The Portland Daily Sun, Wednesday, December 29, 2010

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 29, 2010

VOL. 2 NO. 232

PORTLAND, ME

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Chair lift collapse injures six, chills over a hundred

BY MATT DODGE THE PORTLAND DAILY SUN

An experienced skier, Adam Dyer knew this was not another garden variety lift stoppage.

“I could tell by the way it stopped to begin with that something wasn’t right,” the 23-year-old Auburn resident said.

Dyer was six chairs from the offload point when the high winds rocked Sugarloaf Mountain Ski Resort’s Spillway East chair lift, which derailed around 10:30 Tuesday morning. Five chairs fell an estimated 25 to 30 feet, injuring six people – one seriously enough to be sent to Maine Medical Center via helicopter.

Another 100, including Dyer, were stranded in the freezing wind.

Dyer said the Spillway lift stopped and started back up at least three times before the derailment.

“All of a sudden we felt it jerking, then it didn’t move for the longest time,” Dyer said.

While winds were gusting to about 40 mph when the chair lift derailed, it’s unclear whether the accident was wind-related or mechanical LEFT: This photo provided by Al Noyes shows a skier trying to climb down from a stalled ski lift chair after a lift derailed on the state’s tallest ski mountain at the Sugarloaf resort in Carrabassett Valley Tuesday. (AP Photo/Al Noyes)

“I saw a guy working on the wheel system up on the pole. This went on for a while, stop and go. Then all of a sudden we dropped to the ground, maybe 12 or 15 feet, straight down and hit the ground and sprung back up about five feet.” — Lift passenger Paul Peck according to a statement from the ski area.

The resort’s ski patrol evacuated the 35-yearold chair lift using a pulley device to lower skiers to safety. Sugarloaf said the chair was properly licensed and inspected, but slated for improvements in the near future.

The resort said there were 50 to 160 people on the lift at the time of the derailment and that none of the injuries appeared to be life-threatening.

“It was so scary,” says Paul Peck of Yarmouth who was on the lift during the incident. “The lift was part way up and stopped for about 10 minutes. I saw a guy working on the wheel system up on the pole. This went on for a while, stop and go. Then all of a sudden we dropped to the see LIFT page 3

2010: a look back A visit by President Barack Obama highlighted spring events in Portland. In this issue, we continue our look back at the year in news and photos, with March and April capsules.

MARCH March 2 Two city-sponsored public forums will be held this week to discuss existing policies and zoning rules governing Portland’s Central Waterfront, an area between the International Marine Terminal and Maine State Pier that’s home to 15 piers and dozens of businesses and is the center of Maine’s fishing economy.

City officials say the current rules governing the

waterfront zone were designed to protect marine businesses while also allowing other “compatible uses.” But 11 waterfront property owners, citing the need for new revenues, are pushing to relax restrictions on new development.

March 3 PORTLAND (AP) — Portland Pirates fans continue to be in limbo about whether the American Hockey League franchise will be leaving Maine’s largest city. CEO/Managing Owner Brian Petrovek denied reports that the franchise is destined for Albany, N.Y. His announcement Tuesday came after Bob Berber, general manager of the Times Union Center in Albany, told a newspaper that he expects to have a signed deal with Petrovek in seven to 10 days. see YEAR page 6

A year of rumor and innuendo

Holiday expectations can do real harm

See Bob Higgins on page 4

See Maggie Knowles’ column on page 5

Swept to the podium by the chant of “yes we did!” — a refrain of his campaign slogan, “yes we can” — President Barack Obama addressed a standing-room-only crowd at the Portland Expo in April. (DAVID CARKHUFF PHOTO)

Kamasouptra has food for the cold See Natalie Ladd on page 8

Page 2 — THE PORTLAND DAILY SUN, Wednesday, December 29, 2010

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The Force is strong: ‘Empire’ tapped for registry BALTIMORE (AP) — Darth Vader proclaiming he’s Luke Skywalker’s father, John Travolta preening in his underwear and an early 20th-century deaf activist communicating in sign language are among the images that will be preserved by the Library of Congress as part of its National Film Registry.

The 25 films selected this year include “The Empire Strikes Back,” the 1980 sequel to “Star Wars” that many critics and fans consider the best of George Lucas’ six “Star Wars” films.

“Empire” shocked moviegoers with the revelation that masked villain Darth Vader was the father of hero Skywalker.

While Lucas didn’t direct “Empire” — he entrusted it to the late Irvin Kershner — he got another film selected for the registry: the student short “Electronic Labyrinth: THX 1138 4EB.” Lucas’ “Star Wars” and “American Graffiti” are also among the 550 titles in the registry.

The Library of Congress announced the selections early Tuesday. The goal of the registry, which began in 1989, isn’t to identify the best movies ever made, but to preserve films with artistic, cultural or historical significance.

Librarian of Congress James H. Billington has chosen each of the films in the registry, culling them from suggestions by the National Film Preservation Board and the public. More than 2,100 films were nominated by the public in 2010.

Original copies of films picked for the registry are kept safe and available for viewing by future generations.

The library acquires copies to preserve in its cold-storage vaults among millions of other recordings at the Packard Campus of the National Audio-Visual Conservation Center near Culpeper, Va.

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Eight killed in fire in New Orleans NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The deadliest city blaze in decades killed eight homeless squatters who were burning debris in an abandoned warehouse to stay warm Tuesday, authorities said.

Firefighters said they could not tell the ages or genders of those who died because their bodies were so badly burned. A 23-year-old man who escaped told the American Red Cross he could not get back in to help his friends because of the smoke, agency volunteer Thomas Butler said.

The Orleans Parish Coroner’s Office said it was uncertain when the dead would be identified. However, a group of young people sitting on the steps of an abandoned house near the scene later Tuesday said the dead included three women and five men.

Rachel Park, 27, of California, estimated the ages ranged from 19 to 30.

She said the victims never thought of themselves as homeless and rejected the “gutter punk” label used by some locals to describe transient youths often seen begging for money or cigarettes on French Quarter streets.

“They were all accomplished musicians or artists — jolly, happy people,” Park said, adding that four dogs died along with the eight people.

Park knew the victims by first names only and said one or two were from the New Orleans area, while the others were from elsewhere in the U.S.

Temperatures were just below freezing early Tuesday, not unheard of but unusually cold for New Orleans. The warehouse is in a blighted city neighborhood left even more so by the flooding that followed Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

Agencies that work with the homeless

said they believe some or all the victims were in their late teens or early 20s. Linda Gonzales, of the New Orleans Mission, said homeless young adults and teenagers often avoid shelters for several reasons.

“Some of them choose to stay out and you can’t make them come in,” she said.

The charred remains of an abandoned warehouse are seen after it burned, in the Upper Ninth Ward of New Orleans, Tuesday. Authorities say the blaze killed eight homeless people who were burning wood in a barrel to stay warm during the freezing night. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Hawaii’s governor wants to reveal Obama birth info HONOLULU (AP) — Democratic Gov. Neil Abercrombie wants to find a way to release more information about President Barack Obama’s Hawaii birth and dispel conspiracy theories that he was born elsewhere.

Abercrombie was a friend of Obama’s parents and knew him as a child, and is deeply troubled by the effort to cast doubt on the president’s citizenship.

The newly elected governor will ask the state attorney general’s office and health officials about how he can make public more of Obama’s birth documentation from Aug. 4, 1961, spokeswoman Donalyn Dela Cruz said Tuesday.

“He had a friendship with Mr. Obama’s parents, and so there is a personal issue at hand,” Dela Cruz said. “Is it going to be done immediately? No, the first thing on our list is the economy.”

It’s unclear what Abercrombie could do because Hawaii’s privacy laws have long barred the release of a certified birth certificate to anyone who doesn’t have

a tangible interest.

Hawaii’s health director said last year and in 2008 that she had seen and verified Obama’s original vital records, and birth notices in two Honolulu newspapers were published within days of Obama’s birth at Kapiolani Maternity and Gynecological Hospital in Honolulu.

So-called “birthers” claim Obama is ineligible to be president because they say there’s no proof he was born in the United States, with many of the skeptics questioning whether he was actually born in Kenya, his father’s home country.

“What bothers me is that some people who should know better are trying to use this for political reasons,” Abercrombie told the Los Angeles Times last week. “Maybe I’m the only one in the country that could look you right in the eye right now and tell you, ‘I was here when that baby was born.’”

Abercrombie was unavailable for additional comment

Tuesday because he was vacationing on Maui, Dela Cruz said.

The Obama campaign issued a certificate of live birth in 2008, an official document from the state showing the president’s birth date, city and name, along with his parents’ names and races. The certificate doesn’t list the name of the hospital where he was born or the physician who delivered him, information collected by the state as part of its vital records.

Abercrombie, originally from New York, befriended Obama’s parents at the University of Hawaii after he moved here in 1959, the same year the islands became a state.

Abercrombie, 72, has said he remembers seeing Obama as a child with his parents at social events, although he acknowledged that he didn’t see his parents with their newborn son at the hospital.

The number of requests for Obama’s birth information increased this month as the Obama family prepared to vaca-

tion in Hawaii.

The Department of Health had received 27 requests for the president’s birth information this month as of last Thursday, up from 16 in November, said spokeswoman Janice Okubo.

Information requests rose despite a new state law allowing officials to ignore persistent and repetitive inquiries, a law that has been used about six times by the department, Okubo said.

“It’s just a few people, and some of their requests are the same,” she said. “The requests fluctuate from month to month.”

Nearly all birth certificate information seekers are from the mainland United States, with requests rarely coming from Hawaii residents, said Cathy Takase, acting director for the state Office of Information Practices.

Takase usually responds to appeals for Obama’s birth records by telling requesters that the information they’re seeking is contained in records protected by statute.

THE PORTLAND DAILY SUN, Wednesday, December 29, 2010— Page 3

Due to dispute, Time Warner Cable customers may lose TV networks

This photo provided by Betsy Twombly shows a skier being helped down from a lift chair (center) after a lift derailed on the state’s tallest ski mountain at the Sugarloaf resort in Carrabassett Valley Tuesday.

(AP Photo/Betsy Twombly)

Six people taken to the hospital LIFT from page one

half for Dyer to be unloaded from the lift, his second long stoppage on a Sugarloaf lift in the last month after the mountain’s Super Quad chair kept left him hanging for 45 minutes on December 11.

“Everyone was just hanging out, trying to stay warm,” said Dyer of Tuesday’s derailment, “it was freezing up there — by the time I got down, I couldn’t feel my legs or feet,” he said.

The resort, which had not closed any chairs due to high wind before the derailment, starting shutting down other unaffected lifts following the incident.

“We left after that, I was pretty much too cold to go back out and there were only three or four lifts open by the time they were done,” he said.

Dyer and others on the lift received free lift tickets for their ordeal, but will he return and risk another such accident?

“I’m not really too concerned, it doesn’t really happen that often,” said Dyer.

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ground, maybe 12 or 15 feet, straight down and hit the ground and sprung back up about five feet,” he said.

“I was with a guy I didn’t know — we looked at each other, lifted the bar and jumped. I didn’t even have my gloves on and it was freezing. People were crying and screaming. I was telling people to get off the trail in case the lift fell again.” Peck said.

