LIFE ON THE PLAINS: Saturday at the movies

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Haines Theater

by Roland D. Hallee

This week we are going to take a hiatus from the pictorial walk down Water St., on The Plains, and look at some other things we did growing up in the 1950s and ‘60s.

Not everything we did occurred on The Plains. By the 1950s, the Maine Theater, on Water St., had been closed for some time, even though the building and the marquee remained. I remember my parents talking about the Maine Theater, but I never set foot inside.

So, as something to do – I think our mother did this mostly to get us out of her hair – we would look forward to Saturdays when we were each given a quarter, and off to the movie theater we went. Now, get this, for that quarter, we would get into the theater, and purchase a bag of popcorn and a soda. Unbelievable, right?

There were two venues to which we would go, the State Theater, on Silver St., (where Cancun’s is now, and Steve’s restaurant before that), or the Opera House. Back then, the Opera House had a “big screen”. The Haines Theater also existed, on Main St., but they didn’t offer any Saturday children’s specials. The Haines Theater was located across the street from TD Bank, today, next to the building that houses Selah Tea. It is now a small park.

At first, we would sit as close to the screen as possible, but as we grew older, we wanted to sit in the balcony. From that point, we could “rain” popcorn and soda on the kids sitting below. You had to be discreet, because on Saturday mornings, there were extra ushers on hand to try to keep the peace. Getting caught meant immediate expulsion from the theater, and you had better have a good story to tell your parents as to why you were home so early.

Again, for that 25-cents, you first had a series of cartoons, Tom and Jerry, Sylvester the cat and Tweetie bird, Donald Duck, Daffy Duck, Yosemite Sam, Elmer Fudd, Mickey and Minnie Mouse, and my favorite, Mighty Mouse, who wore a cape and could rip the heart out of any villain. He could also fly. Yes, cartoons were violent, but also funny. We didn’t really care, it was hilarious to see Daffy Duck get his beak blown off his face every week.

Randolph Scott and Karen Steele in Ride Lonesome (1959)

Following that, we got a news reel of current events. That is when the action started in the audience. We really didn’t know what was going on in the world, and, again, didn’t care.

Roy Rogers, Dale Evans and Trigger.

Then came the feature movies, usually westerns: Tom Mix, Randolph Scott, Hopalong Cassidy, Gene Autry, and the most famous of all, Roy Rogers and Dale Evans, and his horse Trigger. Of course, Roy Rogers wasn’t a true western. He did chase bad guys with guns and got involved in fist fights, but Dale Evans had a Jeep named Nellie Belle, and Rogers had a side kick named Cookie, played by Andy Devine. The most I remember about Gene Autry is that he wore jeans with rolled up cuffs, and sang a lot.

On occasion, they would have a horror movie. One that I can remember was The Creature from the Black Lagoon, which pretty much scared the dickens out of us. Fast forwarding to the present, I saw that same movie a couple of weeks ago on MeTV’s Svengoolie. That movie wasn’t so scary after all.

Saturdays began with rising before sun-up, complete our paper route, return home to do our weekly chores, usually dusting and putting away the weekly laundry. We would then leave the house to be at the theater by 10 a.m. The rest of the day was spent there, usually coming home after 4 p.m., when darkness was about to settle in or, sometimes, after dark. After supper, it was outside when all the neighborhood kids would gather for a round of “hide and seek,” now called “manhunt”.

We would then come home, get comfortable in our pajamas, and gather around the radio for that week’s episode of Gunsmoke, before retiring to bed.

With no television, yet, in the house, we surely found plenty to do on The Plains.

REVIEW POTPOURRI: Franklin Pierce

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Franklin Pierce

Peter Catesby Peter Cates

Franklin Pierce

The 14th President Franklin Pierce came from New Hampshire, was born with a silver spoon in his mouth having a father who was a big wig in state politics, started practicing law at 22, won a seat in the State House at 24, and became its Speaker of the House at 26.

He attended Bowdoin College, in Bruns­wick, where he fell in love with Jane Apple­ton, daughter of the college p resident. Unlike her gregarious husband, she was very religious, painfully shy and an invalid most all her life. She despised anything to do with politics and, like a few other former First Ladies, did not enjoy living at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue .

Jane Appleton Pierce

They had three sons; one died as a baby, the second at three years old, and the third, who was their absolute pride and joy and only living child up to when Pierce was elected president, was with his parents on a train from Boston to Concord, New Hampshire, in January, 1853, two months before the inauguration when their car went off the track down a ravine. Miraculously his parents escaped with minor injuries but he was crushed to death before their eyes at the age of 11.

At Bowdoin, Pierce was a classmate of Nathaniel Hawthorne and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

Later Hawthorne wrote a campaign biography of his good friend in 1853 and made the following observation:

“I have come seriously to the conclusion that he has in him many of the chief elements of a great ruler. His talents are administrative, he has a subtle faculty of making affairs roll onward according to his will and of influencing without showing any trace of his action….He is deep, deep, deep. ”

Unfortunately, others didn’t feel the same way. Even though Pierce abhorred slavery, he didn’t think, as did Millard Fillmore, that the federal government had any right to interfere in the South. He was pretty much more anxious to please others and blow the way the wind blows, following the advice of his father and party leaders.

Additionally, he was a close friend of Jefferson Davis, later President of the Confederacy.

In 1863 on July 4th, [after his time as president was over, he continued to be involved in politics] he gave a speech in Concord, New Hampshire, condemning the useless bloodshed of the Civil War just when word came in of the Union victory at Gettysburg. He alienated his supporters even further.

His wife died at the end of that year.

The next year Pierce took his friend Hawthorne on a trip to the White Mountains to help the writer’s frail health.

But Hawthorne died one night in an adjoining hotel room. At Hawthorne’s funeral, Pierce was snubbed sharply by the other New England writers and not included among the pallbearers.

In very poor health, Franklin Pierce died on October 8, 1869, at 65.

CRITTER CHATTER: Oh, deer! What’s up with that? – Part 1

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One antler and three-legged deer.

by Jayne Winters

While visiting Don at the Wildlife Center the other day, awaiting the arrival of a family of six baby opossums whose mother had likely been the victim of a car accident, we got to talking about one of the whitetail bucks that is a permanent resident at Duck Pond. I’d only seen him from a distance and was curious about his antler. Yes, you read that correctly. One. Antler.

About four years ago, Don got a call from a farmer who had found a fawn that had been injured by a hay mower, resulting in a badly damaged rear leg. He had been caring for the fawn in his barn and as the lower leg was literally hanging on by only its skin, had amputated it at the hock. Of course, Don took the fawn and assumed its care, knowing full well it likely wouldn’t be able to be released into the wild.

Although animals can adapt to getting around with only three legs, this little guy required additional attention and while not tame, has grown up in captivity. Its chance of survival in the wild, especially during the winter, would be slim to none. He would undoubtedly fall prey to a predator and certainly wouldn’t be able to “hold his own” against any other buck trying to establish its territory or compete for does.

I always learn something from Don and this week was no different. He told me that when a deer loses a leg, the antler on the opposite side doesn’t grow normally (if at all), which explains why this buck doesn’t have an antler on its left side: his right rear leg was the one amputated. Of course, I had to research this later and was disappointed to find the cause is unknown; several articles mentioned it may be related to nerve damage and changes in hormones, but there doesn’t seem to be any confirmed evidence of either.

Apparently, it’s very common for a serious injury to a back leg to impact subsequent antler development on the opposite side. It can be abnormal and/or stunted and will persist even after the leg heals. Odd antler growth on the opposite side is called “contralateral asymmetry” and if the velvet never sheds, the condition is called a “cactus buck.” The buck at Duck Pond has only the one antler and I noticed it’s still in velvet, even at this time of year.

During my research, I also learned that if antler growth tissue is surgically removed and grafted to another part of the deer’s body, an antler will grow there! So, it’s possible to surgically produce a unicorn deer or even a deer with 10 antlers growing out of its skull or any other part of the body. Mother Nature is absolutely amazing!

Although admissions tend to decrease at this time of year, Don continues to limit long-term residents by transferring many rescued critters to other rehabbers who have graciously provided assistance in their care. Please check these websites to see if there is a rehabber closer to you to help keep critter care at Duck Pond more manageable: https://www.mainevetmed.org/wildlife-rehabilitation or https://www.maine.gov/ifw/fish-wildlife/wildlife/living-with-wildlife/orphaned-injured-wildlife/index.html – Donald Cote operates Duck Pond Wildlife Care Center on Rte. 3 in Vassalboro. It is a non-profit state permitted rehab facility supported by his own resources & outside donations. Mailing address: 1787 North Belfast Ave., Vassalboro ME 04989 TEL: (207) 445-4326. PLEASE NOTE THE PRIOR wildlifecarecenter EMAIL ADDRESS IS NOT BEING MONITORED AT THIS TIME.

