Telling Tales
Meet BOB
Denmark author set to release third ‘Chronicle’; Osso remembers Uncle Maynard
Inside News
Former Lake Region grads team up to develop new antibullying program
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Serving Bridgton and the surrounding towns of Western Maine since 1870. Vol. 144, No. 35
32 PAGES - 4 Sections
Bridgton, Maine
August 29, 2013
(USPS 065-020)
Weather . . . . . . . . . . . 5D
www.bridgton.com
SEVENTY-FIVE CENTS
Salmon Point fees hiked
By Gail Geraghty Staff Writer Bridgton Selectmen Tuesday voted to hike lease fees for Salmon Point Campground campers by six percent Tuesday, but tabled most other ideas coming out of a recent workshop. The rate increase follows last year’s 14 percent increase, but still keeps costs below the rates charged on average at private area campgrounds. A lakefront site, of which the campground has 14, will cost $2,780, while the seasonal rate for the 16 non-lakefront sites will be $1,946. The board also agreed to set the rate for the six new back lot sites at the same nonlakefront rate of $1,946 per season. Selectmen spent well over an hour discussing various proposals to make the Long Lake campground operate in a more professional manner. They did not allow public comment until later in the meeting. Chairman Doug
Taft explained that campers and other residents have had numerous opportunities to express their opinions over the past several months, including at a workshop held two weeks ago. Only three board members participated in the voting on financial matters, however. Both Selectman Paul Hoyt and Bob McHatton did not participate in the vote on site fee increases. The board decided to keep running the campground as a seasonal campground, rather than to change to a model catering more to overnight and transient campers. They decided to keep the status quo, for now, on the controversial question of whether to allow leaseholders the right to transfer their lease to a family member. One question they did decide definitively had to do with a washing machine. The board agreed to “look into” buying a second washer and
dryer for the campground in order to shorten waiting times for the machines, especially in the mornings. They agreed to pursue a cost-benefit analysis for dredging the lagoon, agreeing that action will need to be taken at some point in the future to keep the lagoon area from filling in and affecting the profitability of the town-owned enterprise. Boat and water vehicle fees and visitor fees,will remain the same, the board decided. On the question of whether to install individual electric meters at each site, Campground Manager Ted Sawyer said it would cost well over $100,000 to retrofit the sites. The board agreed that many of the questions concerning improvements come under the heading of capital improvements, and that more precise cost estimates will be needed before a final decision can be made.
LRTV embraces digital age
By Gail Geraghty Staff Writer For years, despite its modest $70,000 annual budget, Lake Region Television has had the distinction of offering its viewers more local programming than any other TV station in Maine. And now, with the purchase of new all-digital equipment, the station is delivering that programming live, both via cable and the Internet, in a decidedly smoother, more professional manner. The digital transition, two years in the making, is nearly complete, with three new $3,500 high-definition cameras linked to Internetcapable computer servers in
ECONOMIES OF SCALE — A four-hour memory card sits atop a one-hour VHS tape. LRTV’s headquarters in the video signals to the server, basement of the Bridgton and the show is streamed live Municipal Complex. over the Internet, anywhere With the push of a button, in the world. Just as the VHS the cameras send their audio/ tapes once used by the station
are obsolete, so, too, now are DVDs. All the shows are stored on the computer servers with removable hard drives. When one drive fills up, it can simply be replaced. No more sitting at the station, waiting (in real time) for a camera’s video tape from a two-hour meeting to be copied onto a DVD before it can be edited for viewing. No more awkward station pauses of up to a minute between shows, while a machine sorts out the next DVD to load up in the queue. No more moving parts. In the past, live shows were only possible from the selectmen’s rooms in LRTV, Page A
