Published in the Current
Cape Elizabeth and South Portland residents of House District 24 have a choice of two men who both support increased education funding and health care reform, but have differing ideas about how to reach their goals.
Incumbent Democrat Larry Bliss, 55, is facing Republican Wayne H. Ross, 66. Both are Clean Elections candidates.
Bliss, director of career services and professional life development at the University of Southern Maine, became a candidate two years ago, as a last minute fill-in after the primary, because, he said, “I thought it might be interesting.” After he won, he found out he was right.
“It was both more work and more fun than I ever thought it would be,” Bliss said. He is proud of what he has been able to accomplish and wants to continue his work.
Ross, who retired as president of Southern Maine Technical College a year ago, entered the race this year with no prior political experience, because he is concerned about issues at the state level.
Bliss thinks the state should pay for schools what it said it would pay, 55 percent of the cost of education. He said the state now pays 45 percent.
If the state paid in full, he said, the money should be used for property tax relief and should not be used to boost local budgets, either for schools or for towns.
Ross looks at it slightly differently, saying the state should spend one-third of its total budget on school funding, as it did in 1992. Now the state spends about 27 percent, he said. Making up the difference would provide $160 million for property tax relief.
Ross would also like to revamp the school funding formula to reduce its reliance on property valuations. “It’s got to be fair and equitable,” he said.
Last year, with property valuations up and school enrollment flat, “Cape Elizabeth and South Portland got hurt badly,” Ross said.
He also proposed capping valuations for retirees on fixed incomes.
Bliss, too, wants property tax reform. In a meeting with a number of South Portland neighborhood associations, he heard a lot about the pressures property tax hikes are placing on residents. “The stories that got told are heart-wrenching,” Bliss said.
Bliss also knows there are hard stories about health insurance in Maine. He supports a single-payer system that would reduce administrative costs, thereby lowering medical care prices.
He also likes Jonathan Carter’s plan to charge businesses 7 to 13 percent of their payroll for healthcare coverage, which is lower than the 35 to 40 percent most businesses now pay for private insurance. “The total cost will be much less,” Bliss said.
Ross opposes a single-payer system, saying the state would not be efficient and has already raised medical costs too high with state mandates and regulations. Ross said liability and malpractice insurance costs are also part of the problem of expensive medical care.
Ross said the state should pay the full price for services provided to Medicare patients. At present, he said, the state only pays half, leaving doctors and hospitals to shift the remaining cost onto private insurers and uninsured people.
Both men acknowledge their ideas will cost money, not save it, in a time when the state budget is facing a revenue shortfall of as much as $1 billion for the next budget cycle.
Bliss suggested broadening the state sales tax to include more items. “We have the narrowest sales tax in the country,” Bliss said.
He also suggested looking at ways to tax visitors to Maine, such as the lodging tax, increased last year from 7 percent to 8 percent. “We’re still the lowest lodging tax in New England,” he said. Upping the tax to 10 percent, he said, would bring Maine more into line with other states in the region, and would raise revenue significantly.
Ross would make up the additional expense by stopping new programs that were funded in the last legislature but not yet started.
“If we haven’t implemented it, why do we need to move forward?” Ross asked.
Both said the state will need to set priorities and plan spending along those lines, to make ends meet.
Thursday, October 10, 2002
Dorm room’s the firehouse for these SMTC students
Published in the Current
Helping town taxpayers and budding firefighters, the Scarborough Fire Department’s live-in student program is entering its 16th year this fall.
Started in 1986 by then-Fire Chief Robert Carson and firefighter Don Jackson, the program allows students in the fire science course at Southern Maine Technical College to live rent-free in the town’s fire stations, in exchange for going on fire and rescue calls and doing maintenance and cleaning work around the station.
When it began, there was one student at Pleasant Hill Fire Station. Now there are 14 students scattered around town, and Fire Chief Michael Thurlow wants to expand it as space allows. Two of the students are women, and several are involved in courses for paramedics or law enforcement, as follow-up studies to fire science.
Deputy Chief Glen Deering oversees the program. Most of the students, he said, start out at 18 years old, and it’s their first time away from home. “You have to work with them, but they’re a lot of fun,” Deering said.
Students whose homes are near SMTC can live at home, the assumption goes. So Scarborough offers its firehouse rooms to students from northern Maine, and even Massachusetts. Some students may not be able to afford both tuition and lodging, Deering said, meaning the live-in arrangement could be the deciding factor in whether a student even attends SMTC.
Others participate for the experience and the career boost. Students never respond alone to a call, allowing them to learn from others. Some come with significant firefighting experience, while others have next to none. But all are at SMTC, and in Scarborough, to learn.
They sign a contract, which includes a curfew and a requirement that they keep their grades up. In exchange for their work, they get a room and free cable TV and Internet access, which are already installed in the station houses anyway.
It is a quiet life. With a 10:30 p.m. curfew and a requirement to be out of bed by 7:30 a.m. on work days and 8 a.m. on school vacations and days off, the students don’t have a lot of time to participate in traditional college life.
But they sign up for it and say it’s not really a problem.
Josh Young, a 19-year-old from Bethel, has been a firefighter since he was 16. A son of a firefighter, he grew up around the fire service.
“It’s a good experience,” Young said. “We get to find out what it’s going to be like for the rest of our lives.” Living around a station house is a skill that must be learned, in addition to how to handle fire or medical emergencies.
In his time in the fire station at Black Point, Young has met a lot of Scarborough’s part-time or per-diem firefighters and paramedics. Many of them are full-time members of other departments in the area, working second jobs to make a bit more money.
“It’s a foot in the door,” Young said.
The students also spend a lot of time with each other. In some cases, they are in the same classes and can work on homework or group projects together.
They have a monthly student meeting at a firehouse, at which they cook supper and talk about how things are going.
On days off, the student firefighters often end up stopping by the other fire stations to visit their friends and relax.
“Every station has its benefits,” said Jon Rioux, a student living at Dunstan’s fire station. Black Point has single rooms, while the other stations require students to share double rooms. The configuration and layout of the stations differ, as do the type of calls. Some stations handle boat calls, while others deal more with vehicle extrication or calls to larger buildings.
“It gives you full-time experience,” Rioux said, which is a leg up in the competitive job market. Plus, he said, “you get to do all the chores.”
Once out of the program, students have job opportunities. The live-in program has a known reputation, and combined with SMTC’s associate’s degree in fire science technology, looking for a job gets easier.
“It looks really good on a resume,” Young said.
One recent hire in Scarborough is a graduate of the program. Andy Clark, now a paramedic based at Dunstan, entered the student live-in program in 1996. He lived in town fire stations for four years, while he studied fire science and became a paramedic.
Clark recommends it to others. “Sitting in a dorm, you’re not going to get any experience,” he said “Live in a fire station and get experience. You can’t beat that.”
Helping town taxpayers and budding firefighters, the Scarborough Fire Department’s live-in student program is entering its 16th year this fall.
Started in 1986 by then-Fire Chief Robert Carson and firefighter Don Jackson, the program allows students in the fire science course at Southern Maine Technical College to live rent-free in the town’s fire stations, in exchange for going on fire and rescue calls and doing maintenance and cleaning work around the station.
When it began, there was one student at Pleasant Hill Fire Station. Now there are 14 students scattered around town, and Fire Chief Michael Thurlow wants to expand it as space allows. Two of the students are women, and several are involved in courses for paramedics or law enforcement, as follow-up studies to fire science.
Deputy Chief Glen Deering oversees the program. Most of the students, he said, start out at 18 years old, and it’s their first time away from home. “You have to work with them, but they’re a lot of fun,” Deering said.
Students whose homes are near SMTC can live at home, the assumption goes. So Scarborough offers its firehouse rooms to students from northern Maine, and even Massachusetts. Some students may not be able to afford both tuition and lodging, Deering said, meaning the live-in arrangement could be the deciding factor in whether a student even attends SMTC.
Others participate for the experience and the career boost. Students never respond alone to a call, allowing them to learn from others. Some come with significant firefighting experience, while others have next to none. But all are at SMTC, and in Scarborough, to learn.
They sign a contract, which includes a curfew and a requirement that they keep their grades up. In exchange for their work, they get a room and free cable TV and Internet access, which are already installed in the station houses anyway.
It is a quiet life. With a 10:30 p.m. curfew and a requirement to be out of bed by 7:30 a.m. on work days and 8 a.m. on school vacations and days off, the students don’t have a lot of time to participate in traditional college life.
But they sign up for it and say it’s not really a problem.
Josh Young, a 19-year-old from Bethel, has been a firefighter since he was 16. A son of a firefighter, he grew up around the fire service.
“It’s a good experience,” Young said. “We get to find out what it’s going to be like for the rest of our lives.” Living around a station house is a skill that must be learned, in addition to how to handle fire or medical emergencies.
In his time in the fire station at Black Point, Young has met a lot of Scarborough’s part-time or per-diem firefighters and paramedics. Many of them are full-time members of other departments in the area, working second jobs to make a bit more money.
“It’s a foot in the door,” Young said.
The students also spend a lot of time with each other. In some cases, they are in the same classes and can work on homework or group projects together.
They have a monthly student meeting at a firehouse, at which they cook supper and talk about how things are going.
On days off, the student firefighters often end up stopping by the other fire stations to visit their friends and relax.
“Every station has its benefits,” said Jon Rioux, a student living at Dunstan’s fire station. Black Point has single rooms, while the other stations require students to share double rooms. The configuration and layout of the stations differ, as do the type of calls. Some stations handle boat calls, while others deal more with vehicle extrication or calls to larger buildings.
“It gives you full-time experience,” Rioux said, which is a leg up in the competitive job market. Plus, he said, “you get to do all the chores.”
Once out of the program, students have job opportunities. The live-in program has a known reputation, and combined with SMTC’s associate’s degree in fire science technology, looking for a job gets easier.
“It looks really good on a resume,” Young said.
One recent hire in Scarborough is a graduate of the program. Andy Clark, now a paramedic based at Dunstan, entered the student live-in program in 1996. He lived in town fire stations for four years, while he studied fire science and became a paramedic.
Clark recommends it to others. “Sitting in a dorm, you’re not going to get any experience,” he said “Live in a fire station and get experience. You can’t beat that.”
Breast cancer walks draw 1,000
Published in the Current
Over 1,000 people of all ages streamed into Fort Williams Park Oct. 7 to support breast cancer research and treatment. The annual Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walk was in Cape for the fifth year, as well as numerous other locations around the state and across the country.
In Cape, dogs and kids in strollers were among the crowds of people who did two laps around the park to raise money for the American Cancer Society. The funds will support breast cancer research, advocacy, early detection outreach and awareness programs and patient support programs.
Laurel Jeffers of Scarborough is on the organizing committee and had a large support group for her team, named “I Love My Life.”
Jeffers, who is living with breast cancer, said she is trying to raise money to promote testing for women under 40. She was diagnosed two years ago, at age 31. “You really don’t have to have a family history,” Jeffers said.
She said mammograms and ultrasounds are not complete diagnostic tools the way a biopsy is. She was undiagnosed for two years because her doctors did not perform a biopsy.
“Mammograms just aren’t cutting it,” Jeffers said. The most important part, she said, is not medical technology. “You have to do your monthly breast exam,” she said.
Pam Foster of Scarborough said she is involved because her mother died of breast cancer in 1976. Her mother-in-law also died of breast cancer, making Foster concerned for her 12-year-old daughter ’s health in adulthood.
Several Scarborough High School students also participated. “It’s really good that they give us this opportunity” to combat breast cancer, said Leah Wallof. “It’s just so important that we need a cure,” said Kerry Jones.
Five years ago, the walk had nine teams and 90 people, according to organizer Terry Baker. This year they had over 50 teams and over 1,000 people. The event raised about $60,000, according to preliminary numbers.
Over 1,000 people of all ages streamed into Fort Williams Park Oct. 7 to support breast cancer research and treatment. The annual Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walk was in Cape for the fifth year, as well as numerous other locations around the state and across the country.
In Cape, dogs and kids in strollers were among the crowds of people who did two laps around the park to raise money for the American Cancer Society. The funds will support breast cancer research, advocacy, early detection outreach and awareness programs and patient support programs.
Laurel Jeffers of Scarborough is on the organizing committee and had a large support group for her team, named “I Love My Life.”
Jeffers, who is living with breast cancer, said she is trying to raise money to promote testing for women under 40. She was diagnosed two years ago, at age 31. “You really don’t have to have a family history,” Jeffers said.
She said mammograms and ultrasounds are not complete diagnostic tools the way a biopsy is. She was undiagnosed for two years because her doctors did not perform a biopsy.
“Mammograms just aren’t cutting it,” Jeffers said. The most important part, she said, is not medical technology. “You have to do your monthly breast exam,” she said.
Pam Foster of Scarborough said she is involved because her mother died of breast cancer in 1976. Her mother-in-law also died of breast cancer, making Foster concerned for her 12-year-old daughter ’s health in adulthood.
Several Scarborough High School students also participated. “It’s really good that they give us this opportunity” to combat breast cancer, said Leah Wallof. “It’s just so important that we need a cure,” said Kerry Jones.
Five years ago, the walk had nine teams and 90 people, according to organizer Terry Baker. This year they had over 50 teams and over 1,000 people. The event raised about $60,000, according to preliminary numbers.
Parents worried about laptop insurance
Published in the Current
To a soundtrack of “If I Had A Million Dollars” by the Barenaked Ladies, Cape parents walked into the middle school cafetorium on three different
occasions last week to get their first real look at the seventh-grade laptop program.
While most of the parents were impressed, significant concerns remain, though not in the educational aspects of the computers.
Rather, parents are worried about increased liability if their children take the laptops home and damage them. The laptops are worth up to $1,300, with the monitor screen alone costing $1,000 to replace.
The meetings, required by the state before a school district can send laptops home with students, were well attended, according to middle school Principal Nancy Hutton. Cape was one of the first towns in the state to get the laptops to the students earlier this school year, and is one of the first to have parent meetings as well, Hutton said.
Yellow Light Breen, a spokesman for the Maine Department of Education, said a form of self-insurance is in place for the laptops. Apple Computer has supplied the state with a number of spare laptops that can be used to replace damaged machines.
Breen said school districts should contact their own insurance carriers to discuss the cost of insuring the laptops locally.
He said other locations distributing laptops have used an insurance policy costing about $50 per machine. It is presently available to school districts in Maine, Breen said, but is not mandatory.
The policy, offered by a company called Safeware. The Insurance Agency, out of Columbus, Ohio, does not cover intentional damage and is presently available either individually or as a district-wide group policy.
The sales manager at Safeware, Brian Haase, said the group policy costs $49.50 per machine, while purchasing insurance individually could cost twice as much. “The best rates are under our group program,” which Haase said has a minimum group size of 10 participants.
Insurance is of particular concern to parents as the schools look at sending the laptops home as early as the end of this month.
“The School Board supports getting these home as quickly as possible,” said Technology Coordinator Gary Lanoie, but is concerned about the schools’potential liability if some computers are broken or damaged.
Some of Cape’s machines have already been dropped and damaged during in-school use, Lanoie said, blaming some of the incidents on the cases used to carry and store the computers.
They have several fastening devices that must all be secured, and the computers could be even more protected, Lanoie said, by installing adhesive Velcro straps to the computer and the inside of the carrying case.
At present, that is forbidden by the state’s policy of not allowing any stickers to be applied to the machines.
Use at home
Internet use during school is monitored by teachers and filtered through the school’s Internet connection. At home, however, those restrictions loosen. Hutton and Lanoie all made it clear that students are expected to use their laptops in public areas of their homes, and not lock themselves away from family members while typing.
Parents are entitled to know their children’s passwords and are allowed to supervise any activity their kids undertake on the laptops. Lanoie said students should not be allowed to install games on the laptops, saying that is what home computers are for.
“These are for educational purposes,” he said.
To make it easier to get on-line with the laptops at home, Lanoie has installed several pre-set configurations for local Internet services.
Parent Ken Alden is working to get together a group of parents to discuss parental issues with the laptops, but said Tuesday he has not gotten much interest so far. He believes parents are waiting until the laptops actually come home before getting involved.
Alden said he thinks the program is a good one, but is concerned about the raiding of the laptop fund by the state government to make up budget shortfalls.
Good opportunities
Lanoie and members of the seventh-grade iTeam – a group of students trained to help others with the laptops – showed parents several features of the software installed on the computers, including the entire World Book Encyclopedia, complete with video and audio, as well as the standard text and photos.
Also installed by the Cape schools is the latest version of Microsoft Office software, including Word, Excel and Powerpoint. Lanoie said that was to help prepare students for high school and later life, in which they would be expected to use Microsoft software, as well as to ease the process of e-mailing work between home and school computers.
Seventh-grade teacher and laptop project leader Beverly Bisbee said she has been pleased to see that girls are as involved as boys in the laptop effort, including the iTeam.
She is looking forward to seeing how the program progresses, with laptops expected for both seventh and eighth grades next year. But, she said, further out than that remains unclear. “What’s going to happen when they get to ninth grade? We don’t know yet,” Bisbee said.
First will come the challenge of taking the laptops home this year. Bisbee said teachers are working hard to make sure homework assignments are not dependent on laptop use. Parents are able to choose whether their children are allowed to take their laptops home on any given day, or ever.
After the seventh-graders return next week from their trip to Kieve, a week-long leadership experience in Nobleboro, teachers and students will begin to learn about using electronic mail on the laptops, through a statewide e-mail system for all seventh-grade students and staff.
Parents will be able to e-mail students during the school day, Lanoie said, but “we don’t want that to become the new way to pass notes in class.”
To a soundtrack of “If I Had A Million Dollars” by the Barenaked Ladies, Cape parents walked into the middle school cafetorium on three different
occasions last week to get their first real look at the seventh-grade laptop program.
While most of the parents were impressed, significant concerns remain, though not in the educational aspects of the computers.
Rather, parents are worried about increased liability if their children take the laptops home and damage them. The laptops are worth up to $1,300, with the monitor screen alone costing $1,000 to replace.
The meetings, required by the state before a school district can send laptops home with students, were well attended, according to middle school Principal Nancy Hutton. Cape was one of the first towns in the state to get the laptops to the students earlier this school year, and is one of the first to have parent meetings as well, Hutton said.
Yellow Light Breen, a spokesman for the Maine Department of Education, said a form of self-insurance is in place for the laptops. Apple Computer has supplied the state with a number of spare laptops that can be used to replace damaged machines.
Breen said school districts should contact their own insurance carriers to discuss the cost of insuring the laptops locally.
He said other locations distributing laptops have used an insurance policy costing about $50 per machine. It is presently available to school districts in Maine, Breen said, but is not mandatory.
The policy, offered by a company called Safeware. The Insurance Agency, out of Columbus, Ohio, does not cover intentional damage and is presently available either individually or as a district-wide group policy.
