Golf for Kids raises $38,000

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First place gross: Great Falls Marketing with players Mike Frautten, Steve Carrara, Mike Wilson and Mike McNaboe. (Photo courtesy of Monica Charette)

by Monica Charette

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Mid-Maine’s 20th Annual Golf Fore Kids’ Sake, held September 6, at Belgrade Lakes Golf Club, with Invitational Partner Kennebec Savings Bank, raised over $38,000 to benefit school and community-based youth mentoring services for children in Kennebec and Somerset counties. Fifty-five golfers competed in the tournament.

2019 Golf Fore Kids’ Sake Tournament Winners:

First Place Gross: Mike Frautten, Steve Carrara, Mike Wilson and Mike McNaboe, (Great Falls Marketing).

Second Place Gross: Mike Latendresse, Tom Duffek, Blaise McDonald and Tyler Walsh, (Dead River Company).

First Place Net: Eric Gosline, Geoff Houghton, Jake Coan and Ron Trahan, (Gosline-Murchie Insurance).

Second Place Net: Peter Labbe, Nicole Labbe, Patrick Phair and Adrian Phair, (Cives Steel).

Contest Winners:

Longest Drive (Men’s): Eric Gosline, (Gosline-Murchie Insurance); Longest Drive (Women’s): Danielle Marquis, (Higgins & Bolduc Agency Inc).

Closest To Pin: Jessica Smart, (Century 21 Surette Real Estate).

Chipping Contest: Jeff Willett.

Golf Fore Kids’ Sake’s Annual Invitational Partner is Kennebec Savings Bank with support from major sponsors G & E Roofing and Gosline-Murchie Insurance and lunch sponsors SAPPI and Kennebec Valley Federal Credit Union.

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Mid-Maine creates and supports one-to-one mentoring relationships that ignite the power and promise of youth in Androscoggin, Kennebec, Knox, Lincoln, Penobscot, Somerset, and Waldo counties.

By partnering with parents, volunteers and organizations, children in the program have higher aspirations, greater confidence, develop better relationships, avoid risky behaviors and achieve educational success.

For more information about Golf Fore Kids’ Sake, enrolling a child or becoming a volunteer or mentor, please call 236-BBBS (2227) email info@bbbsmidmaine.org, or visit www.bbbsmidmaine.org.

First place net, Gosline-Murchie Insurance, with players Eric Gosline, Geoff Houghton, Jake Coan and Ron Trahan. (Photo courtesy of Monica Charette)

I’M JUST CURIOUS – School: then and now

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by Debbie Walker

I believe most of us went to school as children, different years, and different eras in some cases. To start, just in my family, there was dad and mom’s generation. Yes, we all know dad walked 30 miles to school, rain, shine, or snow and that’s after the chores were done.

Mom I discovered was in the top of her classes. I know they studied the three R’s, ‘Reading and ‘Riting and ‘Rithmatic, taught to the tune of a hickory stick. Mom used to sing that for us.

Then there was my generation. Our school had four grades in the two buildings in town. One teacher for each of the two grade rooms. No kindergarten, just 1-4 and 5-8.

I imagine the teachers had plenty to complain about. I am reasonably sure my teachers have all gone to their reward by now. I bet they would have plenty to say about what their days were like.

After having volunteered in a classroom for two-and-a-half years, a thought crossed my mind. I have no idea what my daughter’s class days were like. I didn’t know how she was taught. What was the ‘theory’ behind the math style she was taught? The Common Core Math being taught now in Maine, oh, brother, it’s crazy!

I am not writing any of this as any kind of criticism of the teachers now. Believe me, from what I saw in those volunteered years I really don’t know how they do it without a volunteer or aide in their room. There is so much to be taught and, of course, there are children at different skill levels. My example would be the reading. The teacher must find a way to teach them all. They must make time for the computer-generated tests. And I don’t want to get started on that one!

There are possibly stations, in their classrooms, for their different types of class work. The teacher might be at the table teaching one level of reading to a group. There would be the group who sit at their desk and finish some class work, and there is probably a computer station for another group to get in their number of minutes for the week. There may be a library corner and a group will be there reading quietly, hopefully. Keep in mind now, the teacher must teach her group activity plus oversee the other stations. Imagine how that works out with one or two little ‘actors’ in the class.

Teachers must keep a schedule going all day. They must deal with morning break, lunch, and afternoon break. A lot of people think teachers get paid such a high wage. If you figured all the hours teachers work, including time they need to use on the weekend to prepare their classroom for the next week, hours they use up in the evenings, yes, divide those into their salary for hourly wage. They wouldn’t even be making minimum wage.

My intentions for this column was to give you a little view of the classrooms “then and now.” I’m sure you remember ‘then’ and I hope I gave you a look at ‘now.’ These are all my thoughts and opinions and not the responsibility of The Town Line.

