
It will have a negative impact, though. He had been planning to remodel and open longer hours, hoping to participate in and encourage Westbrook’s downtown revitalization.
“That’s going to have to be put on hold,” he said.
Baert also prepared Orr’s business income tax returns, but Orr paid those bills himself and mailed them in. Orr also made his own sales tax payments to the state. His state payroll taxes are also in good shape, but Orr is unhappy with the state, which was supposed to make sure payroll firms were licensed and posted bonds to secure the money they handled.
“We also feel like the state’s responsible,” he said. “If the state’s receiving money from this person, you’d think they’d check on the person.”
One of the problems Orr has figuring out how much he owes the IRS is that Baert had a lot of the company’s financial records. The IRS may have seized them in late November, when agents searched Baert’s home and business. Orr hasn’t seen them, though he hopes to get access to the records soon.
“We have to create the payroll for the last two to three years,” he said. “We just don’t have the records.”
Orr had been using the payroll firm for 15 years – like many other pizza restaurant owners around the state – when he bought his business from two men who had started dozens of pizza joints in Maine.
Those men had used Arthur Harmon, Baert’s father-in-law and founder of the business, as their accountant, so Orr stuck with the firm.
When Harmon died and Baert took over, “we just automatically assumed” everything was above-board.“He’s not the person that we thought he was,” Orr said.
Paul Bureau of the Real Estate Store in Scarborough was also surprised at the news of Baert’s alleged wrongdoing. A customer of Harmon and Baert for 29 years, Bureau said Baert “did great. He was always terrific. I had no complaints.”
Baert did not handle Bureau’s payroll tax money, but did provide other accounting services to his firm.
“We were all shocked,” Bureau said. “It just seemed out of character.”
One big question still lurks in Orr’s mind. Saying he has seen records showing Baert had about $200,000 in liquid assets and a $200,000 home: “We don’t know what he did with the money.”
Call for more gambling regulation
Published in the Current and the American Journal
Local lawmakers agree with Gov. John Baldacci that racinos in Maine need more regulation than provided by the law voters passed Nov. 4.
Baldacci has proposed revisions to the racino law that he says will ensure the gambling enterprises are “tightly controlled to avoid the negative influences of this industry.”
When it reconvenes in January, the Legislature will take up his proposal, which includes setting up a statewide “gambling control board” with power to license gambling operators.
Lawmakers are particularly concerned about regulating gambling to avoid corruption and making sure the state gets a financial benefit. Any solution would require approval by a two-thirds majority in each house.
Sen. Lynn Bromley, D-South Portland and Cape Elizabeth, said state officials told her that proper enforcement of racino rules would cost the state $17 million a year. She wants the enforcement money to come from the slot revenues, which is part of Baldacci’s plan.
Rep. Harold Clough, R-Scarborough and Gorham, hadn’t seen the governor’s proposal to comment on it specifically. “My hopes are we don’t have the gambling. It’s obvious that if we do, we need more regulation,” he said. In particular, he would like to “see that more money stays in Maine.”
Rep. Robert Duplessie, D-Westbrook, said the governor’s plan also addresses other problems with the law. “What was passed actually was written by one corporation,” he said.
The referendum law does not limit the number of slot machines that could be installed, prevents suspension of a racino license in the case of alleged wrongdoing and does not require a minimum “payback,” the amount a machine returns to players.
The governor’s proposal addresses these and other problems Duplessie sees with the law, including requiring what is called “on-line polling,” which allows remote supervision of the machine’s bets and payouts.
“My initial reaction is positive,” Duplessie said. “It’s definitely the right direction.” He expects the proposal to have legislative support, and said party leaders have signed on.
Baldacci and other legislators last week sent a letter to various groups involved in the racino proposals, including Penn National and Capital Seven, the two companies most involved in planning racinos in Southern Maine and Bangor, respectively.
The letter notified the companies that state officials were working on changing gaming regulations and planned to make those changes retroactive.
Duplessie expects the proposal to get the “fast track,” with hearings perhaps in mid-January. “By mid-February, we’ll have a new law,” he said.
Rep. Ron Usher, D-Westbrook, agrees, though he’s not sure how Westbrook’s vote will go. “I expect a low turnout,” said Usher, who is voting in advance, by absentee ballot. He thinks people will be on vacation or perhaps put off by bad weather, and won’t show up to the polls Dec. 30.
Usher is so supportive of a statewide gambling commission that he asked the governor’s office if he could nominate someone from Westbrook to be on the new board. “Now I’m trying to think of somebody,” he said.
Sen. Carolyn Gilman, R-Westbrook and Gorham, also wants to see regulation increased if racinos come to the state. “I’d like to see them out of Maine completely,” she said. “Sooner or later, it’s going to cost the taxpayers money.”
But, she said, if racinos are coming, she wants another statewide referendum on the issue. She has heard from voters who, she said, “want another crack at it. They feel they misunderstood what was being asked of them.” People voted for racinos “with the idea that a few slots were going to help harness racing” and not knowing what was actually being planned.
