Welcome home from Iraq, Stephanie Wood! Stephanie, who is a Specialist in the 619th Transportation Company, U.S. Army, has three more years of her present hitch, expects to make Sergeant soon and plans to re-enlist. She is the daughter of Keith and Linda Wood on the Eddy Road.
Max Vinal on the River Road is starting his second semester at the Mid-Coast School of Technology in Rockland, studying Marine Technology. According to his mother Linda, his class has already completed one boat.
Nomination papers are available at the Edgecomb Town Office. Nominations can be turned in from Thursday, February 24 through Tuesday, April 5. Offices open are: one Selectman, one School Board member and one Planning Board member (all three year terms); Town Clerk, Town Treasurer, Tax Collector, Road Commissioner (all one year terms).
Good news for those needing help with their winter heating! The State's Housing Authority has released another $2.5 million to the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP); this means, in most cases, eligible families may receive $486 to supplement their heating fuel bills; the amount of emergency heating help will be increased, also. Call the CED office nearest you: Newcastle, 563-8697, or Bath, 442-7963 or 800-221-2221.
More on the Red-Bellied Woodpecker! Craig Ladner on the Bunker Hill Road in Jefferson has a pair of them, and has told me some interesting facts about their coloration: In the male, the belly does indeed have a red color, a kind of smear, like rouge, on his lower abdomen near his legs. Obviously, you can only see this when he hangs upside down, going after your suet! He also has a small stripe of bright red on the top of his beak, near the nostrils. This is the easiest way to distinguish male from female. Apparently their red cap styles are different, too. I have seen only the one bird, so far.
Filling feeders at 234 River Road, 633-2978, bonesukl@midcoast.com. This column appears in several local papers, and at www.Edgecomb.org.