SCORES & OUTDOORS: Was this past October the warmest on record?

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Roland D. Halleeby Roland D. Hallee

The question has been asked: Was this past October the warmest on record?

To come to any conclusion, I did much research and came up with the same answer everywhere I went looking. October 2022 was the warmest October on record.

“October 2022 is definitely set to be by far the hottest October ever on record,” said Christine Berne, a climatologist. “It will ‘probably beat’ the last record in 2001 by 1°C. We could hardly believe it at first,” said the scientist. The temperatures recorded are very rare for the season. Her report was made prior to the beginning of November.

Also, according to CNN, as we rolled into November, scientists discovered last month was the warmest October on record globally.

The European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service, which analyzes temperature data from around the planet, said October 2019 was the warmest in their data record, until this year, which goes back to 1979.

Globally, October was 0.69 degrees Celsius (1.24 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer than the average of all the Octobers in the 30-year span from 1981-2010, Copernicus said in its report. Last month narrowly edged out the previous record for October, set in 2015, by only 0.01 degrees Celsius (0.018 degrees Fahrenheit).

“Temperatures were much above average in large parts of the Arctic, while much of western USA and Canada experienced much below average temperatures,” the report said.

This year has seen multiple other hottest-month records, including July, which Copernicus said was the warmest month of all on record, replacing the record set in July 2016. Every month in 2019 has ranked among the four warmest for the month in question.

According to Copernicus, 2016 through 2018 have been the three warmest calendar years on record.

Monthly temperatures over the past 12 months have averaged close to 1.2 degrees Celsius (2.16 degrees Fahrenheit) over pre-industrial levels, Copernicus said. A report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in November 2018 warned of impacts to climate and weather if warming exceeds 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) over pre-industrial levels.

This recent report came the same day more than 11,000 researchers from around the world issued a grim warning of the “untold suffering” that will be caused by climate change if humanity doesn’t change its ways.

Copernicus assesses that since the 1970s the overall average rate of warming of the world is around 0.18 degrees Celsius (0.32 degrees Fahrenheit) per decade.

CNN’s Emma Tobin, Ivana Kottasová and Isabelle Gerretsen contributed to this report.

The frightening part to all of this is that the warmest seven years have all been since 2015 (do the math); the top three being 2016, 2019 and 2020. An exceptionally strong El Niño event occurred in 2016, which contributed to record global average warming.

With the weather being so warm, does this qualify as an Indian Summer?

According to the definition, the answer is a clear “yes”!

An Indian summer is a period of unseasonably warm, dry weather that sometimes occurs in autumn in temperate regions of the northern hemisphere. Several references describe a true Indian summer as not occurring until after the first frost, which we have had.

Weather historian William R. Deedler wrote that “Indian summer” can be defined as “any spell of warm, quiet, hazy weather that may occur in October or November,” though he noted that he “was surprised to read that Indian Summers have been given credit for warm spells as late as December and January.” Deedler also noted that some writers use Indian summer in reference to the weather in only New England, “while others have stated it happens over most of the United States, even along the Pacific coast.

Why Indian? Well, no one knows but, as is commonplace when no one knows, many people have guessed.

Some say it was from the prairie fires deliberately set by Indian tribes; from raids on European settlements by Indian war parties, which usually ended in autumn; or, in parallel with other Indian terms, it implied a belief in Indian falsity and untrustworthiness and that an Indian summer was a substitute copy of the real thing.

But my grandfather, who could spin a yarn with the best of them, had the best I’ve ever heard.

It seems an Indian chief was concerned about a hunting party that was delayed in returning from a late summer gathering of meat for the winter. The year had been an extremely difficult one and the tribe needed the buffalo, deer and turkey meat for their winter consumption, and the hides for clothing and shelters. Fearing the crops in the fields would go to waste before the braves returned to harvest, the chief sat at his campfire and began to feverishly smoke a pipe, and did so for days, until the air was filled with smokey, hot air. Once the hunting party made its return, the air was still warm enough to gather the crops that had not been damaged by frost, that the chief feared would be destroyed by the impending cold weather. By warming the air with the smoke from his pipe, the chief, essentially, saved the crops.

