So where were you all last Saturday morning? The all-important public information meeting the Planning Board held to acquaint us all with the amendments to the Land Use Ordinance, which, incidentally, includes the Appeals Board Ordinance, was attended by 7 Planning Board members, 2 Selectmen, 1 Town Planner, 1 Appeals Board member, and 6 count them! 6 members of the Edgecomb general public.
However, in the benign ways of local government, you have some options. Go in to the Town Hall (Quiz: When are the Town Office hours?) to pick up a copy of the Ordinance amendments, read them, and send your recommendations to the Planning Board, which you can do on the website (see below). Or mail your comments to the Planning Board, Edgecomb Town Hall, P.O. Box 139, Edgecomb ME 04556. Or call them up, or buttonhole them in the supermarket. Or tell me.
So who is on the Planning Board? Your neighbors and mine: Katharine Braid, David Boucher, Ann Peaslee, Bruce Cameron, Barry Hathorne, and alternates Jarryl Larson and April Lawrence. Let your fingers do the walking for their phone numbers.
On Thursday, March 20, come to the Planning Board's Public Hearing at the Town Hall at 6:00 p.m., before the regular Planning Board meeting at 6:30 p.m..
Also, remember, nomination papers are still available for one Selectman for three years, one Planning Board member for three years; one School Board member for three years; one Town Treasurer for one year; one Town Clerk for one year; one Tax Collector for one year; one Road Commissioner for one year. The petitions require at least 25 valid Edgecomb resident signatures. The deadline for turning in these papers is April 3. If you are not a candidate, you can sign these petition papers, most of which will be available on the Town Clerk's desk during business hours, Mondays, 7:00-9:00 p.m., Tuesdays and Thursdays, 1:00-5:00 p.m.
The Great Council of Red Men, Tarratine Tribe, wants to make their meeting place on Route 27 available for other groups' meetings, as well as private and public receptions of all kinds. If you have a need for a venue, call Bruce Farrell, 322-4218, who is in charge of promotion and development for the Council. The Red Men is a men's organization with a long history, stemming even prior to the dumping of tea into Boston Harbor in 1765.
Kindergarten Alert: If you have a child in your family, or know of a child who may be entering the Edgecomb Eddy Kindergarten class in the fall, please call 882-5515, so that the school can begin gathering a class list. "We will be arranging for kindergarten screening in the spring, and we don't want to miss anyone!" says Dean of Students Lisa Clarke. A child is eligible for kindergarten in Maine if he/she is five years old by October 15, 2008.
The next Wiscasset Bypass meeting will be Thursday, March 20, 6:30 p.m., at the County's 9-1-1 Communications Building. These meetings, for evaluating the many public comments which have been received, are scheduled every two weeks, so in April, Thursdays the 3rd and the 17th. These meetings are always open to the public.
Sing Secant, Cosecant, Cotangent, Cosine! In my recent account of the several mathematics competitions around Maine, I should have noted Edgecomb student Charlotte Nutt, a member of the first-place Center for Teaching and Learning's team. She and her teammates will be at the state-level team competition at Colby College March 15.
The Wearing of the Green my new cookbook, Celtic Folklore Cooking, says "was originally not associated with St. Patrick's Day, but was used as a bit of sympathetic magic to encourage the arrival of springtime and the prosperity of the crops." The color green is beloved by the ancient Irish spirit world, which as we all know, has managed to survive the long troubled history of the Republic of Eire, and has a powerful foothold in this country. For instance, leprechauns, once cobblers to the court of Faerie, will repair only your left foot shoes.
Hopping around looking for the other shoe at 234 River Road, 633-2978, jocam@midcoast.com. This column appears in several local papers, and at www.Edgecomb.org.