The sales manager at Safeware, Brian Haase, said the group policy costs $49.50 per machine, while purchasing insurance individually could cost twice as much. “The best rates are under our group program,” which Haase said has a minimum group size of 10 participants.
Insurance is of particular concern to parents as the schools look at sending the laptops home as early as the end of this month.
“The School Board supports getting these home as quickly as possible,” said Technology Coordinator Gary Lanoie, but is concerned about the schools’potential liability if some computers are broken or damaged.
Some of Cape’s machines have already been dropped and damaged during in-school use, Lanoie said, blaming some of the incidents on the cases used to carry and store the computers.
They have several fastening devices that must all be secured, and the computers could be even more protected, Lanoie said, by installing adhesive Velcro straps to the computer and the inside of the carrying case.
At present, that is forbidden by the state’s policy of not allowing any stickers to be applied to the machines.
Use at home
Internet use during school is monitored by teachers and filtered through the school’s Internet connection. At home, however, those restrictions loosen. Hutton and Lanoie all made it clear that students are expected to use their laptops in public areas of their homes, and not lock themselves away from family members while typing.
Parents are entitled to know their children’s passwords and are allowed to supervise any activity their kids undertake on the laptops. Lanoie said students should not be allowed to install games on the laptops, saying that is what home computers are for.
“These are for educational purposes,” he said.
To make it easier to get on-line with the laptops at home, Lanoie has installed several pre-set configurations for local Internet services.
Parent Ken Alden is working to get together a group of parents to discuss parental issues with the laptops, but said Tuesday he has not gotten much interest so far. He believes parents are waiting until the laptops actually come home before getting involved.
Alden said he thinks the program is a good one, but is concerned about the raiding of the laptop fund by the state government to make up budget shortfalls.
Good opportunities
Lanoie and members of the seventh-grade iTeam – a group of students trained to help others with the laptops – showed parents several features of the software installed on the computers, including the entire World Book Encyclopedia, complete with video and audio, as well as the standard text and photos.
Also installed by the Cape schools is the latest version of Microsoft Office software, including Word, Excel and Powerpoint. Lanoie said that was to help prepare students for high school and later life, in which they would be expected to use Microsoft software, as well as to ease the process of e-mailing work between home and school computers.
Seventh-grade teacher and laptop project leader Beverly Bisbee said she has been pleased to see that girls are as involved as boys in the laptop effort, including the iTeam.
She is looking forward to seeing how the program progresses, with laptops expected for both seventh and eighth grades next year. But, she said, further out than that remains unclear. “What’s going to happen when they get to ninth grade? We don’t know yet,” Bisbee said.
First will come the challenge of taking the laptops home this year. Bisbee said teachers are working hard to make sure homework assignments are not dependent on laptop use. Parents are able to choose whether their children are allowed to take their laptops home on any given day, or ever.
After the seventh-graders return next week from their trip to Kieve, a week-long leadership experience in Nobleboro, teachers and students will begin to learn about using electronic mail on the laptops, through a statewide e-mail system for all seventh-grade students and staff.
Parents will be able to e-mail students during the school day, Lanoie said, but “we don’t want that to become the new way to pass notes in class.”
Cape student suspended for coming to dance drunk
Published in the Current
One Cape Elizabeth High School student has been suspended after coming to the school’s Homecoming Dance drunk and getting sick, according to Principal Jeff Shedd. The administration is also looking into the possibility that the student was not alone.
“There are unconfirmed reports of others,” Shedd said.
Junior Hillary Weimont and senior Aaron McKenney expressed concern about the incident and the administration’s reaction at the regular School
Board meeting Tuesday, where the two are representatives of the high school student body.
McKenney said he was worried that disciplinary action would be too sweeping. “I don’t think we should all suffer because of some kids,” he told the board.
McKenney said the school was looking at having more chaperones at future dances, including possibly coaches, who might be expected to be more aware of members of their teams.
Shedd told the board they had enough chaperones by “old standards,” but the events at the dance showed “we need to have even more.”
In the past, he said, six chaperones for a dance were believed to be enough, but now he is looking at doubling that number, he told the Current.
He said he was considering asking coaches to chaperone dances “because they know the kids in a different way.” Partly because of the coach-athlete relationship and partly because of school policies of athletic suspension for intoxication, Shedd said, “it would be a very strong deterrent.”
Shedd said other schools have problems with alcohol use, too, but in Cape the problem is student efforts to hide their drinking. “The degree of brazenness and the degree of sophistication that our kids bring to disguising their drinking is startling,” Shedd told the board.
He told the Current that he was at the door much of the night, checking students for signs of drunkenness when they arrived. “There was a strong smell of breath mint and gum” when some students entered, he said, but none of those students showed signs of intoxication.
“I was at the door … and I couldn’t tell,” he said.
The student, who was found out when he got sick, was suspended for two days, in keeping with the district’s policy on first offenses for intoxication on school grounds. Subsequent offenses bring longer suspensions.
Board members did not make comments following either report, with the exception of Elaine Moloney, who thanked Shedd for his efforts to involve parents and teachers in Homecoming activities.
Superintendent Tom Forcella said the students were disciplined in keeping with the policies in the student handbook, which include suspension from school and from athletic teams.
The student in question was not a member of any athletic team, Shedd said.
Shedd said he is concerned for the safety of all students. He also said he will take what action is necessary to prevent this from recurring. “The result will be a tightening up,” he said.
One Cape Elizabeth High School student has been suspended after coming to the school’s Homecoming Dance drunk and getting sick, according to Principal Jeff Shedd. The administration is also looking into the possibility that the student was not alone.
“There are unconfirmed reports of others,” Shedd said.
Junior Hillary Weimont and senior Aaron McKenney expressed concern about the incident and the administration’s reaction at the regular School
Board meeting Tuesday, where the two are representatives of the high school student body.
McKenney said he was worried that disciplinary action would be too sweeping. “I don’t think we should all suffer because of some kids,” he told the board.
McKenney said the school was looking at having more chaperones at future dances, including possibly coaches, who might be expected to be more aware of members of their teams.
Shedd told the board they had enough chaperones by “old standards,” but the events at the dance showed “we need to have even more.”
In the past, he said, six chaperones for a dance were believed to be enough, but now he is looking at doubling that number, he told the Current.
He said he was considering asking coaches to chaperone dances “because they know the kids in a different way.” Partly because of the coach-athlete relationship and partly because of school policies of athletic suspension for intoxication, Shedd said, “it would be a very strong deterrent.”
Shedd said other schools have problems with alcohol use, too, but in Cape the problem is student efforts to hide their drinking. “The degree of brazenness and the degree of sophistication that our kids bring to disguising their drinking is startling,” Shedd told the board.
He told the Current that he was at the door much of the night, checking students for signs of drunkenness when they arrived. “There was a strong smell of breath mint and gum” when some students entered, he said, but none of those students showed signs of intoxication.
“I was at the door … and I couldn’t tell,” he said.
The student, who was found out when he got sick, was suspended for two days, in keeping with the district’s policy on first offenses for intoxication on school grounds. Subsequent offenses bring longer suspensions.
Board members did not make comments following either report, with the exception of Elaine Moloney, who thanked Shedd for his efforts to involve parents and teachers in Homecoming activities.
Superintendent Tom Forcella said the students were disciplined in keeping with the policies in the student handbook, which include suspension from school and from athletic teams.
The student in question was not a member of any athletic team, Shedd said.
Shedd said he is concerned for the safety of all students. He also said he will take what action is necessary to prevent this from recurring. “The result will be a tightening up,” he said.
Students suspended for drugs at SHS
Published in the Current; co-written with Kate Irish Collins
Three students have been suspended from Scarborough High School after two of them were caught under the influence of a prescription drug stolen by the third from her mother.
On Sept. 27, two male students came to school “impaired,” according to Detective Sgt. Rick Rouse. They had taken medication belonging to the mother of a female friend of theirs, who had stolen it.
All of the students are aged 14 or 15, Rouse said, and were charged with possession of illegal drugs. One of the male students was on probation for a
prior offense and was taken to Long Creek Youth Development Center in South Portland. The other male was charged with “another drug offense,” Rouse said. He was not able to determine what that charge was.
Police later identified the drug as clonazepam, which is sold under the brand name Klonopin. Principal Andrew Dolloff said the drug is used to quell anxiety and is also an anti-seizure medication.
Dolloff said the students came to the attention of a staff member, who reported that they appeared to be high on something.
Dolloff said the procedure, when it is suspected that a student is under the influence, is to call them into the main office and access their condition.
He also said a search was conducted, but school officials did not find the drug in the possession of the students.
Dolloff said discussions are still ongoing about further consequences, including possible expulsion for the student who supplied the drug in the first place. He said that this type of incident at school during school hours is fairly rare, but this incident has raised his level of concern.
Dolloff is planning to hold a forum for parents in the near future to talk about what kids in Scarborough are doing after school, including getting
involved in using drugs and alcohol and engaging in sexual activity.
Dolloff said one thing the school can do is to take a strong stance when students are caught on school grounds, which includes the automatic suspensions.
This week freshmen are participating in preventative awareness programs that focus on issues facing teenagers, including social pressure and participating in illegal activities.
Three students have been suspended from Scarborough High School after two of them were caught under the influence of a prescription drug stolen by the third from her mother.
On Sept. 27, two male students came to school “impaired,” according to Detective Sgt. Rick Rouse. They had taken medication belonging to the mother of a female friend of theirs, who had stolen it.
All of the students are aged 14 or 15, Rouse said, and were charged with possession of illegal drugs. One of the male students was on probation for a
prior offense and was taken to Long Creek Youth Development Center in South Portland. The other male was charged with “another drug offense,” Rouse said. He was not able to determine what that charge was.
Police later identified the drug as clonazepam, which is sold under the brand name Klonopin. Principal Andrew Dolloff said the drug is used to quell anxiety and is also an anti-seizure medication.
Dolloff said the students came to the attention of a staff member, who reported that they appeared to be high on something.
Dolloff said the procedure, when it is suspected that a student is under the influence, is to call them into the main office and access their condition.
He also said a search was conducted, but school officials did not find the drug in the possession of the students.
Dolloff said discussions are still ongoing about further consequences, including possible expulsion for the student who supplied the drug in the first place. He said that this type of incident at school during school hours is fairly rare, but this incident has raised his level of concern.
Dolloff is planning to hold a forum for parents in the near future to talk about what kids in Scarborough are doing after school, including getting
involved in using drugs and alcohol and engaging in sexual activity.
Dolloff said one thing the school can do is to take a strong stance when students are caught on school grounds, which includes the automatic suspensions.
This week freshmen are participating in preventative awareness programs that focus on issues facing teenagers, including social pressure and participating in illegal activities.
Thursday, October 3, 2002
Public needs to weigh in on Cape school expansion
Published in the Current
Frustrated at being shut out of the planning process, Cape town councilors expect to have a workshop and a public hearing on the school renovation project before sending it to a town-wide referendum in May.
The plan, now estimated to cost $10 million for renovations to the high school and additions to Pond Cove School, remains under review by the school building committee and must be approved by that body and the School Board before going to the council in December.
“It’s a huge amount of money, number one,” said Town Council Chair Jack Roberts. “And number two, the council never appointed this building committee. If they had wanted to involve the council early on, they should have.”
The School Board-appointed building committee, headed by School Board Chair Marie Prager, took a preliminary version of the project to the town’s Planning Board in early September, before either the School Board or the Town Council had looked at the plans, Roberts said.
That’s ignoring the proper flow of this type of process, Roberts said. “It should be coming to the council first.”
The Planning Board did not make any formal decisions, but asked for site plans and a traffic analysis when they are available.
Roberts said the council has not had any official word on the project, though council finance Chair Mary Ann Lynch is a member of the building committee, as is Town Manager Michael McGovern.
Public support needed
Lynch said she, too, wants to hear from the town. “It’s a project of such a magnitude for our small town that it really needs to have the support of the public,” she said. It is especially true because it benefits “one segment of the town” and is paid for by the entire town.
She warned that in the current economic conditions, “the larger the number, the harder the project will be to sell.”
Roberts and Lynch have met with Prager and school finance Chair Elaine Moloney, but Roberts characterized those meetings as “laying down groundwork” for the upcoming budget process, which all parties expect to be difficult due to state budget problems.
Roberts said he first heard the dollar amounts for the school projects by reading local newspapers, and said he knows the building committee has “made a strong effort” to reduce costs from their initial $11.7 million amount.
The latest dollar amount is $9.9 million, with $7.4 million to renovate the high school and $2.5 million to add a kindergarten wing and an art room to Pond Cove School.
The next building committee workshop will focus on Pond Cove, following an Oct. 8 School Board vote on whether the addition will be two stories or one story. That decision will be made based on whether the town wants to keep open an option for all-day kindergarten.
The October School Board workshop will address programs for the high school and middle school. “We want to make sure that all programming issues are done before we start (building),” Prager said.
High School plans developing
The process of planning the building has continued, however. A Sept. 26 building committee meeting addressed work at the high school, and included the completely new idea of expanding the lighted lower field to become the school’s main field, as well as questions on costs for new parking spaces.
At that meeting, Prager said she wanted to develop four options. The first would be an unchanged $9.2 million project previously described as containing all the items on the “wish list” of school staff and administrators. The fourth option would be a “bare bones” project, including only “what we absolutely have to have,” Prager said. The second and third options would be “somewhere in between.”
Those options, she said, would be presented to the School Board Nov. 12 for a decision on which to send to the Town Council. At that time, Prager said, she and Moloney will meet with Roberts and Lynch, and then “with each councilor individually” to discuss the proposal.
Lynch, in attendance at the meeting, said the council would likely have a workshop and then a public hearing on the matter before voting to send it to referendum in May.
Some of the things the committee is looking at are a list of line items that could be added or deleted, including resurfacing the track, expanding the size of the school’s lighted lower field to accommodate varsity sports, reconfiguring the locker rooms to eliminate the need for a building addition, eliminating an addition to the cafeteria, and reupholstering the seats in the auditorium instead of replacing them.
Costs for the specific items have not yet been determined. A $500,000 sprinkler system will be included if local and state fire inspectors determine it is necessary.
The building committee will next meet at 7 p.m., Oct. 30, in the Jordan Conference Room in Town Hall and will make a report to the School Board at the board’s regular business meeting at 7:30 p.m., Nov. 12, in the Town Council Chambers.
Frustrated at being shut out of the planning process, Cape town councilors expect to have a workshop and a public hearing on the school renovation project before sending it to a town-wide referendum in May.
The plan, now estimated to cost $10 million for renovations to the high school and additions to Pond Cove School, remains under review by the school building committee and must be approved by that body and the School Board before going to the council in December.
“It’s a huge amount of money, number one,” said Town Council Chair Jack Roberts. “And number two, the council never appointed this building committee. If they had wanted to involve the council early on, they should have.”
The School Board-appointed building committee, headed by School Board Chair Marie Prager, took a preliminary version of the project to the town’s Planning Board in early September, before either the School Board or the Town Council had looked at the plans, Roberts said.
That’s ignoring the proper flow of this type of process, Roberts said. “It should be coming to the council first.”
The Planning Board did not make any formal decisions, but asked for site plans and a traffic analysis when they are available.
Roberts said the council has not had any official word on the project, though council finance Chair Mary Ann Lynch is a member of the building committee, as is Town Manager Michael McGovern.
Public support needed
Lynch said she, too, wants to hear from the town. “It’s a project of such a magnitude for our small town that it really needs to have the support of the public,” she said. It is especially true because it benefits “one segment of the town” and is paid for by the entire town.
She warned that in the current economic conditions, “the larger the number, the harder the project will be to sell.”
Roberts and Lynch have met with Prager and school finance Chair Elaine Moloney, but Roberts characterized those meetings as “laying down groundwork” for the upcoming budget process, which all parties expect to be difficult due to state budget problems.
Roberts said he first heard the dollar amounts for the school projects by reading local newspapers, and said he knows the building committee has “made a strong effort” to reduce costs from their initial $11.7 million amount.
The latest dollar amount is $9.9 million, with $7.4 million to renovate the high school and $2.5 million to add a kindergarten wing and an art room to Pond Cove School.
The next building committee workshop will focus on Pond Cove, following an Oct. 8 School Board vote on whether the addition will be two stories or one story. That decision will be made based on whether the town wants to keep open an option for all-day kindergarten.
The October School Board workshop will address programs for the high school and middle school. “We want to make sure that all programming issues are done before we start (building),” Prager said.
High School plans developing
The process of planning the building has continued, however. A Sept. 26 building committee meeting addressed work at the high school, and included the completely new idea of expanding the lighted lower field to become the school’s main field, as well as questions on costs for new parking spaces.
At that meeting, Prager said she wanted to develop four options. The first would be an unchanged $9.2 million project previously described as containing all the items on the “wish list” of school staff and administrators. The fourth option would be a “bare bones” project, including only “what we absolutely have to have,” Prager said. The second and third options would be “somewhere in between.”
Those options, she said, would be presented to the School Board Nov. 12 for a decision on which to send to the Town Council. At that time, Prager said, she and Moloney will meet with Roberts and Lynch, and then “with each councilor individually” to discuss the proposal.
Lynch, in attendance at the meeting, said the council would likely have a workshop and then a public hearing on the matter before voting to send it to referendum in May.
Some of the things the committee is looking at are a list of line items that could be added or deleted, including resurfacing the track, expanding the size of the school’s lighted lower field to accommodate varsity sports, reconfiguring the locker rooms to eliminate the need for a building addition, eliminating an addition to the cafeteria, and reupholstering the seats in the auditorium instead of replacing them.
Costs for the specific items have not yet been determined. A $500,000 sprinkler system will be included if local and state fire inspectors determine it is necessary.
The building committee will next meet at 7 p.m., Oct. 30, in the Jordan Conference Room in Town Hall and will make a report to the School Board at the board’s regular business meeting at 7:30 p.m., Nov. 12, in the Town Council Chambers.
Making your home safe from fire
Published in the Current
People should take the initiative to make sure their homes are safe from the dangers of fire. According to Cape Elizabeth Fire Chief Philip McGouldrick, there are a number of small projects that can dramatically improve a home’s fire safety. Some cost no money at all, and others are cheap.
• The most important tool is a smoke detector. Make sure you have smoke detectors installed on each floor of a home, including the basement and attic. Take an extra moment as part of a fall project to make sure they have fresh batteries – often when you change your clocks for Daylight-Saving Time. Also be sure to replace smoke detectors older than 10 years, McGouldrick said.
• Knowledge can also help fight fire. Teach everyone in the house how to shut off the electricity at the main circuit breaker, as well as how to turn off natural gas lines or propane tanks around the house. If valves can’t be closed without a wrench, be sure one is handy, McGouldrick said. Turning off sources of heat or explosive gases can prevent small fires from becoming very large ones.
