Inside News Youth Safety Day at SBES; TV stars at Home, Garden, Flower Show In this week’s Edition
Behind the Scenes
Inside News
Local artist helps bring LR Drama Club productions to life; seniors in limelight
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Serving Bridgton and the surrounding towns of Western Maine since 1870. Vol. 150, No. 19
28 PAGES - 4 Sections
Bridgton, Maine
May 9, 2019
www.bridgton.com
(USPS 065-020)
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Budget passes test; new school leaders ok’d By Wayne E. Rivet Staff Writer “It was the smoothest (budget meeting) I’ve ever seen.” That was how SAD 61 Superintendent of Schools Al Smith described Tuesday’s district budget meeting held in in the Lake Region High School gymnasium. Voters dispatched all articles in less than an hour. “People were extremely supportive,” Superintendent Smith said. The validation referendum vote will take place on Tuesday, May 21. Not only will taxpayers act on the proposed budget, they will also decide whether to continue with the current process — a
district budget meeting followed by the validation referendum vote — or return to the old process of conducting all business on one night. Every three years, voters are asked whether to continue with the validation vote process. In other school news: School leaders hired. When SAD 61 advertised principal and assistant principal openings at the high school and Songo Locks School, the interest level was quite high — 30 to 32 candidates to be exact. Superintendent Al Smith presented three nominees Monday night, who he termed “highly-regarded.” Directors unanimously
approved: • Holly Wilson as Lake Region High School assistant principal. She replaces Maggie Thornton, who was appointed principal to succeed Erik Good. There were 32 applicants for the position and eight were interviewed. Wilson was present at Monday’s board meeting. Salary: $89,951. Wilson is presently a Social Studies teacher at RSU 14, Windham. Previously, she was a Title 1 Reading Ed Tech II in SAD 15, Gray. She holds a master’s of science in Administration from the University of Southern Maine, and a bachelor’s degree in Education
from the University of Maine at Farmington, where her major was Secondary Social Science and History. • Bridget DelPrete as Songo Locks Elementary School principal, replacing Cheryl Cline, who resigned. There were 30 candidates, and seven were interviewed. Salary: $90,938. DelPrete is presently the principal at Milton Elementary School in Milton, Vt. Superintendent Smith noted that DelPrete was relocating to the area following her husband’s change in employment. Previously, she was an assistant principal at Campton School District in Campton, N.H., and a teach-
Bridget DelPrete
Courtney Smith
ing principal at Stark School District in Stark, N.H. She earned a master in Education from American Public University in West Virginia, and a bachelor’s of science in Elementary
Education from Keene State College in New Hampshire. • Courtney Smith as Songo Locks Elementary School assistant principal, replacing Mark Jaronczyk, SAD 61, Page 2A
By Dawn De Busk Staff Writer NAPLES — The number of drunk driving arrests, where the driver left a local bar that is open later than other establishments, decreased from last year.
Although elected officials would like to see that number at zero, one concern was that employees are doing their best to prevent patrons from getting too intoxicated. On April 22, the Naples
Board of Selectmen held a public hearing for the liquor licenses of several establishments that sell alcohol. As has happened in years’ past, a number of incidents that required law enforcement response were reported at
and near Gary’s Olde Towne Tavern (formerly Bray’s Brewpub & Eatery). Selectman Bob Caron II spoke first. “I am concerned. I don’t know if the board has looked at this report. We
worked with him [owner Gary Skellett] last year to” establish a safe serving policy and to eliminate the number of Operating Under the Influence (OUI’s) that happened in 2017. There were seven OUI’s
in which the driver claimed he or she admitted to having a drink at Gary’s Olde Towne Tavern or having just left that bar. “We still have five OUI’s that led to an arrest after POLICE, Page 3A
Police report improves, fewer OUI arrests
Knight graces town Center
VFW deeds building to ‘bank’ Grace Knight
Editor’s note: The Bridgton Community Center is featuring some local residents as part of the Silver Profile project. This is the first in a series of profiles. By Laurie Wiltsie Special to The News Grace Knight is one of Bridgton’s treasures. At almost 95, she looks much younger with her sparkling eyes and beautiful smile. She may be petite, but don’t let that fool you; she is one of our strongest residents. Life has not been easy for Grace. Born in Pennsylvania, she lost her mother as a young child and entered the Foster Care system. She is serious when talking about those years, stating that some people are foster parents for the money. They made her leave school and she went to work at a case-shelling factory, so was never able to graduate. She met and married her husband, who was in the Navy, but from Oxford, Maine. They moved to this area in 1949. They had six children when her spouse died, and Grace went to work at the shoe factory, cleaned houses, and waitressed. Grace doesn’t drive, so she walked everywhere, walking her children three miles to church every Sunday, and Highland Beach in the summer. At 88, she was walking five miles each way to visit friends in the hospital. She has photos on her wall and table, and she loves to point out each one. Sadly, Grace has been predeceased by three of her children, and becomes serious speaking of them, stating, “You never get over the loss of a child.” At 42, she went to Adult Ed and earned her high school diploma. After she retired, she quickly became a foster grandmother and loved the children from age 70 to 92, when the school worried that Grace’s health could be at risk as she had scarred her lungs from pneumonia. She was also active in the Literacy Program, reading to children at the lakes in the summer. To this day, she runs into people who call out “Nanny Grace!” She was still sledding at 88! She loves to send cards to people to let them know she cares. This year, she sent over 100 Christmas cards. Grace thinks any holidays deserve cards! She has mixed feelings about technology. She thinks the medical advances are wonderful, but she does not like cell phones, saying everyone interrupts conversations when their phones go off. Grace has had to slow down since a hip fracture at 88, but she still loves to shop, outlasting one of her daughters! She doesn’t watch very much TV — the news, and on Saturday mornings, she likes to watch the British comedy, “Keeping Up Appearances.” She reads a great deal, primarily cookbooks. “I read them like a novel, front to back,” she said. Grace doesn’t go out as much as she used to, but rarely misses Senior Lunch at the Community Center. Grace’s life started with great adversity, and she turned that into a life of caring. Of the hard times in her life, she said its water over the dam, with the exception of losing her children. She said no one gets over that. If you are feeling down and want to cheer up, go to the Senior Lunch on Wednesdays at the Community Center and you’ll find Grace, with her beautiful smile. Bring an unusual cookbook, and her smile will be even brighter!
