Published in the Current
Cape Elizabeth’s resident ghost, the “Lady in White” of Crescent Beach, made a cameo appearance in a lecture at the Cape Elizabeth Historic Preservation Society’s meeting earlier this month.
Bill Thomson of Kennebunk, a retired history professor from Salem Teachers College in Massachusetts, spoke on ghosts and coastal hauntings in New England. He first addressed what a ghost is, explaining that “98 percent of all ghost stories can be explained” by something rational, rather than supernatural.
He told of a Maine landlord who had a hard time keeping tenants in an apartment; all of them complained of an eerie singing sound coming from one particular wall. The tenants blamed a ghost. Eventually the landlord got tired of the problem and took a shotgun to the wall, Thomson said. He discovered an old saw hanging inside the wall, and rubbing against a partly exposed nail in such a way to make a singing or screeching noise.
It is the other 2 percent of ghost stories that interest Thomson, particularly
vivid smells, unexplained noises and voices, moving furniture, appliances going on and off for no reason and apparitions.
He has a theory about visions people have of ghosts: Living people emit energy in “waves,” which intensify at times of great stress. Many ghosts are of people who have died violently, and therefore would have put out a lot of these energy waves just before they died.
Thomson theorizes that those waves remain in the room or building where the person died, “bouncing around.” When other people come into that room and, by virtue of their own psychological situations, become attuned to the frequency of those waves, they see the vision.
He admits it sounds outlandish, but said he didn’t believe in ghosts for a long time, until he began studying them and experiencing ghostly phenomena.
When he was filming a special on hauntings for a TV network, Thomson was in the Kennebunkport Inn, which supposedly is haunted by “Cyrus the Ghost.” When filming a segment, a red ball appeared on a television monitor and bounced all over the screen.
“I never believed in the stuff before I saw it,” Thomson said.
Cape residents have seen their share, too.
Crescent Beach is home to such a haunting. Lydia Clark, a 24-year-old daughter of a Portland businessman, had been sent to Boston to buy a wedding dress. She was returning with her new dress on the schooner Charles on July 12, 1807, when it was caught by
a storm just south of Portland Head, and wrecked on Little Island Ledge.
Clark drowned and washed up on Crescent Beach. Beside her in the morning was her trunk, containing the new wedding gown. Since then, people have seen a figure in white, with an anxious expression on her face, pacing the beach.
There may be houses in town that are haunted, too. Beckett’s Castle on Singles Road may be haunted by Sylvester Beckett, who built the home and died in 1882. While many hotels and bed-and-breakfasts advertise their ghosts to attract spirit-loving guests, most homeowners keep mum about their ghosts, fearful that potential buyers might lose interest or scuttle the deal.
And though there are 11 haunted lighthouses in Maine, none of those are very close by. “Portland Head Light is not haunted,” Thomson said, later confirming that the others are without ghosts, too.
Thursday, March 20, 2003
Cape kids sending troops cookies
Published in the Current
They didn’t do it for the fame, and they don’t support war, but two Cape kids are sending Girl Scout cookies to U.S. troops in the Middle East.
After watching the evening television news last week, 11-year-old
twins Jonathan and Lexi Bass were moved to do something to support the troops they had seen interviewed in the Kuwaiti desert.
The soldiers didn’t have much to do, and were feeling both proud and worried about the prospect of serving their country in wartime. Lexi, a Girl Scout, had loads of boxes of Girl Scout cookies in the back hallway ready for delivery, and the pair decided to buy some more for the troops.
Jonathan and Lexi wrote a letter to the people who live in their neighborhood off Mitchell Road, explaining what they had seen on the news and what they wanted to do. They asked for donations, saying the soldiers “were very serious and very nervous” about war, and were in the desert without their families.
It was Tuesday night. By Saturday, neighbors had donated enough money to buy over 100 boxes of Girl Scout cookies. Some neighbors sent notes with their donations, including one from a woman who said she didn’t support the war, but her husband had served in Vietnam, and she wanted to be sure to support the troops.
Jonathan and Lexi spent Sunday packing the cookies up and getting set to send them off, with notes saying “Thinking of you from Cape Elizabeth, Maine.”
Because of increased security, sending unmarked boxes to “any soldier” in the Persian Gulf region is complicated, so the kids are making arrangements to send them through the USO.