• Adjust hot water heater settings to make sure the water is not hot enough to scald children. Many more people are burned by water that is too hot than by fires, McGouldrick said. As an added bonus, turning down hot water heaters can result in significant energy savings.
• Look again at where you have stored flammable liquids. Gasoline should never be stored indoors. It should be in a safety can outdoors. Oil paint, as well, should be in a metal container and stored outdoors. Never store gas or propane tanks in the basement, as their vapors are heavier than air and can collect in low places for some time before finding a pilot light or other way to catch fire. Propane for grills should be shut off at the tank when a grill is not in active use; if the tank valve is open, the hose could leak, permitting the buildup of explosive fumes.
• Buy fire extinguishers for your kitchen and for other areas of the home where you use heat regularly, such as a workshop. “Sometimes you get a fire and you can put it out before it spreads,” McGouldrick said. Read the directions before using it, and make sure it is properly maintained. They are good for small fires, like flames in a sauce pan on a stove, but should not be used to take on larger fires. For those, get out of the area and call 911 .
• In case you do have emergencies, make your home easy to find. The best way is to ensure your house numbers are clearly visible from the street, especially at night. There are also special light bulbs that can be triggered to flash on and off in a light on your front porch or lamppost, making it easier for emergency workers to find your home.
• Have the local fire department check your woodstove to be sure it is properly installed. Stoves that are not installed correctly can cause fires, even years after they are put in.
• Clean chimneys twice a year or more often if needed.
If you are doing larger projects, you can add fire safety to them without adding significant expense.
• Asphalt roof shingles can dramatically reduce the risk of your house catching fire if embers from a nearby house or brush fire fall on the roof.
• To further reduce the risk of a brush fire spreading to your home, clear the brush for several feet away from the house.
• Consider lightning rods. Many homes in this area are near trees that are taller, reducing the risk of a lightning strike. But, McGouldrick said, homes in newer developments and tall homes on local high ground could be at risk for a strike.
The ultimate in property protection and fire safety is a home sprinkler system, which can be installed using a pressurized water tank outside, or with a connection to a town water supply.
Sprinklers are equipped with bells to alert people to a fire, in addition to their use as fire extinguishers. They are 96 percent effective at putting out fires on their own, McGouldrick said, and 95 percent of sprinkler discharges are on very small fires.
People should take the initiative to make sure their homes are safe from the dangers of fire. According to Cape Elizabeth Fire Chief Philip McGouldrick, there are a number of small projects that can dramatically improve a home’s fire safety. Some cost no money at all, and others are cheap.
• The most important tool is a smoke detector. Make sure you have smoke detectors installed on each floor of a home, including the basement and attic. Take an extra moment as part of a fall project to make sure they have fresh batteries – often when you change your clocks for Daylight-Saving Time. Also be sure to replace smoke detectors older than 10 years, McGouldrick said.
• Knowledge can also help fight fire. Teach everyone in the house how to shut off the electricity at the main circuit breaker, as well as how to turn off natural gas lines or propane tanks around the house. If valves can’t be closed without a wrench, be sure one is handy, McGouldrick said. Turning off sources of heat or explosive gases can prevent small fires from becoming very large ones.
• Adjust hot water heater settings to make sure the water is not hot enough to scald children. Many more people are burned by water that is too hot than by fires, McGouldrick said. As an added bonus, turning down hot water heaters can result in significant energy savings.
• Look again at where you have stored flammable liquids. Gasoline should never be stored indoors. It should be in a safety can outdoors. Oil paint, as well, should be in a metal container and stored outdoors. Never store gas or propane tanks in the basement, as their vapors are heavier than air and can collect in low places for some time before finding a pilot light or other way to catch fire. Propane for grills should be shut off at the tank when a grill is not in active use; if the tank valve is open, the hose could leak, permitting the buildup of explosive fumes.
• Buy fire extinguishers for your kitchen and for other areas of the home where you use heat regularly, such as a workshop. “Sometimes you get a fire and you can put it out before it spreads,” McGouldrick said. Read the directions before using it, and make sure it is properly maintained. They are good for small fires, like flames in a sauce pan on a stove, but should not be used to take on larger fires. For those, get out of the area and call 911 .
• In case you do have emergencies, make your home easy to find. The best way is to ensure your house numbers are clearly visible from the street, especially at night. There are also special light bulbs that can be triggered to flash on and off in a light on your front porch or lamppost, making it easier for emergency workers to find your home.
• Have the local fire department check your woodstove to be sure it is properly installed. Stoves that are not installed correctly can cause fires, even years after they are put in.
• Clean chimneys twice a year or more often if needed.
If you are doing larger projects, you can add fire safety to them without adding significant expense.
• Asphalt roof shingles can dramatically reduce the risk of your house catching fire if embers from a nearby house or brush fire fall on the roof.
• To further reduce the risk of a brush fire spreading to your home, clear the brush for several feet away from the house.
• Consider lightning rods. Many homes in this area are near trees that are taller, reducing the risk of a lightning strike. But, McGouldrick said, homes in newer developments and tall homes on local high ground could be at risk for a strike.
The ultimate in property protection and fire safety is a home sprinkler system, which can be installed using a pressurized water tank outside, or with a connection to a town water supply.
Sprinklers are equipped with bells to alert people to a fire, in addition to their use as fire extinguishers. They are 96 percent effective at putting out fires on their own, McGouldrick said, and 95 percent of sprinkler discharges are on very small fires.
Scarborough man kidnapped at gunpoint by carpenter
Published in the Current
A Scarborough man was kidnapped at gunpoint from his driveway Oct. 1 by a carpenter claiming he was owed money.
The two drove across Cumberland County in search of a bank to withdraw funds. They ended up at a Falmouth bank, where a teller called police, who arrested the kidnapper without incident.
At 7:10 a.m., Rodger Smith, 55, of Old Colony Lane was in his driveway when he was approached by Joseph Loughery, 43, of Poland, according to Falmouth Police Chief Edward Tolan. Loughery said he wanted payment for carpentry work done on Smith’s house a year ago.
Smith told Loughery he wasn’t going to pay, Tolan said, because the quality of the work was poor.
At that point, Loughery produced a 9-millimeter handgun from a shoulder holster and told Smith the gun had two bullets, “one for his wife and one for his knee,” Tolan said.
Smith’s wife was home, but was unaware of the situation, said Falmouth Detective Tom Brady.
Loughery demanded payment for work done on Smith’s home about a year ago, Tolan said. Scarborough Code Enforcement Officer Dave Grysk said the only permit Smith had for 2001 was for a 14-by-18-foot porch to be constructed at his home.
The work was to be done by “Joe the Carpenter,” the name under which
Loughery does business.
Fearing for his wife’s safety, Smith agreed to drive Loughery to a bank where Smith would withdraw the money to pay for the work, Tolan said. They drove around the area because a number of banks weren’t open, ending up at the Peoples Heritage Bank on Route 1 in Falmouth, Tolan said.
In the parking lot, Loughery again showed Smith the gun and the two bullets, all of which were in a briefcase on Loughery’s lap, and followed Smith partway into the bank. Smith went to a teller while Loughery stood in the foyer and then outside the bank, Tolan said.
Smith told the teller that he had been kidnapped at gunpoint and asked the teller to call police. The call came into the Falmouth police at 9:12 a.m., reporting a man with a gun at the bank, Tolan said, leading officers to believe they had a possible bank robbery on their hands.
Upon arrival, officers saw Loughery outside the bank and “subdued him without incident,” Tolan said. A search of the car turned up the gun, wo bullets and two pairs of handcuffs. “You can surmise whatever you think those handcuffs were to be used for,” Tolan said.
Falmouth police are handling the charges from the incident, which is considered a “continuing crime” that began in Scarborough and ended in Falmouth, according to Tolan and Scarborough Detective Sgt. Rick Rouse.
Loughery was arraigned Wednesday morning on charges of kidnapping and two counts of criminal threatening with a firearm, all felonies. A misdemeanor charge of violation of probation was not part of the arraignment but is expected, Detective Brady said.
Brady said Loughery was on probation in Androscoggin County for a second offense of operating under the influence, and was to be transferred to the Androscoggin County Jail after his arraignment in Portland District Court Wednesday morning.
He said Loughery is originally from out of state and had traveled around the country a lot. Tolan said his department is in the process of conducting a nationwide records search for Loughery’s criminal history, if there is any.
Phone calls from the Current to the Smith residence were not returned, and there was no answer at the door of their home Wednesday afternoon.
Neighbors on Old Colony Lane said the Smiths had not been home the evening after the incident and did not know how to contact them.
A Scarborough man was kidnapped at gunpoint from his driveway Oct. 1 by a carpenter claiming he was owed money.
The two drove across Cumberland County in search of a bank to withdraw funds. They ended up at a Falmouth bank, where a teller called police, who arrested the kidnapper without incident.
At 7:10 a.m., Rodger Smith, 55, of Old Colony Lane was in his driveway when he was approached by Joseph Loughery, 43, of Poland, according to Falmouth Police Chief Edward Tolan. Loughery said he wanted payment for carpentry work done on Smith’s house a year ago.
Smith told Loughery he wasn’t going to pay, Tolan said, because the quality of the work was poor.
At that point, Loughery produced a 9-millimeter handgun from a shoulder holster and told Smith the gun had two bullets, “one for his wife and one for his knee,” Tolan said.
Smith’s wife was home, but was unaware of the situation, said Falmouth Detective Tom Brady.
Loughery demanded payment for work done on Smith’s home about a year ago, Tolan said. Scarborough Code Enforcement Officer Dave Grysk said the only permit Smith had for 2001 was for a 14-by-18-foot porch to be constructed at his home.
The work was to be done by “Joe the Carpenter,” the name under which
Loughery does business.
Fearing for his wife’s safety, Smith agreed to drive Loughery to a bank where Smith would withdraw the money to pay for the work, Tolan said. They drove around the area because a number of banks weren’t open, ending up at the Peoples Heritage Bank on Route 1 in Falmouth, Tolan said.
In the parking lot, Loughery again showed Smith the gun and the two bullets, all of which were in a briefcase on Loughery’s lap, and followed Smith partway into the bank. Smith went to a teller while Loughery stood in the foyer and then outside the bank, Tolan said.
Smith told the teller that he had been kidnapped at gunpoint and asked the teller to call police. The call came into the Falmouth police at 9:12 a.m., reporting a man with a gun at the bank, Tolan said, leading officers to believe they had a possible bank robbery on their hands.
Upon arrival, officers saw Loughery outside the bank and “subdued him without incident,” Tolan said. A search of the car turned up the gun, wo bullets and two pairs of handcuffs. “You can surmise whatever you think those handcuffs were to be used for,” Tolan said.
Falmouth police are handling the charges from the incident, which is considered a “continuing crime” that began in Scarborough and ended in Falmouth, according to Tolan and Scarborough Detective Sgt. Rick Rouse.
Loughery was arraigned Wednesday morning on charges of kidnapping and two counts of criminal threatening with a firearm, all felonies. A misdemeanor charge of violation of probation was not part of the arraignment but is expected, Detective Brady said.
Brady said Loughery was on probation in Androscoggin County for a second offense of operating under the influence, and was to be transferred to the Androscoggin County Jail after his arraignment in Portland District Court Wednesday morning.
He said Loughery is originally from out of state and had traveled around the country a lot. Tolan said his department is in the process of conducting a nationwide records search for Loughery’s criminal history, if there is any.
Phone calls from the Current to the Smith residence were not returned, and there was no answer at the door of their home Wednesday afternoon.
Neighbors on Old Colony Lane said the Smiths had not been home the evening after the incident and did not know how to contact them.
Thursday, September 26, 2002
Cape’s enrollment going up despite prediction
Published in the Current
When they started planning for an expansion and renovation to the high school, Cape Elizabeth school officials wanted to know what school enrollments would look like 10 years out.
In October 2000, South Portland-based Planning Decisions issued a draft report to the schools indicating that the district’s student body would decline slightly overall from 2001 to 2011. That decline is not happening yet, according to school enrollment numbers. Instead, student numbers are climbing slightly, to a point where, two years from the date the study was conducted, there are 64 more students than predicted.
Rebecca Wandell, a project analyst at Planning Decisions, said the study was based on historical trends in Cape Elizabeth and did not take into account variations in those trends, or new construction beyond previous annual averages.
The study included two sets of estimates, one called “best fit,” which was based solely on historical data, and one set called “high,” assuming 30 new single family homes would be built each year, and that those new homes would result in 12 new students each year.
The “best fit” model projected that there would be 1,734 students in the school system in 2001-2002, dropping to 1,717 students for 2002-2003. The “high” model predicted 1,757 in 2001-2002 and 1,752 in 2002-2003. Both indicated slowly declining school populations through 2010-2011.
The actual data shows there were 1,759 students in 2001-2002, rising to 1,781 this school year, 64 students more than the “best fit” projected and 29 more than the “high” model.
“We are either at the high end in most cases, or in some cases exceeding the high end” of the projections, said Superintendent Tom Forcella.
That difference has meant there is no reliable enrollment model for school officials to use when planning new facilities and deciding how much room to set aside for uses as wide-ranging as cafeteria tables and parking, much less classroom space.
The projected downward trend in student numbers has not begun and is not even on the horizon yet, Forcella said. The best he can do is use the “high” model numbers and make guesses beyond that.
He is not sure why the differences have occurred, but has a theory. It has long been the case in Cape that some students will attend private all-day kindergartens rather than the half-day kindergarten offered by the schools.
The estimates have projected that those students will enroll in the town’s first grade. Forcella said this is not necessarily happening.
Instead, some of the private kindergartens have added first-grade classes. Parents choose to keep their kids in the private school for a year, before enrolling them in the town schools as they enter second grade.
The estimates do not take that delayed enrollment into account.
Forcella said it has happened in the past couple of years, resulting in a larger-than-expected second grade class.
Actual enrollment numbers depart from the projections from elementary through middle school, though they get closer together in high school.
“We don’t really know why,” Forcella said.
Wandell has some ideas. She admits Forcella could be right. She also said some of the study’s assumptions could be wrong: More new homes might have been built than were included in the model, and more children might be in each home than the model assumed.
In 2001, there were 34 new single family homes built, followed by 31 new homes so far in 2002, more homes than the model assumed.
As for children in the home, the birth rate is stable in Cape, Wandell said, though it was slightly higher in 2001, with 82 babies born to parents in the town. She said that would tend to indicate more families are moving in.
But she defended the accuracy of the survey, which differs from the actual numbers by less than 3 percent in most of the figures. “Statistically, we’re not off by a significant amount,” Wandell said.
She admitted that looking at the numbers from a standpoint of statistical validity is different from trying to use the numbers to predict class size and make projections for numbers of classrooms and teachers in the future.
Going forward, she said, the schools could update the study or begin to build their own estimates by surveying buyers of homes in town about the number of children they have and their ages.
When they started planning for an expansion and renovation to the high school, Cape Elizabeth school officials wanted to know what school enrollments would look like 10 years out.
In October 2000, South Portland-based Planning Decisions issued a draft report to the schools indicating that the district’s student body would decline slightly overall from 2001 to 2011. That decline is not happening yet, according to school enrollment numbers. Instead, student numbers are climbing slightly, to a point where, two years from the date the study was conducted, there are 64 more students than predicted.
Rebecca Wandell, a project analyst at Planning Decisions, said the study was based on historical trends in Cape Elizabeth and did not take into account variations in those trends, or new construction beyond previous annual averages.
The study included two sets of estimates, one called “best fit,” which was based solely on historical data, and one set called “high,” assuming 30 new single family homes would be built each year, and that those new homes would result in 12 new students each year.
The “best fit” model projected that there would be 1,734 students in the school system in 2001-2002, dropping to 1,717 students for 2002-2003. The “high” model predicted 1,757 in 2001-2002 and 1,752 in 2002-2003. Both indicated slowly declining school populations through 2010-2011.
The actual data shows there were 1,759 students in 2001-2002, rising to 1,781 this school year, 64 students more than the “best fit” projected and 29 more than the “high” model.
“We are either at the high end in most cases, or in some cases exceeding the high end” of the projections, said Superintendent Tom Forcella.
That difference has meant there is no reliable enrollment model for school officials to use when planning new facilities and deciding how much room to set aside for uses as wide-ranging as cafeteria tables and parking, much less classroom space.
The projected downward trend in student numbers has not begun and is not even on the horizon yet, Forcella said. The best he can do is use the “high” model numbers and make guesses beyond that.
He is not sure why the differences have occurred, but has a theory. It has long been the case in Cape that some students will attend private all-day kindergartens rather than the half-day kindergarten offered by the schools.
The estimates have projected that those students will enroll in the town’s first grade. Forcella said this is not necessarily happening.
Instead, some of the private kindergartens have added first-grade classes. Parents choose to keep their kids in the private school for a year, before enrolling them in the town schools as they enter second grade.
The estimates do not take that delayed enrollment into account.
Forcella said it has happened in the past couple of years, resulting in a larger-than-expected second grade class.
Actual enrollment numbers depart from the projections from elementary through middle school, though they get closer together in high school.
“We don’t really know why,” Forcella said.
Wandell has some ideas. She admits Forcella could be right. She also said some of the study’s assumptions could be wrong: More new homes might have been built than were included in the model, and more children might be in each home than the model assumed.
In 2001, there were 34 new single family homes built, followed by 31 new homes so far in 2002, more homes than the model assumed.
As for children in the home, the birth rate is stable in Cape, Wandell said, though it was slightly higher in 2001, with 82 babies born to parents in the town. She said that would tend to indicate more families are moving in.
But she defended the accuracy of the survey, which differs from the actual numbers by less than 3 percent in most of the figures. “Statistically, we’re not off by a significant amount,” Wandell said.
She admitted that looking at the numbers from a standpoint of statistical validity is different from trying to use the numbers to predict class size and make projections for numbers of classrooms and teachers in the future.
Going forward, she said, the schools could update the study or begin to build their own estimates by surveying buyers of homes in town about the number of children they have and their ages.
Middle school students learn about life in the outdoors
Published in the Current
The outdoor education theme running through the four Cape Elizabeth Middle School grades will begin this week with the eighth graders’ participation in the statewide Coastal Cleanup.
The students will work in several areas around town, including Alewife, Boathouse, Broad, Johnson, Maiden, Peabbles, Pond and Staples coves, and Cliff House Beach.
“What we try to do in the eighth grade is give something back to the community,” said eighth grade teacher team leader, Mary Murphy.
The students also work with people of all ages around town, raking leaves from the lawns of senior citizens in a program organized by the police department, and doing trail maintenance and construction for the Cape Elizabeth Land Trust, under the supervision of high school seniors.