By Dawn De Busk Staff Writer HARRISON — Several years ago, the Harrison Food Bank was searching for a home until the local Veterans of Foreign War (VFW) stepped up and offered its space. Now, the food bank has secured a permanent home. That’s because the Harrison VFW has deeded the building to the nonprofit food pantry. “The VFW has donated the whole building to us. They deeded over the building to the food bank,” according to Harrison Food Bank Operational Manager Sandy Swett. This makes grant-writing much more straightforward since the primary purpose of the building is to distribute food to residents on a weekly basis. The Harrison Food Bank opens its door every Tuesday from 1:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. “What I am trying to do is renovate the whole building. I am going to be doing this in phases,” Swett said. “We are going to make the upstairs separate from the downstairs. The downstairs bathroom is currently not ADA compliant. We are going to put in one ADA bathroom and a kitchen,” she said. “That will be bringing the building up to code,” she said. Also, the food pantry will put out to bid the job to build a 2-story addition on the ground floor, she said.
GOING TO THE FOOD PANTRY is more similar to going to the grocery store now that the Harrison Food Bank has installed shelving units, bins and glass-door coolers that were donated after the remodel at Hannaford Supermarket in Bridgton. (De Busk Photo) The addition will be located behind the building. The addition will measure 20 x 40 feet and will include two multi-stall bathrooms and a kitchen. The time frame for that construction to start is about August, she said. “By owning the building we are able to get grants,” Swett said. Swett has received the final approval for a government grant through the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). “I got the final okay for the HUD grant,” she said. “I want to do [the improvements] in phases so that we totally remodel the building and insulate it,” she said. “My first plan is the addi-
tion to get the bathrooms and the new kitchen,” she said. The second step is installing in the basement a kitchen and a bathroom that follows the regulations of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). “The third phase is taking the walls down, insulating and wiring,” she said. “My 4th phase would be paving the parking lot.” Swett seems to be as busy writing grants as she has been at her job of acquiring food for the pantry. “Another grant that I have written is to insulate the building,” she said. In another bit of good fortune, the food bank has benefited from the remodel
at Hannaford Supermarket in Bridgton. The food bank recently installed the shelving units, bins and glassdoor coolers in the downBANK, Page 3A
Hospital Guild assessing its future The Bridgton Hospital Guild is reassessing its future. The Guild is a nonprofit corporation dedicated to supporting the capital needs of Bridgton Hospital. It also provides college scholarships to local high school seniors entering the fields associated with health care. It is a 100% volunteer organization, whose efforts have provided over a million dollars in its history to fund equipment needs for all departments such as surgery, ER, obstetrics, pediatrics, physical therapy, “swing bed” and patient rooms. The Guild operates two
businesses that contribute their entire net proceeds to fund its mission. The Guild Thrift Shop has been a mainstay retail store on Main Street in Bridgton since 1994. It offers gently-used clothing and small housewares at low prices. The Twitchell Campus Café, also known as the Guild coffee shop, is located at the “old” hospital building next to the pediatric, specialty, and physical therapy practices. It offers breakfast and lunch at very reasonable prices to BH staff and the public. In the last few years, both
businesses have struggled with adequate staffing in order to keep their doors open on a consistent basis. As a result, the Guild, like other such organizations, is operating with fewer, and older volunteers. Studies have shown that economic and cultural chang-
es in our society have led to this decline. Most households today are two-income families, reducing the time to volunteer during the daytime. The expansion of government services has also led to the perception that charitable GUILD, Page 2A
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