Sen. Peggy Pendleton, D-Scarborough and Saco, hadn’t seen the governor’s specific plan, but said the racino proposal “snuck in the back door” while the casino issue was distracting voters.
“I was picturing like 100 slot machines in the lobby,” she said. She wants more regulation and possibly another referendum to make sure voters are comfortable with the changes.
She wants more money for the state and for the town the racino is in. “They need to get a good cut too,” said Pendleton.
While legislators agree more needs to be done, Bromley points to a possible sticking point: “People are loath to change something that’s the people’s voice.”
Yet she admits to a certain degree of confusion about the referendum results. “I don’t think I know what the electorate really meant,” she said. They might have wanted slot machines, or to save harness racing or cheaper medicine for the elderly.
She also said a racino in Southern Maine – not just one in Bangor – is necessary if the harness racing industry is to survive.
Further, if the state is to get any projected money from the racinos, it needs the numbers of people who might come to a racino in Southern Maine, Bromley said.
She would be willing to extend the deadline for Scarborough Downs to find a host community and expand its radius beyond the current five-mile limit, but only if increased regulation was being paid for by the racino revenue.
Local lawmakers agree with Gov. John Baldacci that racinos in Maine need more regulation than provided by the law voters passed Nov. 4.
Baldacci has proposed revisions to the racino law that he says will ensure the gambling enterprises are “tightly controlled to avoid the negative influences of this industry.”
When it reconvenes in January, the Legislature will take up his proposal, which includes setting up a statewide “gambling control board” with power to license gambling operators.
Lawmakers are particularly concerned about regulating gambling to avoid corruption and making sure the state gets a financial benefit. Any solution would require approval by a two-thirds majority in each house.
Sen. Lynn Bromley, D-South Portland and Cape Elizabeth, said state officials told her that proper enforcement of racino rules would cost the state $17 million a year. She wants the enforcement money to come from the slot revenues, which is part of Baldacci’s plan.
Rep. Harold Clough, R-Scarborough and Gorham, hadn’t seen the governor’s proposal to comment on it specifically. “My hopes are we don’t have the gambling. It’s obvious that if we do, we need more regulation,” he said. In particular, he would like to “see that more money stays in Maine.”
Rep. Robert Duplessie, D-Westbrook, said the governor’s plan also addresses other problems with the law. “What was passed actually was written by one corporation,” he said.
The referendum law does not limit the number of slot machines that could be installed, prevents suspension of a racino license in the case of alleged wrongdoing and does not require a minimum “payback,” the amount a machine returns to players.
The governor’s proposal addresses these and other problems Duplessie sees with the law, including requiring what is called “on-line polling,” which allows remote supervision of the machine’s bets and payouts.
“My initial reaction is positive,” Duplessie said. “It’s definitely the right direction.” He expects the proposal to have legislative support, and said party leaders have signed on.
Baldacci and other legislators last week sent a letter to various groups involved in the racino proposals, including Penn National and Capital Seven, the two companies most involved in planning racinos in Southern Maine and Bangor, respectively.
The letter notified the companies that state officials were working on changing gaming regulations and planned to make those changes retroactive.
Duplessie expects the proposal to get the “fast track,” with hearings perhaps in mid-January. “By mid-February, we’ll have a new law,” he said.
Rep. Ron Usher, D-Westbrook, agrees, though he’s not sure how Westbrook’s vote will go. “I expect a low turnout,” said Usher, who is voting in advance, by absentee ballot. He thinks people will be on vacation or perhaps put off by bad weather, and won’t show up to the polls Dec. 30.
Usher is so supportive of a statewide gambling commission that he asked the governor’s office if he could nominate someone from Westbrook to be on the new board. “Now I’m trying to think of somebody,” he said.
Sen. Carolyn Gilman, R-Westbrook and Gorham, also wants to see regulation increased if racinos come to the state. “I’d like to see them out of Maine completely,” she said. “Sooner or later, it’s going to cost the taxpayers money.”
But, she said, if racinos are coming, she wants another statewide referendum on the issue. She has heard from voters who, she said, “want another crack at it. They feel they misunderstood what was being asked of them.” People voted for racinos “with the idea that a few slots were going to help harness racing” and not knowing what was actually being planned.
Sen. Peggy Pendleton, D-Scarborough and Saco, hadn’t seen the governor’s specific plan, but said the racino proposal “snuck in the back door” while the casino issue was distracting voters.
“I was picturing like 100 slot machines in the lobby,” she said. She wants more regulation and possibly another referendum to make sure voters are comfortable with the changes.
She wants more money for the state and for the town the racino is in. “They need to get a good cut too,” said Pendleton.
While legislators agree more needs to be done, Bromley points to a possible sticking point: “People are loath to change something that’s the people’s voice.”
Yet she admits to a certain degree of confusion about the referendum results. “I don’t think I know what the electorate really meant,” she said. They might have wanted slot machines, or to save harness racing or cheaper medicine for the elderly.
She also said a racino in Southern Maine – not just one in Bangor – is necessary if the harness racing industry is to survive.