Skier Rebecca London told the Associated Press that she fell from the lift during the derailment, but credited new snow on the trail underneath the lift for a soft landing. The resort reported 20 to 22 inches of fresh snow following Monday’s storm.

“Thankfully, they didn’t groom it last night, so they left it like it was,” she said. “So the snow was all soft.”

The East Spillway double-chair lift is 4,013 feet long and nearly reaches the summit of 4,327-foot Sugarloaf, the state’s second-tallest mountain. It is the state’s tallest ski mountain.

It took an hour to an hour-and-a-

NEW YORK (AP) — Time Warner Cable Inc. customers from Portland, Maine, to Pensacola, Fla., could lose access to one of their network TV stations because of a contract dispute with Sinclair Broadcast Group.

The dust-up between Sinclair and Time Warner is one of a growing number of disputes over the fees that cable providers pay broadcast stations to include their signals in channel lineups. The last high-profile dispute that caused a blackout came earlier this year when Cablevision Systems Corp. customers went without Fox programming for 15 days — missing two World Series games. In most cases, however, cable and broadcast companies have been able to avoid blackouts, even if negotiations go down the wire.

Broadcast companies used to allow cable providers to carry their channels for free and made their money selling commercial time. But competition with cable networks for ad dollars has intensified, and the recession underscored how quickly ad spending can fall off when businesses need to cut spending.

Now broadcasters see these fees from cable providers as a crucial, second revenue stream.

In the latest dispute, Sinclair is

asking for more cash for the right to carry signals from its stations, but Time Warner Cable is resisting the increase.

If a deal isn’t reached, 33 Sinclair stations in 21 markets — among them Fox, NBC, CBS and ABC affiliates — could go dark for Time Warner customers after midnight Friday.

However, Fox owner News Corp. has agreed to provide Time Warner with network programming in case a local station operator withholds its signal.

That resulted from an agreement a year ago between the two companies to resolve a similar dispute over fees. So Time Warner customers would still get shows such as “Glee,” “House” and “The Simpsons,” even if they couldn’t watch the local Fox newscast.

These disputes have been particularly rough on sports fans. If Sinclair and Time Warner don’t reach a deal by this weekend, for instance, college football fans in Pensacola may not be able to watch the ABC broadcast of the Florida Gators playing in the Outback bowl.

Sinclair, which is based in Hunt Valley, Md., said Tuesday that Time Warner has not presented a counterproposal since rejecting Sinclair’s most recent offer. Time Warner says it is still ready to negotiate.

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Page 4 — THE PORTLAND DAILY SUN, Wednesday, December 29, 2010

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The naked truth about scanners On the day after Christmas, readers of The Washington Post were given a real treat: pictures of naked men.

The men in the pictures were fully clothed, but they were naked nonetheless, because the pictures came from airport full-body scanners.

The machines provided graphic pictures of the male anatomy. True, they were no more graphic than Michelangelo’s David or Leonardo da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man (that’s the naked guy with his arms and legs stuck out), but both of those were depictions, not actual people trying to heft their wheelie bags on the conveyor belt, take off their shoes and jackets, remove their laptops, take out their ––––– baggies full of fluids no more Creators than 3 ounces in size, take the metal out of their pockets and Syndicate somehow get through security before their planes take off.

According to the Post, by New Year’s Day there will be 500 such machines in use nationwide and 1,000 by the end of 2011, or roughly one machine for every two security lanes in every airport in the land.

Roger Simon

see SIMON page 5

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Rumor and innuendo Closing the books on the year 2010, I would have to sum up the year as the “Year Of The Rumor.”

A couple of big stories surfaced this week, seeking air and sunshine. If we are patient, they will disappear back beneath the briny depths, only to be seen or heard from when they return to spout more nonsense.

If anyone missed it, over the weekend Dan Demerrit, press secretary for the LePage transition team, lobbed a virtual grenade onto the Maine political landscape. He mentioned, in an op-ed piece in the Portland Press Herald that “word on the street is that the Maine Peoples Alliance is already circulating a petition to remove Paul Lepage From office.”

So, did somebody (namely me) miss a major news story?

This would be big time news. I admit, things sometimes slip by me, depending on the amount of Pabst left in the keg.

I called Mike Tipping, spokesman for MPA, to see if there was anything to the story. I had a nice list of carefully thought out questions, such as; When did this start, and what is the endgame.

Was MPA looking to overturn the election and have a do-over? Is this even legal?

“I don’t know where this came from. MPA is not circulating a petition like that. We DO have

Bob Higgins ––––– Daily Sun Columnist people in the field asking for support on issues, but nothing like that,” Tipping responded.

He even went further, doubting whether such a petition would be legal under Maine law to begin with. The Maine Revised Statues did have a recall provision that was tossed out in the legislative reform efforts of 1977, so any such attempt would be about 33 years too late.

In speaking with Dan Demerrit he echoed some of what he stated in a response to the Dirigo Blue website. “I mentioned a rumor that I characterized as a rumor.

Seems pretty straightforward to me. They are denying the rumor.

What is the big deal here?”

According to Demerrit, he was contacted by a supporter in Topsham that had someone “knocking on his door two days before Christmas, with a petition that he characterized at a recall petition. I had heard the rumor, and considered that as enough of a confirmation.”

Except that, according to Tip-

ping, Demerrit “knew that the rumor was false. I met with him on December 2nd, giving him a six-point issue statement of things MPA was concerned with. He has yet to respond to a single point.”

Demerrit claims he did respond on Dec. 10, but has heard nothing back.

Blame it on the busy holiday season, I guess.

Is this where we are at, at the close of a contentious political year, reporting rumors of rumors in published commentary as an effort to garner ... what? Political capital?

Couple that story with the “Cutler Files” fiasco that floated to the surface like many other float-ables this week. I have to admit, I’m one of the few who had obsessed with that website since it appeared. What, you were not?

It was, in effect, a nameless hitpiece website attacking Eliot Cutler’s bid for governor.

Digging and intuition kept leading me to Dennis Bailey. His name was the only one ever mentioned as a possible suspect. But he denied it in numerous interviews.

I couldn’t prove it, so I couldn’t print it. That is why it is called a “rumor.” No fact, no sources, no story. I get tons of rumors that are either unprovable, or just plain wrong. Everybody does. Perhaps see HIGGINS page 5

THE PORTLAND DAILY SUN, Wednesday, December 29, 2010— Page 5

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Beware: Those holiday expectations do real harm Take notice this week that when you ask your friend how her Christmas was, there’s a slight pause followed with, “Well, the kids had a great time and that’s what’s important.”

If you cracked open her brain, you would see a hi-def replay of overcooked goose, bratty cousins, overtired babies, drunk uncles, sweaters that are too small, jammies that are too big and the pang that Santa, yet again, forgot to bring that pair of earrings that have been the only item on the wish list for the past seven years.

Basically, the polar opposite of what’s expected each time a holiday rolls around.

Every year, we enter the season with a postcard-perfect idea of how we want everything to go and it rarely takes on anything resembling that vision. The days following are spent in self-pity, counting the days until New Year’s so we can pledge that next year will be different. We are holiday masochists.

Thank god for Photoshop. Did Aunt

Maggie Knowles ––––– Use Your Outdoor Voice Mable pass out on the counter at 2 p.m. from too many Xanax? Not anymore! Now she is stuffing the roast and leading the kids in a rousing rendition of O Tannenbaum! Scrapbooks are the best liars.

Or are we the liars? Why do we sell ourselves on these impossible vignettes? Do we really believe that is how life IS? Do you think that the family across the street stole your perfect dinner and children and earrings? Chances are their uncles are just as drunk and their goose is just as tough.

We are victims of our expectations.

It isn’t our fault — advertisers spend billions titillating us with

contrived ideals. Girls that gorgeous do not drink Bud Light. My car does not corner like that. Using Old Spice does not turn you into That Guy. You cannot lose 50 lbs by eating chocolate cake and bacon. But we still think it’s possible! It is the intersection of optimism and naiveté.

Even when we date someone, we squish them into an ideal that we have created. There is no way to go but down the spiral of disappointment when reality sets in. “God, you’ve changed.”

We set expectations up for ourselves.

How we should look: are you a Marilyn? Madonna? Jennifer? How much do you spend on your shoes, your hair, Infommercial ab machines? And who really notices that stuff? (Yes, our husbands notice the credit card bill, but I digress…)

How we should behave: If you stay at home, do you daydream of accomplishing some extraordinary task at a mythical job just to get recognition beyond getting poop off the rug? If you go to the office, are you certain if

you were at home Jr. would know the whole alphabet in three languages?

Daily, we are setting ourselves up for failure. And that sucks. I feel it. Over the past year I feel like I am living in this disconnected state. I realize it is because I am falling short of selfinflicted ideals, leaving me restless in limbo, never feeling good enough.

And that is no way to live. Certainly, it is not behavior I want Baby Boy impressing on himself.

I don’t set resolutions as a rule, but for this year, my goal is to reclaim reality. To let the present be its own standard, not some idealized fantasy that will never come true. To be happy and content with life as it is, which I know is amazing even if I’m not checking everything (anything?) off my Must Do list. I need to believe that just being me is good enough.

At least for today.

(Maggie Knowles is a columnist for The Portland Daily Sun. Her column appears Wednesdays.)

‘It’s not an explosive detector, it’s an anomaly detector’ SIMON from page 4

If the machines offend your sense of modesty or decency for yourself or your children, then you can request a pat-down where your naughty bits may be touched by a Transportation Security Administration screener rather than projected on a video screen.

Officials say 98 percent of people go through the machines rather than request a pat-down, which is not surprising: First, who likes to be touched by a stranger? And second, going through the machines is faster, and flying has becomes such a cumbersome and aggravating experience that most people will do anything to get it over with.

(There is a company called Flying Pasties, which claims to have a product that you slip inside your clothing to screen your private parts. “It’s simply not against the law to keep your private parts private,” the company says.)

Some parties are suing the government over the new machines, claiming an unreasonable invasion of privacy, while others claim the machines expose people to too much radiation, which the government denies.

Most people, however, accept it as just another agony associated with flying (along with fees to check baggage and crowded luggage bins).

And, after all, the machines are worth it because they detect explosives.

Except they don’t. As it turns out, the machines don’t detect explosives at all. They detect images on your body that shouldn’t belong on your body.

“It’s not an explosive detector, it’s an anomaly detector,” Clark Ervin, who runs the Homeland Security Program at the Aspen Institute, told the Post.

“Someone has to notice that there’s something out of order.”

Which means those security employees who stare at the screens have to be sharp enough and welltrained enough to detect things that are abnormal.

(And some experts think that if the explosives are flat and pancake-shaped and taped to your stomach, they could not be detected anyway, because the picture would look too normal.)

The machines cost $130,000 to $170,000 each, and by 2014, the federal government will have spent $234 million to $300 million for them.

Which would be a bargain if they actually did something besides embarrass people. In May, a TSA screener at Miami International Airport who went through a full-body screening as part of his training was arrested for beating a co-worker with a police baton after co-workers made fun of the size of his private parts.

The solution for passengers? Get used to it.

Janet Napolitano, the secretary of homeland security, was interviewed Sunday by CNN’s Candy Crowley, and Napolitano said nothing was going to change “for the foreseeable future.”

“You know, we’re always looking to improve systems and so forth,” Napolitano said. “But the new technology, the pat-downs, is just objectively safer for our traveling public.”