I’m just curious how you remember “Then.” Let me know at dwdaffy@yahoo.com. Thanks for reading and have a great week!

REVIEW POTPOURRI: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

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Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Peter Catesby Peter Cates

In last week’s column, I wrote about the pianist Glenn Gould and mentioned his classical hit record, the 1955 Bach Goldberg Variations for Columbia Records but failed to mention another million seller, his 1981 remake of the same work, of which many of his fans, including myself, also consider basic to any collection.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Born and raised in Portland, Maine, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882) was arguably the most well-known American poet of the 19th century. Many one-room schoolhouse children memorized such poems as Paul Revere’s Ride and Psalm of Life, a learning experience that is, unfortunately, not part of most curriculums these days.

Longfellow had a gift for evoking the sense of wonder behind everyday life. Its reality could be boring, routine-ish, sad, almost unbearable, yet, if a person had an open mind and heart, life had its silver linings and rainbows.

One of his contemporaries stated, when the poet was still living, “There is something so tender, so gentle, in the nature of Mr. Longfellow that his poems imbibe it bountifully and it brings them home to the heart, not the mind alone, and what the heart loves and admires will linger long before time can obliterate it.”

One of his poems, A Passing Thought, is a nice example of his tender, gentle nature in dealing with life’s challenges :

“O what a glory doth this world put on
For him who, with a fervent heart goes forth
Under the bright and glorious sky and looks
On duties well performed and days well spent!
For him the wind, ay, and the yellow leaves
Shall have a voice and give him eloquent teachings.
He shall so hear the solemn hymn, that Death
Has lifted up for all, that he shall go
To his long-resting-place without a tear.”

The Longfellow House is a well-known tourist attraction, in Portland, Maine.

Christopher Columbus: hero or villain?

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Christopher Columbus

by Gary Kennedy

The discovery of America is commonly questioned. I remember the question coming up in 1964 and pundits stating that the Americas were not discovered by Christopher Columbus in 1492. It was further stated that the Americas were actually discovered prior by an explorer by the name of Amerigo Vespucci. It’s actually uncanny that the ages of the two men are so close. Columbus was an Italian explorer born in 1451 and died in 1506. Vespucci was born the same year 1451 but died in 1512. In all actually Columbus discovered the Islands of the Bahamas with a grant from Queen Isabella using three ships, the Pinta, the Nina and the St. Maria. Although Columbus’s journal of the 1st voyage to the Americas was destroyed, an accurate abstract of the journal, which was written by Columbus’s biographer, Bartolome De Las Casas, is used.

Columbus’s flag ship the Santa Maria went aground on a reef so Columbus was forced to take the wreckage and build a fort on the Island of Hispaniola. Columbus left 40 of his men there promising to return for them. He continued through the islands and finally landed in the new world. (New Spain) Columbus brought African slaves and Europeans who carried diseases with them which completely wiped out the native population. Columbus was a hero for a while, then was ultimately arrested for his crimes against humanity and stripped of his titles and royalty. He died in 1506 a simple man. This is just the short story. Although Columbus was in fact a patriot he was also a very cruel sadistic person, he was still historically considered a great explorer. What a disappointment finding all this out was for me.

Amerigo Vespucci

So this now takes us to Amerigo Vespucci who was on Italian explorer, cartographer, and navigator who was born in the Republic of Florence, Italy. Vespucci’s voyages happened in the same time frame of that of Christopher Columbus’s 1492 voyage. Vespucci was the 1st person to realize that the North and South American continents were distinct continents that were unknown to the Europeans, Asian and Africans. Vespucci made this discovery while sailing near the tip of South America in 1501. This was the era of exploration. The world’s economy was becoming more and more diverse in a very pleasant way. Curiosity was very intense during this age and progress grew at a very rapid rate. Morality and cost had no part in the end results sought by the developing world. The world lost its flat and gained a global configuration so more places were sought and new and safer pathways were questioned. Vespucci also has credit for discovering the Amazon River.

Exploration led to trade and this led to diversity and profits; of course gold, silver and gems were the most sought after commodities. Both Vespucci and Columbus were influenced by the adventures of Marco Polo. Peoples, cultures and geography were the adventure of the day. As unbelievable as it may seem Vespucci determined the Earth’s circumference accurately, within 50 miles. He also was a celestial genius, thus improving navigation.

So Vespucci more than likely reached the mainland of the Americas a few months before John Cabot and more than a year before Columbus. Using his knowledge of Marco Polo’s books description of the constellations and the coast lines of Asia he came to the conclusion he was not in Asia, but an altogether different continent. He verified his suspicion by travelling 400 miles further south along the South American Coast. In 1538 a mapmaker named Gerardus Mercator used the name “America” to both North and South America, known then as the new world. It remains the same to this very day.