Further, if the state is to get any projected money from the racinos, it needs the numbers of people who might come to a racino in Southern Maine, Bromley said.
She would be willing to extend the deadline for Scarborough Downs to find a host community and expand its radius beyond the current five-mile limit, but only if increased regulation was being paid for by the racino revenue.
Friday, December 5, 2003
Night of nights: A conversation with playwright Evelyn Jones
Published in the Portland Phoenix
Written by Evelyn Jones. With Juliet Nelson, Chris Curtis, and Andy Fling. Performed by Dream on Productions, at Seacoast Repertory Theater, in Portsmouth, Dec. 21 and 28, at 8 p.m. Call (603) 433-4472.
Playwright Evelyn Jones, a former Boston Herald features writer, has lived in Kittery for about 20 years and was working on a novel until she started writing plays in 1996. The novel, she says, now "sits unlamented, gathering dust."
Her play Not on This Night centers on a farm girl, Jacqueline (Juliet Nelson), whose home is commandeered by a German soldier and then an American, on a Christmas Eve in World War II.
The Phoenix sat down at a South Portland keyboard, and Jones at hers in Kittery, to inquire about the play and its upcoming shows, December 21 and 28, at the Seacoast Repertory Theater in Portsmouth.
Phoenix: Is the play based on real incidents? If so, how did you first find out about them?
Jones: Though many people surmised Not on This Night was written in response to more current world conditions, it was maybe 40 years ago that I cut and saved a short article about a Christmas Eve during World War I when enemy soldiers came out of their trenches to sing carols and exchange food and trinkets.
I came across the clipping again in the mid-’90s when the "Christmas truce" was still unfamiliar to most people. I always knew I’d write about it, and by now had become fascinated with the playwriting genre. With the format in place, other things followed. I remember details arranging themselves for me like puzzle pieces. Frankly, how do you get the war into the viewer’s gut? Not the battlefield . . . no, use an intimate setting . . . a normally safe place, like . . . like a kitchen . . . a farmhouse kitchen. Ironic contrasts . . . The battlefield so close, death so close, yet a few chickens outside in the barn. Inside, vulnerable victims of war . . . I’ll make them young, a teenage girl, and she’s alone . . . yes, she’s in danger . . . soldiers sneaking up to her door . . . a German, and an American, enemies bringing the war inside her kitchen. But it will be joyous . . . tears are okay, but it will be heartwarming and make the audience laugh, too. The girl is taking over the story . . . she’s determined there will be no violence, not on this night.
At some point I decided to set it closer to the present. An incident in World War 2, though I’d have to figure how the truce story was tied in. I laid out imaginary troop movements, fearsome weather, a dense forest area . . . and a Christmas Eve battle.
During all this, I thought I’d have a lot of rewriting to be reasonably historically correct.
Anyway, lots of stuff kept happening to my characters and I kept typing, and finally I had a feedback reading in my living room with theater friends. I explained I didn’t want to do all the necessary research if it wasn’t working, but when the reading ended, everyone was sniffling and said of course I had to go ahead.
I spent months with stacks of WW2 history books, dreaming at night about the horrific diaries and photos but the eerie part was finding then — and more since — that almost every detail I’d dreamed up fit actual facts!
Q: What happened to the play after it was reworked?
A: I sent the play off to a few publishers, and some competitions in New York and Hollywood, and I got busy on other plays.
Almost a year later, I got word Not on This Night was a winner in New York City and would be performed in a one-act festival. Later, I heard it was one of the six winners in the Hollywood festival — and the following day I got a contract in the mail from Pioneer Publishing. Like winning a lottery.
I finally got to see the play performed at the Players’ Ring, then at Act One (Hampton) Summer Theater, and Phillips Exeter Academy. After the play won the Seacoast Spotlight on the Arts 2000 Best Play award, the Rogosins read the script and they’ve arranged for two performances at Seacoast Rep on December 21 and 28. I think it’s an ideal stage, and can’t wait to see it.
Q: Why do you think people have given so much acclaim to this play?
A: I think people feel deeply moved and uplifted which, to be honest, makes me very happy. Whenever I’ve gone to see the play I’ve felt a disassociation, until Jacqueline comes on that stage setting the table, singing "Voici Noel," and then I’m in it with the rest of the audience. I suspect that comes from this wow of a cast!
Q: Sometimes writers secretly hope that their writing will change just one life in some specific way. For you, and for this play, how would you like someone’s life to change?
A: I’ll just say that the World War 1 story intrigued me and started me thinking — no, it started me feeling — about war. It’s easy to talk war without experiencing how devastating a death is, beyond the moment and beyond the life taken. But I should mention that feelings about war, and defending one’s country, are so complicated it’s tricky to put labels on anyone.
Not On This NightWritten by Evelyn Jones. With Juliet Nelson, Chris Curtis, and Andy Fling. Performed by Dream on Productions, at Seacoast Repertory Theater, in Portsmouth, Dec. 21 and 28, at 8 p.m. Call (603) 433-4472.