But Crowley decided to screen and pat down

that assertion.

Citing an ABC report, Crowley said, “There are some major airports who had a 70 percent failure rate at detecting guns, knives, bombs, that they got through in your tests. ... So how good can it be when you have major airports with a 70 percent fail rate?”

Napolitano dismissed those results as old and questionable, and said, “Let’s set those aside.” One of the real successes of the machines and procedures, Napolitano said, is that they discourage terrorists from even trying to get on planes.

In other words, the machines keep us safe even if they don’t work at all.

“What we know is that you can’t measure (how) the devices ... are deterring (terrorists) from going on a plane,” Napolitano said.

“Just people who just are discouraged, thinking they’d be found out,” said Crowley.

“Exactly,” said Napolitano.

In which case, we do not need machines that cost upwards of $130,000 each.

All we need are archways made out of $30 or $40 worth of sheet metal that are labeled: “Official Destructo Machine — If You Are a Terrorist, This Machine Will Not Only Zap You, but Put a Picture of Your Private Parts on YouTube.”

That ought to do it.

(To find out more about Roger Simon, and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate webpage at www.creators.com.)

Let’s not act like 6-year-olds with the spreading of rumors HIGGINS from page 4

Mr. Demerrit should consider that for a second as he joins a team attempting to lead us into a bright future.

Rumors ruin careers, lives, livelihoods, and more importantly reputations.

Before doing all that, everybody needs to take a step back and look at the big picture. Demerrit’s entire letter (in the Press Herald) was in defense of Paul LePage’s decision to hire his daughter for a staff position, described as “entry level.”

I had no problem with that. Happens all the time.

Shall the entire Maine press corps go on a witch

hunt of the last six or eight governors, and see what relatives and friends, or long-term business associates were on the payroll? Can you say “Can open!

Worms EVERYWHERE!” We’ve got to get away from the old “I heard from a guy who is friends with a cousin of the dude that overheard two knuckleheads saying ...” school of thought.

You did that stuff when you were six, and later in high school. Just because someone is rumored to be “easy” doesn’t mean they are. Trust me.

In the case of Dennis Bailey and the “Cutler Files,” he wrote a bit on his blog about how “Eliot Cutler Called Me A Whore” in the days before the site showed up. Now, he has ’fessed up to being one of

the pair behind the site, and fined $200 by the State Ethics Commission for a technical violation of the law.

It might not make you a whore, but it certainly now sounds like you were the “John.” Back when I initially contacted the site’s anonymous authors, and tried to get them to come out from the shadows, I was mocked for using the vernacular “It’s gonna get ugly.” They responded they were not impressed by a reporter who uses the word, “gonna.”

Mr. Demerrit and Mr. Bailey. Welcome to ugly.

(Bob Higgins is a regular contributor to The Portland Daily Sun.)

Page 6 — THE PORTLAND DAILY SUN, Wednesday, December 29, 2010

2010: a look back YEAR from page one

March 4 A 78-mile-per-hour wind gust, exceeding hurricane force, during last week’s Thursday night storm has been preliminarily deemed the strongest wind ever recorded in Portland. Based on an initial review, “that’s the highest wind we’ve had observed here in Portland,” said David Glenn, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Gray.

City officials say clean-up costs from last Thursday’s wind storm could exceed $400,000, although at this point it’s still not clear how much of that expense will fall to taxpayers.

••••••••••••• Two private consulting firms were put in charge of Westbrook’s fire department yesterday, a move city officials hope will “restore pride” to the troubled agency amid highprofile lawsuits and personnel issues.

March 11 News that discount grocer Trader Joe’s may open a store in the former Wild Oats space on Marginal Way was welcome news to many Mainers, particularly those involved in an online effort to lure the popular chain to Portland.

Two Facebook groups devoted to lobbying the Moravia, Calif.-based Trader Joe’s to open in Portland were buzzing Wednesday, as members learned that their collective efforts over several years may finally pay off.

••••••••••••• It’s been a week of beauty and the beast for Loren Coleman.

“It just feels like it’s one of those weeks where lots of different things are hopping,” said Coleman, creator and curator of the International Cryptozoology Museum at 661 Congress St and a national crypto-celebrity, who has consulted with the History Channel’s “MonsterQuest” and “Deepsea Mysteries,” NBC’s “Unsolved Mysteries” and who’s see REVIEW page 9

March 5 On Mondays, you can go to Mayo Street Arts at 10 Mayo St. for tango dancing; Tuesdays, it’s kids’ yoga; and Wednesdays and Thursdays, bellydancing. It’s all part of a new nonprofit group in the old St. Ansgar’s Church of East Bayside. The new center celebrated its one-month anniversary Monday.

••••••••••••• Aserela Maine is holding one of its biggest fundraisers of the year this weekend, and proceeds will help finish construction on an eight-room school in Sudan and create a youth cultural immersion program in Portland.

March 6 Some of Portland’s best known downtown properties changed hands in 2009, and in 2010 their new owners will be paying thousands of dollars less in property taxes.

The respective owners of the former Portland Press Herald building, Holiday Inn by the Bay and the Canal Plaza office towers asked for and received lower property valuations, which in turn led to lower property tax bills, according to the city assessor Rick Blackburn.

March 9 A year after the State Board of Education voted to give final approval for state funding of the new Ocean Avenue Elementary School in Portland, the shell of the building is up and crews are tackling seasonal jobs such as drainage and utility work.

Loren Coleman stands next to a shelf containing cryptozoology exhibits, including casts of Bigfoot footprints, in his museum in Portland in March 2010. (DAVID CARKHUFF PHOTO)

THE PORTLAND DAILY SUN, Wednesday, December 29, 2010— Page 7

Page 8 — THE PORTLAND DAILY SUN, Wednesday, December 29, 2010

–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– COLUMN ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Kamasouptra has comforting food for the cold Almost everyone I know has been fighting a head cold since Thanksgiving.

It’s the low-grade kind that lingers long and persistently enough to be annoying, but not bad enough to warrant antibiotics. It’s the kind of cold that is survivable with extra sleep, stock in DayQuill, and not surprisingly, chicken soup.

In the United States chicken soup is considered comfort food. The classic version consists of a clear broth made by boiling chicken parts or bones in water, with various vegetables and flavorings and is often served with pieces of chicken or vegetables, or with noodles or dumplings, or grains such as rice and barley. Since the 12th century it has been touted as the cure for just about every ailment, from the common variety Ladd-household cold to a hangover to a twisted ankle.

According to the website www.sixwise.com the ancient physician and philosopher Moshe ben Maimonides wrote extensively about the benefits of chicken soup calling it “fowl brew” and using the concoction to treat things such as hemorrhoids, consti-

Natalie Ladd ––––– What It’s Like

pation, and even leprosy. He strongly believed and especially praised the brew’s healing power for respiratory illnesses like the common cold.

In the early 1990’s Dr. Stephen Rennard, MD at the University of Nebraska Medical Center thought his family’s chicken soup really did work to cure the common cold, but as a scientist, he wanted proof and added some of his wife’s home made chicken soup to white blood cells, called neutrophils.

To his surprise, the soup did slow the neutrophils and he claims, “… chemicals in the broth-based elixir clears a stuffy nose by inhibiting inflammation of the cells in the nasal passages.”

Dr. Rennard admitted more research was necessary, but believes,

“… his findings are one more piece to complete the puzzle.” Further research has supported his claims, and show chicken soup as a “relief” for the common cold but not a “cure.”

Here in Portland, Mike Jerome, owner of Kamasouptra in the Public Market Place on Monument Square firmly concurs. “Aside from the nutritional value and scientific properties in the ingredients, making good, healing chicken soup is a state of mind.

The importance is in the love and enjoyment of making it, and then of sharing it.”

Could this be why we all crave the chicken soup of our youth when we’re sick?

Like most wonderful comfort foods, the “relief” brought on by that first steamy, beta-carotene laden, antioxidant filled chicken soup spoon full is primarily due to the behind-thescenes crafting of the recipe. Is how it was made and who it was made by the key to the soup’s healing powers? Is the can of Campbell’s chicken noodle soup really going to do the trick like your mom’s?

Jerome says that the secret to a

great chicken soup is the amount of time it takes to prepare the stock. “It takes fresh, local ingredients, love and lots of time … about 70 hours, as well as the aromatics you use. It can’t be rushed. Right now, we have a great chicken stock based Italian Wedding Soup with meatballs on our menu, but later in the week, now that it’s winter, we’ll have chicken noodle soup.”

Asked about the type of noodles, he simply said, “Oh, broken spaghetti and regardless if it’s hot or cold out, you can enjoy it and it’ll be a good day.”

The Low Down: Mike Jerome leans towards chicken soup when he’s under the weather but also sings the praises of his vegan Scotch broth soup (with a hint of soothing lavender) which is a menu staple. Kamasouptra has a great soup club (as well as a punch card program) where you get a t-shirt, a dollar off each bowl you buy for a year, and a hand made ceramic bowl to keep when your year long membership is over.

(Natalie Ladd is a Daily Sun contributor. Her column appears on Wednesday.)

2010: a look back

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– WHAT’S IN A NAME? –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Hot Suppa!

March 10, 2010 One of the bigger developments in Portland’s restaurant scene last year was the public funding of Hot Suppa! to actually serve supper.

On March 10, The Sun published a story about the restaurant’s quest for funding: After narrowly missing the cut last year in a request for $75,000 from the city’s Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program, Moses Sabina of Hot Suppa! is back and poised to receive $66,000 to expand the breakfast-and-lunch restaurant to include dinner. Sabina, who has owned the Hot Suppa! restaurant on Congress Street with his brother since 2006, awaits a City Council vote on March 22 to confirm his selection as a CDBG recipient.

The result of this push came in November, as documented by The Sun: For the last five years, the brunch specialists at Hot Suppa! on Congress Street have been routinely filling up their cozy 40-seat spot and making a name for themselves in the competitive Portland restaurant scene — yet, LEFT: Lauren MacLean, a server at Hot Suppa!, works at the front counter after the lunch rush. In 2010, Hot Suppa! applied for and received $66,000 in community development block grant funding through the city for a business improvement. (DAVID CARKHUFF PHOTO)

doing it all without serving their namesake meal.

“It’s more of an expression than a noun,” said Alec Sabina, who explained that the term comes from some deep-woods-hunting Mainers who used the term to describe anything unimpeachabley delicious. “It’s an expression of good things, I thought it was a catchy term that could encompass a lot,” he said.

But bolstered by $66,000 from a federal Community Development Bock Grant and a desire to never have to answer the questions about the incongruity of their name and hours of operation, the Sabina brothers last week began offering dinner service five nights a week.

“I’m relieved that hopefully I’ll never have to answer that question again,” said Sabina, who along with brother Moses, owns the restaurant at 703 Congress.

The brothers had always intended to expand into a dinner offering, and applied for the CDBG grant to help fund the idea. The grants are funded by the federal government but allocated by local communities. In Portland, the Hot Suppa! grant raised eyebrows because the money seldom funds private enterprise.

“It took us two tries to get the grant, but it really helped us out,” said Sabina. “The money allowed us to provide eight fulltime jobs to expand into dinner service, it was the capital restraint that was holding us back.”

