Tonight, come to the Edgecomb Town Hall at 7:00 p.m. for the first of the Planning Board's two public information meetings on amendments to the Town's Land Use Ordinances based on recent changes in Maine legislation. The second will be Saturday, March 11 at 10:00 a.m. These meetings are required before the Public Hearing on these amendments, Thursday, March 23, at 7:00 p.m., after which no further changes may be made. They will be presented for your ultimate approval at Edgecomb's Town Meeting Saturday, May 20.
It is nomination time for Town officers! Edgecomb will need one new Selectman, two Planning Board members and one School Board member, each for a 3-year term; a Town Clerk, a Town Treasurer, a Tax Collector, a Road Commissioner for 1-year terms each. Nomination papers are available at the Town Hall (Mondays, 7:00-9:00 p.m.; Tuesdays and Thursdays, 1:00-5:00 p.m.). Nominees will need 25 signatures from registered voters resident in the Town of Edgecomb. Filing deadline is April 4.
The Town Hall was graced last Thursday by a visit from infants Catherine and William, Jr. Clifford, twin daughter and son of Sara and Bill Clifford on the Cross Point Road, and kid-siblings to 2 ½-year-old Meghan Clifford. Welcome, newest (that I know of) residents!
Academic Groves afar: A former Edgecomb Eddy School student, Alexander Umberfield, won the Great Salt Bay Spelling Bee on Feb. 15. He is heading for the County Spelling Bee at Lincoln Academy, date still to be established. Keep your eye on the Letter A for Al!
The weird wind and rain storm two weeks ago Friday hit a big pine tree on the Fort Edgecomb premises, which, in falling, bowled over the little ticket booth! Fortunately, it did not hit the home of Bob and Ann Zak, hard by the meandering of Fort Road, but it closed the road and killed power for Fort Road and Shore Road residents for the weekend. While the ticket booth was no masterpiece of historic architecture, its loss serves to highlight the on-going need for local attention to the welfare of Edgecomb's Historic Site! Please call or otherwise reach me at my contact information at the end of this column, for volunteering, or money donations towards the Fort Edgecomb Bicentennial! Our first order of business is the re-shingling and repair of the blockhouse itself. But if you want to sign on for grounds keeping, small repairs as needed, docent or guide activities, preparation of educational signs and other display materials, please get in touch with me!
The Zaks did not escape altogether scot-free from that storm. You should see the "laid back" float dangling off their dock! According to Bob, the wind was intense enough, and low enough, and the waters roiling enough, to lift the float up, over and down. He saw it all from his second story window.
Reminder: The Edgecomb Congo. Thrift Shop is open Mondays 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. and Tuesdays 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Call Louise Hardina, 563-5236, for information.
Another Reminder: Recycle your deposit bottles and aluminum cans by placing them in the containers at the Edgecomb Fire Station, to benefit the Fire Department Auxiliary. Thanks!
T'is the Month of the Lobster, I heard them declare! All day Saturday, March 4, the Wiscasset Public Library will be showing a video of "The Secret Life of Lobsters" produced by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Sea Grant Program. Starting in February, the Wiscasset Library has been presenting a full schedule of lobster-related readings and events in cooperation with three other area libraries Curtis Memorial, Brunswick; Patten Free, Bath; Topsham Public, in their 2006 Midcoast Community Read program. Call the Library for more information on this entire series, or check out the website www.midcoastreads.com.
On Wednesday, March 8, at 3:00 p.m., come to the Library to discuss the book itself, best-seller "The Secret Life of Lobsters," by Trevor Corson. On Friday, March 10 at 10:30 a.m., bring your little ones to the Children's Room for a morning of lobster stories and crafts! And at 10:00 a.m., Saturday, March 11, come to hear lobster scientist Carl Wilson present "A Scientist's View of Lobsters and the Lobstering Industry." This last should be of interest to everyone in Edgecomb associated with lobstering, unless of course you're out hauling or setting at 10:00 a.m.!
On Sunday afternoon last, we went to hear Dr. Jack Sarmanian on the Shore Road talk about antique tools, one of a series of Lincoln County Historical Association lectures. Jack discussed in particular the carpentry plane in all its manifestations, from colonial hand-made all-wood models with soft metal blades through a transition period using more and more metal in proportion to the wooden shaving block, to the all-metal planes we use today. He told us of the Stanley Tool Company, who, starting with the cast steel machined technology, dominated the trade from the 1870s to 1940s. He showed us dado planes, molding planes, small nosing planes, huge 3-foot jointer planes in wood, and their all-metal descendants, but far heavier (15 pounds!), even a small all-aluminum cornice plane from the 1960s. He included some related equipment: three draw shaves and a spoke shave. Most of these planes are well-identified with makers' and owners' marks. Some of these examples were from Jack's own collection, while others were from the LCHA's collections, some at the Old Jail in Wiscasset, others on display in the Pownalborough Courthouse in Dresden. Jack's interest in tools began when he found the best way to restore his 1730 home in Lexington, Mass., was to do it himself! Jack's day job is a psychologist with the Falmouth school system, but, not counting the tools he reserves for his personal collection, he is also The Tool Man, "Always Buying/Selling Old Tools," 882.7276 or jsarmanian@yahoo.com for those who want to learn more.
In the light of the silvery moon, eight intrepid people tramped the trails of the Schmid Preserve on Saturday, Feb. 11, sans snowshoes! Andy Abello showed off his owl calling skills and lo! He was answered! The group agreed, most likely, barred owls.
A-hoo a-hoo a-hoo-ah! from deep in the woods in back of 234 River Road, 633-2978, bonesukl@midcoast.com. This column appears in several local papers, and at www.Edgecomb.org.