In each activity, students learn about the natural environment and about aspects of the community they might not otherwise experience.
The final year builds on lessons learned during the previous three years at the middle school.
The program starts in fifth grade, where it is closely tied to the science curriculum. Teachers focus on “getting kids outside the classroom,” said fifth grade team leader, Cheryl Higgins.
Students take three field trips, including one to Kettle Cove in the fall to look at tidal pools and marine life. That excursion is scheduled for the end of September or the beginning of October, depending on weather.
In the spring, fifth-graders head to Fort Williams with their compasses to take on a 10-station orienteering course, using map and compass skills learned in the classroom. And in late spring, they head off to Two Lights to look at flora and fauna and do plant identification in the field.
Students also learn to work together, facing challenges and assignments in small groups. That leads to the sixth-grade experience, which was the original element in the program.
For 13 or 14 years, sixth-graders have gone to Camp Chewonki in Wiscasset for an outdoor living program, in which they learn camping skills and are responsible for pitching their own tents, cooking, chopping wood and cleaning.
Students learn to work together and form new relationships with classmates. They are assigned to groups of 10 or 12, and are separated from groups of friends. This allows them to learn and grow outside of their typical social groups, said team leader, Gary Record.
Chewonki’s lessons include group and individual challenges.
The trip isn’t until May, but sessions each Friday in sixth grade classrooms present group activities similar to Chewonki’s, to get students ready.
Last year’s class was so large it was split into two groups to attend on two different weeks. This year’s class is “almost as large,” Record said, but will go all at once.
Seventh-graders will head to Camp Kieve in Nobleboro, to attend the Leadership Development Institute, a week-long program in which students work closely with members of their advisory groups.
They learn decision-making, relationship skills and self-confidence in challenge-by-choice activities such as ropes courses. There is also time for self-examination and solo reflection during the five-day program, said seventh grade team leader, Matt Whaley.
“It’s a great place,” Whaley said.
This year, students will go to Kieve from Oct. 7 to 11 rather than the end of November, when previous classes have attended. A cancellation from another school allowed Cape to change to that week, which is expected to be warmer and more comfortable for outdoor activities.
In seventh grade, as in all the grades, teachers revisit lessons learned in previous experiences and earlier in the school year. When they go to Kieve, Chewonki, or even just to Fort Williams, “we try to bring it back afterwards,” Whaley said.
The outdoor education theme running through the four Cape Elizabeth Middle School grades will begin this week with the eighth graders’ participation in the statewide Coastal Cleanup.
The students will work in several areas around town, including Alewife, Boathouse, Broad, Johnson, Maiden, Peabbles, Pond and Staples coves, and Cliff House Beach.
“What we try to do in the eighth grade is give something back to the community,” said eighth grade teacher team leader, Mary Murphy.
The students also work with people of all ages around town, raking leaves from the lawns of senior citizens in a program organized by the police department, and doing trail maintenance and construction for the Cape Elizabeth Land Trust, under the supervision of high school seniors.
In each activity, students learn about the natural environment and about aspects of the community they might not otherwise experience.
The final year builds on lessons learned during the previous three years at the middle school.
The program starts in fifth grade, where it is closely tied to the science curriculum. Teachers focus on “getting kids outside the classroom,” said fifth grade team leader, Cheryl Higgins.
Students take three field trips, including one to Kettle Cove in the fall to look at tidal pools and marine life. That excursion is scheduled for the end of September or the beginning of October, depending on weather.
In the spring, fifth-graders head to Fort Williams with their compasses to take on a 10-station orienteering course, using map and compass skills learned in the classroom. And in late spring, they head off to Two Lights to look at flora and fauna and do plant identification in the field.
Students also learn to work together, facing challenges and assignments in small groups. That leads to the sixth-grade experience, which was the original element in the program.
For 13 or 14 years, sixth-graders have gone to Camp Chewonki in Wiscasset for an outdoor living program, in which they learn camping skills and are responsible for pitching their own tents, cooking, chopping wood and cleaning.
Students learn to work together and form new relationships with classmates. They are assigned to groups of 10 or 12, and are separated from groups of friends. This allows them to learn and grow outside of their typical social groups, said team leader, Gary Record.
Chewonki’s lessons include group and individual challenges.
The trip isn’t until May, but sessions each Friday in sixth grade classrooms present group activities similar to Chewonki’s, to get students ready.
Last year’s class was so large it was split into two groups to attend on two different weeks. This year’s class is “almost as large,” Record said, but will go all at once.
Seventh-graders will head to Camp Kieve in Nobleboro, to attend the Leadership Development Institute, a week-long program in which students work closely with members of their advisory groups.
They learn decision-making, relationship skills and self-confidence in challenge-by-choice activities such as ropes courses. There is also time for self-examination and solo reflection during the five-day program, said seventh grade team leader, Matt Whaley.
“It’s a great place,” Whaley said.
This year, students will go to Kieve from Oct. 7 to 11 rather than the end of November, when previous classes have attended. A cancellation from another school allowed Cape to change to that week, which is expected to be warmer and more comfortable for outdoor activities.
In seventh grade, as in all the grades, teachers revisit lessons learned in previous experiences and earlier in the school year. When they go to Kieve, Chewonki, or even just to Fort Williams, “we try to bring it back afterwards,” Whaley said.
Cape considers extending kindergarten day
Published in the Current
Surprising even themselves, several parents were persuaded to look more closely at extending the kindergarten class day during a Cape Elizabeth School Board workshop Tuesday. But several board members were concerned about how to quantify the value of such a change, to be able to justify the added expense.
“We’ve been discussing this issue for five years,” said School Board Chairman Marie Prager.
This latest discussion came as the school building committee looked for advice from the public on the size of a proposed addition to Pond Cove School.
A two-story addition, estimated to cost $2.5 million, could house all-day or extended-day kindergarten classes in the future. At a reduced cost, around $1.7 million, a one-story addition would provide space only for a relocation of the current kindergarten space from its home at the high school, freeing up room there to increase teaching space.
Prager made clear that the board was not trying to decide on the specifics of a longer kindergarten day, or whether it would be implemented at all.
Rather, she said, it was about whether it was a good idea to keep the option available, or to rule it out.
The meeting began with an hour of background information, primarily in support of a longer kindergarten day, from School Board members, Superintendent Tom Forcella, and kindergarten and first-grade teachers.
Prior board research, including reference to studies of the impact of longer kindergarten days, indicated that “the value of the program was worthy of consideration,” according to Elaine Moloney, a board member and chair of the most recent committee to study the issue. “The problem was the space,” Moloney said.
There was no room in Cape Elizabeth’s schools for the additional kindergarten classrooms that would be required to serve the same number of students for longer hours.
Information from other school districts, presented by Forcella and several teachers, indicated that there were academic and social benefits to a longer kindergarten day.
Teachers also cited the advantage of additional time for socialization and less pressure on students and teachers to cover large amounts of material in what is now a two-and-a-half-hour session each day.
The evidence and depth of research impressed parents.
One mother told the board she had come into the meeting opposed to the idea of anything other than half-day kindergarten. “I totally changed my mind,” she said.
Other parents said they remained worried about students’ ability to handle a full-day kindergarten, but were interested in making the kindergarten day longer than it is now.
Debbie Cushing, a parent of middle school students, said she felt building the additional space was a good idea, and the incremental expense was “a small cost to pay for a huge range of options.” Even if all-day kindergarten never came to pass in Cape, she said, “that space will be used for something.”
Suzanne Martin-Pillsbury, a parent of young children, said she feels the present kindergarten experience was good, but rushed. She said it would be smart to have “space enough to have options.”
Another mother, who was a teacher in South Portland when they started all-day kindergarten, said she is unsure about the program.
“Your child’s gone quicker that way,” she said. But she said it would be “shortsighted” not to build space for expansion.
Another mother said readiness for all-day school at age 5 depends on the family and the child, but it could be a good option. She suggested all-day class be an option for parents to choose. She worried, though, that parents who did not choose a longer school day for their kindergarteners would be concerned about the student “getting behind” classmates in learning and social progress.
Nancy Jordan, mother of a current kindergarten student and two younger children, said she knows there is a lot of material packed into the short kindergarten day, but proposed another way to ease pressure on teachers and students. “What about lightening up the curriculum?” she asked.
Pond Cove School Principal To m Eismeier responded, saying he and the kindergarten teachers talk frequently about “reasonable goals” for kindergarten classroom education.
Board members were in favor of building the expanded space, but several – Susan Steinman, George Entwistle and Kevin Sweeney – were concerned about justifying the expense of a longer kindergarten day to a money conscious Town Council and voting public.
Steinman wanted additional data on how students who had attended an all-day kindergarten would fare, and whether that experience would reduce behavior problems or other social problems in the primary grades.
“If there’s an expense, there needs to be demonstrated gains,” Entwistle said.
Sweeney said he was “unconvinced” of the value of an all-day kindergarten, but supported building space that allowed room to grow, whether in the form of more kindergarten or other educational areas.
After the meeting, Lisa Silverman-Gent, a Cape parent, said she was relieved to learn that the board was not making a decision on the form of a longer-day kindergarten, but was instead just deciding on building space to have options.
The next step will be a formal recommendation from the School Board to its building committee Oct. 8, allowing the building committee to proceed on schedule, Prager said. The next School Board workshop will be Oct. 22, at 7 p.m., in the high school library, for a discussion of high school and middle school programming issues.
Surprising even themselves, several parents were persuaded to look more closely at extending the kindergarten class day during a Cape Elizabeth School Board workshop Tuesday. But several board members were concerned about how to quantify the value of such a change, to be able to justify the added expense.
“We’ve been discussing this issue for five years,” said School Board Chairman Marie Prager.
This latest discussion came as the school building committee looked for advice from the public on the size of a proposed addition to Pond Cove School.
A two-story addition, estimated to cost $2.5 million, could house all-day or extended-day kindergarten classes in the future. At a reduced cost, around $1.7 million, a one-story addition would provide space only for a relocation of the current kindergarten space from its home at the high school, freeing up room there to increase teaching space.
Prager made clear that the board was not trying to decide on the specifics of a longer kindergarten day, or whether it would be implemented at all.
Rather, she said, it was about whether it was a good idea to keep the option available, or to rule it out.
The meeting began with an hour of background information, primarily in support of a longer kindergarten day, from School Board members, Superintendent Tom Forcella, and kindergarten and first-grade teachers.
Prior board research, including reference to studies of the impact of longer kindergarten days, indicated that “the value of the program was worthy of consideration,” according to Elaine Moloney, a board member and chair of the most recent committee to study the issue. “The problem was the space,” Moloney said.
There was no room in Cape Elizabeth’s schools for the additional kindergarten classrooms that would be required to serve the same number of students for longer hours.
Information from other school districts, presented by Forcella and several teachers, indicated that there were academic and social benefits to a longer kindergarten day.
Teachers also cited the advantage of additional time for socialization and less pressure on students and teachers to cover large amounts of material in what is now a two-and-a-half-hour session each day.
The evidence and depth of research impressed parents.
One mother told the board she had come into the meeting opposed to the idea of anything other than half-day kindergarten. “I totally changed my mind,” she said.
Other parents said they remained worried about students’ ability to handle a full-day kindergarten, but were interested in making the kindergarten day longer than it is now.
Debbie Cushing, a parent of middle school students, said she felt building the additional space was a good idea, and the incremental expense was “a small cost to pay for a huge range of options.” Even if all-day kindergarten never came to pass in Cape, she said, “that space will be used for something.”
Suzanne Martin-Pillsbury, a parent of young children, said she feels the present kindergarten experience was good, but rushed. She said it would be smart to have “space enough to have options.”
Another mother, who was a teacher in South Portland when they started all-day kindergarten, said she is unsure about the program.
“Your child’s gone quicker that way,” she said. But she said it would be “shortsighted” not to build space for expansion.
Another mother said readiness for all-day school at age 5 depends on the family and the child, but it could be a good option. She suggested all-day class be an option for parents to choose. She worried, though, that parents who did not choose a longer school day for their kindergarteners would be concerned about the student “getting behind” classmates in learning and social progress.
Nancy Jordan, mother of a current kindergarten student and two younger children, said she knows there is a lot of material packed into the short kindergarten day, but proposed another way to ease pressure on teachers and students. “What about lightening up the curriculum?” she asked.
Pond Cove School Principal To m Eismeier responded, saying he and the kindergarten teachers talk frequently about “reasonable goals” for kindergarten classroom education.
Board members were in favor of building the expanded space, but several – Susan Steinman, George Entwistle and Kevin Sweeney – were concerned about justifying the expense of a longer kindergarten day to a money conscious Town Council and voting public.
Steinman wanted additional data on how students who had attended an all-day kindergarten would fare, and whether that experience would reduce behavior problems or other social problems in the primary grades.
“If there’s an expense, there needs to be demonstrated gains,” Entwistle said.
Sweeney said he was “unconvinced” of the value of an all-day kindergarten, but supported building space that allowed room to grow, whether in the form of more kindergarten or other educational areas.
After the meeting, Lisa Silverman-Gent, a Cape parent, said she was relieved to learn that the board was not making a decision on the form of a longer-day kindergarten, but was instead just deciding on building space to have options.
The next step will be a formal recommendation from the School Board to its building committee Oct. 8, allowing the building committee to proceed on schedule, Prager said. The next School Board workshop will be Oct. 22, at 7 p.m., in the high school library, for a discussion of high school and middle school programming issues.
Thursday, September 19, 2002
Bobcats and bears, oh my
Published in the Current
A bear was spotted on Ash Swamp Road in Scarborough last week and a bobcat is apparently prowling around Cape.
In the wee hours of the morning of Sept. 11, a sharp-eyed Ash Swamp Road resident spotted the bear. She had noticed that something had been taking food from her backyard bird feeders.
The resident told Animal Control Officer Chris Creps that an animal had been raiding the feeders for about two weeks before she caught a glimpse of it in a motion-detector spotlight in the middle of the night. The bear wandered back into the woods after the light came on, Creps said.
He said bears in the northern area of town are not common, but “it’s not unusual,” he said. There were some sightings last year and possibly one earlier this year, he said.
The bear is not the only large animal in the area. A bobcat has been sighted in several areas around Cape Elizabeth.
Animal Control Officer Bob Leeman thinks there is only one animal, a large male that he has seen behind the town transfer station where Leeman buries dead animals found in town, including road-kill deer.
One small deer Leeman buried recently was dug up and dragged off into the woods and “completely consumed,” he said. The bobcat has stuck mainly to wooded areas, but has made an appearance behind at least one residence, that of Police Dispatcher Greg Tinsman.
Tinsman said he has recently built a path into the woods behind his home, and one day saw the bobcat standing on the new path, apparently seeing where it went. It went on its way after a short time, but was a surprise for him.
Bobcats, like bears, should not be approached or harassed. Instead, they should be left alone to leave when they decide to.
A bear was spotted on Ash Swamp Road in Scarborough last week and a bobcat is apparently prowling around Cape.
In the wee hours of the morning of Sept. 11, a sharp-eyed Ash Swamp Road resident spotted the bear. She had noticed that something had been taking food from her backyard bird feeders.
The resident told Animal Control Officer Chris Creps that an animal had been raiding the feeders for about two weeks before she caught a glimpse of it in a motion-detector spotlight in the middle of the night. The bear wandered back into the woods after the light came on, Creps said.
He said bears in the northern area of town are not common, but “it’s not unusual,” he said. There were some sightings last year and possibly one earlier this year, he said.
The bear is not the only large animal in the area. A bobcat has been sighted in several areas around Cape Elizabeth.
Animal Control Officer Bob Leeman thinks there is only one animal, a large male that he has seen behind the town transfer station where Leeman buries dead animals found in town, including road-kill deer.
One small deer Leeman buried recently was dug up and dragged off into the woods and “completely consumed,” he said. The bobcat has stuck mainly to wooded areas, but has made an appearance behind at least one residence, that of Police Dispatcher Greg Tinsman.
Tinsman said he has recently built a path into the woods behind his home, and one day saw the bobcat standing on the new path, apparently seeing where it went. It went on its way after a short time, but was a surprise for him.
Bobcats, like bears, should not be approached or harassed. Instead, they should be left alone to leave when they decide to.
Getting rid of old computers gets easier
Published in the Current
Until recently, there was no way for businesses and schools in Southern Maine to get rid of old computers. A new program through Ruth’s Reusable Resources in Scarborough is solving that problem. For a fee, Ruth’s will store old computers and arrange for their proper disposal after the end of their useful lives.
Gary Lanoie, technology coordinator for Cape Elizabeth schools, said he has been storing old computers in closets for years. Computers that are beyond repair or are so old as to no longer be useful in classrooms now occupy “one big storage closet per school,” Lanoie said.
Because of heavy metals used in computer parts, they are considered hazardous materials and cannot be thrown out with regular garbage.
“We can’t just be throwing this stuff in landfills,” Lanoie said. With the new program through Ruth’s though, “we are starting to get rid of them.”
Ruth’s is a non-profit clearinghouse known for giving donated items, which can be used in the classroom, to area schools. School districts pay a fee to belong, and, in return, their staff can visit and pick up items they need, ranging from three-hole binders to reams of paper.
In a role reversal, of sorts, now schools and businesses can pay Ruth’s to get rid of what they don’t want, recycling the oldest computers in an environmentally safe way.
A recycling company in the Midwest will pick up large loads of computers, but won’t pick up anything less than an 18-wheeler full of old equipment. That is a lot for a business or school district to generate alone.
Becoming the middleman
Ruth’s has stepped in to play the role of consolidator. Project coordinator Chris Slader, an alternative learning teacher for primary grades in Westbrook, volunteers his time to handle computer donations.
Slader will accept working computers with processor speeds faster than 200 megahertz at no charge, as they can still be useful to schools.
Central Maine Power has donated a number of 400 megahertz machines that could last four or five years in a school. Those are available at no charge to employees of school districts that are members of Ruth’s network.
“It works out better for us,” said CMP community relations specialist John Carroll. Previously, the company donated computers on an individual basis to various non-profits.
That was labor-intensive, Carroll said, and didn’t always result in the agencies getting the best computers for their purposes.
The arrangement with Ruth’s, Carroll said, is more efficient and assures CMP that its computers are being used until the end of their usable lives.
Old computers, though, cost money on their way out the door. Ruth’s charges $15 for a monitor, $3 for a central processing unit (including the hard drive and CD drive), $7 for a printer and $2 for a keyboard or mouse. The money pays for the fees for the recycling company to pick up the equipment, as well as the rental of a storage trailer outside the Ruth’s space at the Bessey School. There is also a small surcharge Ruth’s uses to pay for disposal of old computers that Ruth’s already has on hand and needs to get rid of, Slader said.
When computers come in, Slader sorts them and puts the old ones in the trailer. In his spare time, he will stack them on shipping pallets and wrap them with clear plastic film.