THE PORTLAND DAILY SUN, Wednesday, December 29, 2010— Page 9

2010: a look back

REVIEW from page 6

even been depicted on a comic book cover. The Portland resident went from searching for a creature variously described as a Bigfoot — or a werewolf — in northern Maine to winking at a People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals protest Wednesday that featured scantily clad beauties positioned near his workplace. In between, Coleman’s International Cryptozoology Museum was visited by the son of horror writer Stephen King, Joe Hill, a writer in his own right who was in the area for a book tour. Coleman defines cryptozoology as the study of hidden animals, but its most popular representation is undoubtedly Bigfoot, and a sighting was in the news last week. So Coleman and his museum’s chief docent coordinator, Jeff Meuse, traveled to Androscoggin County to investigate reports of weird-animal sightings, including “Bigfoot and Bigfoot-type creatures.”

March 12 PORTLAND (AP) — Maine’s highest court on Thursday upheld a state law that aims to hasten the permit process for wind farms in the state.

March 13 My name’s Curtis, and I’m a Trader Joe’s-aholic.

(Your mental line: “Hello, Curtis.”)

Here’s my testimony: My first trip to California included a pilgrimage to the discount gourmet grocer, which had been talked up by my SoCal pals for years. Destination shopping for groceries seemed an odd concept, but there I was with an extra suitcase in the pre-fee airline luggage days, bubble wrapping pineapple salsa and protecting cheap wine with new Ventura Beach T-shirts.

News this week that little old Portland is being considered for a real-live Trader Joe’s store admittedly made my heart beat a little faster, the taste of jalapeno stuffed olives floating through my memory. (The likely location is the former Wild Oats space on Marginal Way.) But then came the buy-local guilt. Because beyond the chicken cilantro mini won tons (ahhhh), Trader’s is still part of a German-owned mega-chain operation with annual sales in the billions. It may look like a local store and smell like a local store and cater to your innermost demographic cravings, but does embracing “Trader’s” make us traitors to our buy-local, down-with-chains creed?

“The quick answer is ‘yes,’” said Doug Fuss, proprietor of Bull Feeney’s pub who served on the city’s Task Force on Business Diversity, “but the longer answer is ‘no.’”

He concedes that Trader Joe’s is certainly a big chain store but contends that it avoids “the predatory nature” of big-box stores that strike fear into business-diversity advocates.

“Sure, they violate the essence of buy local,” says Fuss. “But they do such a unique spin ... they’ve really found a niche.”

Fuss said he researched Trader Joe’s both as part of the Task Force and from personal curiosity, and suspects it would “be a good fit” in Portland, perhaps even an anchor store that draws more people to the city. He said that conversations with other business operators indicate that most are excited about a Trader Joe’s and some feel it would signal a certain civic status to have the store.

Plus, he confesses to be a frequent shopper of the chain’s Boston-area stores.

“I actually go out of my way (to visit Trader Joe’s) because my wife demands Trader Joe’s goods on a regular basis,” said Fuss.

(Curtis Robinson column, March 13.)

March 16 A trail connection between the Back Cove Trail and the Bayside Trail at Franklin Arterial got a boost this week as the city council passed a resolution endorsing the idea.

Although it’s still up to the Maine Department of Transportation to decide whether to build the trail during an on-ramp improvement project planned for Exit 7 off I-295, supporters are hoping the city’s backing will resonate among policy makers in Augusta.

••••••••••••• (AP) OK, we can officially cross off the Celtics from the Cavaliers’ “worried about’’ list for the playoffs. I mean, who’s zooming who? Since Christmas Day Boston is 18-19 and the Cavs are 30-7. That includes Sunday’s nationally televised exposure of the Celtics as a tired, aging, broken, bored, bewitched, bothered and bewildered band of championship imposters by a Cavs team that played good—not great— and easily held the wild-swinging Celtics at arm’s length.

March 17 Portland is poised to spend more than $40,000 to repair its only remaining horse trough, part of a fountain and memorial that juts into Federal Street behind Central Fire Station.

City councilors this week accepted a $7,500 grant for Pullen Fountain from the Margaret E. Burnham Charitable Trust, a Portland-based charitable group. The money will be put toward an improvement project planned for the fountain, which has sustained damage from skateboarders and snow plows. The grant will be added to $35,000 in city money already set aside to fix the fountain and improve sidewalks and landscaping around the century-old monument.

••••••••••••• The Portland Police Department plans to open a community policing center in East Bayside later this spring, fulfilling a longtime city priority with federal economic stimulus funds. The $96,000 grant will fund one full-time community policing coordinator for two years, a position the police department hopes to fill by June. Although the location of the community policing office hasn’t been finalized, officials are considering several spaces, including one in Kennedy Park.

••••••••••••• A Portland database of Irish must-see spots was a labor of love for Matthew Jude Barker. “I worked on it a little bit at a time, and 90 percent of the work was original research so no one had written about these people,” he said. About 100 IrishAmericans from Portland died in the Civil War.

Blainor McGough pauses inside the new Mayo Street Arts center, where a group of artists established studios and class space in the East Bayside neighborhood. They are renting the old St. Ansgar’s Church. (DAVID CARKHUFF PHOTO)

March 18 After a nationwide search attracted dozens of applicants, the Portland Police Department is turning to one of its own to become second in command, officials announced Wednesday. Commander Mike Sauschuck, currently the department’s third in command, has been promoted to assistant chief.

••••••••••••• Police are looking for a man who stole a car at knifepoint from an 83-year-old man in North Deering Tuesday night. Lt. Gary Rogers said officers were called to Alpine Street at around 9:15 p.m. after a resident reported a man entered his garage, threatened him with a knife, and stole his LeSabre. Rogers said the victim was shaken up but not hurt.

March 19 Two films about Jewish wrestlers (one a Sumo and the other a professional art dealer who keeps his wrestling a secret), a documentary about Israel’s attempt at a professional baseball league, and an Oscar nominee directed by both a Palestinian and Israeli director.

The film selection at this year’s Maine Jewish Film Festival defies easy categorization. “You can’t pin down the Jewish experience as one thing,” explained festival organizer Kari Wagner-Peck.

March 23 The cause of non-citizen, legal-immigrant voting in Portland hasn’t died despite a recent Charter Commission decision to drop the idea. A five-member group led by the local League of Young Voters chapter plans to ask voters directly whether they want to amend the city charter to allow legal residents who are not U.S. citizens to vote in local elections.

The plan to seek signatures to put a measure on the November ballot was announced at a press conference yesterday morning in City Hall.

••••••••••••• (AP) Tiger Woods acknowledged “living a lie,” saying he alone was responsible for the sex scandal that caused his shocking downfall from global sporting icon to late-night TV punchline. “It was all me. I’m the one who did it. I’m the one who acted the way I acted.

No one knew what was going on when it was going on,” Woods told the Golf Channel in one of two interviews Sunday night.

March 24 City officials plan new initiatives ranging from healthier school lunches to better signage along trail networks to campaigns on proper nutrition after receiving a $1.8 million stimulus grant aimed at preventing obesity. The award will create five full-time jobs for two years at Healthy Portland, an agency within the city’s Health and Human Services department. These grant-funded employees will work with a half dozen partner organizations like Portland Trails, WinterKids, and several city agencies to promote better nutrition and lasting lifestyle changes in kids and adults.

March 25 Some past and current employees of The Front Room restaurant have scheduled a protest for this Friday, the latest in a series of demonstrations seeking to pressure owner Harding Lee Smith into labor talks with workers. Steven Emmons, a spokesperson with labor advocacy group Restaurant Opportunity Center of Maine, said this week that the protest will be the “sixth or seventh” held in front of the Munjoy Hill restaurant. He said the demonstrations would likely continue until a pending lawsuit against Smith is settled or until Smith commits to new pay practices and a better work environment. see LOOK BACK page 14

DAILY CROSSWORD TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES

by Lynn Johnston

by Paul Gilligan

By Holiday Mathis her own thing.

SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 21). There are no quick fixes today. You have to put something into it in order to get something out of it, and both sides of the equation take time. Luckily for you, you’re willing to do the work.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21).

It’s not always appropriate to speak your mind. However, today, when you come out and say what you’re really thinking, something wonderful happens. Taurus people are lucky for you.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19).

Take a break from your philanthropy in order to give yourself something you really want. If you can’t be generous with yourself, it will be difficult for you to be generous with others.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18). If you think adversity builds character, just wait until you see what success does. Those who can be graceful at the center of the swirl are gifted indeed, and you are one of them.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20). Apparently, no one got the memo about how they are supposed to act around you.

Furthermore, someone seems intent on riling you up. You prove your selfcontrol by being gentle and easygoing through it all.

TODAY’S BIRTHDAY (Dec. 29).

You can feel the fates smiling on your personal life this year. The adjustments that occur over the next three weeks make everything run smoothly. You eliminate a source of worry or unnecessary aggravation in January. March brings new influences. You’re the life and soul of the party in June. Libra and Scorpio people adore you. Your lucky numbers are: 30, 1, 24, 39 and 19.

Pooch Café For Better or Worse LIO

ARIES (March 21-April 19). So many people complain about their jobs. That’s why it may be hard for you to believe, but you will actually be seduced by your work and the promise of expanding yourself through it.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20). Take pleasure in your surroundings. A life that is bereft of pleasure is a setup for overindulgence and destructive habits.

If you can’t delight in your surroundings, you need to change them.

GEMINI (May 21-June 21). Do you really have to know how the ride works in order to sit back and enjoy it? No. In fact, there are times when knowing too much ruins the experience. Consider that maybe it’s better not to ask too many questions.

CANCER (June 22-July 22). It’s a nervous feeling that wells up in you when that certain someone is around.

What thoughts are going through your head when you talk to this person?

Change the inner game, and the outer game will change, too.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22). Do not shirk away from the conflict. The drama forces you to go deeper into yourself and learn who you really are. It is exhilarating to jump in the ring. Tell yourself the fight is just getting good.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22). Things aren’t progressing as fast as you’d like them to, and you’ll be tempted to take matters into your own hands. However, it is much advised that you follow the correct protocol.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23). The perfect balance of connection and disconnection will be represented in a relationship. You’ll enjoy activities that allow you to do your own thing right alongside someone who is doing his or

by Aaron Johnson

HOROSCOPE

by Chad Carpenter

Solution and tips at www.sudoku.com

TUNDRA WT Duck

Fill in the grid so that every row, every column, and every 3x3 box contains the digits 1 thru 9.

by Mark Tatulli

Page 10 — THE PORTLAND DAILY SUN, Wednesday, December 29, 2010

ACROSS 1 By way of 4 Leaning 9 Grow dim 13 Fleur-de-lis 15 High-powered surgical beam 16 Foreboding sign 17 Manufactured 18 Wrist palpitation 19 Tear apart 20 Poverty 22 __ in one’s pants; jitters 23 __ julep; Southern drink 24 Endeavor 26 Have high goals 29 Defensive row of stakes 34 Monastery intonation 35 Stored in boxes 36 Play on words 37 __ around; linger 38 Eiders and

mallards 39 Word of warning 40 __ Whitney 41 Long-winded speakers, often 42 Spoof; mockery 43 Isolated 45 Pass __; gain approval 46 Peculiar 47 Bathe 48 Greek cheese 51 Envoys’ homes away from home 56 Enthusiastic 57 Pot __; large piece of beef 58 Cook in the microwave 60 Thin coin 61 Privileged few 62 Expanded 63 Toboggan 64 Discourage 65 Be indebted

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

9 10 11 12 14 21 25 26 27 28 29 30 31

DOWN Energy Teheran’s nation Helper Of mountains in Europe Provoke; tease __ of Capri Not as much Frameworks of braces under a road Invasions into enemy territory Prayer closing Fender blemish Calls a halt to Appearing Soil __ of; free from Yearns Stratified rock Extreme fright Walked the floor Invites Toward the left

32 33 35 38 39 41 42 44 45

side of a ship Ignoramus Penetrate Remedy Walked unsteadily Suave; stylish Early flower Whine Rich Learn well

47 48 49 50 52 53 54 55 59

Spend foolishly Passing crazes Wicked On __; prompt Beauty spot Fishing lure Franc replacer Distort Female sheep

Yesterday’s Answer

THE PORTLAND DAILY SUN, Wednesday, December 29, 2010— Page 11

––––––– ALMANAC ––––––– Today is Wednesday, Dec. 29, the 363rd day of 2010. There are two days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History: On Dec. 29, 1910, the capital of Oklahoma was moved from Guthrie to Oklahoma City as the state legislature approved a bill which was signed by Gov. Charles N. Haskell.