New FA era begins By Wayne E. Rivet Staff Writer FRYEBURG — Like many students, Erin Mayo is looking forward to her first day of school. As the new Head of School at Fryeburg Academy, Mayo is eager to see the arrival of new boarding students this Saturday and Sunday and the return of the Raider student body on Thursday, Sept. 5. She is also anxious to stand in front of 18 students and teach an advanced placement class. ERIN MAYO is Fryeburg Academy’s first female leader in the school’s 222-year his“I am really looking tory. She succeeds Dan Lee, who retired at the end of the last school year. forward to a good year (Rivet Photo) here at Fryeburg Academy. I am looking forward to fact that the new Head of most drawn to. I went to School for Academics), my class and the beginning School is the first female St. Johnsbury Academy in there were strengths and an of our weekly all-school leader in the institution’s Vermont (student popula- interesting learning curve, tion of about 1,000, now), but it didn’t take too long meeting (after first period). 222-year history. Mayo brings a vibrant where my father was head- for me to want to get back The first one will be on opening day — in the gym spirit to the Academy, and master for 20 years (both to the private academy setwith all the students,” she will be a highly-visible of my parents were alums) ting. We had talked about a said. “I plan to invite stu- leader. One step to cre- and where I spent my first dent leaders to help design ate greater visibility was 15 years of my career as a change, and when I came future meetings — which moving her office from the teacher and eventually as across the opening at Fryeburg Academy, I paid an administrator. can include special talks, second floor to the first. The blend of students attention. I wasn’t active“I want more incidental musical performances, theater, recognitions as they traffic — to be more vis- and families that you ly searching at that point. serve with an overlay of After being contacted come up, and announce- ible,” she said. The News recently met the boarding program is by a consultant a couple ments. Of the three schools I have worked at, this will with Mayo as she continued like no place else. It just of times, I became more be the first that we don’t to tie up a few loose ends feels like a democratic ser- interested. It was an opporhave a daily meeting of with the start of school just vice that higher education tunity that I didn’t want to let go. After experiencing some kind. For the whole eight days away and asked ought to be. When my husband the contrast of living in school to be together at the following: Q. What attracted (Peter) and I and our fam- Vermont and then Texas, some point in a day creates a sense of community. It is you to seek the Fryeburg ily (Maeve, age 17 and I found I really wanted to powerful. It can be fun. I Academy position as Gunnar, 12) moved to get back East. Q. Being raised in Dallas to a private day look forward to just look- Head of School? EM. First, the fact that school (she was Head Vermont, have you vising out and seeing everyit is a town academy. That of Upper School at the ited Maine or Fryeburg body.” Change is in the air at is the educational model I Episcopal School and later before? Offer some the Academy, including the am most familiar with and became Assistant Head of ERIN, Page A
NORTH FOUNDATION — The north foundation is listing out of plumb approximately 5%, which suggests that the barn is migrating in that direction. According to the Maine Preservation report, “if this movement is allowed to continue, the barn will collapse in just a few short years.”
Barn on shaky ground, closed
Bridgton Historical Society has been advised that the barn at Narramissic, the Peabody-Fitch Farm in South Bridgton should be closed to the public until structural problems with the dry stone granite foundation can be addressed. The Society has become increasingly aware that there were problems with the foundation, according to BHS Executive Director Ned Allen. It all started when volunteers made some repairs and adjustments to the door, which was getting very hard to open and close. They noticed that the real culprit wasn’t the door itself, but the fact that the structure
had shifted off its foundations. The Society consulted with several historic preservation consultants about the problems facing the 175year-old foundation, and a recent report by Christopher Closs of Maine Preservation warned that the situation has reached the point where concern for public safety dictates the drastic action. Allen said Society officials are in the process of “figuring out” how they will approach raising funds for the project. “Although we obviously have some pressing issues to deal with immediately, this BARN, Page A
FRYEBURG — The Capital Campaign to raise funds for a Community Center in Fryeburg has reached a major milestone, raising 80% of the funds needed to build the facility. Brad Littlefield, who has led the fundraising effort for the last three years, made the announcement Tuesday. “I am pleased to inform the residents of Fryeburg that the Capital Campaign has raised $1.2 million toward our $1.5 million goal, thanks to the generosity of many individuals, corporations and foundations,” he said. Construction could begin as early as April 2014 if an additional $300,000 is raised
by then, said Littlefield. The Center will be known as the Hastings Community Center, after Doris and David Hastings II. The generous donation was given in memory of the Hastings by their children, Ann Hastings and David Hastings III. Other major gifts include: • Kendal C. and Anna Ham Foundation — Supporting the teen center and technology room; • Don and Brenda Thibodeau — Supporting the gymnasium; • Norway Savings Bank — Supporting the senior center; • Poland Spring Water CAMPAIGN, Page A
Rec campaign at $1.2 million
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