Repeat winner For the second straight year, Liam LaMountain wins the Molly Ockett Middle School Geo Bee Page 12B
Sign of the times?
Inside News
Fryeburg Rescue reaches 40 years of service, and for the first time, will start billing its patients
Calendar. . . . . . .9B-10B
Page 3A
Classifieds . . . . . . . . 8B Country Living . . .6A-8A Directory . . . . . . . . . 10B Obituaries . . . . . .9A-10A Opinions . . . . . . 7B, 11B Police/Court . . . . . . . .5A Sports . . . . . . . . . .1B-5B Student News . . . . . 12B Towns . . . . . .6A-8A, 11A Weather . . . . . . . . . . 9B
www.bridgton.com Vol. 142, No. 2
Serving Bridgton and the surrounding towns of Western Maine since 1870. 24 PAGES - 2 SECTIONS
Bridgton, Maine
January 13, 2011
(USPS 065-020)
SIXTY CENTS
Bridgton voters to decide on formula restaurant ban
By Lisa Williams Ackley Staff Writer Bridgton voters will decide at the polls on March 1 the issue of whether or not to ban big box stores and fast food and formula food chain restaurants. Absentee ballots will be available prior to the March 1 referendum vote. A public hearing will be held jointly by the selectmen and the planning board on both petitions requesting amendments to the Site Plan Review Ordinance on Feb. 8 at 6 p.m. downstairs at the Bridgton Municipal Complex. A recent oral opinion issued by the town attorney shows the
McDonald’s restaurant project formally approved by the Bridgton Planning Board earlier this month could be affected, if the petition banning formula food chain restaurants passes muster with voters in March. Selectmen split, in recommendation to voters The Bridgton Board of Selectmen, in a split 3 to 2 vote Tuesday night, went on record urging townspeople to reject both of the proposed petitions, at the recommendation of the majority of the recentlyappointed Bridgton Economic Development Committee. Selectman Earl Cash, who
By Gail Geraghty Staff Writer The Rufus Porter Museum will soon take on a new address. The Rufus Porter Museum’s Board of Directors has purchased the Webb/Gallinari house at the corner of Main and Church Street in the heart of downtown — and they have some very ambitious plans. Through a combination of grants and donations, the board plans to move the museum’s red house at 67 North High Street — the 1789 Nathan Church parsonage, prized for its restored Porter School murals — to the Webb/ Gallinari house property and open at the new downtown location by the spring of 2012. The plans include major restorations at the Webb/Gallinari house, formerly owned by Sandra Gallinari, which was damaged by fire last year. The museum, which first opened in the summer of 2005, has received national publicity from the first year, and draws visitors from across the country. Porter was among the best known of America’s folk artists. Alan Manoian, director of Economic and Community Development for Bridgton, is enthusiastic about the move and believes the museum is destined to become the hub for activity in the town. “Historic preservation is the pillar of economic develop-
BIG CULTURAL BOOST FOR DOWNTOWN — Rufus Porter Museum Board of Directors Co-Presidents Julie Lundberg, left, and Nelle Ely, right, flank Greg Marston, the museum’s chairman of preservation, as they stand in front of the Webb/Gallinari house at the corner of Main and Church Streets. The museum has bought the historic circa 1830 house — the oldest property remaining on Main Street — for a new cultural headquarters and will also be moving the 1789 Nathan Church parsonage, now located at 67 North High Street, to the property. The former parsonage will be attached to the left of the Webb/Gallinari house. Plans are to open at the new downtown location by the spring of 2012. (Geraghty Photo) ment,” he told members of the ing sources for the ambitious museum’s board of directors, project. Manoian indicated the who gathered last Tuesday at town may be able to contribmember Julie Lundberg’s house ute funds from its revolving to brainstorm different fundMUSEUM, Page 12A
made the motion, as well as Selectmen Doug Taft and Arthur Triglione, voted in favor of adopting the recommendation by the Bridgton Economic Development Committee, while Selectmen Paul Hoyt and Robert “Woody” Woodward voted against it. Both Woodward and Hoyt said they would have liked an explanation from the Economic Development Committee regarding the reasons for its recommendation to the board prior to the selectmen being asked to vote on the matter Tuesday night. No one from the Economic BAN, Page 4A
Porter Museum on move
THE SKY IS THE LIMIT — Pilot Mary Build, pictured, never flew a plane until she was 47 years old, now she owns her own successful aviation business and flight school. (Ackley Photo)
Flying high
Build finds fulfillment of her dreams in wild blue yonder
By Lisa Williams Ackley Staff Writer FRYEBURG — Ever since she was a little girl growing up in Massachusetts, Mary Shyne Build has always loved being outdoors. Mary said she discovered her true passion when her children were five and 10 years old, but she didn’t fulfill that passion until her youngest, Lisa, was in college. That’s when she had an opportunity to learn how to fly and fulfilled her passion for the first time way up in the sky — at 47 years young! “That was back in 1991, and I’ve been flying for business and pleasure ever since,” Mary said, with her characteristic bright smile. “When my oldest daughter was 10, she said she wanted to take a scenic flight, and we had a neighbor who was a pilot and he took us up in his plane,” said Mary. “That was in August. We went to Halifax, Massachusetts, and Peter Annis took us over the North River down to the ocean and we followed the beach all the way down the Cape Cod Canal and we landed on Long Pond in Plymouth — it was the smoothest landing I ever experienced! I love the water! The combination of flying and the water just hit me!”