On this date: In 1170, Thomas Becket, the Archbishop of Canterbury, was murdered in Canterbury Cathedral by knights loyal to King Henry II. In 1808, the 17th president of the United States, Andrew Johnson, was born in Raleigh, N.C. In 1845, Texas was admitted as the 28th state.

In 1851, the first American Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) was organized in Boston.

In 1890, the Wounded Knee massacre took place in South Dakota as an estimated 300 Sioux Indians were killed by U.S. troops sent to disarm them.

In 1916, Grigory Rasputin, the so-called “Mad Monk” who’d wielded great influence with Czar Nicholas II, was murdered by a group of Russian noblemen in St. Petersburg.

In 1934, Japan formally renounced the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922.

In 1940, during World War II, Germany dropped incendiary bombs on London, setting off what came to be known as “The Second Great Fire of London.”

In 1975, a bomb exploded in the main terminal of New York’s LaGuardia Airport, killing 11 people.

One year ago: Brushing aside international appeals, China executed British drug smuggler Akmal Shaikh (AHK’-mahl shayk), who relatives said was mentally unstable and unwittingly lured into crime; it was China’s first execution of a European citizen in nearly 60 years.

Today’s Birthdays: Actress Inga Swenson is 78. ABC newscaster Tom Jarriel is 76.

Actress Mary Tyler Moore is 74. Actor Jon Voight is 72. Country singer Ed Bruce is 71.

Rock musician Ray Thomas is 69. Singer Marianne Faithfull is 64. Jockey Laffit Pincay, Jr. is 64. Actor Ted Danson is 63. Actor Jon Polito is 60. Singer-actress Yvonne Elliman is 59. Actress Patricia Clarkson is 51.

Comedian Paula Poundstone is 51. Rock singer-musician Jim Reid (The Jesus and Mary Chain) is 49. Actor Michael Cudlitz is 46. Rock singer Dexter Holland (The Offspring) is 45. Actor-comedian Mystro Clark is 44. Actor Jason Gould is 44. Movie director Andy Wachowski is 43. Actress Jennifer Ehle is 41. Actor Patrick Fischler is 41. Rock singer-musician Glen Phillips is 40. Actor Kevin Weisman is 40. Actor Jude Law is 38. Actor Mekhi Phifer is 36. Actor Shawn Hatosy is 35. Actress Katherine Moennig is 33. Actor Diego Luna is 31.

WEDNESDAY PRIME TIME Dial

8:00

5

CTN 5 Main Social Justice

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WCSH

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WPFO

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WMTW

10

MPBN

11

WENH

8:30

Undercovers “The Key to It All” A hostage situation in Tel Aviv. (N) Human Target Chance and Guererro must rescue Winston. Å The Better With Middle “The You Å Quarry” In Performance at the White House “A Broadway Celebration” Å Antiques Roadshow “Trash to Treasure” (In Stereo) Å Hellcats “Ragged Old Flag” The Hellcats play flag football. Å NCIS: Los Angeles The team races to save one of its own. Å Burn Notice Å

9:00

DECEMBER 29, 2010

9:30

10:00 10:30 11:00 11:30

Portland Water District Meeting Law & Order: Special Victims Unit A stranger assaults an FBI agent.

Human Target “The Wife’s Tale” Ilsa makes a shocking discovery.

Modern Modern Family Å Family Å

Community Bulletin Board

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit “Gray” (In Stereo) Å News 13 on FOX (N)

News Tonight Show With Jay Leno Frasier (In According Stereo) Å to Jim Å

Cougar Town Å

News 8 Nightline WMTW at (N) Å 11PM (N) Charlie Rose (N) (In Stereo) Å

Cougar Town Å

Great Performances “Celebracion! Gustavo Dudamel and the LA Phil With Juan Diego Flórez” The 2010 opening night gala. (N) Å American Masters “Glenn Gould: Genius Within” Classical pianist Glenn Gould. (N) (In Stereo) Å

The Adirondacks (In Stereo) Å

Hellcats “The Match Game” The Hellcats plan a date auction.

Criminal Minds “Retaliation” A man begins a killing spree. Å Burn Notice Å

Entourage TMZ (N) (In Extra (N) Punk’d (In “I Love You Stereo) Å (In Stereo) Stereo) Å Too” Å The Defenders A man is WGME Late Show caught with stolen memo- News 13 at With David rabilia. Å 11:00 Letterman Curb Earl Star Trek: Next

MythBusters Å

MythBusters Å

12

WPXT

13

WGME

17

WPME

24

DISC MythBusters Å

25

FAM Movie: ›› “Gone in 60 Seconds” (1974) Å

26

USA Movie: ›‡ “I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry” Å

Movie: ›››‡ “Juno” (2007) Å

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NESN Bensinger Bensinger Outdoors

Daily

Winter

28

CSNE NBA Basketball: Celtics at Pistons

Celtics

SportsNet Sports

30

ESPN College Football

College Football Valero Alamo Bowl -- Arizona vs. Oklahoma State. (Live)

31

ESPN2 College Basketball

College Basketball Marquette at Vanderbilt.

33

ION

Without a Trace Å

Outdoors

Without a Trace Å

MythBusters Å

Funniest Home Videos The 700 Club Å

DISN Shake it

Wizards

Fish

35

TOON Dude

Destroy

King of Hill King of Hill Amer. Dad Amer. Dad Fam. Guy

37

NICK Movie: ›› “Curious George” (2006) (In Stereo) MSNBC Countdown

Lopez

Basketball

Criminal Minds Å

34

36

Daily

SportsCenter Å

Criminal Minds Å

Suite/Deck Wizards

Daily

Wizards Lopez

Rachel Maddow Show Lockup: Corcoran

Good Luck Good Luck Fam. Guy

The Nanny The Nanny Lockup: Corcoran

38

CNN Parker Spitzer

Larry King Live (N)

Anderson Cooper 360 (N) Å

40

CNBC Biography on CNBC

Biography on CNBC

Biography on CNBC

Mad Money

41

FNC

The O’Reilly Factor (N) Hannity (N)

Greta Van Susteren

The O’Reilly Factor

43

TNT

Bones (In Stereo) Å

Bones (In Stereo) Å

44

LIFE Pawn

46

TLC

47

AMC Back-Futr

Movie: ››› “Back to the Future Part II” (1989, Comedy)

“Back-Future III”

48

HGTV Property

Property

Property

49

TRAV Man, Food Man, Food Carnivore

50

A&E Dog the Bounty Hunter (N) Å

52

Pawn

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DAILY CROSSWORD

BY WAYNE ROBERT WILLIAMS

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40 Make a basket 42 Deighton or Dawson 43 Birth 45 Sidled 48 Part 5 of quote 49 Like many doilies 51 Full amount 52 Thickness 53 Part 6 of quote 57 Exxon, once 59 Hermann Hesse novel 61 Opp. of suffix 64 Full of foliage 65 WWW address 66 Cupcake finisher 67 Oder-__ Line 68 __-relief 69 End of quote

1

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5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 19 21 23 24 26 29

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39 Highland caps 40 Filmy, impure layers 41 Corp. bigshot 44 Shrill cries 46 Dodges 47 Russian summer villas 48 Hebrew month 50 Irritate by rubbing

53 Letter-clarification words 54 Reciprocal of a cosecant 55 1551 56 Short pencil 58 Part of a rotisserie 60 Govt. med. grp.

62 Shoe size 63 Saute

Yesterday’s Answer

THE

Page 12 — THE PORTLAND DAILY SUN, Wednesday, December 29, 2010

CLASSIFIEDS CLASSIFIEDS • CALL 699-5807

DOLLAR-A-DAY CLASSIFIEDS: Ads must be 15 words or less and run a minimum of 5 consecutive days. Ads that run less than 5 days or nonconsecutive days are $2 per day. Ads over 15 words add 10¢ per word per day. PREMIUMS: First word caps no charge. Additional caps 10¢ per word per day. Centered bold heading: 9 pt. caps 40¢ per line, per day (2 lines maximum) TYPOS: Check your ad the first day of publication. Sorry, we will not issue credit after an ad has run once.

DEADLINES: noon, one business day prior to the day of publication. PAYMENT: All private party ads must be pre-paid. We accept checks, Visa and Mastercard credit cards and, of course, cash. There is a $10 minimum order for credit cards. CORRESPONDENCE: To place your ad call our offices 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, 699-5807; or send a check or money order with ad copy to The Conway Daily Sun, P.O. Box 1940, North Conway, NH 03860. OTHER RATES: For information about classified display ads please call 699-5807.

Animals

Autos

For Rent

For Rent

HAVE you noticed meat prices rising? Buy bulk and save!

We’re selling half or whole pigs raised on quality grain and pasture until 1/2/11. (207)445-2141 or see Emma’s Family FarmQuality Meats and talk about an order Friday from 11am-4pm at 28 Monument Square.

BUYING all unwanted metals. $800 for large loads. Cars, trucks, heavy equipment. Free removal. (207)776-3051.

PORTLAND- Danforth Street, 2 bedrooms, heated, newly painted, hardwood floors. $850/mo.

Call Kay (207)773-1814.

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Dear Bewildered: A gift is expected, but should be something you can afford. A combined gift card is fine. So is a bottle of wine. But do make sure there is a card with your good wishes.

Dear Annie: I’m a 21-year-old woman, and I go commando, just like the daughter of “Worried Mom of Britney Spears Wannabe.” Many of my friends also go commando, but none of us uses tampons. If our “natural secretions” can be washed out of our panties, they can also be washed out of our jeans.

Most pants are thick enough that staining is not noticeable on the outside.

Why on earth would any sane woman want to wear a tampon when she doesn’t have to? It puts them at risk for infections and toxic shock syndrome, as well as discomfort that is simply not necessary. -- Commando Girl from New York Dear N.Y.: We were surprised at the number of women (of all ages) who like to go commando. We find it less hygienic than wearing panties, and we prefer not to wash our jeans every day. But to each her own.