There is a lot to think about here.

Roland’s trivia question of the week:

Who is the New England Patriots’ all-time single season leader in touchdown receptions?

Answer can be found here.

SMALL SPACE GARDENING: Fall care of perennials

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The seed heads of rudbeckia attract seed-eating songbirds to the winter garden.
Photo courtesy of MelindaMyers.com

by Melinda Myers

As you transition your gardens from fall to winter, you may be contemplating a bit of garden clean up. Before reaching for the pruners and rakes, consider all the benefits and beauty of leaving healthy perennials stand for winter.

The seed heads of many perennials like coneflower, rudbeckias, liatris and bee balm attract seed-eating songbirds like finches, sparrow, chickadees, juncos, and jays to the winter garden. These winged visitors add motion and color to the winter garden. Best of all, you don’t need to refill and clean this natural food source.

Many of these plants provide homes for beneficial insects, including native bees and other pollinators. A variety of these insects overwinter in or near the stems of perennials.

Native plants have evolved with many of these insects, birds and wildlife and most provide homes and food for native insects, songbirds, and wildlife. Purple coneflower, liatris, rudbeckias, sunflowers, asters, goldenrod, yucca, and Joe Pye weed are just a few of these native plants you might be growing.

Enjoy the winter foliage of evergreen and semi-evergreen perennials by leaving them intact in the garden. Watch for and avoid disturbing the green leaves at the base of perennials like yarrow, Shasta daisy, and globe thistle.

Leave borderline hardy perennials intact to improve their chances of surviving a harsher-than-normal winter. The stems capture any snow and helps retain any additional winter mulch, both providing needed root insulation.

Remove any diseased or insect-pest-infested plants. Removing this from the garden in fall reduces the risk of these problems occurring next year. Discard do not compost this material as most compost piles do not heat up to high enough temperatures to kill them. Contact your local municipality for disposal options.

Remove hosta leaves once the fall color fades and leaves die to reduce the risk of leaf nematodes overwintering in the crown of the plants. It also eliminates a winter home for slugs and their eggs.

Wait for several hard frosts when cutting back perennials in the fall. In milder climates, wait for leaves to brown and dry completely. This ensures the plant has stored all the energy it produced in the roots for healthy growth next spring.

Use sharp bypass pruners to make a clean cut through the stem. Disinfect tools by dipping in rubbing alcohol or spraying with a disinfect spray to prevent the spread of disease.

Rake leaves into the garden over the soil surface around the plants instead of to the curb. Fall leaves make great mulch that moderates soil temperature, suppresses weeds, conserves moisture, and improves the soil as they break down. Plus, they are free.

Wait to finish removing perennials until spring temperatures regularly hover in the 50’s. This allows overwintering insects a chance to leave their winter homes. It also provides songbirds much needed food in spring before many of our plants begin producing seeds and berries.

Once the garden is set for winter, you can relax and make plans for the spring garden.

Melinda Myers has written more than 20 gardening books, including the recently released Midwest Gardener’s Handbook, 2nd Edition and Small Space Gardening. She hosts The Great Courses “How to Grow Anything” instant video and DVD series and the nationally syndicated Melinda’s Garden Moment TV & radio program. Myers is a columnist and contributing editor for Birds & Blooms magazine and her website is www.MelindaMyers.com.

FOR YOUR HEALTH – Tricky Treats: Hits And Misses For Young Teeth

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Helpful hints from dentists can make Halloween a little less scary when it comes to tooth decay.

(NAPSI)—As the leaves change to their seasonal shades and jack-o’-lanterns appear on doorsteps, Halloween candy begins to hit supermarket shelves. Fun and festive in color and shape, who can resist? To help when you make your sweets selection, dentists weigh in on healthier options that young teeth will thank you for grabbing. 

“Childhood cavities can be the result of too many sugary foods like candy,” said Kyle Dosch, DDS, Delta Dental of Washington’s dental director and member dentist. “The bacteria in the mouth feeds on the simple sugars and processed starches in sweet treats, creating an acid which weakens tooth enamel.”

