Covers towns roughly within 50 miles of Augusta.
On February 18, sixth graders traveled to the state capitol to be Pages for the Day. Students worked in both the Senate and the House, and met their local representatives, Sen. Matt Pouliot and Rep. Dick Bradstreet. (photo by Victor Esposito)
(photo by Victor Esposito)
Members of the Central Maine Youth Hockey Association Black Mites team are, front, from left to right, Finnegan Cotter-Hayes, Tucker Hussey, Maggie Tibbetts, Lillian Wheeler, Stephen Spear and Landyn Caouette-Nye. Back, Coach Benjamin Wheeler, Owen Mitchell, Issac Dostie, Jude Espinoza, Amelia Castonguay, James Laliberty, Easton Gradie, Thomas Jewell, Maxwell Poulin, Coach Josh Mitchell and Coach James Laliberty.(photo by Mark Huard, Central Maine Photography)
The Albion Public Library will be closed indefinitely beginning immediately. They will reopen as soon as conditions allow. WiFi access will remain available from the parking lot. Books may be returned using the box outside the library.
AARP Foundation Tax-Aide, the nation’s largest free, volunteer-based tax preparation and assistance service, has announced that it will suspend tax preparation services at all sites effective Monday, March 16, until further notice
The Albert Church Brown Memorial Library, in China Village, is closed until further notice, due to coronavirus concerns. Planned public events are canceled. The WiFi is still on and can be accessed from outside the building. Books and magazines may be returned to the book return box beside the sidewalk. The website and the email address are on the notice on the front door, and email will be checked at intervals during the closure.
The China Planning Board meeting scheduled for March 24 is cancelled, Codes Officer Bill Butler announced, due to coronavirus concerns and recommendations from the Center for Disease Control.
“We will re-evaluate conditions prior to our next scheduled…meeting (April 13) and advise accordingly,” Butler wrote.
The China Tax Increment Financing Committee (TIF) meeting scheduled for March 23 has been cancelled. In his notice to members and the press, Chairman Frank Soares said town officials have suspended all committee meetings except the Selectboard until further notice.
Users of the Town of China Transfer Station — Recycling operations are suspended for 14 days (as of March 18), partially in response to the shutdown of the facility at Hampden, but also to protect residents from unintended contact with other recycled items during their sorting. This brief suspension should not create too much of a burden, but we appreciate your patience.
Trash disposal and demolition debris disposal are not interrupted. If a payment is necessary, attendants will do those transactions while the user remains in their vehicle.
Due to Covid-19, the Trustees of the Palermo Community Library decided on Sunday, March 15th, to close the Library for two weeks. My apologies for cross postings. Be well. –Sharon Nichols, Chair
The Skowhegan High School class of 1963 breakfast on Sat., March 21, has been canceled.
FUNDRAISER WITH ELVIS, for American Legion Post #5, rescheduled to Sun., April 26
St. Denis Knights of Columbus Irish dinner scheduled for April 21 has been postponed. No date yet for rescheduling.
CANCELLED – Seed Library Launch! March 28, 2020. Waterville Public Library, 73 Elm St. Waterville, ME 04901
The Winslow Public library is canceling all events this week and next.
Last updated 03/22/2020 at 4:41 p.m.
The Central Maine Youth Hockey Association U-14 Bantams hockey team include, front, Nolan Klimash, Tyler Pelletier, Hunter Hallee and Hunter Hart-Guertin. Standing, Coach Jim, Kaylyn Bourque, Blake Small, Cameron Dostie, Ray Dineen, Coach Daykin, AJ Salvadori, Aiden Marini, Carter Paradis and Coach Ryan Hallee. Absent from photo, Tristan Small. (photo by Missy Brown, Central Maine Photography)
On Friday, March 27, the Maine Bureau of Veterans’ Services (MBVS), in collaboration with the VA Maine Healthcare System, will host a recognition ceremony for Vietnam Veterans. The ceremony will take place at the Augusta Armory from 1 to 4 p.m.