Dear Annie: I am a 25-year-old single mom of a beautiful little boy. I work a full-time job and go to school part time in the hope that I will become a state trooper.

Like any other single parent, money has been tight. My health insurance coverage through work is OK, but my dental plan is terrible and, as a result, my teeth have become a big problem. I went to a dentist to start having some cavities filled and got a bill for over $400. I almost passed out.

Where can I go to get my teeth fixed so that in a year I still have enough teeth to get a good job? I am trying extremely hard to make a better life, but every time I think things are going well, something happens. I just want my smile back.

-- Smileless in N.Y. Dear Smileless: We have covered this topic before, but it bears repeating. Dental schools and public health clinics often provide free or low-cost dental care. Check your phone book for your state dental society, visit the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research website at nidcr.nih.gov (click on “Finding Dental Care”), or write to the National Oral Health Information Clearinghouse at 1 NOHIC Way, Bethesda, MD 20892-3500.

The Bureau of Primary Health Care supports federally funded community health centers across the country that provide dental care. Contact the HRSA Information Center (ask. hrsa.gov/pc) at 1-888-ASK-HRSA (1-888-275-4772).

Annie’s Mailbox is written by Kathy Mitchell and Marcy Sugar, longtime editors of the Ann Landers column. Please e-mail your questions to: anniesmailbox@comcast.net, or write to: Annie’s Mailbox, c/o Creators Syndicate, 5777 W. Century Blvd., Ste. 700, Los Angeles, CA 90045.

Prickly City

Looking To Rent MONTH to month- Conservative retired Teacher seeks first floor rental. Freeport to Scarborough.

Call (207)523-0495.

For Sale CHICKEN, grass fed beef, and pork! Available Fridays from 11-4pm at Emma’s Family Farm Stand, 28 Monument Square.

by Scott Stantis

Real Estate PEAKS Island- 71 Luther St. 1880’s Greek Revival, 4 bedroom, 2 bath, $389,000. Owner broker. (207)766-2293.

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Printed in 15,000 newspapers daily. $5 a day/obo* Call 699-5807 to place an ad.

Furniture

ANNIE’S MAILBOX Dear Annie: My mother passed away two years ago. She had been with “Biff” for about 13 years. Biff is a jerk. Most of the family discontinued all contact with my mother because no one could stand him. I tolerated him, but he made me uncomfortable. When I was a teenager, he made sexual comments to me, and I moved out of the house as soon as I could.

He was also verbally abusive of my younger brother. Biff only behaved this way when Mom was at work, and when we told her, she did nothing.

I am now 32, and even though my mother is gone, Biff is determined to stay in my life. He refers to my 3-year-old as his “granddaughter.” He visits us at my work, where my daughter is in a daycare program. My husband and I are expecting our second baby soon, and there is no reason for Biff to consider himself related in any way to this child. My daughter will be starting a preschool program soon. When I told Biff, he said he would come to my house to see her. Annie, I do not want him coming into my home.

I need a way to tell Biff that there is no longer a reason for him to hang around. He has a grown daughter and two grandchildren of his own. He makes no effort to push himself on them -- only me. Biff is verbally violent, and I am afraid he will erupt if I ask him to back off.

How do I handle this mess? Is it possible to get rid of this man without any major blowup? -- Frightened Dear Frightened: Biff has been your stepfather for 13 years and believes he is part of your family. Set some boundaries, and maintain your distance. Insist he call before coming over.

Try to arrange meetings at neutral places, such as playgrounds or the zoo, and when your husband can be with you. Keep the visits brief, and gradually let them become less frequent. If he yells, leave. If his verbal abuse becomes physical, call the police.

Dear Annie: My husband’s childhood friend, who is almost 50, is getting married for the first time, and the wedding is in the Bahamas. Traveling to the wedding and staying at the resort is a great expense. Do we still need to give a gift? Money is tight, and since we don’t often see this friend, I think what he truly wants is our support and presence. Still, it feels strange not giving something. Would it be OK for several of his friends to each contribute a small amount and combine it into one gift card the newlyweds could use to purchase one big gift they would enjoy? What is the correct thing to do? -Bewildered with the Bahamas

For Rent-Commercial PORTLAND Art District- 2 adjacent artist studios with utilities.

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SCARBOROUGH- Room for rent in luxury home. Private bath, cable, shared kitchen, parking. $450/mo. (207)883-1087.

Services ASTROLOGICAL readings/counseling, deeply personal, for you only, 40yrs exp. John McLaughlin (207)522-4465 Leapin Lizards (207)221-2363.

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Help Wanted

MASTER Electrician since 1972.

Repairs- whole house, rewiring, trouble shooting, fire damage, code violations, electric, water heater repairs commercial refrigeration. Fuses to breakers, generators.

Mark @ (207)774-3116.

SALEBAAN Motors, 235 St John St, Portland, (207)541-9088. Mechanic wanted, 10 years experience needed, well paying job $14-20/hr.

I buy broken or unwanted laptops. Cash today. Up to $100 for newer units. (207)233-5381.

BLACK leather sofa brand new worth $1100 take $475 call 3965661

Wanted To Buy

ARE YOU READY FOR A CHANGE? Enjoy the quality of life found in the Mt. Washington Valley while working in a progressive hospital that matches advanced medical technology with a compassionate approach to patient care.

Join our team and see what a difference you can make!

In addition to competitive salaries, we offer an excellent benefits package that includes health/dental, generous paid time off, matching savings plan, educational assistance and employee fitness program. We have the following openings:

• Medical Coder- Full-Time. Exp. With E/M, Emergency Medicine and Outpatient coding preferred. Knowledge of Anatomy & Physiology & Medical Terminology pref. CCS or CPC or equivalent credential pref.

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• Controller- Full-Time. Resp. for all financial reporting, GL maintenance, A/P, A/R, Charge Master & external reporting. Degree in Accounting, pref. CPA, plus 5 yrs full financial reporting required. Must have exp in: Electronic Accounting Applications (pref CPSI); cost based reimbursement; accounting for payroll & benefits w/working knowledge of regulatory requirements; 3rd party & regulatory payors w/familiarity with regulations & contract compliance; demonstrated supervisory exp.

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A completed Application is required to apply for all positions Website: www.memorialhospitalnh.org.

Contact: Human Resources, Memorial Hospital, an EOE PO Box 5001, No. Conway, NH 03860.

Phone: (603)356-5461 • Fax: (603)356-9121

The Daily Sun Classifieds “Can you send me prices for display ads in the Sun... I am really happy with the results from the Sun classifieds and I want to expand... I have tried the other papers... zero replies... nothing even comes close to The Sun...”

— An advertiser who gets results using the Sun’s classifieds.

To place a classified call 699-5807

THE PORTLAND DAILY SUN, Wednesday, December 29, 2010— Page 13

–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– EVENTS CALENDAR–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Wednesday, Dec. 29 Phykidz at SPACE; vaudeville at Portland Stage 11 a.m. Phykidz (SPACE Gallery); 2 p.m. and 7 p.m.

Vaudeville shows at Portland Stage Company.

Comedian Bob Marley at Merrill 7 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 29 through Friday, Dec. 31, Comedian Bob Marley returns to Merrill for his annual holiday show with this year’s special guest, Kelly MacFarland. Presented by Cogee Entertainment. Tickets $45; $48 on New Year’s eve (includes service fee). Wednesday and Thursday at 7 p.m.; Merrill Auditorium; Friday at 6:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. https://tickets.porttix.com/public

Thursday, Dec. 30 Phykidz at SPACE; vaudeville at Portland Stage 11 a.m. Phykidz (SPACE Gallery); 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Vaudeville shows at Portland Stage Company. http://www.phyzgig.org or www.acorn-productions.org/pages/Phyzgig2009.html

Holiday blood drive 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. FairPoint recently teamed up with WCSH-TV and WLBZ-TV, the American Red Cross and other community partners for a first-ever holiday blood drive, scheduled for Thursday, Dec. 30 from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. The drive will be held in two different locations around the state in hopes of attracting a large number of donors during this challenging time of year. Eligible donors may visit the Holiday Inn by the Bay, located at 88 Spring Street in Portland, or the Bangor Elks Lodge at 108 Odlin Road in Bangor to give blood. To make an appointment, or for more information about giving blood, call 1-800 RED CROSS or visit online at redcrossblood. org or fairpointbundleupblooddrive.org.

calling 772-3599. Cash, check and credit cards accepted in advance, at the door during the event, or anytime online at brownpapertickets. com. Visit Sid Tripp’s Black Cat Ball on Facebook at www.facebook.com/pages/Sid-Tripps-BlackCat-Ball/154751921233348?ref=mf for up-tothe-minute details.

Saturday, Jan. 1 Dog licensing at City Hall 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Starting with the New Year, Portland resident dog owners are required, pursuant to Maine law, to have all dogs six months of age or older licensed. Dog licenses are issued for a calendar year and will expire Jan. 31, 2011. A dog license can be obtained from the City Clerk’s office at City Hall, Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Renewals and new registrations are also available online at https://www.informe.org/ dog_license/begin.shtml or through the mail, call 874-8610 for more details.

Harlem Globetrotters at the Civic Center 7 p.m. The Harlem Globetrotters, who have contributed more innovations to the game of basketball than any other team in history, have implemented the first-ever 4-point shot as part of all of its games on the team’s 2011 “4 Times the Fun” North American tour, the team’s record 85th season of touring. This game-changing innovation will be on display when the Globetrotters take on the Washington Generals at Cumberland County Civic Center. Tickets, starting at $13.50, are on sale at www.harlemglobetrotters.com, the Cumberland County Civic Center box office, or by phone at 207-775-3331 or 603-868-7300.

Information on group and scout tickets can also be found at www.harlemglobetrotters.com.

Tuesday, Jan. 4

Sid Tripp & Proactive Resources Design bring back the Black Cat Ball in Portland. “We’ll pour a little bubbly to add a little cheer, as we celebrate the start of a brand new year!” This Portland School Board meeting will be a New Year’s Eve party, a rockin’ dance party at the Mariner’s Church in the Old Port. 7 p.m. Business meeting of Portland School Board, Room 250, Casco Bay High School.

Call Lauren at 772-5399 to order tickets. (COURTESY IMAGE) Plunge at East End Beach Beginning in January, the Portland School Board noon. “Be bold in the cold with a plunge into the release those limitations into a ritual fire, letting go of them will hold its regular business meetings and Atlantic to support the Natural Resources Council of Maine’s and opening ourselves to new possibilities to come.” For workshops on Tuesdays rather than Wednesdays. Most work to reduce global warming pollution. The bone-chilling more information about Unity or its events, please contact School Board committees also will meet on Tuesdays. fun will take place at East End Beach in Portland, Maine on the church office at 893-1233 or visit www.unitygreaterportThe board decided to change the meeting day earlier in Friday, Dec. 31st at noon (the “warmest” part of the day!) land.org. the fall to accommodate members who have to travel for Your friends and family can pledge your plunge, to raise work. School Board meetings and committee meetings are New Year’s Eve Gorham money and awareness about global warming and what announced on the Portland Public Schools Web site: www.

7 p.m. Volunteers, with the cooperation of the Town of NRCM is doing right here in Maine to curb it. And, it will be portlandschools.org.