They didn’t do it for the fame, and they don’t support war, but two Cape kids are sending Girl Scout cookies to U.S. troops in the Middle East.
After watching the evening television news last week, 11-year-old
twins Jonathan and Lexi Bass were moved to do something to support the troops they had seen interviewed in the Kuwaiti desert.
The soldiers didn’t have much to do, and were feeling both proud and worried about the prospect of serving their country in wartime. Lexi, a Girl Scout, had loads of boxes of Girl Scout cookies in the back hallway ready for delivery, and the pair decided to buy some more for the troops.
Jonathan and Lexi wrote a letter to the people who live in their neighborhood off Mitchell Road, explaining what they had seen on the news and what they wanted to do. They asked for donations, saying the soldiers “were very serious and very nervous” about war, and were in the desert without their families.
It was Tuesday night. By Saturday, neighbors had donated enough money to buy over 100 boxes of Girl Scout cookies. Some neighbors sent notes with their donations, including one from a woman who said she didn’t support the war, but her husband had served in Vietnam, and she wanted to be sure to support the troops.
Jonathan and Lexi spent Sunday packing the cookies up and getting set to send them off, with notes saying “Thinking of you from Cape Elizabeth, Maine.”
Because of increased security, sending unmarked boxes to “any soldier” in the Persian Gulf region is complicated, so the kids are making arrangements to send them through the USO.
Cape musicians must choose between prom and performance
Published in the Current
Seven Cape Elizabeth High School students, four of them seniors, may have to give up their high school prom in mid-May in order to participate in the All-State Music Festival at the USM campus in Gorham.
No students will be able to commute to the three-day festival, which runs from May 15 through May 17, according to Joan Hamann, president of the Maine Music Educators Association, which hosts the event.
“We have about 450 students that we are responsible for,” she said.
Students will stay in USM dorm rooms and attend lots of rehearsals and special programs. “The activities will go quite late,” until 9:30 or 10 p.m., Hamann said. Students also will have to observe a curfew.
CEHS principal Jeff Shedd had asked the organization to consider allowing Cape students to stay until the end of evening rehearsals on Friday, May 16, and then leave to attend the prom.
“They would arrive late for the prom, but at least they’d have an opportunity” to attend part of it, Shedd said. It would likely finish too late for students to drive back to Gorham, so Shedd proposed allowing them to stay at their homes and arrive back at the festival early Saturday morning.
He questioned an interpretation of the rules of the festival. Organizers said students had to stay overnight, while Shedd read them differently.
Hamann said students who knew they were going to the prom would not be focused on their music. “It’s hard to believe that that student isn’t going to be watching their watch” all afternoon, she said.
She also wants to be sure students get proper rest. “It’s so strenuous,” she said, “we’ve had students that have passed out” from exertion.
And she wants to be fair about the event. “It’s expecting (students) to make choices,” she said. “It’s trying to provide a good experience with the kids.”
She also said the national association of music educators has issued guidelines for statewide music festivals, which include a recommendation that all participants stay overnight. “Nationally there have been events” that led to the policy suggestion, she said.
No other districts have asked for exemptions, Hamann said. “We’re certainly trying to work with the school system,” she said. She noted that attendance is not mandatory. Students were selected by audition to participate, and there are more students who would want to take any open slots.
CEHS Music Director Tom Lizotte said the decision was “disappointing,” but he was glad that the association had given Shedd’s request “very, very serious consideration.”
Part of the problem is that a scarcity of prom locations means the date for next year’s prom was chosen three months ago, Shedd said. Next year’s music festival won’t be scheduled until this year’s festival actually takes place.
“I hope there will not be a conflict,” he said.
Seven Cape Elizabeth High School students, four of them seniors, may have to give up their high school prom in mid-May in order to participate in the All-State Music Festival at the USM campus in Gorham.
No students will be able to commute to the three-day festival, which runs from May 15 through May 17, according to Joan Hamann, president of the Maine Music Educators Association, which hosts the event.
“We have about 450 students that we are responsible for,” she said.
Students will stay in USM dorm rooms and attend lots of rehearsals and special programs. “The activities will go quite late,” until 9:30 or 10 p.m., Hamann said. Students also will have to observe a curfew.
