Evelyn Withee, of Rome, was recently initiated into The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, the nation’s oldest and most selective all-discipline collegiate honor society. Withee was initiated at the University of Maine.
SMILE, YOU’RE ON CAMERA: Tina Richard, of Clinton, recently snapped this gray fox sunning itself on a warm spring day.
CLOSE UP: Emily Poulin, of China, photographed this male cardinal last fall.
OL’ GLORY: Virginia Jones, of Palermo, snapped this American flag against a picturesque background last fall.
by Peter Cates
Adolph Hitler
In the interest of getting a few columns ready a few weeks ahead of time, I am writing this one on April 20, the 135th birthday anniversary of one of the two most evil dictators of the 20th century (the other being Joseph Stalin), namely former German chancellor Adolf Hitler (1889-1945).
William Shirer
My earliest exposure to Hitler’s life came via a short paperback, The Rise and Fall of Adolf Hitler, by William L. Shirer (1904-1993) which I bought for 25 cents through the TAB Book Club when I was in sixth grade during the 1962-63 school year. John Kennedy was still president and his father, who was appointed Ambassador to Great Britain in the late 1930s, for some mysterious reasons by FDR, was one of Hitler’s biggest fans, much to the disgust of FDR who eventually fired him, and of son Jack who would quietly leave the room whenever his father was spouting politics.
Shirer’s book was based on the much longer 1961 Rise and Fall of the Third Reich which has sold millions of copies and was a Book of the Month Club selection. Much of the material was based on the author’s years as a journalist in Berlin from 1934 to 1940. More than any other correspondent during those six years, Shirer personally witnessed the triumph of evil in its various manifestations and brought to his writing an immediacy most others lacked.
He authored several other books on these experiences – Berlin Diary, End of a Berlin Diary, The Nightmare Years, Twentieth Century Journey, etc.
In 1934, once Hitler was establishing himself after being “democratically voted in by the people,” Shirer wrote in the Nightmare Years what he was witnessing in Berlin:
“Platoons or companies of brown-shirted storm troopers of the S.A. and black-coated guards of the more elite S.S. were constantly marching through the streets, their jackboots echoing on the pavement. I was warned that anyone on the sidewalk who did not pause to salute their standards and flags was liable to be beaten up on the spot. I soon learned to duck into a shop when they passed.”
In 1940, Shirer received word that the Gestapo was planning to arrest him on trumped up charges of espionage and execute him, and got out in the nick of time.
Spencer Tracy
Most highly recommended is a viewing of 1961’s Judgment at Nuremberg dealing with the trial of four Nazi judges by an American military tribunal and starring Spencer Tracy as the presiding chief justice, Burt Lancester as one of the Nazis and an all star cast that includes Marlene Dietrich, Judy Garland, Montgomery Clift, William Shatner, etc. Spencer Tracy stole the show.
A particularly disturbing aspect of the film was the several Germans who denied knowing about the death camps. And other pertinent historical issues were referenced – the beginnings of the Cold War, the temporary closing of Berlin by the Russians and the Berlin Airlift of 1948 in which food and other necessary supplies were parachuted by American planes.
And finally a haunting scene of Tracy as the Judge walking by himself through the outdoor amphitheater where Hitler had his rallies communicated powerfully.
Otto Klemperer
Werner Klemperer
I have been listening to an eight CD set of the great Otto Klemperer’s 1960s studio recordings of Bach’s B minor Mass and Saint Matthew’s Passion, Handel’s Messiah and the Beethoven Missa Solemnis, each of which is a masterpiece. Klemperer (1885-1973) was already in his 80s and still conducting at a peak level. Warner Classics 9 93540 2.
Klemperer’s son Werner portrayed Colonel Klink on Hogan’s Heroes.
These recordings can be heard via YouTube.
.
These tips may help you stay on track with your plan to eat healthier.
If you consume more calories than you use through daily living, exercise, and other activities, it may lead to weight gain. If you consume fewer calories than you use through physical activity, it may lead to weight loss.