Gorham’s public safety, fire, public works and recreation fun, with folks in polar bear costumes and hot coffee from department, coordinate a community-wide New Year’s Eve Coffee by Design and pastries from Whole Foods. The two event. Churches and other public buildings serve as variWednesday, Jan. 5 top fundraisers will receive $50 gift certificates to LL Bean, ous venues where performances are scheduled throughout while additional top fundraisers will receive commemorathe evening. They offer a variety of entertainment, which tive NRCM tote bags or caps. To participate, email or call ‘Checkered Floors’ is presented for families and people of all ages to enjoy. stacie@nrcm.org, 430-0127, with your name and contact 7 p.m. “Checkered Floors,” a controversial and inspiring The New Year rings in with an exciting celebration at midinformation and we will send you an information packet. true story of the 1,500 Somali migrants in Maine and how night culminating with a fireworks display accompanied by We request that you raise a minimum of $50 in pledges. playwright/actress, Cheryl Hamilton’s own life parallels music, dancing and lots of Auld Lang Syne. http://newyearYour pledgers may use the online pledge forms at http:// their plight with humor and horror. January 5-9. Wednesgorham.org supporters.nrcm.org/polar_plunge.” day and Thursday at 7 p.m., Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m., New Year’s Eve Celebration Sunday at 2 p.m. with talkbacks. $15. Old Port Playhouse, Vaudeville at Portland Stage 19 Temple St. Portland Box Office: 773-0333. oldportplay2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Vaudeville shows at Portland Stage 2011 at 51 Wharf house.com Company. http://www.phyzgig.org or www.acorn-produc7:30 p.m. Two DJs on two dance floors spinning two genres tions.org/pages/Phyzgig2009.html of music at 51 Wharf St. in Portland. A $2 coat check; fivehour countdown. Red Bull VIP Party: RedBull@NewYearsThursday, Jan. 6 Pirates Kid’s New Year’s Celebration PortlandMaine.com. Watch the Ladies of Go-Go Maine live 5:30 p.m. Portland Pirates vs. Connecticut Whale, Kid’s all evening; Evan Smith will be taking photos; 20 percent off New Year’s Celebration at the Cumberland County Civic Film: ‘Budrus’ pre-ordered bottles). For tickets, visit www.newyearsportCenter. WGME 13 and WJBQ present the annual Kid’s New 7:30 p.m. Film: “Budrus,” film screening at SPACE Gallery, landmaine.com/tickets.htm.

Year’s Game. The game, an expected sellout, will mark the 538 Congress St., Portland. 828-5600. Doors open at 7 16th season the Pirates have celebrated New Year’s featurSid Tripp’s Black Cat Ball p.m.; film begins at 7:30 p.m. Admission $7, $5 for SPACE ing New England’s largest indoor fireworks display at the members. “Ayed Morrar, an unlikely community organizer, at the Mariner’s Church conclusion of the game. www.portlandpirates.com unites Palestinians from all political factions and Israelis to 8:30 p.m. to 2 a.m. New Year’s Eve Bash, Mariner’s Church, save his village from destruction by Israel’s Separation BarA Lucid New Year’s Eve 368 Fore St. $50 tickets per person; festive holiday attire. rier. Victory seems improbable until his 15-year-old daugh6 p.m. Ring in the New Year with Portland’s newest perSid Tripp & Proactive Resources Design are pleased to ter, Iltezam, launches a women’s contingent that quickly forming arts venue, Lucid Stage, at 29 Baxter Boulevard, announce the revival of the Black Cat Ball. The Black Cat moves to the front lines. Struggling side by side, father and Portland. “A Lucid New Year’s Eve” runs from 6 p.m. to Ball originally began at the Eastland Ball Room in the middaughter unleash an inspiring, yet little-known movement midnight; $5. Live music by The Modest Proposal, and ’80s. On hiatus for 17 years, Tripp has a big night planned in the Occupied Palestinian Territories that is still gaining afterwards, a community jam. Bring your instruments and as he weaves his magic into a night of singing, dancing, ground today. In an action-filled documentary chronicling play solo or jam with others! There will be door prizes, and laughing and celebrating as revelers enjoy a cocktail or two. this movement from its infancy, Budrus shines a light on a raffle with a variety of items to choose from — gift cerJoin us to relive the magic of the Black Cat Ball, and ring people who choose nonviolence to confront a threat yet tificates, memberships, artwork, and a surprise big-ticket in 2011 in Red Carpet style in glamorous festive holiday remain virtually unknown to the world. The movie is directed item! 899-3993. www.lucidstage.com attire with 350 of your best friends. The rockin’ sounds of by award-winning filmmaker Julia Bacha (co-writer and local band Wavelength will be jamming all night long. The New Year’s Burning Bowl Service editor Control Room, co-director Encounter Point), and procelebrations will include heavy hors d’oeuvres, Italian wine 7 p.m. New Year’s Burning Bowl Service at Unity Church of duced by Bacha, Palestinian journalist Rula Salameh, and tasting, three cash bars, party favors, photo booth, roving Greater Portland, 54 River Road, Windham. “The burning filmmaker and human rights advocate Ronit Avni (formerly photographer, countdown, champagne toast and balloon bowl service is a favorite within Unity. It encourages each of Witness, director of Encounter Point).” www.justvision. drop, psychics and surprise guest performances. Tickets of us to identify the doubts and fears which stand between org/budrus are $50 per person; advanced tickets may be purchased by us an true spiritual enlightenment. It is an opportunity to

Friday, Dec. 31

Page 14 — THE PORTLAND DAILY SUN, Wednesday, December 29, 2010

2010: a look back LOOK BACK from page 9

March 26 The city council will review the way it allocates money from a federal grant program after a “messy” meeting this week that one councilor said devolved into “horse trading.”

Mayor Nick Mavodones is planning to hold a council workshop next month to discuss possible changes to Community Development Block Grant funding process, but he stopped short of endorsing a new task force to study the subject.

“The first step is for the council, while it’s fresh in our minds and the wounds are unhealed, we need to schedule a workshop to talk about this,” said Mavodones, referring to Monday’s meeting that saw councilors vying to secure funding for favored programs.

••••••••••••• FORT MYERS, Fla. (AP) — Daisuke Matsuzaka made his first appearance of spring training, coming on in relief of starter Tim Wakefield, and the Boston Red Sox beat the Florida Marlins 6-4 on Thursday. “I thought the biggest good thing was that (Matsuzaka) got out there and he stayed in his delivery. I think you’re going to see more come out of his arm, I certainly believe,” said Red Sox manager Terry Francona.

March 27 Congress may have passed its version of health care reform last week, but for Jon Jennings, former Celtics assistant coach who serves as president and general manager of the Maine Red many low-income Portlanders, reform began almost four months ago. Since opening Claws basketball team, said he was pleased with the team’s first year in Portland. Here, he is shown at the Portin November, Portland Community Health Center, on Park Avenue, has served land Expo Center, where the Red Claws play. (DAVID CARKHUFF PHOTO) more than 750 patients, about half of which lack insurance, says Carol Schreck, executive director of the health center. For many of the patients, it’s been years since April 6 they’ve seen a doctor, she says.

••••••••••••• Portland’s iconic State Theatre, which closed in 2006, could be hosting live shows Batten down the metaphorical hatches, a political nor’easter is headed our way. again by winter. Stone Coast Properties, owner of the 81-year-old theater, has nearly comHurricane Obama is due to make landing in or around coastal Maine on Thursday, yes pleted a massive interior renovation to get the venue up to city code. Now, the only thing April Fool’s Day, bringing with him high temperatures and much turbulence. missing is a tenant, and that too could soon change. “We’re making progress,” said KerU.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree announced the visit Friday morning, with a formal White ryann McQuade, the rental manager with Stone Coast Properties, which owns The State.

House announcement following a few hours later. While details were not known, Pin“We’re hoping to turn it over to a tenant and have the place open by the end of the year.” gree said the president will be addressing heath care and promised more details as they ••••••••••••• become released. By close of business, she had also announced a website where informaDevelopers who converted the former St. Patrick’s School into affordable housing tion, including how to get tickets if the presidential visit includes a public appearance, at want to remove eligibility restrictions from some of the units, a move they say will jumpwww.pingree.house.gov. The president is touring the country in support of the recently start lagging sales. passed health care reform with a zest usually reserved for last-minute campaign-season blitzing. “This (health care) reform is historic, it helps small businesses, seniors and averApril 7 age Americans and the President’s visit is going to highlight those benefits,”Pingree said in announcing the visit. “It’s exciting to have him come to our state.” It will be President City councilors have approved a resolution calling on Maine’s U.S. Congressional Obama’s first visit, but Candidate Obama was warmly received in 2008 and carried the delegation to oppose new funding for military campaigns in Iraq, Afghanistan and state. (Curtis Robinson column, March 27) Pakistan. Unlike similar measures which have come before cities and towns in other part of the country, the resolution approved 7-1 Monday night didn’t question rationale or the March 30 justness of the campaigns themselves. Instead, the resolution argues that we no longer afford the wars given the fragile economy and deep budget cuts seen in communities President Barack Obama’s visit to Maine on Thursday will include a public event across the state and the nation. The nonbinding resolution was sponsored by Councilors at the Portland Expo Center where the president will “speak directly” about historic John Anton, Dan Skolnik and Dory Waxman. Councilor John Coyne was the only counhealth care reform, the White House announced. But three days before President Obama cilor to oppose the measure. is scheduled to visit the Portland area to talk about the health care overhaul, members of ••••••••••••• Congregation Shaarey Tphiloh had something else on their minds: the security of Israel.

Justin McEdward, manager at Bard Coffee at 185 Middle St., got one taste of the new Tonight, when Rabbi Akiva Herzfeld delivered a seder service at Congregation Shaarey iPad tablet computer after its release Saturday, and now he’s thinking about buying Tphiloh as the ritual kickoff of Passover, he expected an unusual amount of politics as one. “I’m thinking about it. I’m not too sure yet. I don’t have my mind made up on it,” said relations between the United States and Israel enter the discussion.

McEdward, noting that it’s a “need vs. want” decision.

APRIL April 2 Swept to the podium by the chant of “yes we did!” — a refrain of his campaign slogan, “yes we can” — President Barack Obama addressed both the faithful and the unconverted at the Portland Expo Thursday, promoting health care and student loan reforms to a raucous crowd. “I guess when the sun comes out around here, everybody gets pretty excited,” Obama joked after peeling off his jacket and stepping to the podium.

“Last week, after a year of debate and a century of trying, health insurance reform became the law of the land. And it happened because of you,” Obama said, spurring some of the biggest applause of his speech and a repeat of the chant, “yes we did!” from the generally supportive crowd.

••••••••••••• Over a year ago, the city was awarded an expansion D-League franchise, which essentially works like a minor league for the top-tier NBA. This weekend, Portland’s team, the Maine Red Claws, finishes its first regular season, with hopes of making the playoffs.

April 3 Portland would cancel its July 4 fireworks show, raise property taxes, cut 40 jobs and close three library branches next year under a budget proposed by City Manager Joe Gray that was made public yesterday. As proposed, the $196 million fiscal year 2011 budget would also eliminate the city’s popular parking ticket forgiveness, cut “First Hour Free” parking at two city garages, and raise the price of blue city trash bags. It would also mean fewer snowy sidewalks get plowed and less maintenance in some parks. These and other changes come in response to an $8 million revenue shortfall, of which about $7.1 million was made up through new fees and spending cuts. The remaining $900,000 will come from higher property taxes.