Wednesday, December 3, 2003
Column: Decorating for the season on a budget
Published in the Current, the American Journal, and the Lakes Region Suburban Weekly
As new homeowners, my wife and I have a sizable challenge this year: Beyond just unpacking the boxes still stacked around the place, we need to make the place festive, but are not exactly flush with cash.
I’ve gone looking around the area to find some nice touches without emptying my wallet, and found that making a house look great is not too hard. With a little careful thought, it won’t take much time to set up, maintain or take down when the season is over.
Outside, we’ve got a few shrubs and a little fence. Local hardware stores and gift shops stock holiday lights in wide varieties, with anything from simple white bulbs to sparkling colors, and even lighted figures like cows, moose and Santa Claus.
Choose ones you like – make sure to get outdoor cords and bulbs – and for a few bucks a strand, you can light up the season. There’s no need to go overboard (though some love to, buying thousands of lights and footing large electrical bills through December). Just a few touches, near the entrance to your yard or driveway, and again near the door, are enough. Remember not to put lights on the ground, or you’ll have to dig them out when the snow flies!
If lights aren’t your thing, or you want to spruce the yard up a bit, head to a farm market. Most close in the fall, after summer’s bounty has ended, but reopen in late November with wreaths, greenery and other festive items. As with lights, there are wide varieties, from traditional evergreen wreaths to painted pine-cone ones. Many places also have garlands, perfect for draping along the top of a fence or hanging around a doorway. Other arrangements often include red berries and sticks in simple, elegant designs.
All of these items can go outside and look beautiful when first installed, as well as with a dusting of snow. Inside, it’s easy to get overwhelmed with all the possibilities.
Sure, it’s nice to have something in every room, but try to keep a space that isn’t totally taken over by the holiday, as a place you can get away from stresses of the season.
Some folks like candles in each window, though fire departments often worry about them igniting curtains or other window dressings. For safer alternatives that are cheaper over the long run, buy plastic candles that take Christmas-tree replacement light bulbs.
They plug into a regular electrical outlet and stay cool near draperies. There are also electric menorahs for celebrating Hanukkah.
The cheapest way to get pretty decorations is to keep around last year’s greeting cards. Hang a few around early in the season to get in the mood – attaching them to a few simple ribbons can be nice – and rotate them as you get this year’s cards.
Another cheap way to get in the holiday mood is to have a fire, if you’re lucky enough to have a fireplace. Just make sure your chimney is clean and clear, and check the flue for leaks to keep smoke out of your home.
Many people get Christmas trees, and there are several Christmas tree farms in the area, as well groups’ sales. Those sales can also be good places to get
greenery and wreaths for both inside and outside.
Decorating a tree doesn’t have to be a huge production. A few lights, some colorful ornaments – your kids or grandkids will probably make some in school – and you’re all set.
Don’t forget the greeneries, which can look wonderful sitting on windowsills or over doorways, to bring the holiday spirit all over your home. Keep the greens misted from time to time to prolong their life, and always make sure your tree has plenty of water.
As new homeowners, my wife and I have a sizable challenge this year: Beyond just unpacking the boxes still stacked around the place, we need to make the place festive, but are not exactly flush with cash.
I’ve gone looking around the area to find some nice touches without emptying my wallet, and found that making a house look great is not too hard. With a little careful thought, it won’t take much time to set up, maintain or take down when the season is over.
Outside, we’ve got a few shrubs and a little fence. Local hardware stores and gift shops stock holiday lights in wide varieties, with anything from simple white bulbs to sparkling colors, and even lighted figures like cows, moose and Santa Claus.
Choose ones you like – make sure to get outdoor cords and bulbs – and for a few bucks a strand, you can light up the season. There’s no need to go overboard (though some love to, buying thousands of lights and footing large electrical bills through December). Just a few touches, near the entrance to your yard or driveway, and again near the door, are enough. Remember not to put lights on the ground, or you’ll have to dig them out when the snow flies!
If lights aren’t your thing, or you want to spruce the yard up a bit, head to a farm market. Most close in the fall, after summer’s bounty has ended, but reopen in late November with wreaths, greenery and other festive items. As with lights, there are wide varieties, from traditional evergreen wreaths to painted pine-cone ones. Many places also have garlands, perfect for draping along the top of a fence or hanging around a doorway. Other arrangements often include red berries and sticks in simple, elegant designs.
All of these items can go outside and look beautiful when first installed, as well as with a dusting of snow. Inside, it’s easy to get overwhelmed with all the possibilities.
Sure, it’s nice to have something in every room, but try to keep a space that isn’t totally taken over by the holiday, as a place you can get away from stresses of the season.
Some folks like candles in each window, though fire departments often worry about them igniting curtains or other window dressings. For safer alternatives that are cheaper over the long run, buy plastic candles that take Christmas-tree replacement light bulbs.
They plug into a regular electrical outlet and stay cool near draperies. There are also electric menorahs for celebrating Hanukkah.