When the trailer is full, he will call to have it taken away.
They are taken to a furnace, he said, where the parts are melted down and reused. Slader said the equipment is not incinerated but is recycled.
Clearing the decks
There are other ways to get rid of computers, but none of them are as certain to be environmentally sound.
Capt. Mark Unruh of the Salvation Army in Portland said he receives donations of computers regularly. Working ones are sold in the organization’s stores for $25 to $50. When he gets a large number of non-working computers, Unruh puts them in a large box and sells the whole box for about $25 in the store on Warren Avenue in Portland.
That way, he said, he gets rid of the old computers as well as the newer ones. He said he has no way of knowing what happens to the computers after they leave his store.
Scarborough’s technology coordinator, Stephen Tewhey, said the district gives many of its oldest computers to non-profits and day care centers in town. They have also used state programs and private recyclers to handle defunct computers.
Tewhey said the town’s yard sale last year was a good way to get rid of equipment the schools did not need any more. He expects to use the program at Ruth’s as well.
In Cape, the money spent so far on recycling some equipment came out of other budget savings, Lanoie said. But he expects to ask for recycling money in the next budget cycle.
“It’s probably going to be a standard budget item,” Lanoie said.
He said laptops issued to students through the state’s laptop initiative belong to the state. If they break or need to be disposed of, he would send them to the state or to Apple, meaning the town would not have to pay to dispose of those machines.
Slader said the recycling program may expand to individuals in the near future. Businesses should call Ruth’s at 883-8407 to make an appointment to drop off old computers.
Until recently, there was no way for businesses and schools in Southern Maine to get rid of old computers. A new program through Ruth’s Reusable Resources in Scarborough is solving that problem. For a fee, Ruth’s will store old computers and arrange for their proper disposal after the end of their useful lives.
Gary Lanoie, technology coordinator for Cape Elizabeth schools, said he has been storing old computers in closets for years. Computers that are beyond repair or are so old as to no longer be useful in classrooms now occupy “one big storage closet per school,” Lanoie said.
Because of heavy metals used in computer parts, they are considered hazardous materials and cannot be thrown out with regular garbage.
“We can’t just be throwing this stuff in landfills,” Lanoie said. With the new program through Ruth’s though, “we are starting to get rid of them.”
Ruth’s is a non-profit clearinghouse known for giving donated items, which can be used in the classroom, to area schools. School districts pay a fee to belong, and, in return, their staff can visit and pick up items they need, ranging from three-hole binders to reams of paper.
In a role reversal, of sorts, now schools and businesses can pay Ruth’s to get rid of what they don’t want, recycling the oldest computers in an environmentally safe way.
A recycling company in the Midwest will pick up large loads of computers, but won’t pick up anything less than an 18-wheeler full of old equipment. That is a lot for a business or school district to generate alone.
Becoming the middleman
Ruth’s has stepped in to play the role of consolidator. Project coordinator Chris Slader, an alternative learning teacher for primary grades in Westbrook, volunteers his time to handle computer donations.
Slader will accept working computers with processor speeds faster than 200 megahertz at no charge, as they can still be useful to schools.
Central Maine Power has donated a number of 400 megahertz machines that could last four or five years in a school. Those are available at no charge to employees of school districts that are members of Ruth’s network.
“It works out better for us,” said CMP community relations specialist John Carroll. Previously, the company donated computers on an individual basis to various non-profits.
That was labor-intensive, Carroll said, and didn’t always result in the agencies getting the best computers for their purposes.
The arrangement with Ruth’s, Carroll said, is more efficient and assures CMP that its computers are being used until the end of their usable lives.
Old computers, though, cost money on their way out the door. Ruth’s charges $15 for a monitor, $3 for a central processing unit (including the hard drive and CD drive), $7 for a printer and $2 for a keyboard or mouse. The money pays for the fees for the recycling company to pick up the equipment, as well as the rental of a storage trailer outside the Ruth’s space at the Bessey School. There is also a small surcharge Ruth’s uses to pay for disposal of old computers that Ruth’s already has on hand and needs to get rid of, Slader said.
When computers come in, Slader sorts them and puts the old ones in the trailer. In his spare time, he will stack them on shipping pallets and wrap them with clear plastic film.
When the trailer is full, he will call to have it taken away.
They are taken to a furnace, he said, where the parts are melted down and reused. Slader said the equipment is not incinerated but is recycled.
Clearing the decks
There are other ways to get rid of computers, but none of them are as certain to be environmentally sound.
Capt. Mark Unruh of the Salvation Army in Portland said he receives donations of computers regularly. Working ones are sold in the organization’s stores for $25 to $50. When he gets a large number of non-working computers, Unruh puts them in a large box and sells the whole box for about $25 in the store on Warren Avenue in Portland.
That way, he said, he gets rid of the old computers as well as the newer ones. He said he has no way of knowing what happens to the computers after they leave his store.
Scarborough’s technology coordinator, Stephen Tewhey, said the district gives many of its oldest computers to non-profits and day care centers in town. They have also used state programs and private recyclers to handle defunct computers.
Tewhey said the town’s yard sale last year was a good way to get rid of equipment the schools did not need any more. He expects to use the program at Ruth’s as well.
In Cape, the money spent so far on recycling some equipment came out of other budget savings, Lanoie said. But he expects to ask for recycling money in the next budget cycle.
“It’s probably going to be a standard budget item,” Lanoie said.
He said laptops issued to students through the state’s laptop initiative belong to the state. If they break or need to be disposed of, he would send them to the state or to Apple, meaning the town would not have to pay to dispose of those machines.
Slader said the recycling program may expand to individuals in the near future. Businesses should call Ruth’s at 883-8407 to make an appointment to drop off old computers.
Cape is media mecca
Published in the Current
For a quiet town that sometimes thinks it has little news, Cape Elizabeth has more than its fair share of news professionals in residence.
Anchors of Portland television stations, several top editors at the Portland Press Herald, including editor Jeannine Guttman and managing editor Eric Conrad, and even regular reporters live scattered throughout the town. They say they like the peace and quiet as well as its proximity to work and the bustle of Portland.
Guttman and Conrad did not return multiple phone calls seeking comment for this story. But one of their colleagues was willing to talk. John Richardson, a reporter for the Portland Press Herald, has lived in Cape since 1994. He has two children, 11 and 9, and he likes the environment they have. “It’s a great place for them to grow up,” he said.
The family previously lived in York County, but it was a longer commute and more isolated. “We like being near the ocean,” Richardson said, citing the town’s rural character as another strength.
“It’s a great community for families and kids,” Richardson said.
Bruce Glasier, a native of Portland, has lived in Cape since 1978. The sports anchor for WCSH 6, Glasier’s family started in the Two Lights neighborhood, then moved to Star Road and now live on a dirt road in a house with a view of the ocean. It is only one road over from where his wife, Marita Ray, grew up.
“I just love the community,” he said. His son went to Cape schools, which was different from Glasier’s childhood.
“I grew up as a city kid,” he said. But it’s different now that he has moved to the country. “I don’t have to go far to look at the ocean,” Glasier said.
Doug Cook, an evening anchor for WMTW, Channel 8, feels similarly. “I always liked the fact that it’s close to the water,” he said. Cook and his wife, Cape native Elisa Boxer, who is also his co-anchor, are building a house in Cross Hill.
They had looked in Falmouth, but hadn’t found a place that felt right to them. In Cape, though, they are close to work and family and in a town with strong schools.
“We found an unbeatable combination. It’s perfect,” Cook said. He and Boxer haven’t moved in yet, but are looking forward to doing so next year. “I think it’s going to be awesome,” Cook said.
He had to persuade Boxer to look at Cape. She grew up there, and like many small-town kids, wanted to “get out.”
“Growing up, I swore it was the one place I would never return to,” Boxer said. But now she is happy to make it her home.
“I think it’s such a great place, because you’re 10 or 15 minutes from Portland, and it really feels so rural and suburban,” Boxer said. “It’s kind of the best of both worlds,” she said.
Cindy Williams, an evening anchor for WCSH 6, and her husband Lee Nelson, one of the station’s morning anchors, also find a pleasant balance in Cape.
They have lived in town for six years. Before that they lived just down the street in South Portland, and loved the neighborhood. When they needed a new house, they didn’t look far.
The big farmhouse they now call home is in the same neighborhood, but is just across the line in Cape.
Being close to the beaches is a plus for Williams, as are the friendly people and quiet streets where she lives. The house is also close to work, a plus for Nelson, who gets up before the crack of dawn to be on the air by 6 a.m.
A lot of the folks they work with live in South Portland, but William s and Nelson have a head start to their favorite eating place: the Lobster Shack.
These news folks like to get away from the hectic pace of city life and come home to Cape. Boxer said the town has a good mix, and despite physical proximity has a totally different air than Portland or South Portland. She called the feeling “so close and yet so far. ”
For a quiet town that sometimes thinks it has little news, Cape Elizabeth has more than its fair share of news professionals in residence.
Anchors of Portland television stations, several top editors at the Portland Press Herald, including editor Jeannine Guttman and managing editor Eric Conrad, and even regular reporters live scattered throughout the town. They say they like the peace and quiet as well as its proximity to work and the bustle of Portland.
Guttman and Conrad did not return multiple phone calls seeking comment for this story. But one of their colleagues was willing to talk. John Richardson, a reporter for the Portland Press Herald, has lived in Cape since 1994. He has two children, 11 and 9, and he likes the environment they have. “It’s a great place for them to grow up,” he said.
The family previously lived in York County, but it was a longer commute and more isolated. “We like being near the ocean,” Richardson said, citing the town’s rural character as another strength.
“It’s a great community for families and kids,” Richardson said.
Bruce Glasier, a native of Portland, has lived in Cape since 1978. The sports anchor for WCSH 6, Glasier’s family started in the Two Lights neighborhood, then moved to Star Road and now live on a dirt road in a house with a view of the ocean. It is only one road over from where his wife, Marita Ray, grew up.
“I just love the community,” he said. His son went to Cape schools, which was different from Glasier’s childhood.
“I grew up as a city kid,” he said. But it’s different now that he has moved to the country. “I don’t have to go far to look at the ocean,” Glasier said.
Doug Cook, an evening anchor for WMTW, Channel 8, feels similarly. “I always liked the fact that it’s close to the water,” he said. Cook and his wife, Cape native Elisa Boxer, who is also his co-anchor, are building a house in Cross Hill.
They had looked in Falmouth, but hadn’t found a place that felt right to them. In Cape, though, they are close to work and family and in a town with strong schools.
“We found an unbeatable combination. It’s perfect,” Cook said. He and Boxer haven’t moved in yet, but are looking forward to doing so next year. “I think it’s going to be awesome,” Cook said.
He had to persuade Boxer to look at Cape. She grew up there, and like many small-town kids, wanted to “get out.”
“Growing up, I swore it was the one place I would never return to,” Boxer said. But now she is happy to make it her home.
“I think it’s such a great place, because you’re 10 or 15 minutes from Portland, and it really feels so rural and suburban,” Boxer said. “It’s kind of the best of both worlds,” she said.
Cindy Williams, an evening anchor for WCSH 6, and her husband Lee Nelson, one of the station’s morning anchors, also find a pleasant balance in Cape.
They have lived in town for six years. Before that they lived just down the street in South Portland, and loved the neighborhood. When they needed a new house, they didn’t look far.
The big farmhouse they now call home is in the same neighborhood, but is just across the line in Cape.
Being close to the beaches is a plus for Williams, as are the friendly people and quiet streets where she lives. The house is also close to work, a plus for Nelson, who gets up before the crack of dawn to be on the air by 6 a.m.
A lot of the folks they work with live in South Portland, but William s and Nelson have a head start to their favorite eating place: the Lobster Shack.
These news folks like to get away from the hectic pace of city life and come home to Cape. Boxer said the town has a good mix, and despite physical proximity has a totally different air than Portland or South Portland. She called the feeling “so close and yet so far. ”
Thursday, September 12, 2002
Lifeline busy with seal release
Published in the Current
The Marine Animal Lifeline released three seals on the morning of Sept. 5, including one, named Chance, that had been found with a gunshot wound in her head on Pine Point Beach July 2.
The release, in Cape Elizabeth’s Dyer Cove, was successful, with all three animals heading out to sea.
Two of the seals had lived in the wild for a long time, and headed quickly back to their natural habitat.
The third, rescued by the Lifeline when only a day old, took longer to get used to the surf and salt water, changes from its tank at the Lifeline’s rehabilitation center.
Immediately following the release, Lifeline President Greg Jakush and several volunteers drove to Hannaford Cove to check out a report of a dead turtle on the beach.
The turtle was located and was “very dead,” Jakush said. The Lifeline had been receiving reports of the dead turtle floating along the coast for a couple of weeks. The first sighting was in Damariscotta.
Also on the beach at Hannaford Cove was a dead adult seal, part of a recent surge in dead seal reports to the Lifeline. Jakush said the increase is natural and is not cause for alarm. He said recent high tides and odd currents are washing seal carcasses off ledges further out to sea, where they die of natural causes.
None of the seals so far, he said, were rescued and released by the Lifeline.
Jakush said he also received a report recently of a former Lifeline patient “frolicking and playing” in the Cape Cod Channel in Massachusetts.
“He made a heck of a j o u r n e y,” Jakush said.
People who find stranded or injured marine animals should call the Marine Animal Lifeline’s 24-hour hotline at 851-6625.
The Marine Animal Lifeline released three seals on the morning of Sept. 5, including one, named Chance, that had been found with a gunshot wound in her head on Pine Point Beach July 2.
The release, in Cape Elizabeth’s Dyer Cove, was successful, with all three animals heading out to sea.
Two of the seals had lived in the wild for a long time, and headed quickly back to their natural habitat.
The third, rescued by the Lifeline when only a day old, took longer to get used to the surf and salt water, changes from its tank at the Lifeline’s rehabilitation center.
Immediately following the release, Lifeline President Greg Jakush and several volunteers drove to Hannaford Cove to check out a report of a dead turtle on the beach.
The turtle was located and was “very dead,” Jakush said. The Lifeline had been receiving reports of the dead turtle floating along the coast for a couple of weeks. The first sighting was in Damariscotta.
Also on the beach at Hannaford Cove was a dead adult seal, part of a recent surge in dead seal reports to the Lifeline. Jakush said the increase is natural and is not cause for alarm. He said recent high tides and odd currents are washing seal carcasses off ledges further out to sea, where they die of natural causes.
None of the seals so far, he said, were rescued and released by the Lifeline.
Jakush said he also received a report recently of a former Lifeline patient “frolicking and playing” in the Cape Cod Channel in Massachusetts.
“He made a heck of a j o u r n e y,” Jakush said.
People who find stranded or injured marine animals should call the Marine Animal Lifeline’s 24-hour hotline at 851-6625.
School renovation costs cut
Published in the Current
Cape Elizabeth school officials have been able to trim $1.6 million from the plans to renovate the high school, and say they are not yet finished.
Large questions remain about how classes will use space, and whether the changes need to be made all at once or can be made over time.
A meeting of several school department staff members, building committee members and project architect Bob Howe led cuts in the high school project from $9.2 million to $7.6 million, School Board and building committee Chairman Marie Prager told the board’s Finance Committee on Tuesday.
That brings the total, for renovations at the high school and additions to Pond Cove School, to $10.1 million, down from $11.7 million.
“We were able to shave down some of the dollars,” Prager told the Current in an interview. Specific details will not be available until a Sept. 26 meeting of the building committee, she said.
“We took out things that were obvious to all of us had to come out,” she said.
Among the cuts, Prager told the Finance Committee, were some site work and a $500,000 sprinkler system. Also reduced were costs to pave the rear parking lot at the school, now a gravel area. The original plan included relocating the road behind the school, but Prager said leaving the road where it is could save as much as $70,000.
Other savings may come in work that can be completed by the schools’ maintenance staff.
The cuts so far are preliminary and are subject to the decision of the entire building committee, Prager said.
The board will hold a workshop Sept. 24 on all-day or extended-day kindergarten, to decide if the addition to Pond Cove needs to be as extensive as it is planned. If all-day kindergarten happens in the next several years, said Superintendent Tom Forcella, “it would be foolish not to build space for it.”
Enrollment that continues to exceed even the high end of the district’s projections is also cause for concern. So is the timeline: The board would like to have the school bond available for a referendum on the town’s election day in May, if the Town Council sends the question to the voters.
Prager said the building committee may get to a point with the project
where they turn to Howe with a total dollar figure and ask, “what can we get for that?”
Board member Kevin Sweeney pointed out the importance of getting everything organized the first time, saying there would not be a second chance to get the project past the council or the public.
Board member Susan Steinman worried about the process being driven by the building project’s urgency, rather than educational priorities. “What population do we want to be serving, to what degree?” she asked.
Also undecided are the total cost and construction timeline. “Alot of things are up in the air,” Prager said.
Prager said she and board finance Chairman Elaine Moloney are laying the ground work for extended dealings with the Town Council this year.
“We realize that we’re all not going to always agree,” Prager said.
But she said it was important for the two bodies to keep in close contact, especially with money so tight. “We’re headed for difficult times,” she said.
Building committee meetings will now have minutes recorded. The minutes will be sent to members of the School Board and the Town Council, to keep everyone informed, Moloney said. She expects to give the council a budget update in December or January as well, she said.
Not all the board members are ready to go along with the plan of improving school-council relations.
Board member George Entwistle, who took a strong stand against council budget cuts during last year’s school budget process, warned Prager and Moloney against getting too close to the council.
“I am very cautious about inviting the fox into the henhouse,” he said. “There’s a fundamental difference of mission.”
At the School Board’s regular business meeting, which followed the finance committee meeting, the board heard from:
– Superintendent Tom Forcella that several groups of school staff were recognized on the first day of school for their hard work and dedication. They included the seventh grade teaching team for their work with the laptop program, the entire staff of Pond Cove school for its literacy accomplishments, the maintenance department for helping save money in energy and maintenance costs, and the high school science department for organizing the new high school science curriculum.
– Pond Cove Principal Tom Eismeier that while first-grade teacher Kelly Hasson was not selected as the Maine Teacher of the Year, “we still think Kelly Hasson would be our teacher of the year. ”
– Seventh-grade teacher Beverly Bisbee about the first few days of work with the laptops, accompanied by a digital photo slide-show to the music of “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring.”
The School Board will hold a workshop meeting on the subject of all-day and extended-day kindergarten, at 7:30 p.m., Sept. 24, in the high school library. The board’s next regular business meeting will be Oct. 8, at 7:30 p.m., in the Town Council chambers.
Cape Elizabeth school officials have been able to trim $1.6 million from the plans to renovate the high school, and say they are not yet finished.
Large questions remain about how classes will use space, and whether the changes need to be made all at once or can be made over time.