The ceremony will be held in observance of National Vietnam War Veterans Day. The afternoon’s events will include remarks from, Peter Mills, U.S. Navy Veteran and Executive Director of the Maine Turnpike Authority, a certificate and coin ceremony, live music and light refreshments.
MBVS Director, David Richmond emphasized the significance of the ceremony and the importance of properly recognizing Maine’s Vietnam Veterans.
Vietnam veterans who wish to attend the ceremony should register online and contact the Maine Bureau of Veterans’ Services to ensure the bureau has their DD214, for certification purposes. Veterans who register will be presented with a Certificate of Appreciation, a Vietnam Veteran Coin, and a 50th Anniversary Lapel Pin.
Registration for the event is free and open to all Vietnam veterans. Any Vietnam veteran who has previously been recognized with a certificate and coin at a past ceremony will be presented a 50th anniversary pin and will still be publicly recognized for their service.
RSVP online. Veterans must present bureau with DD214 to receive recognition.
The Oak Grove School Foundation is accepting applications for grants to support the education and cultural needs of students and non profit organizations in the greater central Maine area.
Recipients must be educational, charitable or religious organizations that are tax exempt under section 501(c)(3) of the internal revenue service code.
Grant requests should be received by April 3rd, 2020. Funding decisions will be made in May and shortly after the funds will be distributed in July. Recent grants have ranged $500-$5000. The OGSF has also provided seed money for initiatives that last up to three years.
Groups interested in obtaining application forms and guidelines should contact Joann Clark Austin, Oak Grove School Foundation, PO Box 150 South China, ME 04358-0150 or Susan Briggs at briggsusan@gmail.com.
Please see this website: https://sites.google.com/site/ogsfoundationorg/
Gordon Smith, the executive director of the Maine Opioid Crisis Response task force. Photo by Jeanne Marquis.
The Maine Opioid Response Strategic Action Plan has five focus areas – Leadership, Prevention, Overdose Rescue, Treatment and Recovery – all leading to one goal. That goal is to reduce the negative health and economic impacts of substance-use disorder (SUD) and opioid-use disorder (OUD) on individuals, families and communities in Maine. The action plan reflects the understanding that substance abuse impacts the rural areas of the state as much as the urban.
“This is a chronic disease,” explains Gordon Smith, the executive director of the Maine Opioid Crisis Response task force, “we need to break down the stigma to stop shaming people for using drugs, encourage them, love them and wrap our arms around them and get them into recovery.”
The first of the five focus areas of the action plan provides strong state level Leadership using evidence-based and community-focused actions in response to Maine’s opioid crisis. State leadership means breaking down the silos between existing agencies to eliminate duplication and focus resources where they are needed. The Opioid Response, Prevention and Recovery Cabinet is comprised of representatives from Maine’s Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), Law enforcement agencies, other related state departments, an affected family member, person in recovery and the state’s Attorney General. Under their leadership, efforts will be made to increase the public understanding and reduce the stigma of substance and opioid use disorder.
The second of the five focused areas is prevention — working to deter our state’s youth from using addictive substances in the first place. The plan calls for preventive programs in our schools and not stopping there but also reaching out to community and youth organizations. Youth organizations play an important role in establishing self-esteem and decision-making skills needed to build resilient youth.
Community social services can identify and address adverse childhood experiences that can lead to future drug use if not addressed early in a child’s life. In some cases, prevention needs to begin before a child is born to a mother who is a substance abuser. In 2018, 904 children in Maine were born substance exposed. Maine is one of 10 states receiving a $5.3 million federal grant to help substance-exposed babies and their mothers to create more positive outcomes and lower future statistics. This grant funds the Maternal Opioid Misuse (MOM) Initiative at the maternity department at hospitals throughout Maine: Maine General Medical Center, Maine Health, Mid Coast-Parkview Hospital, Northern Light Health, Penobscot Community Health Care and Pines Health Services. Pregnant substance users are urged to seek care with MOM program early in their pregnancy.
