Amanda Russell called to tell me of an encounter with a strangely behaving raccoon on the Middle Road, and her quest for assistance. She called the Sheriff's Department, the Game Warden, and finally, from her learning experience, I pass on this direct route: If you fear that a sick-appearing wild animal, raccoon or whatever, is threatening your own pets or people, the person to call is Jeff Clifford at 882-6119. Jeff is our Animal Damage Control Officer, certified and appointed by the State, and is to be called in when wild animals may be a health concern. Rick Heaberlin, 563-2078, is Edgecomb's appointed Animal Control Officer, who deals exclusively with domestic animals, pets and livestock. Game wardens, it seems, are not certified to handle animals showing symptoms of sickness.
Jeff Clifford warns, although rabies is around, wild animals this time of year often seem unsteady, and disheveled, because they are just waking up from hibernation, and of course, for many, it is mating season. He says that in Edgecomb mange and distemper are common among wild animals, but it is always wise to call on him in any event.
Passing bells to ring out Nathalie Lawrence on March 22. A charter member of the Sheepscot River Salmon Club, Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens and other community organizations, wife of the late artist Bill Lawrence. A private memorial service is planned for a later date. Memorial contributions may be made to Miles Health Care Center, c/o Development Office, 35 Miles Street, Damariscotta 04543.
I have just learned from Gertrude Allen that Gladys Kimball Betts has passed on, at her niece Ruby Skillins' home in Augusta. A funeral service will be held at the Damariscotta Methodist church at 11:00 a.m. today, Thursday, April 6, with burial at Highland Cemetery on Dodge Road in Edgecomb. Mrs. Betts, 96, was a graduate of Lincoln Academy and a long-time high school teacher.
I have more fun when I have a lengthy round of errands. Scurrying from the Harbor to Wiscasset, one stop was at the Edgecomb Eddy School. I walked into a school-wide concert of African drums! Michael Wingfield, well-known as an artist-in-the-schools, was winding up three intensive days of drumming instruction, and the kids really knew their stuff! Fingers, palms and heels of the hand on different locations of the drumhead for different tones. And how the welkin roared when they did drum rolls between each class' special piece! A loud huzzah for the teachers and the school principal who gracefully accompanied the drumming with appropriate dance steps! Bravo, young Meredith Simpson, who was swept up by Wingfield's "soaring eagle"! And the rousing Afro-Cuban samba, or was it a conga? as a finale! (I thought of "Our Hearts were Young and Gay," when the Brazilian Navy takes over the girls' apartment?)
So then, the next day, I did my own Africana thing with Mrs. Jennifer Gosselin's kindergartners and Mrs. Terry Morrison's third graders, showing them some of the wonderful animal carvings and indigo-dyed textiles Bruce and I brought back from our sojourn in Nigeria, hey, ‘way back in the ‘60s! 150 ways to use a bottle gourd! I recommend them for your coming gardens, especially if you have children
Samba and rhumba and congo but not limbo, oh no, I'd never get up from under the bar, at 234 River Road, 633-2978, bonesukl@midcoast.com. This column appears in several local papers, and at www.Edgecomb.org.