Diet plays a large role in the health of children’s teeth and gums, and people who consume more sugary foods have a higher risk of developing cavities. With Halloween around the corner, it’s important to watch out for sugar consumption.

According to Forbes, the top Halloween candy in Washington state last year was Tootsie Pops. This year, dentists are recommending adjusting that favorite to options that are better for your smile.

Sweet Treats without the Tricks

When consumed in moderation, these candies are your best bet when you need to supply some sweet treats:

  • Dark chocolate has far less sugar than other candies and can be brushed off teeth more easily. Some studies have even found that dark chocolate contains compounds that can help harden tooth enamel and help fight plaque.
  • Candy with nuts helps break up the stickiness that can cause cavities to develop. The crunch which nuts add to chocolate bars and other candies can also help break up plaque already on teeth.
  • Sugar-free gum, such as Xylitol-flavored, has a natural sugar that fights off cavities and is a great option for a sweet treat that encourages saliva production while being less harmful for your smile.
  • Sugar-free lollipops, including Xylitol-flavored suckers, also encourage saliva production while they’re enjoyed and don’t harm teeth the same way hard candies do. 

Scary Smile Candies

No candy is a friend to teeth, but these are especially bad cavity culprits. For your next Halloween haul, skip the sticky, sour and hard candies:

  • Sticky candies such as taffy, caramel or gummies are difficult to remove from teeth and can damage dental work in the process. A thin layer of the candy can coat the teeth and resist even the most powerful brushing, giving bacteria more time to enact tooth decay.
  • Sour candies can erode the enamel on your teeth, permanently impacting their color and natural resistance to tooth decay. As tasty as sour candies are, they can contribute to tooth sensitivity and are high in sugar. To help your saliva neutralize the acids in sour candies when you do choose to indulge, wait 30 minutes before brushing—it will prevent further damage to tooth enamel.
  • Hard candies such as lollipops, rock candies and suckers take a long time to dissolve in your mouth and you can run the risk of cracking a tooth. With high sugar content, hard candies provide the bacteria in your mouth with access to highly concentrated sugar levels that can rapidly decay your teeth.

Parent Tips for Trick-or-Treating Triumph

When your family does partake in Halloween candy, try to savor sweets at mealtimes as dessert. Eating candies with other foods helps wash away sugar and bacteria left behind by candy, especially with some sips of water in between to help wash it down.

“Offer a pre-trick-or-treating snack to your kids before you run out the door,” said Kim Trieu, DDS, a Delta Dental of Washington member dentist, who also teaches at the University of Washington School of Dentistry. “Eating a healthy snack or dinner before candy collecting helps avoid late night candy snacking sessions.”

Rationing the big Halloween haul to one or two pieces of candy per day helps kids see candy as a treat rather than a bottomless buffet. Chocolate candy can even be frozen and kept for six to eight months past the expiration date for candy treats all year long.

Make sure to get a good brush and floss in before bed on Halloween—to help keep the sugar bugs at bay.

Learn More

For more information about your oral health in general, visit Delta Dental of Washington’s blog at www.deltadentalwa.com/blog.

I’M JUST CURIOUS: Doggy information

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by Debbie Walker

I don’t know how many columns I have written, and I just recently realized I have never written anything about our pets. So… here goes:

I came across the most recent Reader’s Digest, and it has a great article about dogs and cats titled “What Pets Want You to Know”.

A professor from British Columbia stated that our average dogs have the mind equivalent to our 2 – 2 ½ years old child. The average dog can understand about 165 words. They are better with words about things (ex: a favorite toy) as opposed to ’emotion’ words (good dog).

Before your pup is six months old, they should have met 150 people and they suggest 50 different places (I don’t go to that many!) They should try out different environments, be familiar with different sounds and sights. Dogs that don’t, can grow up fearful and aggressive.

We all know our dogs have different barks. Our dog, in the middle of the night, alerts us to her concerns with the bark. There is no question that she is alerting us. There are also barks that tell you the dog is lonely. The barks may be a single string of barks with pauses.

Dogs also have their own version of body language; they provide you with clues as to what they want. (Ex: pawing at bottom of sofa to alert you there is something under the sofa they want.)

Dogs are very aware of your stress or tension. Many dogs will feel that tension and can in fact react with aggression. Our energies affect the people around us, don’t think for a minute it doesn’t affect your pet.