Whether you are at home, at work, or on the go, healthy snacks may help combat hunger and prevent overeating. Look for snacks that are low in added sugar and salt. Your best bets are whole foods – like baby carrots, fresh fruit, or low-fat or fat-free yogurt instead of chips, cakes, or cookies – rather than packaged or processed foods.
Choose dark, leafy greens – such as spinach, kale, collards, and mustard greens – and red and orange vegetables such as carrots, sweet potatoes, red peppers, and tomatoes. If you have had kidney stones, be aware that some vegetables, like spinach and sweet potatoes, are high in oxalate, a chemical that combines with calcium in urine to form a common type of kidney stone. So, if you have kidney stones, you may need to watch how much of this you eat. But for others, these are great choices. Eat a rainbow of food colors!
Try whole-grain breads and pastas, oatmeal, or brown rice.
Try cooking with vegetable, olive, canola, or peanut oil instead of solid fats such as butter, stick margarine, shortening, lard, or coconut oil. Choose foods that naturally contain oils, such as seafood and nuts, instead of some meat and poultry. And use salad dressings and spreads that are made with oils rather than solid fats.
Instead of fried chicken, try a salad topped with grilled chicken. Instead of ordering fries when eating out, ask for a side of steamed veggies.
Avoid snack foods high in salt and added sugars; and keep away from sugary soft drinks.
Read the Nutrition Facts label on packaged foods. The Nutrition Facts label tells you how many calories and servings are in a box, package, or can. The label also shows how many ingredients, such as fat, fiber, sodium, and sugar—including added sugars – are in one serving of food. You can use these facts to make healthy food choices.
One of the vendors Rachel Chapman, of Seven Moon Farm, in Etna. (contributed photo)
The Waterville Farmers Market will open Thursday, May 2, 2 – 6 p.m., at Head of Falls, in Waterville. It is open every Thursday, 2 – 6 p.m., rain or shine, until November 21. This year they have 23 vendors offering seasonal fresh fruits and vegetables, cheese, eggs, meat, fresh baked items, local crafts, maple syrup, honey, and plants/seedlings.
In 2023, Northern Light Acadia Hospital launched a Psychiatry Residency Program to help fill a void left by the dwindling number of psychiatrists currently practicing in Maine. From 2020 to 2022, the number of licensed psychiatrists practicing in Maine dropped by more than half, from 110 to 50, according to data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.
On the first day accepting applicants to its newly-launched residency program, Acadia Hospital had nearly 500 people apply for one of its four openings. Ultimately, 95 candidates were interviewed by program faculty and then ranked for the National Resident Matching Program (NRMP) selection process. Each spring the NRMP matches graduating medical students with residency programs at hospitals and universities across the nation. Candidates rank their favorite programs, and the programs in each specialty rank their favorite candidates. The NRMP then uses a computerized algorithm to determine where the budding physicians will train. Think of it as the NFL draft of medicine!
“We could not be more pleased to welcome these brilliant future psychiatrists to our new residency program,” says John Campbell, MD, FANPA, vice president and senior physician executive for Northern Light Acadia Hospital. “More than the quantity of candidates, which was certainly noteworthy, it is the quality of the applicants that really struck the selection committee. These four individuals are unquestionably the best of the best and we can’t wait to welcome them to Acadia Hospital, to Northern Light Health, and to Maine this June to begin their studies.”
On Friday, March 15, Acadia’s Residency program participated in its first “Match Day” and are pleased to introduce Acadia Hospital’s inaugural class of psychiatry Residents:
Kelly Anne Kossen received a Bachelor of Science degree in Biomedical Sciences from Colorado State University. She will soon graduate from the University of Queensland, in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, with her medical degree. Kelly’s work over the past two years with The Trevor Project, a 24/7 crisis service focused on suicide prevention in LBGTQ+ youth, exemplifies her passion for service.