CEHS principal Jeff Shedd had asked the organization to consider allowing Cape students to stay until the end of evening rehearsals on Friday, May 16, and then leave to attend the prom.
“They would arrive late for the prom, but at least they’d have an opportunity” to attend part of it, Shedd said. It would likely finish too late for students to drive back to Gorham, so Shedd proposed allowing them to stay at their homes and arrive back at the festival early Saturday morning.
He questioned an interpretation of the rules of the festival. Organizers said students had to stay overnight, while Shedd read them differently.
Hamann said students who knew they were going to the prom would not be focused on their music. “It’s hard to believe that that student isn’t going to be watching their watch” all afternoon, she said.
She also wants to be sure students get proper rest. “It’s so strenuous,” she said, “we’ve had students that have passed out” from exertion.
And she wants to be fair about the event. “It’s expecting (students) to make choices,” she said. “It’s trying to provide a good experience with the kids.”
She also said the national association of music educators has issued guidelines for statewide music festivals, which include a recommendation that all participants stay overnight. “Nationally there have been events” that led to the policy suggestion, she said.
No other districts have asked for exemptions, Hamann said. “We’re certainly trying to work with the school system,” she said. She noted that attendance is not mandatory. Students were selected by audition to participate, and there are more students who would want to take any open slots.
CEHS Music Director Tom Lizotte said the decision was “disappointing,” but he was glad that the association had given Shedd’s request “very, very serious consideration.”
Part of the problem is that a scarcity of prom locations means the date for next year’s prom was chosen three months ago, Shedd said. Next year’s music festival won’t be scheduled until this year’s festival actually takes place.
“I hope there will not be a conflict,” he said.
Concannon moves on
Published in the Current
Kevin Concannon of Scarborough, formerly Maine’s commissioner of human services, has taken a job at the helm of the Iowa Department of Human Services.
That agency, like the one planned for Maine, combines health and human services and mental health. It also adds juvenile corrections.
“That is similar to the agency that I was in charge of in Oregon” from 1987 to 1995, Concannon said. Last month he had told the Current that he was looking to the private, non-profit sector. He says now that he had a change of heart on the way back from a job interview in Oregon.
“What do I really like the most?” he asked himself. “What I really like is what I’ve been doing on the public side,” he said.
Iowa is different from Maine in many ways, he said. Iowa has 3 million people spread across twice the geographic area as Maine.
“They have 99 counties,” Concannon said.
There are some similarities, however, in terms of the work he has done here. “They want to have an effect on things like prescription drugs, alternatives to nursing homes and Medicaid waivers. And I said, ‘I’m your man,’” Concannon said.
Of further interest, both the governor and lieutenant governor of Iowa are beneficiaries of the state’s human services department. Gov. Tom Vilsack was adopted, and Lt. Gov. Sally Pederson has an autistic child, Concannon said. He expects their experience to translate to strong support for his work.
Concannon expects to be confirmed by the state Senate in mid-April. He will sell his home in Scarborough and move to the Des Moines area, he said. His children, now adults, are still in Maine however, so Concannon and his wife will return to visit, he said.
Kevin Concannon of Scarborough, formerly Maine’s commissioner of human services, has taken a job at the helm of the Iowa Department of Human Services.
That agency, like the one planned for Maine, combines health and human services and mental health. It also adds juvenile corrections.
“That is similar to the agency that I was in charge of in Oregon” from 1987 to 1995, Concannon said. Last month he had told the Current that he was looking to the private, non-profit sector. He says now that he had a change of heart on the way back from a job interview in Oregon.
“What do I really like the most?” he asked himself. “What I really like is what I’ve been doing on the public side,” he said.
Iowa is different from Maine in many ways, he said. Iowa has 3 million people spread across twice the geographic area as Maine.
“They have 99 counties,” Concannon said.
There are some similarities, however, in terms of the work he has done here. “They want to have an effect on things like prescription drugs, alternatives to nursing homes and Medicaid waivers. And I said, ‘I’m your man,’” Concannon said.
Of further interest, both the governor and lieutenant governor of Iowa are beneficiaries of the state’s human services department. Gov. Tom Vilsack was adopted, and Lt. Gov. Sally Pederson has an autistic child, Concannon said. He expects their experience to translate to strong support for his work.