Have you ever wondered why dogs chase their own tails? It can be itchy; they can be reverting to their predatory nature, or they are just bored. It can also be a compulsive disorder.

When you come home and find your dog has made a mess and she tucks her tail and looks ashamed. She’s just afraid of your anger, guilt is not part of her makeup.

Dogs don’t feel guilt, but they do get jealous. If you have a dog, you know this.

If your dog has light colored or white hair, they have a higher chance of being deaf in at least one ear. The gene that causes the white coat is associated with deafness, just as is blue eyes.

Little dogs have shorter, more frequent dreams than the bigger breeds. This is proven by brain scanning just like with us.

There are studies that have shown some dogs can detect cancer just as there are some who know when a diabetic is going to have a problem.

For those who don’t know there are some wonderful websites of dogs and their antics as well as other animals. They can be very entertaining on these cold snow and ice filled days and evenings.

We have a dog in our house. She is a Walker Hound and Boxer mix. She has been a wonderful friend. She talks. If she wants something, she will carry on quite the conversation. I love it.

I’m just curious about your pal. I would love to hear your stories. Contact me at DebbieWalker@yahoo.com with your questions or comments. Thank you for reading. Have a great, healthy, and happy week.

REVIEW POTPOURRI: Al Martino, Tribute to Jonathan Winters

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Al Martino

Peter Catesby Peter Cates

Al Martino

Frank Sinatra

Al Martino (1927-2009) became Capitol records answer to Columbia’s Jerry Vale and RCA’s Sergio Franchi, not to mention the ascendancy during the early ‘30s of Russ Columbo and the ‘40s with Frank Sinatra and Perry Como. I would include here the nowadays very underrated Tony Martin.

Martino scored a major hit in 1953 with Here in my Heart and, when he heard that RCA was planning to get his friend Mario Lanza (1921-1959) to record it, he called the older singer and pleaded with him to hold off, which Lanza did.

Martino also had some connection with the Mafia, which bought out his contract with Capitol and then demanded he give them $75,000 to “protect their investment.”

Vic Damone

Martino was initially offered the role of singer Johnny Fontane in The Godfather by producer Albert Ruddy. When Francis Ford Coppola signed on as director, he offered the role to singer Vic Damone.

Martino again sought assistance from the Mob; Damone heard about it and quietly withdrew from the film (He balked at any unwanted attention from the Mob and also decided that he was being paid too little.).

A 1967 LP, Mary in the Morning (Capitol ST 2780), contains not only the title song which was a megahit for Ed Ames the same year but also beautifully recorded by Glen Campbell; and featured covers of ten other songs – Love Me Tender, Love Letters in the Sand, My Love Is Stronger than My Pride, Unchained Melody, Red Is Red, Can’t Take My Eyes Off of You, Release Me, I Dream of You, Now and Making Memories.

Jerry Vale

He sang with the kind of voice that wasn’t as effusively cloying as Jerry Vale or Jim Nabors and, within its own quieter realm, a very pleasant one – in small doses.

Much of the content can be accessed on Youtube.

Tribute to Jonathan Winters

Jonathan Winters

An immensely fascinating documentary from 2000 and produced by PBS pays tribute to the life of comedian Jonathan Winters (1925-2013) and features interviews with Winters, his wife Eileen, daughter Lucinda and son Jan, singer Andy Williams and – no relation – comedian Robin Williams. It too can be seen on Youtube along with huge numbers of other Winters appearances.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SCORES & OUTDOORS – The “beloved” American eel: What about it?

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American eel

Roland D. Halleeby Roland D. Hallee

Eels are a little scary. I know for a fact that eels exist in Webber Pond, in Vassalboro, because my wife and I have caught them. They also can be found in China Lake. This one goes back a while. I was a young lad in the 1950s, when I was probably about nine years old, and I remember being in an old wooden boat, with no motor, but oars, with my dad and an uncle. I don’t remember which one, but someone in the boat caught an eel, because my only recollection of that adventure was when they took out a cleaver-like knife and cut off its head on the gunwale of the boat. It was a white boat with red trim. By the way, that was the only time I can ever remember being on China Lake.