Adrielle Grace Massey earned a Bachelor of Arts degree at Dartmouth College and a Bachelor of Arts and Sciences degree with a concentration on Human Biology from the University of Montana. This spring she will graduate from the University of Washington School of Medicine, in Seattle, with her medical degree. As part of her medical training, Adrielle was also engaged in the Indian Health Pathway, a certificate program providing educational opportunities and experiences in American Indian/Alaska Native Health.
Emily Rose Schiller received a Bachelor of Arts degree in History from the University of Michigan prior to obtaining a Master of Arts in a postbaccalaureate premedical program at Mount Holyoke College. She went on to attend Rutgers’ Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, in Piscataway, New Jersey. Emily has an impressive world/community health perspective built on a post-college internship in Liberia, as well as presentation on women’s health in rural Malawi for the National Institutes of Health Academy on Health Disparities.
Karen Jit Singh is a local resident of Hampden. She completed premedical training at the University of Toronto, in Ontario, Canada. Following that, she attended the Medical University of the Americas (St. Kitts and Nevis.) Karen is currently finishing a transitional year of Internal Medicine at Merit Health Wesley Hospital, in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. She has been involved in research activities at Northern Light Eastern Maine Medical Center including work on the opioid epidemic.
Acadia Hospital’s Residents begin their journey to becoming psychiatrists on June 17.
To learn more about Northern Light Acadia Hospital’s Psychiatry Residency Program, visit northernlighthealth.org/PsychiatryResidency.
Part of Rufus Matthew Jones’ story of his early life, in his 1921 book titled A Small-Town Boy, was summarized last week. This week’s article continues his story, starting with his primary schooling in one-room schoolhouses in South China and Weeks Mills.
Rufus Matthew Jones
Jones wrote that he was “four years and six months old” when he first walked with his older sister the quarter-mile to the South China schoolhouse, just south of the four corners. He was starting at the beginning of the 1867 summer term; only younger students attended, because “the big boys” were doing farm work.
The woman teacher taught all ages and all subjects. After the morning prayer, Scripture reading and hymn, she called the grade levels one at a time to the blackboard at the front of the room to begin lessons.
Winter sessions, Jones wrote, were different. The back two or three rows of seats were occupied by “big boys and girls,” and discipline was a problem. Teachers were likely to be men, on the theory that muscle mattered – though he promptly cited a woman who maintained excellent order and a man who provided “a fine illustration of educational chaos.”
The latter, he said, was physically removed from the schoolhouse by some of the unruly older boys. His successor, a physically smaller man, quickly established moral authority over the students and led a successful session.
These schools had books, blackboards and chalk, but little else of supplies or equipment. Jones wrote of learning geography without maps or a globe, and physics and physiology without equipment or experiments.
Jones claimed that he learned the first three letters of the alphabet on his first day of school – “the most momentous intellectual step I have every taken.” He marveled that “all of Shakespeare’s plays, the whole of the English Bible, Browning’s Ring and the Book, and everything else I have ever read are made up of those letters I learned in that Primer Class!”
At 15, Jones walked three miles each way to the Weeks Mills one-room school, because the teacher there was outstanding. The next fall he began 11 weeks at Oak Grove Seminary, in Vassalboro.
He was one of the boarding students, sharing a dormitory room with another boy. Fathers took turns bringing them home for weekends, and mothers supplied a week’s worth of food, which the students ate cold or cooked – boiled eggs, for instance – in their rooms.
At Oak Grove, Jones began learning Latin – by the end of his college education he was proficient in Latin and Greek – and studied astronomy under an excellent female teacher. Even at Oak Grove, there was “no telescope, no observatory, no proper instruments,” but he learned enough to skip astronomy in college, earning a 95 on the exam without taking the course.
In the spring of 1879, Jones wrote, he and his father were planting potatoes together when he informed his father that he wanted to go to the Moses Brown Friends School, in Providence, Rhode Island. The family had no money for the undertaking; Jones was awarded a scholarship that covered a year’s tuition and board.
Another chapter in A Small-Town Boy deals with his informal leadership of a group of boys about his age, especially their outdoor lives. He summarized: “We were absolutely at home on the water, in the water, on the ice or through the ice, in the woods, or in the snow.”