Mary’s inner desire to become a pilot never died. In fact, it grew stronger and stronger. “I looked into flying three different times,” said Mary. “I wanted to become a commercial seaplane charter pilot, because I could see the need. So, finally I said, ‘All right, I’ll get a land rating. But, I felt I couldn’t do for my children and flying, too. My oldest daughter was interested in riding (horses), and she showed all throughout New England. My youngest daughter was coming along and she had outside interests, too — she was particularly interested in swimming. Being a mother is the most important job of any you could do — they were my priority.” Yet, Mary still held on to her childhood longing to be outside in the fresh air. “I was working in an office in the supermarket industry, at Angelo’s,” said Mary. “I was very good at what I did, but they couldn’t give me enough windows or a big enough office to make me happy. Then, I found the book ‘What Color Is Your Parachute?’ that helps you discover what it is you really want to do. I knew that in order to get out of the office and supermarket industry I had to leave the security DREAM, Page 2A
Settlement rooted with 10-year restoration plan
By Dawn De Busk Staff Writer NAPLES — An advocate of water-quality protection is happy with the reforestation plan and the hefty fine handed to the party responsible for last spring’s clear cutting of almost an acre on the shores of Long Lake. “To us, it was important that the site be restored as much as possible,” said Peter Lowell, executive director of Lakes Environmental
Association (LEA). “The combination of the restoration and the long-term management and the fine makes it a good resolution. The resolution does a decent job of restoring the site, and it sends a message to other folks who might want to have a lake-front view with total disregard for the water quality,” Lowell said. On Monday, the Naples Board of Selectmen was informed that Town Attorney Geoff Hole is finalizing the
settlement paperwork — particularly the details for an aggressive, 10-year reforestation plan. The board had already approved the settlement. So, signing the completed paperwork will be a formality. On Dec. 18, through an allday mediation process, attorneys representing the Town of Naples and landowner John Chase agreed to a three-prong settlement: $65,000 fine, following through with reforestation plans, and a lien on the
property forbidding Chase to sell the property until the 10year restoration plan is seen to fruition. According to Town Manager Derik Goodine, Chase must pay the $65,000 in one lump sum — no payment plans. A portion of the money will be used to reimburse the town’s legal fees, which will likely total $25,000, Goodine said. Lowell said the settlement was not only a strong statement for property owners to
abide by the Shoreland Zoning Ordinances, but it also empowered the town to keep tabs on the long-term restoration plan, and see that a screen of viable trees is replanted along the shoreline of Long Lake. The 10-year lien on the deed for the Long Lake parcel will ensure that the town can monitor the progress of the tree restoration plan, both Lowell and Goodine said. The mediator Daniel Wathen, a retired Maine Supreme Court justice, suggested the 10-year lien on the deed, Goodine said. In a 10-year period, the Chase property can only change hands if it is sold or deeded to a famand there was no open water ily member, he said. nearby, according to Hurd. “Wathen will maintain juris“It should be a non-issue diction over this case. So, if now,” he said, adding contractors are now crystal clear about not using lake ice to pile surplus snow. Also, Wyman and Simpson Established 1870 has established a snow-dumpP.O. Box 244, 118 Main St. ing site for future snowstorms, Bridgton, ME 04009 he said. 207-647-2851 With any MDOT project that Fax: 207-647-5001 remains in full swing during the bnews@roadrunner.com DIRTY SNOW, Page 12A
Piling dirty snow on ice addressed
By Dawn De Busk Staff Writer NAPLES — It’s not very cool to leave dirty snow piles on local lake ice — especially when that snow was plowed from Route 302. That was the sentiment of a community member who called Maine Department of Transportation Resident Engineer Craig Hurd following last month’s snowstorm. Hurd received one complaint
about snow piles left behind on Long Lake’s ice, and that person “was just concerned about contaminants that might get into the water when the ice melted,” he said. “It was the blizzard that we had at the end of December. They (the contractors) piled some snow on the rail and pushed it onto the ice. I went out to the site and figured out they were not doing what they were supposed to do,”
Hurd said. He cited miscommunication as the cause for the misdeed. Hurd heads the temporary MDOT office in Naples, and is involved with the Bay of Naples Bridge and Causeway construction. Wyman and Simpson is the contractor hired for the twoyear project, which is estimated to cost $9 million. Any potential damage to the environment was averted since the snow piles were removed
there is a disagreement or a break down, he would step in as rule maker,” Goodine said. On Monday, Selectman Robert Caron Sr. commented on the positive aspect of Wathen’s commitment in continuing to monitor the Naples case and the tree-planting plan slated to occur over the next decade. Lowell — who was in Florida after the settlement was reached, but was back in his Bridgton offices on Monday — said he was pleased that town leaders took initiative to make certain there were consequences for the ordinance violation as well as backing a fool-proof blueprint for returning native vegetation to the parcel. The settlement that resulted PLAN, Page 3A
The Bridgton News