Concannon expects to be confirmed by the state Senate in mid-April. He will sell his home in Scarborough and move to the Des Moines area, he said. His children, now adults, are still in Maine however, so Concannon and his wife will return to visit, he said.
Ft. Williams fee killed
Published in the Current
As expected, the Cape Elizabeth Town Council ended discussion on admission to Fort Williams Park without imposing any fees. Five councilors said they would not support the fees proposed, and most said they would not support any fee for park entry.
Councilor Mary Ann Lynch, who had proposed a $5 annual charge for cars and $40 for tour buses, said she was glad to have raised the issue for discussion, but accepted that it was not to be. The fee was projected to raise $200,000 annually.
Councilor Anne Swift-Kayatta spoke in support of the fees, but for outsiders, not Cape residents. She said just under half of the e-mails she had received were for the fees.
In the historical documents laying out the park, its use was to be “within the financial capabilities of the town,” Swift-Kayatta said.
She wanted the money to go to the upkeep of the park itself, rather than the town’s general operating fund, as Lynch had proposed.
Because of tight budgets, Swift- Kayatta said people who use the park should pay. “Right now, Cape citizens do not freely enjoy Fort Williams,” because they pay for it through property taxes. “Only the tourists do,” she said.
Councilor Penny Carson said she noticed a contradiction between the proposal and people’s positions. While the idea was put forward to decrease pressure on the property tax and allow fixed-income people to stay in town,
most of the people who spoke against the fee were from the group the idea hoped to protect.
Residents spoke for and against the idea, suggesting some realistic solutions and others more amusing. Many wore stickers saying “NO” to show their opposition to the fees.
Eleanor Baker spoke on behalf of the Fort Williams Charitable Foundation, saying the organization’s mission was to raise charitable donations “to help keep the park free and open for all.” She said the council should give the foundation a chance before imposing fees.
“The foundation hasn’t been given enough time to do its job,” she said.
Other residents also expressed their concern that charging a fee would result in decreased volunteerism at the park.
One volunteer, Ruth Pitzele, said, “the people who volunteer might change their minds” if the park was no longer free.
Another resident suggested keeping costs down by increasing volunteerism. Eric Copperman said he moved to Cape from New York, where there was “class conflict” between people who could afford things and people who could not.
“Please do not do this to our town,” he said. Instead, people could help the town budget themselves: “Go to the park, pick up the trash, do it for free,” he said.
Some also spoke about the tradition of keeping the park free for everyone to use.
Al Barthelman, chair of the Fort Williams Advisory Commission, said the fort’s operating expenses were less than half a percent of town spending.
Jack Sears said Portland Head Light would be the only Maine lighthouse
with an admission fee, and suggested opening the south road for free access to the lighthouse alone. He then drew laughs with his idea of selling sponsorships for the park; he distributed to councilors digital mock-ups of the lighthouse with a Nike “swoosh” logo on it as an example of a way to help the park make money.
Stephen Simonds said he was a member of the last original Fort Williams study committee before the park was actually purchased by the town. “The word we heard was ‘leave this Fort Williams open without a fee,’” he said.
Brian Guthrie suggested asking for donations and seeing how much that raised. He also proposed charging a fine for people who get locked in the park by staying after closing time, saying they cost the town money to unlock the gate and let them out.
Representatives of the tourism industry also spoke to the council. Both Steve Lyons of the state Department of Tourism and Don Haggett, who helps bring bus tours to Maine, said tour companies would want lead time, to be able to incorporate the admission fees into ticket prices.
Jeanne Gross, director of the Portland Head Light Museum, said the museum’s entry fee of $2 turns away half of the people who get to the door. She predicted the volunteers would quit if there were fees, and that the town would have to hire replacements for them.
School funding also came into the discussion. Kevin Stack said he saw a councilor on television say that the town is “wealthy and can afford to pay for a park.” He differed, saying “if we were a wealthy town, there would have been no problem” to pay for the school construction project discussed the previous evening.
Elaine Moloney, finance chair of the School Board, who spoke as a private citizen, said “the schools are struggling in maintaining programs.”
She challenged the town’s statement that its contribution to the county budget is “beyond their control,” while the schools were held to account for reductions in state funding totaling nearly $1 million over the past two years.