One exciting episode he recounted involved out-of-town pirates net-fishing surreptitiously in China Lake. He and his gang assembled a fleet of rowboats, equipped themselves with grapnels and “revolvers and old muskets” and went in search of the invaders.
In the north end of the east basin, they found two men who had stretched nets from the northernmost island to each shore. The men hauled in their nets and made for shore, chased by the boys shooting “in the air or on the water where we were sure not to hit them.”
The boys caught up as the men reached land and scared them into promising never to return.
Jones wrote about two others of the five China Lake islands that he and his friends frequented as teenagers. Round or Birch Island, in the east basin, was a place for a corn roast and perhaps an overnight camp-out. The amusement park on Bradley’s Island, in the west basin, included a bowling alley.
A Small-Town Boy has brief verbal portraits of some of the Jones’ neighbors, identified by first names only. One was a shy, quiet man “who gave the impression of being very stern and grouchy.” When his mowing machine tipped over and trapped him, Jones wrote that the only thing he said to the neighbor who lifted the machine off him was “That’s all I need of thee.”
This man, Jones said, was secretly “one of the tenderest-hearted persons in the town.” He heard that a neighbor with a sick wife was low on firewood: he left a load of stovewood in the dooryard one night. He heard another family was out of butter: he left them a can of milk with “a four pound chunk of butter” floating in it.
Another neighbor made a hole in the gable of his barn so barn-swallows could come and go, and let Jones and his friends – and birds – eat the cherries from his two cherry trees. Yet another, when his seasonal farm chores were finished, hurried to help any neighbor who was behind schedule with planting, haying or some other job.
Jones mentioned one ungenerous neighbor. The example he related said this man sold some hens to a buyer in the far end of town, and on the journey, some of the hens laid eggs. Seller and buyer argued “for a long period” over who owned the eggs.
Jones had written an earlier book about his boyhood. A Boy’s Religion from Memory was published in 1902, and as the title says, focused more on his religious and spiritual life than on his small-town surroundings.
The Trail books begin with Finding the Trail of Life (1926), which partly repeats and expands on A Boy’s Religion. It was followed by The Trail of Life in College (1929) and The Trail of Life in the Middle Years (1934).
These books contain a mix of Jones’ outer life, as he attended high school and college and began his career, and his inner life, as life-altering decisions were shaped and carried out primarily according to the inner voice or inner light that Quakers take as their guide.
From the Friends School, he went to Haverford College, in Haverford, Pennsylvania, outside Philadelphia. Founded by Friends in 1833, it had been accepting non-Quakers since 1849, but did not admit its first women until 1969 (as transfer students; full acceptance dates from 1980).
Jones wrote in The Trail of Life in College that he enrolled as a sophomore in the fall of 1882. Studying Latin and Greek, philosophy and mathematics, he did extra work and took advanced classes. By the end of junior year he needed “only a few hours per week” for another year to earn his bachelor’s degree.
He therefore arranged to write a master’s thesis the same year, 1884-1885, and earned both degrees. The thesis was on American history; but, he wrote, it was his graduation essay on mysticism that was more influential in his later writings.
Returning to the South China family farm, Jones received two offers in two days: a graduate fellowship in history at the University of Pennsylvania, and a one-year teaching position at Oakwood Seminary, described as a Quaker boarding school, in Union Springs, New York.
With the guidance of Aunt Peace (mentioned last week as a powerful influence) and the inner light on which he so often relied, Jones chose teaching – a decision he said he never regretted.
His career kept him away from China, except for vacations, for most of the rest of his life. He taught for two years at Moses Brown School, in Providence. In 1889, he was considering graduate work at Harvard when he was invited to become principal of Oak Grove Seminary in neighboring Vassalboro.
He served four years, 1889-1993, with younger brother Herbert as business manager. In later autobiographical works, he wrote about how much he gained in the Oak Grove community, in leadership skills, problem-solving and friendships.