Leif Erikson

I must add the two men were very different. Vespucci died with great honor but Columbus died as a very cruel self serving individual, great in his abilities but very poor in his morality. So disappointing! Well the redemption in all of this is it wasn’t either of these two men who discovered what was known as the Americas. During the years of 900-1000 Leif Erikson, who was a Norse explorer from Iceland, came on the scene to be known as the 1st European to set foot on the continent of North America. Obviously this was a long time before the other two mentioned in this article. Leif was the 2nd son of Erik the Red. Motion pictures played this up years ago. Of course the movies made the story far more exciting than what is realistic.

Times in cold countries were very difficult at this time in history. Erik the Red was the one who settled Greenland. Obviously Leif Erikson was on the Americas centuries before Columbus. In 1964 the USA Congress authorized the president to proclaim October 9 as Leif Erikson Day.

It might be of interest to mention that this was in fact the time that Christianity was converted from Paganism because of Erik the Red and especially Leif’s mother, Thjodhild. Most of Greenland was converted to Christianity. So all is well that ends well.

You have received a thousand years of information; found out that there are three American claims by explorers to being the first in the Americas. Given the fact there are centuries between them you will have to use your own logic to decide who was first for you. Also, you now know there are two holidays, Columbus Day and Leif Erikson Day. So in the end there will be those who say, “Who cares, we get the day off.” I didn’t want to ruin your day by telling you that the Asians, in fact, crossed the Bering Strait to the Aleutian Islands, way before all of this. We call them, “Native Americans.”

When you look at so called Native Americans can you, without any doubt, tell what Asian area they are derived from? I have an opinion and that is exactly what it is. (Opinion) So, it is my opinion that before we start changing world shattering events, that really don’t change anything, we learn to accept some things and move on to more important things. We know what we know and that is all part of studying and learning. There is so much more to this story which you can research on your own. Some historians have different dates but these are the ones I have chosen. Enjoy your holiday my friends. (It’s just a name and not the story).

2019 Waterville Youth Football

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Front row, from left to right, Nevick Haywood, Justis Greene, Eli Cullen, Alyx Hardy, Brady Hawes, Logan Campbell, Felix Chapa, Emilia Coelho and Keegan Campbell. Second row, Ethan Veilleux, Bryce Doyon, Ethan Sirois, Chase Bowman, Camden Brown, Ghe Grip, Cole Tomasco, Jayden Greene and Derek Couture. Back row, coaches Shawn Forkey, Tom Hujara, Jason Greene and Isaac LeBlanc. (Photo by Missy Brown, Central Maine Photography staff)

2019 Lawrence High School boys varsity soccer

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The 2019 Lawrence High School boys varsity soccer team, Front row, from left to right Colin Day, Ethan Timmins, Camron Jordan, Jake Ryder, Noah Webber, Dylan Hardenburg, Cody Dixon, Hunter Roy, Tucker Roy and Rodney Smart. Back, Bob Towne, Tyler Harris, Ben Nadeau, Nate Pierce, Gabe York, Evan Craig, Dylan Martin-Hachey, Riley Sinclair, Ryan Bourque, Braden Nadeau and Ryan Mountain. (Photo by Missy Brown, Central Maine Photography staff)

2019 Winslow Youth Football grades 1 & 2

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Winslow Youth Football grades 1-2 team members are, front, from left to right, Cooper, Lucian, Braiden, Lucas, Gabe, Tucker, Keegan, Layton, Landen and William. Middle row, Eli, AJ Cooper, Caleb, Brayden, Deacon and JJ. Back row, Cameron, Chase, Kamden, Brandon, Cameron, Kevin and Jace. Coaches Mark Cotter, Bob Hafford, James Grant and Jonathan Blais. (Photo by Missy Brown, Central Maine Photography staff)

AARP SCAM ALERT: National Cyber Security Month

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October is National Cyber Security Month and there are three keys to staying safe online: Own it, Secure it, and Protect it. The “it” is your digital profile – the personal things about yourself that you put online. Living in the digital age means putting a lot of personal information online like your home address, where you work, family members, and much more. Keeping that information safe requires a bit of work. First, you need to own it by understanding what you’re putting out there (such as what you’re posting on social media). Next, you have to secure it with strong passwords or using a password manager and enabling two-step authentication where available. Lastly, you need to protect it by staying current with the latest security updates on your devices and using Public Wi-Fi safely. Learn more at staysafeonline.org.

Be a fraud fighter! If you can spot a scam, you can stop a scam.

Visit the AARP Fraud Watch Network at www.aarp.org/fraudwatchnetwork or call the AARP Fraud Watch Network Helpline at 1-877-908-3360 to report a scam or get help if you’ve fallen victim.