Another instance I have had with eels was catching one through the ice on Three Mile Pond one year back in the 1990s. We left it on the ice to die, and then scaled, gutted it, and cut it into chunks for dinner. I can remember the muscled fish “dancing” in the frying pan, and had the consistency of a scallop. We kind of altered the taste with a little garlic.

OK, so what about eels. They are slimy, and most people don’t want to be bothered with them.

Eels are elongated fish, ranging in length from two inches to 13 feet. I remember one time when my wife caught one that measured about 22 inches. They possess no pelvic fins, and many species also lack pectoral fins. The dorsal and anal fins are fused with the caudal fin, forming a single ribbon running along much of the length of the animal. Eels swim by generating waves which travel the length of their bodies. They can swim backwards by reversing the direction of the wave.

Freshwater eels have a slender, snake-like body that is covered with a mucus layer, which makes the eel appear to be naked and slimy despite the presence of minute scales. A long dorsal fin runs from the middle of the back and is continuous with a similar ventral fin. Pelvic fins are absent, and relatively small pectoral fins can be found near the midline, followed by the head and gill covers. Variations exist in coloration, from olive green, brown shading to greenish-yellow and light gray or white on the belly. Eels from clear water are often lighter than those from dark, tannic acid streams.

The eel lives in fresh water and estuaries and only leaves these habitats to enter the Atlantic Ocean to make its spawning migration to the Sargasso Sea. Spawning takes place far offshore, where the eggs hatch. The female can lay up to 4 million buoyant eggs and dies after egg-laying. After the eggs hatch and the early-stage larvae develop, the young eels move toward North America, where they metamorphose into glass eels and enter freshwater systems where they grow as yellow eels until they begin to mature.

American eels hunt predominantly at night, and during the day they hide in mud, sand, or gravel very close to shore, at depths of roughly five to six feet. They feed on crustaceans, aquatic insects, small insects, and probably any aquatic organisms that they can find and eat.

American eels are economically important in various areas along the East Coast as bait for fishing for sport fishes such as the striped bass, or as a food fish in some areas. Their recruitment stages, the glass eels, are also caught and sold for use in aquaculture, although this is now restricted in most areas.

Eels were once an abundant species in rivers, and were an important fishery for aboriginal people. The construction of hydroelectric dams has blocked their migrations and locally extirpated eels in many watersheds. For example, in Canada, the vast numbers of eels in the St. Lawrence and Ottawa Rivers have dwindled.

The American eel Anguilla rostrata was first described in 1817 by Lesueur. Anguilla is Latin for eel, and rostrata is a Latin word that can mean either “beaked or curved” or “long nose”. French: Anguille d’Amérique, Spanish: Anguila americana.

Their natural range includes the eastern North Atlantic Ocean coastline from Venezuela to Greenland and including Iceland. Inland, this species extends into the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River and its tributaries as far upstream as Minnesota and Wisconsin.

Eels are bottom dwellers. They hide in burrows, tubes, snags, masses of plants, other types of shelters. They are found in a variety of habitats including streams, rivers, and muddy or silt-bottomed lakes during their freshwater stage, as well as oceanic waters, coastal bays and estuaries. During winter, eels burrow under the mud and enter a state of torpor (or complete inactivity) at temperatures below 5°C, although they may occasionally be active during this period.

Little information about predation on eels has been published. It was reported that elvers and small yellow eels are prey of largemouth bass and striped bass, although they were not a major part of these predators’ diet.

In the 1970s, the annual North Atlantic harvest had an averaged value of $84,000. In 1977, the eel landings from Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts were about $263,000 (US Department of Commerce 1984).

Substantial decline in numbers and fishery landings of American eels over their range in eastern Canada and the U.S. was noted, raising concerns over the status of this species. The number of juvenile eels in the Lake Ontario area decreased from 935,000 in 1985 to about 8,000 in 1993 and was approaching zero levels in 2001. Rapid declines were also recorded in Virginia, as well as in New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island, in Canada.

Because of its complex life cycle, the species face a broad range of threats, some of which are specific to certain growth stage. Being catadromous, the eels’ reproductivity success depends heavily on free downstream passage for spawning migration. It also depends on the availability of diverse habitats for growth and maturation.

Sex ratio in the population can also be affected because males and females tend to utilize different habitats. Impacts on certain regions may greatly impact the number of either sex.