In 1893 he again planned graduate work at Harvard. This time he was distracted when “the call came to me” to teach philosophy at Haverford and edit the Friends’ Review (later The American Friend).
He took the train from Vassalboro, “leaving my beloved Oak Grove Seminary for the last time with my face wet with quiet tears,” and stayed at Haverford until retiring in 1934. The Find a Grave website says he earned a master’s degree from Harvard in 1901.
Jones traveled in Europe for pleasure as a young man, and later on major errands as a leader among American Friends, especially during the world wars. He was among organizers of the American Friends Service Committee in 1917, and worked for the organization the rest of his life. One AFSC mission in which he participated was an unsuccessful 1938 attempt to talk peace with Adolf Hitler.
Pendle Hill, England
In the summer of 1888, Jones married his first wife, Sarah Hawkeshurst Coutant, of Ardonia, New York, whom he met at Oakwood. It was she who encouraged him to take the Oak Grove job in 1889. Their much-loved son, Lowell Coutant Jones, was born there Jan. 23, 1892. Sarah died of tuberculosis in 1899; Lowell died of diphtheria in 1903.
In 1902 Jones married for the second time, to Elizabeth Bartram Cadbury (Aug. 15, 1871 – Oct. 26, 1952). Their only child, Mary Hoxie Jones, was born July 27, 1904.
Family summer vacations were often spent at Pendle Hill, a simple wooden house on the west side of Route 202 in China, overlooking China Lake. Jones and his brother Herbert “cut trees for lumber and designed the house” during the 1915 Christmas vacation, according to the China bicentennial history.
Other sources say a local carpenter did the building the following spring, badly enough so that the Jones brothers did extensive follow-up work. Also on the property was a log cabin that Rufus Jones reportedly built himself.
Jones named the house Pendle Hill (your writer assumes after Pendle Hill, in England, where Quaker founder George Fox had a revelation in 1652). Pendle Hill was added to the National Register of Historic Places on Aug. 4, 1983, at the same time as the Pond Meeting House, on Route 202, and the Abel Jones house, in South China.
Jones died in Haverford on June 16, 1948. His widow died Oct. 26, 1952. Both are buried in a Haverford Friends cemetery.
Jones, Rufus M., A Small-Town Boy (1941).
Jones, Rufus M., Finding the Trail of Life (1926).
Jones, Rufus M., The Trail of Life in College (1929).
Websites, miscellaneous.
Brayden Perry (left), Gavin Lunt (right)
New Dimensions Federal Credit Union (NDFCU) is proud to announce the recipients of its highly esteemed 2024 Scholarship Program.
Among the outstanding individuals selected for this prestigious honor are Gavin Lunt and Brayden Perry, who have demonstrated exceptional academic achievements, community involvement, and remarkable dedication.
A promising student, Gavin Lunt, will pursue Actuarial Science at the University of Maine at Farmington this fall. His impressive academic successes and active engagement within his community have rightfully earned him a place among the 2024 Scholarship Program winners.
Brayden Perry, another deserving recipient of the NDFCU scholarship, will embark on a path toward Nursing, at Merrimack College, in North Andover, Massachusetts. Brayden’s application stood out for its excellence in academics and exemplary volunteerism, qualities that reflect the spirit of the NDFCU Scholarship Program.
Ryan Poulin, CEO of NDFCU, expressed his pride in the scholarship winners, emphasizing the importance of supporting educational aspirations within the community. Poulin encouraged all aspiring scholars to consider participating in the NDFCU Scholarship Program, highlighting it as a meaningful way to invest in future generations.
For more information about NDFCU’s scholarship program, please contact us at (800) 326-6190 or visit www.newdimensionsfcu.com.
Vassalboro Community School (contributed photo)
High honors: Juliet Boivin, and Abigail Prickett. Honors: Zoey Demerchant, Ryleigh French, Cooper Lajoie, Bentley Pooler, Judson Smith, Hannah Tobey, Alana Wade, and Reid Willett. Honorable mention: Tristyn Brown, Lucas Cormier, Caleb Marden, and Katherine Maxwell.