A meeting of several school department staff members, building committee members and project architect Bob Howe led cuts in the high school project from $9.2 million to $7.6 million, School Board and building committee Chairman Marie Prager told the board’s Finance Committee on Tuesday.
That brings the total, for renovations at the high school and additions to Pond Cove School, to $10.1 million, down from $11.7 million.
“We were able to shave down some of the dollars,” Prager told the Current in an interview. Specific details will not be available until a Sept. 26 meeting of the building committee, she said.
“We took out things that were obvious to all of us had to come out,” she said.
Among the cuts, Prager told the Finance Committee, were some site work and a $500,000 sprinkler system. Also reduced were costs to pave the rear parking lot at the school, now a gravel area. The original plan included relocating the road behind the school, but Prager said leaving the road where it is could save as much as $70,000.
Other savings may come in work that can be completed by the schools’ maintenance staff.
The cuts so far are preliminary and are subject to the decision of the entire building committee, Prager said.
The board will hold a workshop Sept. 24 on all-day or extended-day kindergarten, to decide if the addition to Pond Cove needs to be as extensive as it is planned. If all-day kindergarten happens in the next several years, said Superintendent Tom Forcella, “it would be foolish not to build space for it.”
Enrollment that continues to exceed even the high end of the district’s projections is also cause for concern. So is the timeline: The board would like to have the school bond available for a referendum on the town’s election day in May, if the Town Council sends the question to the voters.
Prager said the building committee may get to a point with the project
where they turn to Howe with a total dollar figure and ask, “what can we get for that?”
Board member Kevin Sweeney pointed out the importance of getting everything organized the first time, saying there would not be a second chance to get the project past the council or the public.
Board member Susan Steinman worried about the process being driven by the building project’s urgency, rather than educational priorities. “What population do we want to be serving, to what degree?” she asked.
Also undecided are the total cost and construction timeline. “Alot of things are up in the air,” Prager said.
Prager said she and board finance Chairman Elaine Moloney are laying the ground work for extended dealings with the Town Council this year.
“We realize that we’re all not going to always agree,” Prager said.
But she said it was important for the two bodies to keep in close contact, especially with money so tight. “We’re headed for difficult times,” she said.
Building committee meetings will now have minutes recorded. The minutes will be sent to members of the School Board and the Town Council, to keep everyone informed, Moloney said. She expects to give the council a budget update in December or January as well, she said.
Not all the board members are ready to go along with the plan of improving school-council relations.
Board member George Entwistle, who took a strong stand against council budget cuts during last year’s school budget process, warned Prager and Moloney against getting too close to the council.
“I am very cautious about inviting the fox into the henhouse,” he said. “There’s a fundamental difference of mission.”
At the School Board’s regular business meeting, which followed the finance committee meeting, the board heard from:
– Superintendent Tom Forcella that several groups of school staff were recognized on the first day of school for their hard work and dedication. They included the seventh grade teaching team for their work with the laptop program, the entire staff of Pond Cove school for its literacy accomplishments, the maintenance department for helping save money in energy and maintenance costs, and the high school science department for organizing the new high school science curriculum.
– Pond Cove Principal Tom Eismeier that while first-grade teacher Kelly Hasson was not selected as the Maine Teacher of the Year, “we still think Kelly Hasson would be our teacher of the year. ”
– Seventh-grade teacher Beverly Bisbee about the first few days of work with the laptops, accompanied by a digital photo slide-show to the music of “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring.”
The School Board will hold a workshop meeting on the subject of all-day and extended-day kindergarten, at 7:30 p.m., Sept. 24, in the high school library. The board’s next regular business meeting will be Oct. 8, at 7:30 p.m., in the Town Council chambers.
Chief wants more pay for firefighters
Published in the Current
Scarborough Fire Chief Michael Thurlow last week laid out his plan to increase firefighters’ pay, improve coverage throughout the town and reorganize some of the department’s administrative and training duties.
It is a sweeping plan, which could cost thousands of dollars a year in additional salary and benefits, but Thurlow told the Town Council at its Sept. 4 workshop the town needs it.
Further, he said, it is far cheaper than the alternative: a fire service staffed entirely by full-time firefighters.
“It is inevitable that this community will grow to the extent that we need a full-time department, at some point,” Thurlow said. But in the meantime, there are some changes the Town Council can implement to keep the town’s fire protection level up while still keeping costs at a reasonable level.
Thurlow asked councilors to phase in firefighters’ pay increases for advanced fire and rescue training, pay firefighters for the hours they spend in training and pay increments for people who stay in the department over the long term. Also part of his plan is for additional full-time administrative and regulatory staff to handle the department’s paperwork, supervisory tasks and fire prevention responsibilities.
All firefighters now get paid $10 per hour, a rate Thurlow wants to use as the base rate for basic firefighters.
Thurlow asked the council to increase pay rates 50 cents per hour for each fire training level a firefighter attains, starting Jan. 1.
That could cost as much as $98,000 a year, Thurlow said, though there is no money in this budget for such an expense.
Rather, savings would need to be found in other areas of town spending, according to Town Manager Ron Owens.
Paying firefighters more would help the town retain its fire crews, Thurlow
said. The more on-call firefighters the town has, the longer it can last without a full-time fire service, Thurlow said.
He said the expense of increasing firefighters’ pay pales in comparison to what it would cost to pay full-time firefighters for similar service. “It is a much cheaper alternative to full-time staffing,” he said.
To further streamline department operations, Thurlow wants to add a full-time training coordinator to handle the 8,000 man-hours of training the department conducts each year, a full-time administrative assistant for the
rescue department and a fire prevention officer.
He also wants to add two daytime firefighters, who staff the town’s fire stations from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. each day, to ensure a faster response to fires. In addition to fire coverage, they can be used as shift supervisors.
The fire prevention officer, Thurlow said, could be partially paid for by fees the department now charges developers for reviewing fire safety plans.
That officer would also do fire safety inspections for businesses and visit the town’s schools, especially during October’s Fire Prevention Week, Thurlow said.
He went on to lay the groundwork for a future request for additional full-time staff, saying there may be a need for full-time emergency medical technicians at the stations, to supplement the paramedics now there. Further, he said, there may also be a need to increase firefighter coverage during the evening commute time. Presently, daytime firefighters leave work at 4:30 p.m., handing off coverage to on-call firefighters.
Bad traffic at the Route 22 intersection with Route 114 can keep firefighters from getting to the station quickly, to respond to fires in time, he said.
Thurlow said he expects to need to phase in these changes, to reduce impact on the budget, but said the changes need to happen quickly. “I’m hoping that we can accomplish a lot of it within the next three years,” he said.
Councilor and Finance Committee Chairman Patrick O’Reilly encouraged Thurlow to look at cooperation with neighboring towns for training purposes and staffing. The town has such an agreement with Gorham, in which one Gorham firefighter and fire truck are based at the North Scarborough fire station, which provides fire protection in North Scarborough and South Gorham.
Council Chairman Jeff Messer said he would support a 10 percent annual increase for the fire and rescue budget, with some of that money increasing pay and the rest of it used for additional full-time staff.
Town Manager Ron Owens cautioned Messer not to commit himself before reviewing the needs of the rest of the town’s departments.
O’Reilly said he wanted to know the numbers of people at each training level and longevity step. Thurlow said he would bring that to a follow-up meeting, to happen in October.
Scarborough Fire Chief Michael Thurlow last week laid out his plan to increase firefighters’ pay, improve coverage throughout the town and reorganize some of the department’s administrative and training duties.
It is a sweeping plan, which could cost thousands of dollars a year in additional salary and benefits, but Thurlow told the Town Council at its Sept. 4 workshop the town needs it.
Further, he said, it is far cheaper than the alternative: a fire service staffed entirely by full-time firefighters.
“It is inevitable that this community will grow to the extent that we need a full-time department, at some point,” Thurlow said. But in the meantime, there are some changes the Town Council can implement to keep the town’s fire protection level up while still keeping costs at a reasonable level.
Thurlow asked councilors to phase in firefighters’ pay increases for advanced fire and rescue training, pay firefighters for the hours they spend in training and pay increments for people who stay in the department over the long term. Also part of his plan is for additional full-time administrative and regulatory staff to handle the department’s paperwork, supervisory tasks and fire prevention responsibilities.
All firefighters now get paid $10 per hour, a rate Thurlow wants to use as the base rate for basic firefighters.
Thurlow asked the council to increase pay rates 50 cents per hour for each fire training level a firefighter attains, starting Jan. 1.
That could cost as much as $98,000 a year, Thurlow said, though there is no money in this budget for such an expense.
Rather, savings would need to be found in other areas of town spending, according to Town Manager Ron Owens.
Paying firefighters more would help the town retain its fire crews, Thurlow
said. The more on-call firefighters the town has, the longer it can last without a full-time fire service, Thurlow said.
He said the expense of increasing firefighters’ pay pales in comparison to what it would cost to pay full-time firefighters for similar service. “It is a much cheaper alternative to full-time staffing,” he said.
To further streamline department operations, Thurlow wants to add a full-time training coordinator to handle the 8,000 man-hours of training the department conducts each year, a full-time administrative assistant for the
rescue department and a fire prevention officer.
He also wants to add two daytime firefighters, who staff the town’s fire stations from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. each day, to ensure a faster response to fires. In addition to fire coverage, they can be used as shift supervisors.
The fire prevention officer, Thurlow said, could be partially paid for by fees the department now charges developers for reviewing fire safety plans.
That officer would also do fire safety inspections for businesses and visit the town’s schools, especially during October’s Fire Prevention Week, Thurlow said.
He went on to lay the groundwork for a future request for additional full-time staff, saying there may be a need for full-time emergency medical technicians at the stations, to supplement the paramedics now there. Further, he said, there may also be a need to increase firefighter coverage during the evening commute time. Presently, daytime firefighters leave work at 4:30 p.m., handing off coverage to on-call firefighters.
Bad traffic at the Route 22 intersection with Route 114 can keep firefighters from getting to the station quickly, to respond to fires in time, he said.
Thurlow said he expects to need to phase in these changes, to reduce impact on the budget, but said the changes need to happen quickly. “I’m hoping that we can accomplish a lot of it within the next three years,” he said.
Councilor and Finance Committee Chairman Patrick O’Reilly encouraged Thurlow to look at cooperation with neighboring towns for training purposes and staffing. The town has such an agreement with Gorham, in which one Gorham firefighter and fire truck are based at the North Scarborough fire station, which provides fire protection in North Scarborough and South Gorham.
Council Chairman Jeff Messer said he would support a 10 percent annual increase for the fire and rescue budget, with some of that money increasing pay and the rest of it used for additional full-time staff.
Town Manager Ron Owens cautioned Messer not to commit himself before reviewing the needs of the rest of the town’s departments.
O’Reilly said he wanted to know the numbers of people at each training level and longevity step. Thurlow said he would bring that to a follow-up meeting, to happen in October.
A father’s heartbreak on sending his son into battle
Published in the Current
Patriotism is a less certain thing for Kevin Sweeney now. Since Sept. 11, 2001, he has been engaged in internal conflict between what he sees in the world and what it means for his son, Brendan.
Brendan is a specialist in the 82nd Airborne Division, based at Fort Bragg, N.C. His unit is one of the first to head into harm’s way.
Sweeney, a New York native who received the coveted “New Yorker for New York” award in 1986, grew up, so he said, “watching the Twin Towers go up.” He lived in a working-class neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens and spent most of his life in the city, working to better his block and his neighborhood.
An Army veteran, who is not shy about expressing his pride in his son, Sweeney wonders and worries about the world his son – and all 20-year-olds – are living in.
Brendan called last Sept. 11 to say he and his fellow soldiers were in their combat gear, getting set to move. They didn’t go anywhere that day, but have been prepared to depart at a moment’s notice for a year.
“There is no sense of security in what Brendan will be doing from day to day,” Sweeney said.
There is a sense of relief when Brendan or his wife calls to say other units have been deployed, because it means at least six months before another unit
rotates overseas to replace it.
But, Sweeney said, with “war drums” beating like they are, it might not be six months, and could be far less.
Brendan is now slated to head to Germany in January for two weeks, and then on to a location officially undisclosed, but more than likely Afghanistan or Iraq, Sweeney said.
“It’s almost a relief to know he’s going in January,” Sweeney said. At least there’s a date to dread, though he knows departure could happen tomorrow.
Sweeney takes some comfort in knowing that he will get a call to say Brendan has gone overseas, because Brendan’s wife will let the family know. Other soldiers, ordered to pack up and get on airplanes double-quick, may not get a chance to let their families know they are leaving until much later, if at all.
It is not what Sweeney envisioned when Brendan graduated from Cape Elizabeth High School two years ago. At that time, Brendan had little interest in college and no concrete plans. Sweeney encouraged him to join the Army, knowing Brendan was interested in law enforcement and needed some training.
Back then, long before Sept. 11, Sweeney said he saw the Army as a way to get young men like Brendan shaped up, with opportunities for future educational scholarships, chances to get paid for training, and even management and supervisory roles.
Now that has changed. He thinks of Brendan, and all soldiers, differently.
“We have had to talk about things that no father should ever have to discuss with his son,” Sweeney said, his voice breaking. He has helped Brendan with a will and a power of attorney in case his son can’t act on his own behalf.
Some of the father-son time has been more sinister. “You shouldn’t have to go out with your son and buy personal sidearms,” Sweeney said. But that is what they did, when Brendan was home recently.
Sweeney, a self-described curmudgeon, is near tears when talking about Brendan. His depth of emotion springs from both pride and fear.
Proud to serve
“I’m damn proud of him,” Sweeney said. He expands that to the other “kids,” as he calls them, in Brendan’s unit and throughout the Army. “It makes you think,” he said, about all the families across the country, all worried about their own kids.
But he knows Brendan is special, one of the elite fighters the Army spends thousands to train and equip.
“Brendan is one of the few who is in combat arms,” Sweeney said. “They go in harm’s way just training.”
To show his support for his son, Sweeney flies an Airborne flag in front of his house, and wears Airborne jump wings – the symbol of a qualified Army paratrooper – on his lapel.
Sometimes, for variety, he substitutes a pin version of the 82nd Airborne division patch.
But Sweeney also harbors fears for Brendan.
During the Vietnam War, Sweeney said, “people took out their frustration on the individual service member. That bothers me a lot, and I don’t want that to happen again,” he said.
He worries about a lack of popular support for an attack on Iraq. President George W. Bush and his administration are talking about invading Iraq, though national opinion polls indicate the public is about roughly split on the issue.
Former national security advisers and a number of top generals don’t want to go to war either.
Sweeney recalled a statement by Gen. Anthony Zinni, a U.S. envoy to help negotiations between the Israelis and the Palestinians: “The people who seem to be most inclined to go to war are the ones who have never been there,” he said.
If Brendan – or any American soldier – dies in Iraq, Sweeney said he will want strong proof that Saddam Hussein does have weapons of mass destruction, as the Bush administration alleges. Sweeney vowed to hold the administration to account for any missteps.
“I want the United States to be aware of the implications,” Sweeney said.
Putting a face on war
He doesn’t challenge the government out of enmity for the U.S. Rather, it is the opposite. “If there’s anything I do that’s patriotic, it’s playing devil’s advocate and asking the questions,” Sweeney said.
He is scared that with John Ashcroft and others in the administration making policy changes to “improve security” by taking away civil rights, what the terrorists had hoped to achieve with their attacks, “they have, in fact, accomplished to some degree.”
He reminded Brendan that he swore an oath to uphold the Constitution, and he reminds himself of others who fought to defend American freedom, and what they believed in. Today’s leaders, he said, are different.
“There are people who think that in order to protect those same liberties, we have to take them away,” Sweeney said. But rather than give up his rights and follow along blindly, Sweeney has a simple question: “Why is it so important to go to war?”
He also wants people to understand the true cost of war.
There are about 400,000 soldiers out of nearly 300 million U.S. citizens. “Most people don’t know a real soldier,” Sweeney said. Those who serve in the armed forces are people, too. He wants the politicians to remember that. “These soldiers have moms, dads, brothers, sisters, wives and kids,” he said.
War is a big decision, and the distance between soldiers and Washington policymakers can be dangerous, he said.
“It’s easy to send somebody else’s kid,” Sweeney said. The solution? “Make them faces. They’re people, and for the most part they’re kids,” he said.
He said even the national media has gotten carried away, encouraging war and not questioning government officials enough. Sweeney said he recently wanted to call up the war-hawk TV talk show “Fox and Friends,” to say, “You’re talking about killing my son.”
He has worked to help Cape Elizabeth’s members of the armed forces stay in the minds of town residents, especially the children. Last year, classes in the middle school adopted service people, writing them letters and sending them reminders of home.
The activity is one way Sweeney can avoid being overcome by fear. In a phone conversation from North Carolina, Brendan once said he was scared. Sweeney reminded him that fear is normal.
“Courage is not an absence of fear, it’s perseverance in the presence of fear,” Sweeney told his son.
The father’s heartbreak is still palpable, though, as Sweeney begins to cry, thinking about the last time he saw Brendan.
“I can’t say goodbye to him without being in tears,” Sweeney said, “because I don’t know if I’m ever going to see him again.”
Patriotism is a less certain thing for Kevin Sweeney now. Since Sept. 11, 2001, he has been engaged in internal conflict between what he sees in the world and what it means for his son, Brendan.
Brendan is a specialist in the 82nd Airborne Division, based at Fort Bragg, N.C. His unit is one of the first to head into harm’s way.
Sweeney, a New York native who received the coveted “New Yorker for New York” award in 1986, grew up, so he said, “watching the Twin Towers go up.” He lived in a working-class neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens and spent most of his life in the city, working to better his block and his neighborhood.
An Army veteran, who is not shy about expressing his pride in his son, Sweeney wonders and worries about the world his son – and all 20-year-olds – are living in.
Brendan called last Sept. 11 to say he and his fellow soldiers were in their combat gear, getting set to move. They didn’t go anywhere that day, but have been prepared to depart at a moment’s notice for a year.
“There is no sense of security in what Brendan will be doing from day to day,” Sweeney said.
There is a sense of relief when Brendan or his wife calls to say other units have been deployed, because it means at least six months before another unit
rotates overseas to replace it.
But, Sweeney said, with “war drums” beating like they are, it might not be six months, and could be far less.
Brendan is now slated to head to Germany in January for two weeks, and then on to a location officially undisclosed, but more than likely Afghanistan or Iraq, Sweeney said.
“It’s almost a relief to know he’s going in January,” Sweeney said. At least there’s a date to dread, though he knows departure could happen tomorrow.
Sweeney takes some comfort in knowing that he will get a call to say Brendan has gone overseas, because Brendan’s wife will let the family know. Other soldiers, ordered to pack up and get on airplanes double-quick, may not get a chance to let their families know they are leaving until much later, if at all.