Recycled Shakespeare Company to perform ‘The Tempest’

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Come away to a private island where the plants, stones, and water are alive. Considered one of Shakespeare’s best fairytales, The Tempest is a magical journey through love, loyalty, and power. Recycled Shakespeare Company, now in it’s sixth season, will be performing at 7 p.m., on Friday, October 18 and Saturday, October 19, at Skills Inc. Ervin Center, 46 Front Street, Waterville.

With original music and direction by Emily Rowden Fournier, of Fairfield, co-director Helena Page, of Clinton, and stage manager Debra Achorn, of Waterville, the scene comes alive as the exiled Prospero, (Raymond “Wingnut” Wing, of Waterville) creates a magical storm in order to shipwreck the queen and her courtiers. Prospero’s daughter, Miranda (Omm Stilwell, of Vassalboro) does not realize her father’s plan to introduce her to Prince Ferdinand (Cody Curtis, of Bath), but soon learns how she and her father came to be exiled on this island which is inhabited only by them, the monster Caliban (Aaron Blaschke Rowden and Joe Rowden, both of Fairfield) and Ariel, the musical spirit of the island played by nine singers and dancers. With would-be assassins afoot, can Ariel protect the queen and Prospero and still be freed from enslavement? Live accompaniment will be by Fournier on flute and Mia Fairman, of Waterville, on violin.

Recycled Shakespeare Company was founded with the mission of making theater accessible to all while using recycled and repurposed materials. The nonprofit group is Northern New England’s only grassroots Shakespearean community theater and has been featured at the Shakespeare Theater Association’s annual conference in Prague, Czech Republic, for their efforts in creating ecological theater.

This family-friendly production will be presented in the round, with the audience getting a 360 degree view of the stage, and is free to the public. Best view seats can be reserved with a $10 donation. Themed refreshments will be sold.

For more information or to reserve seats call 207-314-8607 or email RecycledShakespeare@gmail.com.

GROWING YOUR BUSINESS: Growing your local restaurant

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by Dan Beaulieu
Business consultant

There is nothing like a small local restaurant. A place with charm and history. A place that people remember going to with their parents when they were little. Or taking that first date for an ice cream soda while sitting at their soda fountain. We all have fond memories of a place like that. But unfortunately, that’s all we have “fond memories,” because these kinds of places are being run out of business by the big chain restaurants. The places that can afford to stay open seven days a week from mid-morning to very late at night. The places that buy their food in bulk, so they get the best prices. Those places that can afford multi-million dollar advertising campaigns showing their succulent lobsters and juicy steaks and bright red spaghetti and meatballs, all you can eat specials at prices that would drive the little guy out of the business.

But in our hearts, we love the little guy. She’s our neighbor, you went to high school and played football with him. And now it saddens you to see the business growing dark because they just cannot compete any longer.

Sad but true, but hey, there is hope, this does not have to be. There are ways to fight back if you own a small local restaurant. The big guys do have some disadvantages and it is up to the small family owned business to take advantage of those weakness.

Instead of meekly going into the good night of extinction there are things you can do right now to not only make your restaurant survive, but thrive as well.

Here then are ten ways to make your restaurant thrive in this era of the giant, impersonal food boxes of chain restaurants.

  • Be personal. The big guys can’t, you can. When customers come in treat them like old friends, even if some of them are new customers. Make them feel welcome. Everyone likes the feeling of belonging, make your customers feel like they belong
  • Spruce up the place. Chances are if your restaurant has been around for 30 years, your restaurant might look the part. It’s amazing what some paint, recovered booths and varnished tables and good lighting can do to improve the look of a restaurant.
  • Use your locality to your advantage. You have been here forever. This is your town. You went to school with many of your customers and potential customers. Use that familiarity to your advantage. Display photos showing what the town was years past and how it has changed. Support the local organizations from the school teams to the local churches and synagogues. Budget for this. A small donation to a local church’s silent auction will be remember and appreciated by their members.
  • Come up with some special dishes, entrees that are area favorites. I can guarantee that no box chain restaurant is going to serve boiled dinner, or beans and franks, or red hot dogs, or fresh seafood like a local restaurant.
  • Advertise: You don’t have to spend a lot of money on advertising, but you do have to do it. A small changing ad in the newspaper. Or better yet a local radio station. Or even better yet start your own newsletter complete with coupons. And speaking of coupons, how about a loyalty program to keep those customers coming in on their way to that special reward!

I’ve run out of space for this time. But no worries, I’ll pick this up next time when we’ll talk about the one secret that will guarantee the success of your local neighborhood place for years to come. Stay tuned and we’ll continue to show you how to grow your local restaurant business.