The cheapest way to get pretty decorations is to keep around last year’s greeting cards. Hang a few around early in the season to get in the mood – attaching them to a few simple ribbons can be nice – and rotate them as you get this year’s cards.
Another cheap way to get in the holiday mood is to have a fire, if you’re lucky enough to have a fireplace. Just make sure your chimney is clean and clear, and check the flue for leaks to keep smoke out of your home.
Many people get Christmas trees, and there are several Christmas tree farms in the area, as well groups’ sales. Those sales can also be good places to get
greenery and wreaths for both inside and outside.
Decorating a tree doesn’t have to be a huge production. A few lights, some colorful ornaments – your kids or grandkids will probably make some in school – and you’re all set.
Don’t forget the greeneries, which can look wonderful sitting on windowsills or over doorways, to bring the holiday spirit all over your home. Keep the greens misted from time to time to prolong their life, and always make sure your tree has plenty of water.
Friday, November 28, 2003
Revelry after the feast: Nuncrackers full of holiday cheer
Published in the Portland Phoenix
Written by Dan Googin. Directed by Charles Grindle. With Patricia H. Davis, Melissa Bornmann, Elisha Walls, and Leslie Chadbourne. At Lyric Music Theater, in South Portland, through Dec. 7. Call (207) 799-1421.
When the big meal’s over, and some relatives have even broken into the leftovers, in sets Thanksgiving’s lethargy. After a few hours of snoozing and reclining, usually someone will pipe up, "We need to go for a walk." But why fight the urge to kick back before the holiday madness really begins?
Get out of the house, relax, and get a big belly laugh from Nuncrackers, the Nunsense Christmas musical, now on at the Lyric Music Theater, "just off Broadway" in South Portland.
You don’t need a Catholic upbringing to get a laugh out of these nutty nuns, putting on a Christmas special for the local public-access cable channel from the basement of Mt. St. Helen’s church, Hoboken. (If you went to Catholic school, though, you’ll recognize the Reverend Mother’s training clicker, now used more widely to train dogs in obedience classes, and a few other gems.)
The studio — which doubles as a nuclear fallout shelter (where else would you rather be during the Apocalypse than in a church basement with cheery nuns?) — was paid for when one of these worldly nuns, Sister Mary Paul (Elisha Walls) won the Publisher’s Clearinghouse sweepstakes.
These and other tidbits tear away some of the burqa-like fabric that literally hides these women of the cloth from the world, showing us the reality of life behind the veil: While restricted and carefully supervised, there’s a lot of freedom to be had.
At least so says Sister Robert Anne, a hilariously troublesome nun wonderfully played by Melissa Bornmann. She plays tricks on poor Sister Mary Paul, leading to big laughs and some great variations on traditional Christmas carols. There’s even a sing-along to get you really in the mood and quite convinced that Thanksgiving is a blip on the holiday radar screen.
The nuns aren’t the only folks on stage. Several of the students at Mt. St. Helen’s school also appear, and are wonderful performers with amazing costumes. They gamely follow the lead of the nuns, and have a blast.
Susan Nappi’s choreography is wonderful — have you ever seen nuns do a Rockettes-style kickline? She maintains an air of comedy throughout, and manages to design a chase of the dueling Sugar Plum Fairies that shows off the dance skills of Patricia H. Davis (as the Reverend Mother) and mocks the lack of same by Joshua Chard (as Father Virgil Manly Trott).
Though Chard himself appears at times to be trying overly hard in this not-at-all-serious play, he carried off a fruitcake-making lesson very well, adding just enough rum to his throat and choosing excellent plastic fruits as ingredients — because "no one will ever know the difference."
But more than just a set of silly anecdotes, this is a musical. The band and performers span a wide range of churchly song styles, from holiday carols to a rousing gospel number sung entirely by white folks. (It’s nearly enough to take your mind off the cranberry sauce you left on the counter.)
There are also a couple of nunly variations on modern songs, including a convent-recruiting song adapted from a number usually performed by the Village People, and a look at what pious, fun-loving nuns really want for Christmas. (Hint: They can’t have it.)
The show gets at the humanity of nuns, and perhaps even pleases real nuns with its humor and candor about life in the convent.
They spread a little holiday cheer with Secret Santa gifts to the audience, including a very handy set of stick-on 10 Commandments. They’re most useful because, Sister Mary Paul points out, "you can peel off the ones you don’t like."
Even puppets get into the act: Sister Mary Annette, a Muppet lookalike, has the secret to why people who decorate Christmas trees put an angel on top. Together with a pair of reindeer sock puppets, she sings out what really happens at the North Pole each year as Christmas approaches.
Yet, at the end of it all, these nuns — for all their wishes of worldliness — know how to do the right thing. They don’t fall prey to their own threats to the children — "be good or Santa won’t come" — but instead do feel the love that should pervade the season, and the sense of gratefulness and compassion Christmas should be about.
Just the thing to remind you it’s time for a snack. Isn’t there some turkey in the fridge?