The third focus of the Opioid Crisis Response Plan is Overdose Rescue. The primary motivation is to keep the substance users alive so they can get into treatment. The task force is distributing 35,000 doses of naloxone to law enforcement, emergency responders, recovery center, correctional facilities and overdose prevention programs. To support the distribution of naloxone, the task force is providing education on overdose prevention, how to identify an overdose and how to administer naloxone. The task force wants to encourage families who have a loved one who is struggling with opioid addiction to ask their physician how to obtain naloxone for their household and get training on its use.
The fourth focus is to ensure that treatment is local, immediate and affordable. The plan is to get users into Medicated-Assisted Treatment (MAT) as soon as possible after a crisis by supporting emergency rooms and county jails in adding MAT programs. Medicated-Assisted Treatment is the use of FDA-approved medications to ease cravings and withdrawals, in combination with counseling and behavioral therapies. The task force is also working to increase MAT providers and shorten the long waits to entering treatment plans. Maine needs more prescribers who are qualified to treat addiction. Smith said, “We’ve almost doubled the number in a year. There is a lot more outpatient treatment out there, but it is still a patchwork. There’s so much to be done.” Smith went on to explain that Maine lacks adequate residential treatment for addiction. We only have two detox facilities in the state.
The last of the five focuses of the Opioid Response Action Plan is to support addicts in their Recovery and build recovery-ready communities. “Addiction is a disease of isolation; so, connecting people to back to a positive family, back to their friends, back to a recovery community is really important,” explains Smith. People in recovery need to be surrounded by positive people who know what they have been through and the struggles they face along the ups and downs of their recovery journey. That’s why the recovery coaches are vital as they are generally people in recovery who wish to help others who are beginning recovery. The plan increases the number of recovery coaches and funds additional recovery housing units and community-based recovery centers in key areas throughout the state.
When Smith was asked what the primary information was that he wanted the public to know if they have an addicted family member, he said he wants the public to call 211 to learn about addiction treatment resources. To see the Maine Opioid Response Strategic Action Plan in its entirety, visit http://senate.maine.gov/doc/3853. The task force is now planning their second annual Opioid Crisis Response Summit to be held July 23rd in Bangor to be more accessible to rural and northern Maine. They are expecting an attendance of 1500, an increase over last year’s highly successful summit in Augusta.
Explanation of the processby Regina Coppens
League of Women Voters of Maine, Capital Area Chapter
The Maine Legislature enacted a Presidential Primary law in 2019, changing the way Maine voters select party candidates for the presidential election from a caucus to a primary. Instead of the political parties meeting in each municipality to select their presidential candidate, candidates will be selected by secret ballot. This change was supported by many who felt that it would boost voter participation in the selection process. In the past, some of the caucus locations were not large enough to accommodate all the party members who wanted to participate, and other party members were unable to spend the hours required at caucuses to cast a vote.
Who can vote in the March 3 election? In addition to the presidential candidates, there will be one referendum question on the ballot. Any registered voter can vote on the referendum question. Voters do not need to be enrolled in a political party to vote on the ballot question.
However, in order to vote in the primaries, you have to register with a party. Unenrolled, or independent voters may enroll in the party of their choice up to and including on Election Day. If, after the election, you want to unenroll from the party, you must wait three months. Voters who are already enrolled and want to change their party affiliation in order to vote a primary ballot must do so 15 days before the election.
Absentee ballots may be requested up to three months before an election and until the third business day prior to the election. For the presidential primaries on March 3, the latest date to request a ballot is February 27, 2020. (Under certain special circumstances, a voter may request an absentee ballot after this deadline.)
Absentee ballots are available 30 days before elections and must be turned into the city or town office by 8 p.m. on the day of the election, March 3.
The following candidates will be on the ballot in the Maine’s presidential primary according to the Maine Secretary of State’s office:
Democrats: Joseph Biden, Michael Bloomberg, Cory Booker, Peter Buttigieg, Tulsi Gabbard, Amy Klobuchar, Patrick Deval, Bernard Sanders, Thomas Steyer, Elizabeth Warren, Marianne Williamson, and Andrew Yang.
