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Serving Bridgton and the surrounding towns of Western Maine since 1870. Vol. 150, No. 1
16 PAGES - 2 Sections
Bridgton, Maine
January 3, 2019
(USPS 065-020)
Weather . . . . . . . . . . . 6B
www.bridgton.com
SEVENTY-FIVE CENTS
One-on-One with...
Chris Richard
By Wayne E. Rivet Staff Writer Chris Richard wants to assure LRTV programming is on the air. It is just in another location. With Spectrum switching to digital broadcasting at the end of 2018, the change resulted in a serious reshuffling of stations. Viewers looking for LRTV programs had to move way up the cable guide from 5 and 7 to 1302 and 1303. The change is one of many LRTV experienced in 2018. The News recently sat down with full-time, paid station manager Chris Richard to talk about how the local public access station continues to evolve technologically, how programming is developing and how the station is balancing needs and finances. BN. What was the response regarding the channel changes? Chris Richard: People asked, ‘What happened?’ I can’t find the channel. We’ve been on those channels since the beginning. The reason they (Spectrum) made the change is because they sold that space (channels 5 and 7) and pushed us up the dial. We knew it was coming. There were no surprises. I worked with Tony Vigue, who is a franchise consultant and managed South Portland’s public access for 30 years, and he has a friend who is a public access consultant who used to work for cable. I knew six months ago that this was going to happen. The kicker was yes, it’s digital, but they don ‘t allow us to broadcast in digital. So what we do is we film in digital, but then the stuff that goes out on the Internet is digital. But, when it goes in the system to broadcast for cable, we have to dump it down to standard definition. We still shot in high definition. If we shot at the lower level, then the quality would really drop off. Even so, when I looked at some of the VHS stuff shot here years ago and transferred to DVD, I thought, ‘You watched this?’ But back then, it was what was available. It’s come a long way. Even when I go on shoots, people expect to see big cameras. When they see these little cameras on tripods, they say, ‘That’s it?’ It’s changed a lot. BN: How is LRTV funded? Chris Richard: Public access gets paid by franchise fees. The cable company pays the towns to rent CHRIS, Page 8A
Left to right: Russ Eagleston of the Bridgton/Fryeburg Knights of Columbus recently presented a check from the Knights of Columbus to Kurt Berger and Caroline McCarthy for the Bridgton-based Dodge House School for people with intellectual disabilities.
Groups get storage space By Dawn De Busk Staff Writer CASCO — Much value is attached to storage space. When the Town of Casco purchased 11 acres of land next to the town hall lot, it became the owner of several buildings. Most of the former residential structures had garages that were not attached to the houses. So, there are three structurally-sound garages. Those garages will be or already are serving as storage space for the Casco maintenance department, for Lake Region Community Theater (LRCT) and for the Crooked River Snowmobile Club. That is according to Casco Town Manager Dave Morton, who said that LRCT is using one garage
for theater props and stage equipment. Meanwhile, on Dec. 11, the Casco Board of Selectmen awarded a bid to remove the two trailers and one wooden home on the lot. Douglas W. Jones, Inc. was awarded the bid for $22,598. Douglas W. Jones, Inc., also known as Cross Excavation, is based in Bethel. The bid includes removing the structures and the debris. The job also includes grading the parcels plus seeding and loaming, Morton said. The earthwork will not happen until spring, he said. The other bidders were Corsetti Construction, based in Windham, and Drew Excavation, Inc., of Casco.
Casco Chairman Holly Hancock said the start of the project was delayed until the New Year. “It hasn’t started yet because of the holidays. We expect they would start sometime soon… in January,” Hancock said. “They are going to take down the house and remove the two mobile homes — the yellow one out front and the brown one out back,” she said. “And all of the garages are staying. The yellow one is for public works. The one directly behind the house is for the snowmobile club. Lake Region Theater has one for props and such,” she said. Two of those garages are already being used. The Crooked River
Snowmobile Club plans to do a little bit of work on the garage before moving stuff into it, Hancock said. Currently, the digital speed sign is being stored in the former town hall, which is now the fire station annex, she said. Eventually, that may go in the garage used by the maintenance department. The maintenance department stores sign posts, replacement signs and work tools. Earlier in the year, the town had listed the trailer for sale. “There were no takers. No one was jumping at the chance to haul off a trailer. The fire department changed its mind about burning it. It was more trouble than it was worth,” Morton said.
