Where’s the grates?
Sports previews
Mothers express concerns regarding removal of Highland Lake grates
Inside News
How will Lake Region and Fryeburg Academy teams fare this fall? Coaches chime in
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Serving Bridgton and the surrounding towns of Western Maine since 1870. Vol. 144, No. 36
32 PAGES - 4 Sections
Bridgton, Maine
September 5, 2013
(USPS 065-020)
Weather . . . . . . . . . . . 5D
www.bridgton.com
SEVENTY-FIVE CENTS
Fall park popularity grows By Dawn De Busk Staff Writer NAPLES — It’s September. It’s time to pitch the tent or fuel up the RV and head to Sebago Lake State Campground. Over the years, September has become a more popular time to camp than it has been in the past, according to Park Director Matt McGuire. “Each year, September is busier,” he said. “It will definitely quiet down after Labor Day. But, we get campers who are retired and people who have extended their vacations in Maine staying at the campground,” McGuire said. This Labor Day weekend’s weather caused campers to
Naples resident Olivia Toole, 12, and her dad, Jeff Toole, hold copies of the watercolor paintings they did of Devil’s Tower in Wyoming. This summer Olivia visited her pen pal in South Dakota — after raising $600 for the plane ticket. (De Busk Photo)
Pen pals hook up in S. Dakota
By Dawn De Busk Staff Writer NAPLES — Sitting in her home on Labor Day, seventh grader Olivia Toole found it hard to believe that a week ago she was exploring the sites of South Dakota and Wyoming. Olivia took the trip this summer to meet Allysa, the girl who has been her pen pal since third grade. That was after the young resident of Naples saved her money — a total of $600 — to pay for the plane ticket. A classroom assignment in third grade turned into four years of correspondence. The two girls do not e-mail or chat on Facebook. They write letters to each other at least once a month. “We became friends through letters,” Olivia said. “We sent pictures and gifts and money for birthdays. We wrote once a month. As soon as I got a letter from her, I’d write one,” she said. “We have been writing about what is going on in our lives, and anything interesting that happens like going back to school and starting a new grade,” she said. “She usually tells me more detailed information than I do. Like, if she goes to buy a new shirt or new shoes, she writes all about it,” she said. When they met in person last month, both girls “were a little shy with each other – at first,” Olivia said. Then, they spent some time together at a fair in South Dakota. “It was fun. We went on the rides and stuff. We went into the funhouse together,” she said. “We did not have too many questions to ask each other because we already knew so much about each other,” she said. The encounter was brief, because Allysa had a big family and a small house. Plus, Olivia and her dad, Jeff, had a checklist of famed sites to see in the Midwest and PEN PALS, Page A
head home a little earlier than planned. On that three-day holiday in early September, many campers stake claim to their sites on Friday night and stay through the weekend, often remaining at the state park and not heading home until Sunday evening or early Monday morning, McGuire said. “That was down. Because of the rain, people left a day early. Generally, people have a reservation, and leave late on Sunday. We had the rainstorm Saturday night. It really lowered our numbers,” McGuire said. “A lot of people left early Sunday morning,” he said. On Labor Day, 96 boats
were launched from the day area as people spent the holiday on Big Sebago Lake and its connective bodies of water. For the three-day period, Saturday through Monday, on Labor Day weekend, 2,472 people visited the day use area and 3,411 people camped in the park. That compared to the threeday timeframe on Memorial Day weekend when day use saw 1,111 visitors and the camping spaces accommodated 1,248 people. “That was at half capacity. That was a slower weekend for us,” McGuire said. “It seemed like Memorial Day was down from previous years,” he said.
Salmon Point site inheritance practice questioned by some By Gail Geraghty Staff Writer As Bridgton Selectmen sort out policy changes to operation of the townowned Salmon Point Campground, a contentious issue has resurfaced: inheritance of lot lease rights. Some time back the town decided it made sense to allow leaseholders to pass along their lease to other family members, when they no longer wish to lease the lot themselves. That way, the children of leaseholders could take over responsibility for the lease once grown — keeping the site all in the family, in perpetuity. But while the town has allowed the practice, it’s been more a matter of tradition than anything else; there has
not been any formal policy in place sanctioning the lease inheritance. Ever since the town took over the property, a sizable number of the seasonal campers at the 55-site campground on Long Lake have been coming back every summer, some for as long as 40 years. In recent workshops, however, the fairness of the practice has come under question, particularly by Community Development Committee member Chuck Renneker. He believes it comes too close to granting ownership rights over a portion of what is supposed to be a public recreational resource. Some of these returning campers own leases on prime lakefront lots. Shouldn’t others be given the chance to rent the sites at some point, he argues?