Despite being able to live in a wide range of temperatures and different levels of salinity, American eels are very sensitive to low dissolved oxygen level, which is typically found below dams. Contaminations of heavy metals, dioxins, chlordane, and polychlorinated biphenyls as well as pollutants from nonpoint source can bioaccumulate within the fat tissues of the eels, causing dangerous toxicity and reduced productivity. This problem is exacerbated due to the high fat content of eels.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reviewed the status of the American eel both in 2007 and in 2015, finding both times that Endangered Species Act protection for the American eel is not warranted. The Canadian province of Ontario has canceled the commercial fishing quota since 2004. Eel sport fishery has been closed.

Sustainable consumption

In 2010, Greenpeace International has added the American eel to its seafood red list. “The Greenpeace International seafood red list is a list of fish that are commonly sold in supermarkets around the world, and which have a very high risk of being sourced from unsustainable fisheries.” OK, this is running a little longer than usual, but the eel is an interesting fish that has a bad reputation, but most people know very little about.

Roland’s trivia question of the week:

In what year was game 3 of the World Series postponed due to an earthquake?

Answer can be found here.

OPINIONS: A “yes” vote urged on broadband ARPA warrant article

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COMMUNITY COMMENTARY

by Bob O’Connor
China Broadband Committee

The China Broadband Committee was formed in 2017 to find a way to bring the best Broadband internet solution to China. Last year we chose Axiom Fiber to build that system. The selectboard and townspeople voted down our proposal last November because of the risk that it could potentially adversely affect property taxes due to repayment of the $6 million bond if not enough townspeople signed up for this service.

As a committee, we went back to the drawing board to look at all possible solutions again. We reviewed proposals from our incumbent providers, Spectrum Charter, and Consolidated Communications. We found the Spectrum bulk proposal too financially risky for the town. Consolidated was not interested in expanding into China because we are in “Classic” China Telephone territory. The company might consider expansion in the distant future, seven or more years from now.

Unitel, of Unity, Maine, has been in the telephone business since 1904, about the same time that the China Telephone Company got its start. Unitel first offered fiber internet to the home in a limited area starting in 2015. Late last year, Unitel was acquired by Direct Communications, a larger family-owned company that offers fiber to the home in a few rural areas in a few US states.

Our broadband committee started working with Direct Communications (DC) shortly after they acquired Unitel last year. Unitel/DC are looking to expand to towns around Unity with the help of the current grants and funds. These grant funds can be spent to cover areas of our town that the Maine Connectivity Authority (MCA) defines as “Least Served” and “Unserved”. This includes about 25 percent of homes in China that typically have DSL or no service.

MCA now classifies the rest of town as “Underserved”, meaning that their service does not meet the minimum speed of 100/100 Mbps. This includes those with cable service from Spectrum. All new internet projects funded by MCA must be built to the minimum 100/100Mbps standard.

Our currently proposed project with Unitel/DC is to build a fiber backbone in town that is strong enough, that is, has enough fibers, to serve the whole town while initially serving the Least Served and Unserved areas. After this project is complete, Unitel/DC will continue to expand to the rest of the town, the underserved folks.

Town funding from this project is from the TIF fund of $30,000/year for 10 years for a total of $300,000. This expenditure was previously approved by the voters in 2021. Also, we are requesting $70,000. from a part of the federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds that China has received.

Unitel/DC will match our $370,000 contribution to the project.

We are also applying for an MCA “Connect the Ready” grant for about $460,000. The total project is approximately $1.2 million dollars with the Town contributing 31 percent, Unitel/DC contributing 31 percent and the MCA grant covering the remaining 38 percent of the project.

We will only apply for this grant if the townspeople vote in favor of the $70,000 ARPA fund distribution on the Warrant Article on November 8, 2022.

The town selectboard unanimously (5/0) recommended a “yes” vote on this $70,000 Broadband ARPA Warrant article. The Budget committee also recommended a “yes” vote (5/1).

Neither the TIF nor the ARPA funds will raise property taxes, and Unitel/DC would fully own and operate this service with no requirement for involvement from town staff.

Fiber internet service by Unitel / Direct Communications will improve internet speeds and reliability, increase value of your home, encourage economic development in town, allow for online learning, education, work, telehealth, and entertainment at an affordable and competitive price.

We appreciate your support. Thank you.

Read more about China’s broadband initiatives here.