Republicans: Donald J. Trump
Any registered voter can vote on the referendum question.
Do you want to reject the new law that removes religious and philosophical exemptions to requiring immunization against certain communicable diseases for students to attend schools and colleges and for employees of nursery schools and health care facilities?
What does this People’s Veto mean?
A “Yes” vote means veto the law and reinstate the religious and philosophical exemptions. A “No” vote means keep the law and close those non-medical exemptions.
In May 2019, LD 798 was signed into law. It eliminates non-medical exemptions to school-required immunizations. The law retains the currently defined medical exemptions, but removes “philosophical reasons” and “religious belief” from the exemption language.
The law allows physicians and nurse practitioners to write medical exemptions using their professional judgment.
Regina Coppens is a volunteer with the League of Women Voters, Capital Area Chapter. The league is a non-partisan organization and does not support any candidates. Its goal is to inform voters about elections. Regina Coppens can be contacted at 376 West Rd., Belgrade, ME 04917, 207-877-4282.
“Who ya gonna call?” The Ghostbusters were sighted at the first ever Maine Sci-Fi & Fantasy Nerd Festival, held in Fairfield, on January 26. (photo by Mark Huard, Central Maine Photography)
Emilee Feyler, 9, of Winslow, left, and Mikayla Achorn, 9, also of Winslow, with Elsa from Frozen. (photo by Mark Huard, Central Maine Photography)
The first ever Maine Sci-Fi & Fantasy Nerd Festival invaded Central Maine on January 26, at the Community Center, in Fairfield. About 250 fans gathered to share their love of cosplay, comics, games, and all things nerdy.
Costume-goers included Spider-Man, a giant Wookiee, Batman, an Ice Princess, Captain America, Wonder Woman and so many more.
Vendors were all about the event with tables filled with fantasy books, pottery, dice, dungeons and dragons, toys, woodworks, clothing and jewelry. GameStop provided video games, while many other activities dotted the place, one being a very popular padded weapons arena that included light up Star Wars-like laser swords.
Central Maine Photography grabbed many cool pictures of all the various festival attendees and even kids were dressed in elaborate sci-fi outfits. Also present were the Ghostbusters, a white armored trooper, and even a blue female elf character.
People really seemed to love what was being hailed as the Nerd Super Bowl put on by Michael Huard, who is a fantasy author himself.
There are plans for another next year, an event bigger and even more exciting.
Trenton Clark, right, of Oakland, with Chewbacca of Star Wars. (photo by Mark Huard, Central Maine Photography)
At left, Preston Schneider, 8, left, and Quincy Schneider, 5, both of Madison, with Batman. (photo by Mark Huard, Central Maine Photography)
To the editor:
It is a stark reality that on average, working households in Maine have just $2,500 in retirement account savings. As the current AARP Volunteer State President, a Portland Maine resident, and a former small business owner, I am very interested in changing this situation.
Our great State of Maine has over 175,000 small businesses who could help provide a mechanism for its employees to begin to save for their own retirement. In our 2020 legislative session, a simple solution to address this growing and critical savings program will be considered. AARP strongly supports LD 594, the Maine Retirement Savings Program, sponsored by Senator Eloise Vitelli (D-Arrowsic).
Under this new law, employers would be able to offer their employees a way to save for retirement through payroll deduction. Employees would be automatically enrolled in this program unless they opted out of it. However, a survey we just released showed that 98 percent of voters in Maine who are working believe it’s important to save for retirement at work. And 84 percent of workers without access to a workplace savings program would take advantage of one if it were available. Over time, even a small contribution can make a big difference.
If you are one of the thousands of Mainers concerned about saving for retirement, please urge your legislators to support LD 594. It’s time for Maine lawmakers to give employees the opportunity to increase their savings and take control of their future.
Pat Pinto
AARP Maine Volunteer State President