“We must look at both the school and the town budgets as one,” she said.
When faced with cutting programs or charging fees, she saw the latter as “the lesser of two evils."
As expected, the Cape Elizabeth Town Council ended discussion on admission to Fort Williams Park without imposing any fees. Five councilors said they would not support the fees proposed, and most said they would not support any fee for park entry.
Councilor Mary Ann Lynch, who had proposed a $5 annual charge for cars and $40 for tour buses, said she was glad to have raised the issue for discussion, but accepted that it was not to be. The fee was projected to raise $200,000 annually.
Councilor Anne Swift-Kayatta spoke in support of the fees, but for outsiders, not Cape residents. She said just under half of the e-mails she had received were for the fees.
In the historical documents laying out the park, its use was to be “within the financial capabilities of the town,” Swift-Kayatta said.
She wanted the money to go to the upkeep of the park itself, rather than the town’s general operating fund, as Lynch had proposed.
Because of tight budgets, Swift- Kayatta said people who use the park should pay. “Right now, Cape citizens do not freely enjoy Fort Williams,” because they pay for it through property taxes. “Only the tourists do,” she said.
Councilor Penny Carson said she noticed a contradiction between the proposal and people’s positions. While the idea was put forward to decrease pressure on the property tax and allow fixed-income people to stay in town,
most of the people who spoke against the fee were from the group the idea hoped to protect.
Residents spoke for and against the idea, suggesting some realistic solutions and others more amusing. Many wore stickers saying “NO” to show their opposition to the fees.
Eleanor Baker spoke on behalf of the Fort Williams Charitable Foundation, saying the organization’s mission was to raise charitable donations “to help keep the park free and open for all.” She said the council should give the foundation a chance before imposing fees.
“The foundation hasn’t been given enough time to do its job,” she said.
Other residents also expressed their concern that charging a fee would result in decreased volunteerism at the park.
One volunteer, Ruth Pitzele, said, “the people who volunteer might change their minds” if the park was no longer free.
Another resident suggested keeping costs down by increasing volunteerism. Eric Copperman said he moved to Cape from New York, where there was “class conflict” between people who could afford things and people who could not.
“Please do not do this to our town,” he said. Instead, people could help the town budget themselves: “Go to the park, pick up the trash, do it for free,” he said.
Some also spoke about the tradition of keeping the park free for everyone to use.
Al Barthelman, chair of the Fort Williams Advisory Commission, said the fort’s operating expenses were less than half a percent of town spending.
Jack Sears said Portland Head Light would be the only Maine lighthouse
with an admission fee, and suggested opening the south road for free access to the lighthouse alone. He then drew laughs with his idea of selling sponsorships for the park; he distributed to councilors digital mock-ups of the lighthouse with a Nike “swoosh” logo on it as an example of a way to help the park make money.
Stephen Simonds said he was a member of the last original Fort Williams study committee before the park was actually purchased by the town. “The word we heard was ‘leave this Fort Williams open without a fee,’” he said.
Brian Guthrie suggested asking for donations and seeing how much that raised. He also proposed charging a fine for people who get locked in the park by staying after closing time, saying they cost the town money to unlock the gate and let them out.
Representatives of the tourism industry also spoke to the council. Both Steve Lyons of the state Department of Tourism and Don Haggett, who helps bring bus tours to Maine, said tour companies would want lead time, to be able to incorporate the admission fees into ticket prices.
Jeanne Gross, director of the Portland Head Light Museum, said the museum’s entry fee of $2 turns away half of the people who get to the door. She predicted the volunteers would quit if there were fees, and that the town would have to hire replacements for them.
School funding also came into the discussion. Kevin Stack said he saw a councilor on television say that the town is “wealthy and can afford to pay for a park.” He differed, saying “if we were a wealthy town, there would have been no problem” to pay for the school construction project discussed the previous evening.
Elaine Moloney, finance chair of the School Board, who spoke as a private citizen, said “the schools are struggling in maintaining programs.”
She challenged the town’s statement that its contribution to the county budget is “beyond their control,” while the schools were held to account for reductions in state funding totaling nearly $1 million over the past two years.
“We must look at both the school and the town budgets as one,” she said.
When faced with cutting programs or charging fees, she saw the latter as “the lesser of two evils."
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