It is not what Sweeney envisioned when Brendan graduated from Cape Elizabeth High School two years ago. At that time, Brendan had little interest in college and no concrete plans. Sweeney encouraged him to join the Army, knowing Brendan was interested in law enforcement and needed some training.
Back then, long before Sept. 11, Sweeney said he saw the Army as a way to get young men like Brendan shaped up, with opportunities for future educational scholarships, chances to get paid for training, and even management and supervisory roles.
Now that has changed. He thinks of Brendan, and all soldiers, differently.
“We have had to talk about things that no father should ever have to discuss with his son,” Sweeney said, his voice breaking. He has helped Brendan with a will and a power of attorney in case his son can’t act on his own behalf.
Some of the father-son time has been more sinister. “You shouldn’t have to go out with your son and buy personal sidearms,” Sweeney said. But that is what they did, when Brendan was home recently.
Sweeney, a self-described curmudgeon, is near tears when talking about Brendan. His depth of emotion springs from both pride and fear.
Proud to serve
“I’m damn proud of him,” Sweeney said. He expands that to the other “kids,” as he calls them, in Brendan’s unit and throughout the Army. “It makes you think,” he said, about all the families across the country, all worried about their own kids.
But he knows Brendan is special, one of the elite fighters the Army spends thousands to train and equip.
“Brendan is one of the few who is in combat arms,” Sweeney said. “They go in harm’s way just training.”
To show his support for his son, Sweeney flies an Airborne flag in front of his house, and wears Airborne jump wings – the symbol of a qualified Army paratrooper – on his lapel.
Sometimes, for variety, he substitutes a pin version of the 82nd Airborne division patch.
But Sweeney also harbors fears for Brendan.
During the Vietnam War, Sweeney said, “people took out their frustration on the individual service member. That bothers me a lot, and I don’t want that to happen again,” he said.
He worries about a lack of popular support for an attack on Iraq. President George W. Bush and his administration are talking about invading Iraq, though national opinion polls indicate the public is about roughly split on the issue.
Former national security advisers and a number of top generals don’t want to go to war either.
Sweeney recalled a statement by Gen. Anthony Zinni, a U.S. envoy to help negotiations between the Israelis and the Palestinians: “The people who seem to be most inclined to go to war are the ones who have never been there,” he said.
If Brendan – or any American soldier – dies in Iraq, Sweeney said he will want strong proof that Saddam Hussein does have weapons of mass destruction, as the Bush administration alleges. Sweeney vowed to hold the administration to account for any missteps.
“I want the United States to be aware of the implications,” Sweeney said.
Putting a face on war
He doesn’t challenge the government out of enmity for the U.S. Rather, it is the opposite. “If there’s anything I do that’s patriotic, it’s playing devil’s advocate and asking the questions,” Sweeney said.
He is scared that with John Ashcroft and others in the administration making policy changes to “improve security” by taking away civil rights, what the terrorists had hoped to achieve with their attacks, “they have, in fact, accomplished to some degree.”
He reminded Brendan that he swore an oath to uphold the Constitution, and he reminds himself of others who fought to defend American freedom, and what they believed in. Today’s leaders, he said, are different.
“There are people who think that in order to protect those same liberties, we have to take them away,” Sweeney said. But rather than give up his rights and follow along blindly, Sweeney has a simple question: “Why is it so important to go to war?”
He also wants people to understand the true cost of war.
There are about 400,000 soldiers out of nearly 300 million U.S. citizens. “Most people don’t know a real soldier,” Sweeney said. Those who serve in the armed forces are people, too. He wants the politicians to remember that. “These soldiers have moms, dads, brothers, sisters, wives and kids,” he said.
War is a big decision, and the distance between soldiers and Washington policymakers can be dangerous, he said.
“It’s easy to send somebody else’s kid,” Sweeney said. The solution? “Make them faces. They’re people, and for the most part they’re kids,” he said.
He said even the national media has gotten carried away, encouraging war and not questioning government officials enough. Sweeney said he recently wanted to call up the war-hawk TV talk show “Fox and Friends,” to say, “You’re talking about killing my son.”
He has worked to help Cape Elizabeth’s members of the armed forces stay in the minds of town residents, especially the children. Last year, classes in the middle school adopted service people, writing them letters and sending them reminders of home.
The activity is one way Sweeney can avoid being overcome by fear. In a phone conversation from North Carolina, Brendan once said he was scared. Sweeney reminded him that fear is normal.
“Courage is not an absence of fear, it’s perseverance in the presence of fear,” Sweeney told his son.
The father’s heartbreak is still palpable, though, as Sweeney begins to cry, thinking about the last time he saw Brendan.
“I can’t say goodbye to him without being in tears,” Sweeney said, “because I don’t know if I’m ever going to see him again.”
Thursday, September 5, 2002
Rabid animal attacks cats in Cape
Published in the Current
Cape Elizabeth police are warning residents to keep an eye on their pet cats, in the wake of three recent encounters between cats and rabid animals. Two of the incidents involved raccoons and the third was with a skunk, according to Animal Control Officer Bob Leeman.
The most recent encounter, on the night of Sept. 4, was on Ocean House Road between Mitchell Road and Spurwink Avenue. The cat in that encounter was put down because its rabies shots were not up-to-date, and because there were children and other pets in the home.
“I know I’ve got cats out there that aren’t up to date on shots,” Leeman said. “That’s scary. ”
He said cat owners who discover unexplained injuries on their animals should have them taken to the veterinarian for an examination. He said cats might not even show signs of a fight or animal bite, but could bring rabies into the house unnoticed. If humans are exposed to the virus and do not receive rapid treatment, the disease is fatal.
If an animal is suspected of having encountered a rabid animal, Leeman said, the vet will administer a rabies booster shot and the animal will be quarantined for 45 days to be sure it is rabies-free. Leeman said most quarantined animals are kept in their homes under closer supervision than normal.
Rabid animals wander around town, Leeman said, meaning there is no way to specify that one area of town is riskier than others. “It’s everywhere out here,” he said.
Another encounter was between a black cat and a raccoon in the Brentwood area. Both the raccoon and the cat ran off before being captured, Leeman said, so he is not sure what happened to the animals. He did contact residents in the area whom he knew had black cats, but failed to find the animal.
“It worries me because there are so many cats in town,” Leeman said.
Cape Elizabeth police are warning residents to keep an eye on their pet cats, in the wake of three recent encounters between cats and rabid animals. Two of the incidents involved raccoons and the third was with a skunk, according to Animal Control Officer Bob Leeman.
The most recent encounter, on the night of Sept. 4, was on Ocean House Road between Mitchell Road and Spurwink Avenue. The cat in that encounter was put down because its rabies shots were not up-to-date, and because there were children and other pets in the home.
“I know I’ve got cats out there that aren’t up to date on shots,” Leeman said. “That’s scary. ”
He said cat owners who discover unexplained injuries on their animals should have them taken to the veterinarian for an examination. He said cats might not even show signs of a fight or animal bite, but could bring rabies into the house unnoticed. If humans are exposed to the virus and do not receive rapid treatment, the disease is fatal.
If an animal is suspected of having encountered a rabid animal, Leeman said, the vet will administer a rabies booster shot and the animal will be quarantined for 45 days to be sure it is rabies-free. Leeman said most quarantined animals are kept in their homes under closer supervision than normal.
Rabid animals wander around town, Leeman said, meaning there is no way to specify that one area of town is riskier than others. “It’s everywhere out here,” he said.
Another encounter was between a black cat and a raccoon in the Brentwood area. Both the raccoon and the cat ran off before being captured, Leeman said, so he is not sure what happened to the animals. He did contact residents in the area whom he knew had black cats, but failed to find the animal.
“It worries me because there are so many cats in town,” Leeman said.
New Cape deputy fire chief
Published in the Current
Mark Stults, a 10-year veteran of the Cape Fire Department and current captain of Engine 2, has been selected to fill a deputy fire chief position made vacant by the death of Jimmy Murray in June.
Murray’s official radio call sign, “Car Two,” will transfer to Deputy Fire Chief Peter Gleason, and Stults will pick up Gleason’s old call sign as “Car Three.” Fire Chief Philip McGouldrick is “Car One.”
Stults spent 11 years as a firefighter in Falmouth, where he also served as an engine company captain. He works full time for the Town of Scarborough as a firefighter-paramedic on duty with the ambulance at Dunstan Station, and will be able to keep his job there.
“I’m excited,” Stults said. “I’m very pleased to feel the energy that everyone has.”
He took office Sept. 1, so not a lot has happened yet, but he is working with McGouldrick and Gleason to keep things running smoothly at the fire department.
The biggest issue facing the department, he said, is pressure to keep enough on-call firefighters available, and reduce or eliminate the need for full-time paid firefighters.
Full-timers are more expensive than on-call crews, Stults said.
“We’ve got a great group of people on board now,” he said. He expects to continue to focus on keeping a strong pool of volunteers, including paying attention to young people in town who are interested in the fire service.
Mark Stults, a 10-year veteran of the Cape Fire Department and current captain of Engine 2, has been selected to fill a deputy fire chief position made vacant by the death of Jimmy Murray in June.
Murray’s official radio call sign, “Car Two,” will transfer to Deputy Fire Chief Peter Gleason, and Stults will pick up Gleason’s old call sign as “Car Three.” Fire Chief Philip McGouldrick is “Car One.”
Stults spent 11 years as a firefighter in Falmouth, where he also served as an engine company captain. He works full time for the Town of Scarborough as a firefighter-paramedic on duty with the ambulance at Dunstan Station, and will be able to keep his job there.
“I’m excited,” Stults said. “I’m very pleased to feel the energy that everyone has.”
He took office Sept. 1, so not a lot has happened yet, but he is working with McGouldrick and Gleason to keep things running smoothly at the fire department.
The biggest issue facing the department, he said, is pressure to keep enough on-call firefighters available, and reduce or eliminate the need for full-time paid firefighters.
Full-timers are more expensive than on-call crews, Stults said.
“We’ve got a great group of people on board now,” he said. He expects to continue to focus on keeping a strong pool of volunteers, including paying attention to young people in town who are interested in the fire service.
Most sex offenders still not registered
Published in the Current
Of the 3,300 sex offenders required to register with the state’s sex offender registry, only a couple hundred showed up by the Sept. 1 deadline, according to the state police. Officials are taking a wait-and-see approach pending a decision on further action.
“We were hoping for a far greater response to voluntary compliance,” said Maine State Police spokesman, Steve McCausland.
He understands why there is a problem. “The sex offender list is the last place most people want their names to appear,” he said. Some of the offenses took place as long ago as 10 years, he said, so people may “take their chances” and effectively make the police go looking for them.
Starting June 30, 1992, people convicted of gross sexual assault of minors were required by state law to register with state and local police.
In 1999 the legislature expanded the law to include a number of other offenses, ranging from unlawful sexual contact to non-parental kidnapping.
From that date forward, all people convicted of those offenses also had to register.
In September 2001, the state Legislature made the 1999 law retroactive to the original 1992 date. All offenders convicted of any of the crimes added in 1999, and who were convicted between 1992 and 1999, were required to register by Sept. 1.
The plan of action now is uncertain.
“We will now regroup and decide what our next steps are going to be,” McCausland said.
The State Bureau of Identification, which oversees the sex offender registry, has other tasks as well, he said, so officials will have to look at what else is required of that division before deciding how to handle the sex offender issue.
In the meantime, state police will wait for sex offenders to have background checks run on them, or have other contacts with law enforcement.
When sex offenders who should have registered do encounter police, McCausland said, they may be subject to “enforcement action” based on their failure to register.
Criminal background checks, he said, are common in many fields as pre-employment checks, including most jobs dealing with children, including school employees, daycare providers and scout leaders.
Of the 3,300 sex offenders required to register with the state’s sex offender registry, only a couple hundred showed up by the Sept. 1 deadline, according to the state police. Officials are taking a wait-and-see approach pending a decision on further action.
“We were hoping for a far greater response to voluntary compliance,” said Maine State Police spokesman, Steve McCausland.
He understands why there is a problem. “The sex offender list is the last place most people want their names to appear,” he said. Some of the offenses took place as long ago as 10 years, he said, so people may “take their chances” and effectively make the police go looking for them.
Starting June 30, 1992, people convicted of gross sexual assault of minors were required by state law to register with state and local police.
In 1999 the legislature expanded the law to include a number of other offenses, ranging from unlawful sexual contact to non-parental kidnapping.
From that date forward, all people convicted of those offenses also had to register.
In September 2001, the state Legislature made the 1999 law retroactive to the original 1992 date. All offenders convicted of any of the crimes added in 1999, and who were convicted between 1992 and 1999, were required to register by Sept. 1.
The plan of action now is uncertain.
“We will now regroup and decide what our next steps are going to be,” McCausland said.
The State Bureau of Identification, which oversees the sex offender registry, has other tasks as well, he said, so officials will have to look at what else is required of that division before deciding how to handle the sex offender issue.
In the meantime, state police will wait for sex offenders to have background checks run on them, or have other contacts with law enforcement.
When sex offenders who should have registered do encounter police, McCausland said, they may be subject to “enforcement action” based on their failure to register.
Criminal background checks, he said, are common in many fields as pre-employment checks, including most jobs dealing with children, including school employees, daycare providers and scout leaders.
Thursday, August 29, 2002
Cape schools juggle budget changes
Published in the Current
An unexpected increase in federal funding has the Cape Elizabeth School Board breathing a bit easier in the current climate of concern over state budget cuts, but the specter of additional state cuts still looms.
For now, $39,800 in state cuts will be offset by an estimated $40,000 in federal grants for students who have additional needs but don’t qualify for special education.
“We’ve heard rumors there may be more,” said Business Manager Pauline Aportria.
The board has an additional $232,000 in surplus, beyond their expected end-of-year surplus of $285,000, as a result of $60,000 in state agency payments for special needs students and savings due to an end-of-fiscal-year spending freeze.
The board, meeting as its finance subcommittee, decided to use $200,000 of that additional surplus to begin a capital improvement fund. They expect to use some of that money to either offset the cost of the high school and Pond Cove renovation projects, or to perform some needed roof repairs, if the
renovation project fails to win voter approval.
The money could be reallocated to other purposes if, for example, additional state funding cuts meant the schools needed the money sooner. The Town Council would need to approve such a reallocation, Aportria said.
After a discussion of whether to keep additional money in an undesignated reserve to bring the district’s reserve funding up to 2 percent – the “generally accepted accounting principle” – the board gave up under budget pressure from the council in the spring.
Board member George Entwistle said keeping the reserve at 2 percent would provide the district a strong negotiating tool when returning to the council during this year’s budget process.
But board members agreed that putting the money in a building fund would be the wisest move, particularly because they could move it if needed.
Superintendent Tom Forcella said the $200,000 for building expenses could make a big dent in the initial years of any bond that would be passed for the project.
“Ultimately, it’s going to reduce the tax rate,” said board member Kevin Sweeney.
School Board chair and building subcommittee chair Marie Prager said the high school building project, in particular, had been projected to cost more than they had imagined.
The $9.2 million proposal from HKTA Architects is far more than an initial survey, conducted by SMRT Architects, which projected high school renovation costs at $2.5 million, Prager said.
The big jump, she said, would pay for “redoing the high school the way everyone thinks it should be done,” including staff requests and $2 million in site work. Prager said she expects to get 20 to 25 years of use out of the upcoming renovation, but the cost is too high right now.
“We will bring it down,” she said. She warned, however, that the cost would not be cut to $2.5 million.
In its regular August business meeting, which followed the finance subcommittee meeting, the Cape Elizabeth School Board hear the following reports:
–Middle School Principal Nancy Hutton said there will be 34 new students at the middle school this year, including 11 new eighth-graders. She said there were 17 seventh-graders participating in the laptop iTeam program, in which they will help their peers and teachers better use the laptop computers. Hutton also spoke about the middle school outdoor education trips to Camp Kieve and Chewonki, and fund-raising activity to pay for the trips.
– Superintendent Tom Forcella told about new district employees hired over the summer.
– Pond Cove School Principal Tom Eismeier said he is accepting questions to be answered during his upcoming trip to learn about education in Japan.
– High School Principal Jeff Shedd said the state has mandated all high schools have in place at the end of this school year a local assessment program ready for implementation in the fall.
An unexpected increase in federal funding has the Cape Elizabeth School Board breathing a bit easier in the current climate of concern over state budget cuts, but the specter of additional state cuts still looms.
For now, $39,800 in state cuts will be offset by an estimated $40,000 in federal grants for students who have additional needs but don’t qualify for special education.
“We’ve heard rumors there may be more,” said Business Manager Pauline Aportria.
The board has an additional $232,000 in surplus, beyond their expected end-of-year surplus of $285,000, as a result of $60,000 in state agency payments for special needs students and savings due to an end-of-fiscal-year spending freeze.
The board, meeting as its finance subcommittee, decided to use $200,000 of that additional surplus to begin a capital improvement fund. They expect to use some of that money to either offset the cost of the high school and Pond Cove renovation projects, or to perform some needed roof repairs, if the
renovation project fails to win voter approval.
The money could be reallocated to other purposes if, for example, additional state funding cuts meant the schools needed the money sooner. The Town Council would need to approve such a reallocation, Aportria said.
After a discussion of whether to keep additional money in an undesignated reserve to bring the district’s reserve funding up to 2 percent – the “generally accepted accounting principle” – the board gave up under budget pressure from the council in the spring.
Board member George Entwistle said keeping the reserve at 2 percent would provide the district a strong negotiating tool when returning to the council during this year’s budget process.
But board members agreed that putting the money in a building fund would be the wisest move, particularly because they could move it if needed.
Superintendent Tom Forcella said the $200,000 for building expenses could make a big dent in the initial years of any bond that would be passed for the project.
“Ultimately, it’s going to reduce the tax rate,” said board member Kevin Sweeney.
School Board chair and building subcommittee chair Marie Prager said the high school building project, in particular, had been projected to cost more than they had imagined.
The $9.2 million proposal from HKTA Architects is far more than an initial survey, conducted by SMRT Architects, which projected high school renovation costs at $2.5 million, Prager said.
The big jump, she said, would pay for “redoing the high school the way everyone thinks it should be done,” including staff requests and $2 million in site work. Prager said she expects to get 20 to 25 years of use out of the upcoming renovation, but the cost is too high right now.
“We will bring it down,” she said. She warned, however, that the cost would not be cut to $2.5 million.
In its regular August business meeting, which followed the finance subcommittee meeting, the Cape Elizabeth School Board hear the following reports:
–Middle School Principal Nancy Hutton said there will be 34 new students at the middle school this year, including 11 new eighth-graders. She said there were 17 seventh-graders participating in the laptop iTeam program, in which they will help their peers and teachers better use the laptop computers. Hutton also spoke about the middle school outdoor education trips to Camp Kieve and Chewonki, and fund-raising activity to pay for the trips.