12 days of Christmas end with epiphany “We presume there were three [kings] because there were three gifts. Who is to say there weren’t hundreds of these guys all seeking the Christ child? We presume that they all came in on camels. There is nothing that says they came on camels except every Hallmark Christmas card we look at. And, whether there were three magi or two or one hundred — that is not really important. What is important is what the magi repre-
sent: The message of Jesus is meant for everyone.” — Rev. Nancy Foran, Raymond Village Community Church United Church of Christ By Dawn De Busk Staff Writer RAYMOND — From depictions in most movies and nativity scenes, all of the people who visited the babe in a manger showed up on Christmas Day. However, the arrival of the kings bearing gifts did not happen until
“Fake news is cheap to produce. Genuine journalism is expensive,” — Toomas Hendrik Ilves is an Estonian politician who served as the fourth president of Estonia from 2006 until 2016. Ilves worked as a diplomat and journalist. By Wayne E. Rivet Staff Writer “What is the future of newspapers?” is a question I am frequently asked, be it while covering a selectmen’s meeting, public hearing or sports event. The answer: truthfully, I’m not entirely sure. Technology has changed how people communicate and follow the happenings in their corners of the world. The Internet instantly provides details about breaking news, spanning across the globe, as well as information about any question one might have — free of charge. People use Facebook to share happy and sad moments, happenings in their lives, frustrations, disappointments, successes and opinions, pictures and video taken with cell phones (these days, who doesn’t have one? I saw elementary school-age kids with phones that easily top what I own) — again, free of charge. So, where does a newspaper fit in? The goal, as it has been since I arrived here in the Lake Region some 30 years ago, is to provide area readers with accurate and fair reports on the issues, events and people of our communities. Real, verifiable news, not unchecked, fake
later. The observance of the kings’ arrival, called Epiphany or Little Christmas, is an important holy day in Christianity. “There is a tendency to think that Christmas is just a day. The season of Christmas really goes from Christmas Day for 12 days to Jan. 6, which is Epiphany, which is when the wise men or the magi were said to have arrived,” according to Rev. Nancy Foran, the pas-
tor of the Raymond Village Community Church United Church of Christ. “It is really a season, 12 days long, which is the shortest season in the church’s year,” Foran said. The other holy seasons in Christianity are longer than 12 days. There is the Advent Season which spans the four Sundays before Christmas; so that is typically more than 28 days. There is the Lenten season, which is 40 days long, beginning with
News in Review
news one stumbles upon on the Net or Facebook. And, the focus is local — the niche weekly newspapers can take a hold of and remain relevant in the years to come. 2018 saw the start of significant change that will spill over into 2019. Here are some of the top news items to appear on the pages of The BNews: January Signs came early that the region is headed for continued growth and development. Hannaford officials unveiled plans for a major expansion, which included more parking, a specified grocery pick-up point and construction of an accessory structure to handle returnable bottles and cans. SAD 61 revived the Crooked River School project, a $8.75 million plan that includes a major addition and renovations to return the structure as an elementary school. The plan would ease overcrowding at Songo Locks School, as well as move away from using portable units there. Information sessions have been held to sell the project and address the public’s questions. An open house at Crooked River School is scheduled for this month. The referendum vote is in March. With Maine voters legalizing the use of marijuana, towns were left scurrying to develop standards and regulations for both medical marijuana storefronts and adult use. Several growing facilities surfaced, while there was a mixed reaction in terms of storefronts. Some towns, like Fryeburg and NEWS IN REVIEW, Page 2A
Ash Wednesday and ending on Maundy Thursday before Easter. The length of Epiphany season varies between four and nine weeks, from Jan. 6 (or the Sunday closest to that) to the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday. Epiphany is celebrated on Jan. 6, which falls on a Sunday this year. Epiphany is the revealing of God incarnate in the baby Jesus, Foran said. “Our service on Jan. 6 will focus on the story of the magi,” she said. “In the traditional stories, the magi saw the ‘Star of the
East’ and that brought them to Bethlehem. If you look at the stories, less literally and more symbolically, the magi came from outside of the immediate area. These men were spread globally. By including the magi in the story, all of sudden a baby born in Bethlehem is taken to a whole other level,” she said. The message of Jesus becomes global instead of localized, she said. Most people think that there were three kings; and this is not necessarily true, she said. “The picture we have in EPIPHANY, Page 4A
BABE IN A MANGER is shown in this nativity scene in a church yard. (De Busk Photo)
The Bridgton News Established 1870
P.O. Box 244, 118 Main St. Bridgton, ME 04009 207-647-2851 Fax: 207-647-5001 bnews@roadrunner.com