Town Manager Mitch Berkowitz said at the Aug. 27 Selectmen’s meeting he wasn’t worried that the town was giving over any legal ownership, since renters cannot, by law, claim adverse possession over property owned by a town. But he did caution that the town needs to consider the matter carefully. “I’m not opposed to establishing long-term inheritance (of lease rights), but, you need to decide under what criteria you allow one person to do it, and not another.” The board decided at that meeting to continue running Salmon Point as a seasonal campground, offering long-term leases from May to October for most sites, and only maintaining a small numINHERITANCE, Page A
More mowing power
Property values posted, soon By Dawn De Busk Staff Writer CASCO — Landowners in Casco will soon learn the new value of their properties. By the end of this week or early next week, people should receive letters of notification in the mail from Vision Government Solutions, Inc. Also, the results of a twoyear-long property revaluation will be accessible on the town’s website, www.cascomaine.org. “All the results may be available as early as (this week) on the website,” Town Manager Dave Morton said on Tuesday. “So, people can go online and compare theirs with other people’s (property values). The best way to judge whether it is fair or not is to compare it with your neighbor’s” property value, Morton said. “I would look at mine, and say, ‘Well, my property or home is better than that property or home,” he said. This comparison could
help those less knowledgeable in real estate, he said. “Some people are very savvy about property values; others of us are not,” he said. GETTING THAT SINKING FEELING — What started as a promising launch ended a People may be pleased or short time later as Jack Lindsay’s cardboard craft took on water at the North Bridgton Beach Sunday as part of Bridgton Academy’s teambuilding efforts. (Rivet Photo) VALUES, Page A
When Bridgton was a mill town By Gail Geraghty Staff Writer It was standing room only Thursday, as historian Sue Black drew the crowd inside the room at the Lakes Environmental Association, back to a time when Stevens Brook defined the birth of downtown Bridgton. It all began with a survey by Jacob Stevens, back in 1766. Stevens was charged with exploring the mileand-a-half length of Stevens Brook from Highland Lake to Long Lake, looking for likely mill sites. “There were no roads. No nothing. They were bush-
“I think we are finding that people are doing other activities during that holiday. Kids are still in school,” he said. The numbers of folks enjoying Sebago Lake State Park pick up in late June and early July. The campground boasts 250 camp sites; and in addition, there are 14 group camping spots on the east end of the park. “We always have use, but when school is out, that is when we are the busiest,” he said. So, the summer months of July and August really draw the crowds to the 1,400-acre park, located on Maine’s second largest lake. PARK, Page A
whacking,” said Black. From inflow to outflow, the water dropped by 150 feet as it swirled over boulders and twisted around bends. Stevens identified 12 possible mill sites, and had rights to all of them; but gave up all but one. Where a lovely bridge now spans the brook at Shorey Park, he built Bridgton’s first mill nearly 250 years ago; a grist mill, a small water wheel really, meant only to grind corn. “Bridgton would not be where it is right now if he had put his mill in a different place,” said Black, who punctuated her talk with pho-
tos projected on a big screen. The first mills were crucial to Bridgton’s birth, even though they were not building anything to sell. They served the survival needs of the town’s first residents: food, clothing, shelter. Carting mills, grist mills, felting mills, sawmills — all were service oriented. In 1849–1850, the Highland Lake Dam was built to hold back the waters then known as Crotched Pond. Black showed a current photo of today confirming that “all the parts are pretty much still there,” at the controls of the dam, pointing out the square
area that she said was once a fish hatchery. “The logs came all the way from Stearns Pond in Sweden,” she said. Rufus Gibbs built the first big textile mill in 1857 where Shorey Park is now, and built LEGACY, Page A
By Gail Geraghty Staff Writer Bridgton Selectmen have agreed to use $15,000 in reserve funds to buy a new mowing tractor for the Ham Complex even though the town does not yet own the property. Public Works Director Jim Kidder was against the purchase at the Aug. 27 meeting, saying it should wait until the town owns the property, and the overall equipment needs for the complex can be accessed. Kidder said it will require three different types of mowers to properly maintain the softball, baseball and soccer fields. “I don’t feel this is the time,” Kidder said. “All the equipment needs to be looked at, at once. There are still, in my mind, a lot of unanswered questions.” Town Manager Mitch Berkowitz said the tractor would be specifically assigned to the recreation complex, currently owned by the Bridgton Recreation Advancement Group, but due to be transferred to the town at Town Meeting next June. Selectmen overruled Kidder’s concerns, with members noting that the town has already invested $250,000 in Moose Pond Trust Fund money toward the complex, MOWING, Page A
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