NuncrackersWritten by Dan Googin. Directed by Charles Grindle. With Patricia H. Davis, Melissa Bornmann, Elisha Walls, and Leslie Chadbourne. At Lyric Music Theater, in South Portland, through Dec. 7. Call (207) 799-1421.
Friday, November 21, 2003
Safe at home? You might be better off in Kabul
Published in the Portland Phoenix
Written by Tony Kushner. Directed by Richard O’Brien. Performed by Jane Bergeron. At the Human Theater Company at Portland Stage Studio Theater, through Nov. 23. Call (207) 774-0465.
BACKSTAGE
In case there’s any doubt, it’s still not safe to travel to Kabul. In its most recent official travel warning about Afghanistan (dated July 28, 2003), the US State Department declares, apparently without irony, that "the ability of Afghan authorities to maintain order and ensure security is limited."
Among the threats to the personal security of American travelers are "remnants of the former Taliban regime and the terrorist Al-Qaida network," as well as "US-led military operations." Of further concern to Americans heading there is that the US embassy in Kabul cannot issue replacement passports. Translation: If your identity gets lost in Afghanistan, you better find it before trying to get home.
Though Afghans are allowed on the streets of their capital without a curfew, American diplomats aren’t. Helpfully, then, the State Department Web site says Americans who insist upon traveling to Afghanistan should "register with" the embassy.
With these types of pronouncements coming from the most powerful nation in the world, whose "force projection" has sent troops throughout Afghanistan, stretching from remote fire bases in the northeast of the country to villages in the southwest, it is easy to want to remain a homebody.
But turn the page on the State Department’s Web site and there it is, in cold, black pixels: "We expect Al-Qaida will strive for new attacks that will be more devastating than the September 11 attack, possibly involving nonconventional weapons such as chemical or biological agents. We also cannot rule out the potential for Al-Qaida to attempt a second catastrophic attack within the US."
We’re really no safer here than anywhere.
Kabul, however, may never be among the safest places, current events notwithstanding. Founded on the banks of the Kabul River — now just a trickle after years of drought — the city has been a crossroads of cultures and a crucible of conflicts for thousands of years.
Tony Kushner wrote Homebody as a monologue by request and later turned it into the first act of the frighteningly prescient play Homebody/Kabul, in which the Homebody goes to Kabul, is reported dead, and her husband and daughter arrive to search for her in ruins left by the Taliban and the 1998 US missile attacks on the country. (Yes, Clinton fans, he pulled the trigger, too.)
This performance, directed by Richard O’Brien and executed by Jane Bergeron, is just the monologue section, nearly an hour of complex language and a sweeping history of Afghan history. Just the thing our president and Congress should have had before getting involved in entangling alliances with peacemakers and warlords alike.
O’Brien is something of a one-act specialist, and has chosen the shorter version here. The original full play Homebody/Kabul took about four hours to perform, though it’s still being revised.
We can thank the director for his compassion, given the seats in the PSC Studio Theater. Or perhaps it’s all part of the experience. As O’Brien observes, Kushner uses language to throw off both actor and audience in this monologue. Not only is his script thin on punctuation and full of complex sentence structure, but the vocabulary required is immense. We are meant to be off-balance, and the chairs help.
In a simple but ornate set reflecting the nature of the play’s words and its ideas, Bergeron sits in a 19th-century armchair with a traveling overcoat slung over the side. She has all the actors’ decks stacked against her: A solo monologue, without any lighting or sound cues, delivered from a sitting position, in very complex language designed to lose both actor and audience in discomfort and confusion. And Bergeron pulls off a masterful performance.
Bergeron took the role because "I didn’t know if I could" handle it, she said, after a recent performance. She has learned that she can.
Her intonation and pacing, facial expressions, head motions, and body language all combine to convey meaning and feeling in a play that could easily lack both. Her character even admits — as if to rub it in the actor’s face — that she is hard to listen to and speaks "elliptically."
She has chosen one book, a 1965 travel guide to Kabul, as her armchair ticket to another world. The play is set in 1998, just after the American missile strikes. The Homebody revisits the history of Kabul, from its legendary founding by Cain himself — he may yet be buried within the city — to the present. The play moves from "the serene beauty of the valleys of the Kabul River" still remembered in the songs of nomadic peoples who traveled through there thousands of years ago, to the shell-shocked and war-torn country of 1998, before it became even more shell-shocked and war-torn.
The play is filled with Kushner’s cutting lines, at once funny and painful, insightful and ironic. It also retains his sparks of hope, which are somehow as impossible to doubt as they are unlikely to ignite.
His voice sings through Bergeron’s own, warning and instructing simultaneously, and drawing to an irretrievable "what if" line, one the State Department, with only four or five fluent Arabic speakers (so how many speak Pashto?) amid thousands of diplomats, would do well to heed: "The truth which does not understand corrupts."
HomebodyWritten by Tony Kushner. Directed by Richard O’Brien. Performed by Jane Bergeron. At the Human Theater Company at Portland Stage Studio Theater, through Nov. 23. Call (207) 774-0465.