High honors: Zoe Gaffney, Allyson Gilman, Cheyenne Lizzotte, Grace Tobey, and Ava Woods. Honors: Samuel Bechard, Bryleigh Burns, Basil Dillaway, Fury Frappier, Baylee Fuchswanz, Savannah Judkins, Jack Lapierre, Kaitlyn Lavallee, Mia McLean, Elliot McQuarrie, and Agatha Meyer. Honorable mention: Peyton Bishop, Mason Brewer, Emily Clark, Lillyana Krastev, and Jayden Portillo.
High honors: Xainte Cloutier, Samantha Craig, Mariah Estabrook, Leah Hyden, Sarina Lacroix, Juliahna Rocque, Charles Stein, and Cameron Willett. Honors: Zander Austin, Grace Clark, Twila Cloutier, Kaylee Colfer, Riley Fletcher, Aubrey Goforth, Isaac Leonard, Olivia Perry, Elliott Rafuse, Cassidy Rumba, and Haven Trainor. Honorable mention: Aliyah Anthony, Lukas Blais, Dawson Frazer, Aubrey Judkins, Kaylee Pease, and Isaiah Smith.
High honors: Hunter Brown, Kamdyn Couture, Cooper Grant, Brooklyn Leach, Landon Lindquist, Simon Olson, Tyson Speropolous, and Robert Wade. Honors: Ryder Austin, Alexander Bailey, Rylee Boucher, Maverick Brewer, Reese Chechowitz, Braiden Crommett, Molly Dearborn, Levi Demerchant, Liam Dowe, Anthony Dyer, Chase Fay, Ashlynn Hamlin, Avery Hamlin, Sophia-Lynn Howard, Tanner Hughes, Kendall Karlsson, Olivia Lane, Landon Quint, Willa Rafuse, Alexis Reed, Jackson Robichaud, Christopher Santiago, Asher Smith, Addison Suga, and Mason York-Baker. Honorable mention: Grayson Brown, Eli Dulac, Hunter Green, Owen Mayo, Keegan Robinson, Gabriel Tucker, and William Vincent.
High honors: Olivia Booker, Camden Desmond, Marley Field, Henry Gray, Tucker Lizzotte, Evelyn Meyer, Sawyer Plossay, Allysson Portillo, Gabriella Reynolds, Preston Richmond, Alivia Twitchell, Mayla Wilson, Haley Witham, and Alivia Woods. Honors: Freya Caison, Francis Farrell, Emma Freeman, Norah French, Brayden Lang-Knights, Finn Malloy, Anthony Malloy, Gage Nason, Raistlyn Russell, Wesley Stewart, Oliver Sugden, Trenten Theobald, and Roman Wentworth.
High honors: Marie Cote, Estelle Ford, Levi Hotham, Rose Matulis, Lillan Noll, Orion Paulette, Tristan Plossay, Bianca Pooler, Dominic Poulin, Sydney Suga, Aria Tardiff, Anastaysha Timberlake, Meaghan Trask, and Samuel Tuttle. Honors: Airibella Bossie, Cameron Bossie, Christopher Bourgoin, Payton Bowring, Alexander Buckley, Jaxon Crommett, Preston Dupont, Colton Fletcher, Mariskah-Avril Grant, Thyri Kimball, Jocelyn Parsons, Wyatt Richard, Quentin Tarr, Wynn Trainor, Jens Tyrol, and Ryan York. Honorable mention: Jackson Ingerson.