– Superintendent Tom Forcella told about new district employees hired over the summer.
– Pond Cove School Principal Tom Eismeier said he is accepting questions to be answered during his upcoming trip to learn about education in Japan.
– High School Principal Jeff Shedd said the state has mandated all high schools have in place at the end of this school year a local assessment program ready for implementation in the fall.
Cape playgrounds get rave reviews
Published in the Current
Dozens of kids already have tried out the new playgrounds at Pond Cove and the middle school, and the reviews, from kids of all ages, is unanimously positive.
“There’s a tire swing there, there’s a trampoline there, and there’s a street sweeper,” said Will Downes, age 4, pointing out some of the new playground’s features.
“I think the playground looks beautiful,” said the well-spoken 4-year-old, who will start kindergarten this year. He went on to detail the virtues of the new slides (there are three) and several ladders, a climbing pole and a fireman’s pole.
“My favorite is the tire swing,” Downes said.
Mac Sweeney, 8, is eager for crews to put the finishing touches on the playground next to Pond Cove.
“I can’t wait until the other playgrounds open,” he said. But he is happy with what he’s seen so far. “I think it’s great,” he said.
Playground reconstruction was organized by CapePlay, with local support from Cape architect Pat Carroll and construction by Skip Murray and L.P. Murray and Sons construction.
Lisa Silverman-Gent, co-chair of CapePlay, said everything “went right on schedule.” She expects there will be a blacktop painting party in September to set up foursquare courts and other games on the blacktop areas near each playground.
The equipment was chosen by students, teachers, administrators and members of the public, Silverman-Gent said. She thanked members of the community for donations and support.
“The two school playgrounds could never have happened without the community,” she said.
The final phase of CapePlay’s efforts will be a new playground at Fort Williams, tentatively planned for the oak grove near the Day One offices. But that remains subject to approval by the Fort Williams Advisory Committee, Silverman-Gent said.
There is no timetable for that project, though CapePlay will need to raise roughly $90,000 to complete it, she said.
Silverman-Gent said that in addition to the Murray crews, who were “very generous” with their time, her co-chair Laura Briggs and volunteer Tina Harnden also played important roles in getting the project done.
Dozens of kids already have tried out the new playgrounds at Pond Cove and the middle school, and the reviews, from kids of all ages, is unanimously positive.
“There’s a tire swing there, there’s a trampoline there, and there’s a street sweeper,” said Will Downes, age 4, pointing out some of the new playground’s features.
“I think the playground looks beautiful,” said the well-spoken 4-year-old, who will start kindergarten this year. He went on to detail the virtues of the new slides (there are three) and several ladders, a climbing pole and a fireman’s pole.
“My favorite is the tire swing,” Downes said.
Mac Sweeney, 8, is eager for crews to put the finishing touches on the playground next to Pond Cove.
“I can’t wait until the other playgrounds open,” he said. But he is happy with what he’s seen so far. “I think it’s great,” he said.
Playground reconstruction was organized by CapePlay, with local support from Cape architect Pat Carroll and construction by Skip Murray and L.P. Murray and Sons construction.
Lisa Silverman-Gent, co-chair of CapePlay, said everything “went right on schedule.” She expects there will be a blacktop painting party in September to set up foursquare courts and other games on the blacktop areas near each playground.
The equipment was chosen by students, teachers, administrators and members of the public, Silverman-Gent said. She thanked members of the community for donations and support.
“The two school playgrounds could never have happened without the community,” she said.
The final phase of CapePlay’s efforts will be a new playground at Fort Williams, tentatively planned for the oak grove near the Day One offices. But that remains subject to approval by the Fort Williams Advisory Committee, Silverman-Gent said.
There is no timetable for that project, though CapePlay will need to raise roughly $90,000 to complete it, she said.
Silverman-Gent said that in addition to the Murray crews, who were “very generous” with their time, her co-chair Laura Briggs and volunteer Tina Harnden also played important roles in getting the project done.
Sex offender registry expanding
Published in the Current
Thousands of people convicted of sexual crimes are required under a revised state law to register with their local police department by Sept. 1 – a mandate the Maine Civil Liberties Union believes should be challenged in court.
At issue is how far the state wants to go back in a person’s criminal record. Originally the state’s sex offender registration law required that all people convicted of gross sexual assault of minors, which includes rape, since June 30, 1992, had to register with state and local police. In 1999 the legislature expanded the law to include a number of other offenses, ranging from unlawful sexual contact to nonparental kidnapping. From that date forward, all people convicted of those offenses also had to register.
In September 2001, the state Legislature made the 1999 law retroactive to the original 1992 date. All offenders convicted of any of the crimes since 1992 are required to register by Sept. 1 of this year.
The backward-looking expansion of the law is expected to add about 3,300 people to the sex offender registry. In mid-July the list held about 750 names, some of which were duplicates. The new list is projected to include 4,000 people.
Registration happens at the police station in the town where the offender lives, and involves appearing at the police station and giving a photograph and a set of fingerprints to the police, as well as providing proof of address, according to Lt. Jackie Theriault of the State Bureau of Identification, a part of the Maine State Police.
Local police send the information to the state, where it is compiled into a statewide registry.
Local police also have to decide whether to notify neighbors of the offender.
Notification
Neighbors of registered sex offenders are not always notified. Theriault said this is up to local authorities, who can decide whether to tell neighbors, and how wide an area to alert, if notification occurs.
“We deal with them on a case-bycase basis,” said Scarborough Police Chief Robert Moulton.
“You’re walking a tightrope,” he said, between the public’s right to know and the registrant’s right to privacy. He said generally the department would notify the neighbors about someone classified as a “sexually violent predator” and would be less likely to notify people about a registrant classed as a “sex offender,” the other designation on the registry. Violent predators include those who are repeat offenders and first-time offenders who have committed especially serious sexual crimes.
“It depends on the offense,” Moulton said, and on the department’s perception of risk to the community.
Moulton said the town has four offenders registered, and police have notified neighbors two or three times in the last two or three years. They have confined that notification to the immediate neighborhood where the registrant lives.
Moulton said some registrants have “settled in” even after notification, while others have left. He said the department has not been notified of any retribution problems, with neighbors harassing or otherwise targeting registrants for abuse. Moulton also said he has not had problems with registered sex offenders committing further sex offenses while in town.
Cape Elizabeth Police Chief Neil Williams said the town has not been home to any registered sex offenders since the law took effect. “We’ve been lucky,” Williams said. He said a small number of offenders have visited people in town or worked in town, but had not caused any problems and had not stayed very long.
If a sex offender were to move to town or if an existing resident were to be required to register, Williams said, “we would probably notify the neighborhood.”
How it works
Maine’s sex offender registry was created in 1991 by the state Legislature, which required that beginning June 30, 1992, offenders convicted of gross sexual assault of minors under the age of 14 register with state and local police when they were released from prison or immediately after conviction, if the sentence did not include jail time.
Convicted offenders were required to tell police where they lived. If they did not change residence, re-registration was not required, according to Theriault. In 1995, the Legislature changed the law to include offenders convicted of gross sexual assault of a victim under age 18. That law became effective in 1996.
In 1999, the Legislature expanded the law to apply to 12 other lesser offenses: gross sexual assault as a sexually violent crime, sexual exploitation of a minor, sexual abuse of minors, unlawful sexual contact, visual sexual aggression against a child, sexual misconduct with a child under age 14, kidnapping (nonparental), criminal restraint, violation of privacy, incest, aggravated promotion of prostitution (victim under age 18) and patronizing prostitution of a minor.
The 1999 law applied only to offenders convicted after the law took effect. It also created two separate categories of registrants, “sex offender” and the repeat offender or “sexually violent predator.” The latest revision, in September 2001, rolled back the time frame on the new offenses to June of 1992.
Sex offenders are required to register annually for 10 years after release from prison or sentencing, if there is no prison time involved. Sexually violent predators are required to register every 90 days for the rest of their lives.
In each case, the registry mails a registration form, which cannot be forwarded, to the last known address of the offender. Registrants must take the form and a recent photo to the local police department, where police will verify their identities and take a set of fingerprints.
The records are then sent back to the registry office in Augusta, where the list is updated if necessary. Registrants must also pay $25 per year in administrative fees, Theriault said.
If registrants move, they have 10 days to notify the state registry office, whether the new home is in Maine or outside the state. If moving out of Maine to a state with a sex offender law of its own, a registrant must also notify the authorities in that state.
Similarly, sex offenders convicted in other states where they are required to register, must also notify Maine police if they move into the state.
Criticism of retroactive change
The Maine Civil Liberties Union is criticizing the sex offender registry for covering too broad a range of crimes and, in particular, the new requirement to register people convicted as long ago as 10 years ago.
“In our view, requiring someone to register can often amount to punishment,” said Louise Roback, the MCLU’s executive director, who recently came to Maine from a position as the executive director at the New York Civil Liberties Union, where she dealt with sex offender registry issues, among other concerns.
Roback said imposing punishments is the role of the courts and not the legislature. Further, she said, imposing additional punishments for crimes committed in the past could be a violation of constitutional rights.
Once a person serves their time in prison or on parole or probation, Roback said, “they have paid their debt to society. ”
Further, some of the people now required to register, she said, are criminals who committed an offense long ago and may not have run afoul of the law since. “It is unusual to go back so many years,” she said.
Roback said listing on a sex offender registry tars the reputation of a person who may be on the way back to productive participation in mainstream society.
It may, she said, also result in “severe incidents of vigilantism,” which she said she saw in New York.
Roback said she understands the intent of the law, and said it seems to be legitimate. “People wanted to protect their children from child molesters,” she said. But now the list of offenses requiring registration is too large, she said.
“Legislators just can’t stop” adding offenses to the list for which registration is required. The list presently includes at least three crimes not directly related to sex acts or sexual behavior: non-parental kidnapping, criminal restraint and violation of privacy.
Not enough protection
Further, legislators who say the sex offender registry protects children are ignoring a major source of sex offenses against children.
“The vast majority of sex offenses committed against children are committed in the home by people that the parents trust,” Roback said. A sex offender registry does nothing about that, she said.
If the idea was for people to take action to protect themselves and their children from sex offenders, Roback said, the defenses are misdirected.
“The real danger is something that parents are overlooking,” she said.
She is not opposed to “reasonable measures” taken by parents and legislators to protect children from sexual predators. But she said creating lists serves only to drive offenders “underground,” and prevents them from seeking services they may need to be healthy, functioning members of their communities.
“It does tend to ostracize people from society,” Roback said.
Challenging the law
Roback said the MCLU is open to considering a challenge to the law, and is hoping to hear from sex offenders affected by the law change, who feel they are being wronged by the new requirement to register. “We haven’t heard from anyone complaining about it,” she said.
Often, she said, convicted criminals are reluctant to stand up for their rights, because filing a lawsuit would require them to identify themselves as sex offenders. She did say that anonymous lawsuits could be a possibility.
She said challenging this law is important because it may violate constitutional protection against what is called “ex post facto” legislation, or laws that outlaw behaviors that have already occurred, or add punishments to sentences handed down in the past.
In the meantime, state officials are encouraging anyone who thinks they might need to register to contact state police, rather than risk violating the law.
“I want them to call us and we’ll help them,” said Lt. Theriault. If people do not register, they are in violation of state law and can be charged with a Class D misdemeanor offense.
Thousands of people convicted of sexual crimes are required under a revised state law to register with their local police department by Sept. 1 – a mandate the Maine Civil Liberties Union believes should be challenged in court.
At issue is how far the state wants to go back in a person’s criminal record. Originally the state’s sex offender registration law required that all people convicted of gross sexual assault of minors, which includes rape, since June 30, 1992, had to register with state and local police. In 1999 the legislature expanded the law to include a number of other offenses, ranging from unlawful sexual contact to nonparental kidnapping. From that date forward, all people convicted of those offenses also had to register.
In September 2001, the state Legislature made the 1999 law retroactive to the original 1992 date. All offenders convicted of any of the crimes since 1992 are required to register by Sept. 1 of this year.
The backward-looking expansion of the law is expected to add about 3,300 people to the sex offender registry. In mid-July the list held about 750 names, some of which were duplicates. The new list is projected to include 4,000 people.
Registration happens at the police station in the town where the offender lives, and involves appearing at the police station and giving a photograph and a set of fingerprints to the police, as well as providing proof of address, according to Lt. Jackie Theriault of the State Bureau of Identification, a part of the Maine State Police.
Local police send the information to the state, where it is compiled into a statewide registry.
Local police also have to decide whether to notify neighbors of the offender.
Notification
Neighbors of registered sex offenders are not always notified. Theriault said this is up to local authorities, who can decide whether to tell neighbors, and how wide an area to alert, if notification occurs.
“We deal with them on a case-bycase basis,” said Scarborough Police Chief Robert Moulton.
“You’re walking a tightrope,” he said, between the public’s right to know and the registrant’s right to privacy. He said generally the department would notify the neighbors about someone classified as a “sexually violent predator” and would be less likely to notify people about a registrant classed as a “sex offender,” the other designation on the registry. Violent predators include those who are repeat offenders and first-time offenders who have committed especially serious sexual crimes.
“It depends on the offense,” Moulton said, and on the department’s perception of risk to the community.
Moulton said the town has four offenders registered, and police have notified neighbors two or three times in the last two or three years. They have confined that notification to the immediate neighborhood where the registrant lives.
Moulton said some registrants have “settled in” even after notification, while others have left. He said the department has not been notified of any retribution problems, with neighbors harassing or otherwise targeting registrants for abuse. Moulton also said he has not had problems with registered sex offenders committing further sex offenses while in town.
Cape Elizabeth Police Chief Neil Williams said the town has not been home to any registered sex offenders since the law took effect. “We’ve been lucky,” Williams said. He said a small number of offenders have visited people in town or worked in town, but had not caused any problems and had not stayed very long.
If a sex offender were to move to town or if an existing resident were to be required to register, Williams said, “we would probably notify the neighborhood.”
How it works
Maine’s sex offender registry was created in 1991 by the state Legislature, which required that beginning June 30, 1992, offenders convicted of gross sexual assault of minors under the age of 14 register with state and local police when they were released from prison or immediately after conviction, if the sentence did not include jail time.
Convicted offenders were required to tell police where they lived. If they did not change residence, re-registration was not required, according to Theriault. In 1995, the Legislature changed the law to include offenders convicted of gross sexual assault of a victim under age 18. That law became effective in 1996.
In 1999, the Legislature expanded the law to apply to 12 other lesser offenses: gross sexual assault as a sexually violent crime, sexual exploitation of a minor, sexual abuse of minors, unlawful sexual contact, visual sexual aggression against a child, sexual misconduct with a child under age 14, kidnapping (nonparental), criminal restraint, violation of privacy, incest, aggravated promotion of prostitution (victim under age 18) and patronizing prostitution of a minor.
The 1999 law applied only to offenders convicted after the law took effect. It also created two separate categories of registrants, “sex offender” and the repeat offender or “sexually violent predator.” The latest revision, in September 2001, rolled back the time frame on the new offenses to June of 1992.
Sex offenders are required to register annually for 10 years after release from prison or sentencing, if there is no prison time involved. Sexually violent predators are required to register every 90 days for the rest of their lives.
In each case, the registry mails a registration form, which cannot be forwarded, to the last known address of the offender. Registrants must take the form and a recent photo to the local police department, where police will verify their identities and take a set of fingerprints.
The records are then sent back to the registry office in Augusta, where the list is updated if necessary. Registrants must also pay $25 per year in administrative fees, Theriault said.
If registrants move, they have 10 days to notify the state registry office, whether the new home is in Maine or outside the state. If moving out of Maine to a state with a sex offender law of its own, a registrant must also notify the authorities in that state.
Similarly, sex offenders convicted in other states where they are required to register, must also notify Maine police if they move into the state.
Criticism of retroactive change
The Maine Civil Liberties Union is criticizing the sex offender registry for covering too broad a range of crimes and, in particular, the new requirement to register people convicted as long ago as 10 years ago.
“In our view, requiring someone to register can often amount to punishment,” said Louise Roback, the MCLU’s executive director, who recently came to Maine from a position as the executive director at the New York Civil Liberties Union, where she dealt with sex offender registry issues, among other concerns.
Roback said imposing punishments is the role of the courts and not the legislature. Further, she said, imposing additional punishments for crimes committed in the past could be a violation of constitutional rights.
Once a person serves their time in prison or on parole or probation, Roback said, “they have paid their debt to society. ”
Further, some of the people now required to register, she said, are criminals who committed an offense long ago and may not have run afoul of the law since. “It is unusual to go back so many years,” she said.
Roback said listing on a sex offender registry tars the reputation of a person who may be on the way back to productive participation in mainstream society.
It may, she said, also result in “severe incidents of vigilantism,” which she said she saw in New York.
Roback said she understands the intent of the law, and said it seems to be legitimate. “People wanted to protect their children from child molesters,” she said. But now the list of offenses requiring registration is too large, she said.
“Legislators just can’t stop” adding offenses to the list for which registration is required. The list presently includes at least three crimes not directly related to sex acts or sexual behavior: non-parental kidnapping, criminal restraint and violation of privacy.
Not enough protection
Further, legislators who say the sex offender registry protects children are ignoring a major source of sex offenses against children.
“The vast majority of sex offenses committed against children are committed in the home by people that the parents trust,” Roback said. A sex offender registry does nothing about that, she said.
If the idea was for people to take action to protect themselves and their children from sex offenders, Roback said, the defenses are misdirected.
“The real danger is something that parents are overlooking,” she said.
She is not opposed to “reasonable measures” taken by parents and legislators to protect children from sexual predators. But she said creating lists serves only to drive offenders “underground,” and prevents them from seeking services they may need to be healthy, functioning members of their communities.
“It does tend to ostracize people from society,” Roback said.
Challenging the law
Roback said the MCLU is open to considering a challenge to the law, and is hoping to hear from sex offenders affected by the law change, who feel they are being wronged by the new requirement to register. “We haven’t heard from anyone complaining about it,” she said.
Often, she said, convicted criminals are reluctant to stand up for their rights, because filing a lawsuit would require them to identify themselves as sex offenders. She did say that anonymous lawsuits could be a possibility.
She said challenging this law is important because it may violate constitutional protection against what is called “ex post facto” legislation, or laws that outlaw behaviors that have already occurred, or add punishments to sentences handed down in the past.
In the meantime, state officials are encouraging anyone who thinks they might need to register to contact state police, rather than risk violating the law.
“I want them to call us and we’ll help them,” said Lt. Theriault. If people do not register, they are in violation of state law and can be charged with a Class D misdemeanor offense.
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