BACKSTAGE
• A group of local kids is doing a play about ego and nakedness at the Theater Project. Ending a four-week workshop and production class, fourth- through eighth-graders have reworked The Emperor’s New Clothes into a mime performance with live, improvised jazz music by Brad Terry. Check out what they’re all up to, November 21 through 23, by calling (207) 729-8584.
• And then there are the adults getting not-quite-naked to help local teens. The Nutcracker Burlesque will be at the Portland Stage Studio Theater December 18 through 21 to benefit . . . the Preble Street Teen Center? It’s true. Infidelity at a corporate holiday party leads a grown-up Clara downtown into opium dens and more. Tchaikovsky’s score has been rearranged "into a hot and sultry modern composition" with a "quirky hip-hop style" to the choreography. All of which means we can’t wait to see the Nut-cracking Prince himself, probably sponsored by Video Expo.
In the beginning: The One Ring comes to the Players' Ring
Published in the Portland Phoenix
Written by J.R.R. Tolkien and Patricia Gray. Directed by Todd Hunter. With Bernie Tato, Tim Robinson, Dylan Schwartz, and Thorpe Feidt. At the Players’ Ring, through Nov. 30. Call (603) 436-8123.
Reading The Hobbit is a great way to get set for re-watching the first two Lord of the Rings movies, in time for the third and final installment, due out next month. Better yet, see The Hobbit performed live on a stage. Without the digital imagery and special effects, pared down to its basic elements of storytelling, it illuminates clearly the foundations for J.R.R. Tolkien’s subsequent tales.
The Players’ Ring cast begins the Tolkien-authorized adaptation with a pretentious, presumptuous Gandalf (Tim Robinson) arriving at the home of Bilbo Baggins (Bernie Tato). Bilbo has no idea who the wizard is, but recognizes the name and remembers old stories he was once told.
Bilbo, a shrinking violet who has not yet become the fierce warrior or knowing sage of the later volumes, is just a taste of how Tolkien’s characters develop. Gandalf isn’t yet the friendly face he will become, and dwarves are more whining and hungry than noble and strong. Even the elves — who appear here as captors and dungeonmasters — are bitter and mean, protecting their turf from interlopers.
The extraordinary times and alliances brought by the reappearance of the One Ring have not yet come to pass. Instead, the inhabitants of Middle Earth are as they have been, slightly xenophobic, jealous, nervous and, well, hungry.
Bilbo himself is concerned that "adventures make you late for dinner," as any school-age child has learned when exploring a creekbed or forest path. With the jovial arrival of the dwarves, all played by children who know the value of a good exploratory adventure, appetites grow, both on stage and in the seats.
Bilbo learns, with the audience, that the dwarves are seeking a burglar to help them recover treasure lost when a dragon attacked a dwarf city and ate most of the inhabitants. Gandalf has appointed him to the post, and there’s little the hobbit can do but go along.
Tato plays the wide-eyed hobbit to a T, with the even temper of the halflings, and with the hint of reluctance and homesickness that seems innate to the race. He brightens the show with his delivery of such well written, wry lines as "Adventures are not all Sunday strolls in May sunshine," evoking Winnie-the-Pooh’s innocence and equanimity.
Robinson, as Gandalf, quickly tires of his beard, leaving us with a clean-shaven mage shorn of his symbolic wisdom. His presence on stage varies from the welcome to the interruptive, though that is possibly part of the plan: Even this early in the adventure, he disappears and reappears at unlikely times.
Thorpe Feidt plays Thorin, the leader of the dwarves, but really he seems uncomfortable in another’s skin. Rarely making eye contact with any characters, and blustering his way through his lines, Feidt detracts from the show in small ways that add up. (On the other hand, he created Smaug, the sinister dragon, about whom we will hear more shortly.)
The real joys are the children, who are having fun but keep their focus while on stage. They have asides and ensemble lines that draw big laughs — not just from parents — and generally make merry during what could be a drawn-out journey. The trolls and goblins, with excellent masks, also bring both levity and danger to the trip.
Everyone comes together in the escape from the elf-dungeons to create a true atmosphere of urgency and hurry, with only voices and body language, raising the heart rate of all on-lookers. In particular, Bombur (Dylan Schwartz) appears to have a great time, but reins himself in enough to avoid stepping on the performances of his fellow dwarves.
After the escape, Bilbo meets Gollum (Tana Sirois), a brilliantly costumed and acted writhing character, filled with barely contained eagerness and desire, though not yet fully consumed by sinister greed.
In the final scene, Bilbo and Thorin meet Smaug, the greedy dragon, created by Feidt and (without giving away too much) with a realistic presence and threatening voice that startles and alarms.
We see inklings of the Ring’s power — "it makes me feel funny," Bilbo says — but in all this is a wonderful story that whets the appetite for more.
The HobbitWritten by J.R.R. Tolkien and Patricia Gray. Directed by Todd Hunter. With Bernie Tato, Tim Robinson, Dylan Schwartz, and Thorpe Feidt. At the Players’ Ring, through Nov. 30. Call (603) 436-8123.