Vassalboro Cubs, front, from left to right, Kasen Maroon (Tiger), Lux Reynolds (Wolf), Finn Arsenault (Wolf), and Declan McLaughlin (Wolf). Second row, John Gray (Wolf), Boone McLaughlin (Lion), Beckett Metcalf (Wolf), Alex Madison (Lion), Samuel Madison (Wolf), Walter (Pack #410 Recruit), Henry Gray (Webelos I). Back Tiger Den Leader Shane Maroon, Cubmaster Chris Reynolds, and Asst. Cubmaster Ben Metcalf. All are from Vassalboro. (photo by Chuck Mahaleris)
Winslow Cubs, from left to right, Wolf Ryder Johnston, Arrow of Light Ashish Dabas, Wolf Easton Vigue, Bear Freddie Pullen (behind Easton), on the right side Lion Lorelei Pullen, Webelos Colton Vigue, Wolf CJ Mihalovits, Arrow of Light Alex Parsons, Wolf Simon Giroux. Not pictured are Wolf Abel Byroade, Lion Stevie Hodgdon, and Bear Peter Small who also took part in the clean-up. (photo by Chuck Mahaleris)
Earth Day has a special place in Scouting’s culture. Cubs and Scouts know that responsible stewardship of the planet is key to being a good Scout. Since Boy Scouts of America’s early beginnings, Scouts have been caring for the planet. The organization’s “Leave No Trace” principles demonstrate how Scouts show respect for the great outdoors.
BSA makes a point to recognize other friends of the planet with the Hornaday Awards, which honor not only Scouting units, Scouts, Venturers, adult Scouting volunteers, but also other individuals, corporations, and institutions that contribute to natural resource conservation and environmental protection.
Caring for the environment is considered one of the core values of Scouting, which is why BSA and its members are constantly taking action to champion sustainability and conservation. Area Scouts were busy putting into practice what they had been learning in Scouting this Earth Day.
On April 21, Skowehgan Pack #485 Cubmaster Shanna Brown said their Cubs Scouts and leaders picked up litter, raked and removed debris around the Federated Church near the Kennebec River filling three contractor bags with trash and a pencil box filled with needles that was given to the Skowhegan Police Department. Scouts had received instructions prior to the start of the clean up to leave any items that looked like medical equipment alone and alert an adult. Scouts and leaders from Troop #485 also assisted in the clean up effort. Shanna said, “Doing our best to clean up the earth one location at a time.”
Cub Scouts in Gardiner Pack #672 gave up some of their Saturday on April 13 cleaning along the rail trail near the Kennebec River. Cubmaster Scott St. Amand said, “They collected ten bags of trash as well as some miscellaneous car parts. It was a beautiful day for a clean-up and the folks on the rail trail weren’t shy about expressing gratitude for the Scouts getting out there and tidying up.”
In Vassalboro, members of Pack and Troop #410 took part in a clean up of the storytime trail at the Vassalboro Community School. “It was a wonderful day to bring both Troop #410 and Pack #410 together to work on a service project in honor of Earth Day, but to also say thank you to Vassalboro Community School for their partnership. It was a perfect collaboration cleaning up storm damage on the story walk created by Eagle Scout Nathan Polley,” said Scoutmaster Christopher Santiago.
Sabrina Garfield, Cubmaster in Winslow said, “Cub Scout Pack #445 spent the day (April 21) walking around Winslow cleaning up litter making the town cleaner and greener. They went to Norton Park, Halifax Park, Winslow Elementary, High School, Jr High, Town Office and Halifax hill cemetery just to name a few of the places. One of our Lion Cubs did 3.2 miles of walking and cleaning up litter. The bottle drive was also a huge success. And a big thank you to Winslow Town Councilman Adam Lint and his wife for their support with their bottle donations and coming out to say hi and thanking the cubs for their work.” Garfield said that many people stopped by, dropped off bottles, beeped, waved and shared encouragement for what the Scouts were doing. Cheryl’s Pizza provided pizza after the work was done. “It’s not too late to help out! Grab a bag, some gloves and an adult and clean up your street. The Earth will thank you.”
Skowhegan Cubs, from left to right, Bear Cub Jaxson Lewis, of Norridgewock, Bear Cub Ian Dickey, of Anson, Tiger Cub Dylan Dickey, of Anson, Tiger Cub Philo Augustus, of Smithfield, and Tiger Cub Casey Barden, of Norridgewock, took part in an Earth Day Clean Up near the Skowhegan Federated Church and the Kennebec River. (photo by Chuck Mahaleris)