April 8 For users of Portland Public Library’s six-branch system, this year’s library budget offers little in the way of good news. Three of the city’s six branches are scheduled to close July 1, and that at least two employees will be laid off.

But library officials say the ongoing budget crunch at City Hall has forced them to rethink how they deliver services moving forward. In the coming months, the library will explore ways it can better connect with existing users and meet the needs of under-served populations. Library officials concede closing branches in the West End, the East End and Riverton neighborhoods may be a shock to some, but they say maintaining six individual libraries in this fiscal climate is impossible.

••••••••••••• Portland Sea Dogs players said they are less focused on the playoffs than just playing well day to day, speaking during a media day at Hadlock Field Tuesday.

Last September, Portland was eliminated from the Northern Division playoffs for the first time since falling short in 2004. The Trenton Thunder, a New York Yankees affiliate, inflicted the loss that bumped Portland last fall. This month,the Sea Dogs 2010 home opener is Thursday, April 15 at 6 p.m. at Hadlock Field against the Thunder.

April 9 Waynflete School will rally against “hate and bigotry” Saturday evening, a response to a possible protest by Kansas-based Westboro Baptist Church.

People from Portland and across the state are expected to join Waynflete students, faculty and parents for “This is a Safe Place” — which will highlight the importance of diversity and tolerance. “The theme running through it is that the individual is responsible for contributing to the collective,” said Lowell Libby, the principal of Waynflete’s upper school, and that the “collective is responsible for creating a safe community.” see next page

THE PORTLAND DAILY SUN, Wednesday, December 29, 2010— Page 15

2010: a look back April 17

from preceding page

April 10 PORTLAND (AP) — The parents of a Yarmouth High School student are challenging the constitutionality of the school’s honor code for extracurricular activities after their daughter was suspended from her lacrosse team because of a photo that shows her holding what school administrators contend is a beer. The federal lawsuit filed this week contends 16-year-old honor student’s due process rights were violated and that the principal, assistant principal and a third school official displayed a “reckless or callous disregard” to her constitutional rights.

••••••••••••• It might have been the first game of the season, but the Portland Sea Dogs’ offense looked to be in midseason form. On Thursday night, the Sea Dogs started things off by bashing four home runs, while also swiping four bases in a 10-5 victory over the Reading Phillies at FirstEnergy Stadium.

April 13 Demolition is already under way on the former Jordan’s Meats plant on Fore Street, but a developer looking convert the property into a hotel and condos is still awaiting city approval to begin construction. That approval could come today. Old Port Hospitality LLC wants to build a 122-room Hampton Inn with 12 top-floor condos on the site of the former meat plant, which closed in 2005. A 7,000-square-foot restaurant inside the hotel will be the new downtown home of Sebago Brewing Company, according to Mark Woglom, one of three partners involved in the project.

April 14 You may not have noticed, but that’s the point as more and more Portlanders are walking around with legally concealed guns. Over the past 15 months, Portland Police have seen a steady increase in the number of residents applying for concealed weapons permits, which allow permit holders to legally carry loaded firearms in most public places. In 2009, the last year data was available, the department issued 60 percent more licenses than in 2008.

Facing another year of budget trauma, local governments across the state are searching far and wide for new revenues while simultaneously trying to avoid direct tax increases.

In Portland, the proposed budget for fiscal year 2011 cuts services, raises property taxes by an average $250 per household and eliminates 40 city jobs.

Along with those measures, scores of fees are set to increase to help close an $8 million budget gap. see 2010 page 16 RIGHT: One of the highlights of 2010 was the opening of a new permanent home for homeless women in Portland — Florence House. A collaboration between Avesta Housing and the Preble Street Resource Center, the facility cost nearly $8 million. (FILE PHOTO)

P a u lP in k h a m ’s A u to R ep a ir

April 15 Calling it a “boat to nowhere,” critics of a new $5.5 million Casco Bay Lines ferry, being paid for entirely with federal stimulus money, say the system should decline the grant. Several members of the Casco Bay Lines ferry board agree, and forced a vote on the issue last week. They lost, but the debate continues and even supporters of the new vessel admit that their support is largely based on the new vessel being “free” from the federal government, conceding that the design was mostly chosen because it could meet last year’s deadlines for “shovel ready” transportation projects. That’s just the point, say boat opponents: The design is based on expediency, not on what is needed.

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April 16 Those in the business say the “wow” is well deserved at the newly renovated and reopened Monument A crowd gathered on Congress Street for a ceremony to start Square branch of the Portland Public Library. “We marking the reopening of Portland’s main branch library. (DAVID recognize what a remarkable achievement this is, and it’s CARKHUFF PHOTO) really an important step for the city, it’s really a fabulous day,” said Nancy E. Crowell, director of the Scarborough Public Library, while waiting for a ceremony to start Thursday marking the reopening of Portland’s main branch. Crowell remembered when Scarborough’s new library building opened in 1990 after a community-wide fundraising drive. At a cost of $7.3 million, including $4 We Accept EBT Cards www.freshapproachmarket.com million in bonds and the rest in private donations, the Portland Public Library’s Monument Square branch was Fresh 10 lb.Bag Fresh Boneless renovated and remade, with a new glass facade and spacious, naturally lit interior. $ On Thursday, a noontime ribbon-cutting ceremony lb brought hundreds of library supporters and patrons flooding across Congress Street, which was closed to traffic Fresh with barricades while city officials and local dignitaries Fresh gave presentations about the library reopening.

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Page 16 — THE PORTLAND DAILY SUN, Wednesday, December 29, 2010

2010: a look back 2010 from page 15

April 20 A city councilor wants legislators to pass a law enabling Portland and other cities to prohibit the “open carry” of firearms in public. To that end, Councilor Dan Skolnik is planning a rally with other gun control groups on the Back Cove Sunday afternoon alongside a similar event planned for the same time and same place by open-carry advocates. In a phone interview Monday, Skolnik said he believes open carry is “a problem anywhere in the United States today.”

••••••••••••• With their pastor gone and their congregation dwindling, members of Central Square Baptist Church know their days as an active church body are numbered. So leaders of the Stevens Avenue church are hoping to give their towering 103-year-old stone church building to the Portland Public Library.

As the cash-strapped library system prepares to close three branches in the city, however, it’s unclear if another building is what the library board wants.

On Monday, Stephen J. Podgajny, executive director of the library system, said he had no comment on the church’s offer, but he said the proposal likely will be discussed by the library board at its April 28 meeting.

Church members acknowledge that the timing may not be right for the library system to accept another building. But members also say that they don’t want The little water girl, a statue in the new Portland Public LIbrary main branch, welcomes visitors to the renovated building. In the background is to see the historic church, which was dedicated in Monument Square. (CASEY CONLEY PHOTO) 1907, to end up a victim of the wrecking ball.

Shane Belanger, a University of Southern Maine student who organized the display of guns in the open carry rally, told news outlets that the aim of the gathering wasn’t to April 21 frighten anyone but to show that people have a constitutional right to bear arms.

But this message didn’t translate for counter-protesters.

When President Barack Obama visited Portland April 1 for a health care speech at ••••••••••••• Portland Expo, nearly 100 police officers and firefighters were called in to help secure the The Portland Daily Sun is pleased to welcome longtime Portland restaurant profesExpo, block off streets and prepare the Jetport for his arrival and departure. sional Natalie Ladd to our growing list of regular contributors.

All that manpower came with a cost. City officials estimate the President’s two-hour swing through Portland cost about $25,000, of which roughly $18,000 won’t be reimbursed by the White House. While the city doesn’t have much choice when it comes to April 28 supplying additional security for Presidential visits, its share of the cost was by no means a deal breaker, city spokesperson Nicole Clegg said. “It’s not forced upon us,” she said. In Hundreds of Mainers are expected to gather in Downtown Portland this weekend to this case, Clegg said someone from the President’s office called the city to say Obama and push for comprehensive immigration reform and protest a “racist” Arizona law allowhis staff were interested in holding an event at the Expo. “We were very supportive of the ing police to detain suspected illegal immigrants. According to organizers, hundreds of decision (to have Obama speak in Portland) all along.” people have already signed for Saturday’s march, which will feature a group that starts at Union Station and another at Kennedy Park. The marches will meet at Congress Square Park in the Arts District for a rally and concert.

April 22 ••••••••••••• City crews have begun construction on a new “rain garden” along the Back Cove Local Sprouts Cafe is putting the finishing touches on its kitchen at 645 Congress Trail, a demonstration project that shows how soil and vegetation can clean polluted St., part of a new complex of apartments and retail spaces in the Arts District. stormwater before it reaches streams or the ocean. The project stems from a partnerLocal Sprouts Cafe will be Portland’s first “community-supported cafe”, according to the ship between the city of Portland and consulting firm Stantec, which awarded the city a its website (www.localsproutscooperative.com), and will be operated by a worker-owned $25,000 grant to build the rain garden, located near the Back Cove parking lot on Preble business — Local Sprouts Cooperative — which acquires its food from urban gardens in Street.

Portland and local farms in Maine.

April 23

April 29

Portland has announced that a Portland resident and Bates College graduate will be its first sustainability coordinator, a new position at City Hall that will develop and lead green initiatives for the next three years. The sustainability coordinator position was created after the city received a $684,700 stimulus grant last year through the federal Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant program.

Ian Houseal, of Portland, was chosen for the job ahead of scores of applicants.

••••••••••••• A man wanted for stealing an 83-year-old North Deering resident’s car at knifepoint last month has been arrested in Florida, authorities said.

James Stewart, 21, was arrested Tuesday by officers with the Polk County Sheriff’s Office on a Maine warrant, Portland Police Lt. Gary Rogers said.

Another casualty of the economy is the Salvation Army’s Westbrook office.

Due to insufficient funding to support its programs and operational costs, the Salvation Army’s Westbrook Corps, located at 11 Bridge St., will merge with the organization’s Portland Corps, located at 297 Cumberland Ave., effective June 1, the religious and charitable organization reported.

••••••••••••• This time last year, West End Neighborhood Association “adopted” three local parks, committing to pick up trash and otherwise look after them for two years through the city’s Adopt-a-Spot program.

WENA is among scores of local neighborhood associations, business groups and friends groups that have signed on to clean up a specific part of the city.

These partnerships take pressure off city workers, who can focus time and resources elsewhere. Facing a third straight year of budget cuts and layoffs, city officials are hoping more residents will get involved.

April 27

The flying of a large Confederate flag at a gun rights rally at Back Cove startled onlookers Sunday, even causing an African-American teenager to refuse to leave his vehicle out of fear, witnesses said.

Those on the “open carry” side said they were simply celebrating their Second Amendment rights (Tomorrow, we continue our look at the and didn’t intend to frighten anyone by displaying year 2010 with the first annual WestFest, firearms — a sign of the gulf dividing the two sides in The flying of a large Confederate flag at a gun rights rally at Back Cove startled onlookers in demolition of the old Jordan’s Meats plant Sunday’s opposing protests. late April, ramping up emotions. (DAVID CARKHUFF PHOTO) after the fire, and World Cup mania.)