Friday, November 14, 2003
Power virtue: Ideals keep society's wheels rolling
Published in the Portland Phoenix
Written by Kalidasa. Adapted and directed by Assunta Kent. With Piper Silverthorne, Dave Ciampa, and Amos Libby. At USM, through Nov. 16. Call (207) 780-5151.
Backstage
In the duty-bound and caste-rigid northern India of the fourth century, ideals still governed the behavior of every individual, and a sense of obligation ruled the world. Spirits of nature abounded; all living things were truly alive. In today’s America, self-interest governs all — even the most powerful — and nature makes way for humanity in a brutal slaughter of trees and fouling of the air.
It is into this soiled arena that King Dushyanta (Dave Ciampa) and Shakuntala (Piper Silverthorne) bring their penance grove and wedding bower. The powerful king, whose son has been prophesied to rule "the ocean-bounded Earth," encounters the virtuous half-nymph, who lives in a holy hermitage.
The pair fall in love, but duty calls each to other tasks. First, they elope, wedding in a ceremony witnessed only by the woodland and its creatures. Dushyanta gives her his signet ring as a token of remembrance.
As they each return to their lives, Shakuntala is so overcome by emotion that she neglects her obligations of hospitality toward a powerful guest, who curses her: The king will forget ever meeting her until she produces something to remind him.
When she goes to his royal court, the king rejects her; she is clearly pregnant, and his virtue will not allow him to covet another man’s wife. Worse, she has lost the ring that is the key to his memory.
Set to Indian drum and flute music and chanting by Amos Libby of Portland (a longtime student of the Indian arts), and couched within the good-vs.-evil struggles of ancient Indian manuscripts, Shakuntala and the Ring of Recognition is a wonderful, enchanting vision of a world where complex interactions are governed by simple principles that all remember and obey.
From the very beginning — a Sanskrit chant in praise of Lord Shiva, god of destruction and rebirth and patron of performers — to the final blessing of the audience, the play is a magical journey that has meaning for all ages and stations.
The set has extravagant detail, but remains a simple layout of a forest grove and several sitting areas allowing scenes outside the woods. The costumes — made of real silk purchased by costumer Jodi Ozimek on a special trip to New York — are sumptuous and beautiful, cloaking all the actors in garments worthy of their posts.
The actors are well rehearsed and handle difficult language with aplomb. This is, after all, Kalidasa, the Indian equivalent of Shakespeare. Director Assunta Kent has assembled the script from eight translations from the Sanskrit, and has reproduced the wit, wisdom, and beautiful imagery that has carried the original into modern times. (As a taste, consider this perspective on aging and memory: "My mind is like a lamp whose oil is getting low. It flares brightly one minute and then suddenly dims.")
The actors are also dancers, performing ritual footwork and hand movements used by Indian performers to tell their stories without words. While this play accompanies those motions with their spoken meanings, the experience is as in a fairy tale, where meanings are always made clear.
Yet this story is no fairy tale. Though its main character waters trees she calls friends and raises orphaned deer out of compassion, the king’s virtue is of a different form. He is a warrior, head of the lunar dynasty, and must fend off evil from the hermitage and join with the army of the sun god, Indra, to drive demons from the heavens.
The requirements of Shakuntala’s virtuous behavior contrast with the kingly duties of her husband. It is a lesson world leaders would do well to remember: "Vigilant kings who tax their subjects should tax themselves in protecting their subjects."
Once reminded by a fisherman’s recovery of his ring, the king is overcome by "Shakuntalitis," as the gleeful court jester (Jae Rodriguez) declares. He forgets himself and his role for a time, until recalled to duty and then rewarded by finding his beloved and his first-born son.
Of special note are the puppets — both three-dimensional and shadow varieties — created by Chelsea Cook, a USM junior, and Kris Hall. They provide elements of fantasy and fulfill the true role of theatrical performers: deepening the story-telling by expertly portraying story elements in eye-opening ways.
Shakuntala and the Ring of RecognitionWritten by Kalidasa. Adapted and directed by Assunta Kent. With Piper Silverthorne, Dave Ciampa, and Amos Libby. At USM, through Nov. 16. Call (207) 780-5151.
Backstage
• The Human Theater Company is putting on Tony Kushner’s eerily prescient play Homebody/Kabul at the Portland Stage Studio Theater through November 23. It explores the life of an Afghan-obsessed British housewife who ventures to Kabul and loses herself. Written before 9/11, it explores and explains many of the emotions Americans only discovered after that tragedy.
• Laura Emack is putting her play Writers Block up for comment Saturday, November 15, at the Bangor Public Library, at 2:15 p.m., as part of a Made in Maine Theater Workshop. It looks at " the maddening marketplace " of writing and writers. Emack was a finalist in the 2001 Maine Playwrights Festival and just incorporated feedback from her writers’ group into the script. Lend your hand to this work in progress.
• Tim Collins is back at the St. Lawrence with another multi-character solo piece called An Evening of One-Man Comedy. It’s on one night only, Wednesday, November 19, so seize the evening and check out this talented multi-personality performer.
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