The Fort Edgecomb Bicentennial Committee will reap our "Just Desserts" at Bintliff's Ocean Grille next Thursday evening, April 17, from 4:00 to 9:00 p.m.! Come on over for an elegant dinner (FEBC gets 10% of the profits), sample a delectable array of wines and cheeses, and a fantastic Silent Auction! Bid on a treatment at a local spa! Or paintings by several of our best-known local artists! Or a weekend retreat at Lake Mooselookmeguntic! Wow, stellar donations have been coming in, and our fundraising committee (Becky Benton, Jo Cameron, Rebecca Graham and Ann Poole) is so grateful to everyone! Formal thank-yous with tax deductible information will be coming to each one shortly, but I just wanted to get a blanket Thanks in as quickly as possible! For more information, call me, contact data below, or Becky at 882.7157 or call Bintliff's, 882.9401
Because of the drastic changes in Maine's education structure, you all need to know how it will affect Edgecomb's Town Meeting and the posting of this year's Town Report and Warrant. The entire 2008-2009 education budget for Edgecomb will be handled in two parts.
The first will be a budget validation hearing on Monday, May 5, at 7 p.m. in the auditorium of the Edgecomb Eddy School. At this meeting, the education budget will be presented in 11 articles, as prescribed by the State, and the amount for each section will be voted on at the hearing.
The total for each article will then be voted on by secret ballot on Friday, May 16, from 1:00 to 8:00 p.m., at the Edgecomb Town Hall, as part of our regular election of Town Officials. There will be no articles at all relating to education on the Town's Warrant for the Town Meeting on Saturday, May 17, which will be held in the Edgecomb Eddy School auditorium from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m..
More marks on your calendar! The Second Midcoast Sustainable Energy Expo will occur on Friday, April 18 from 12:00 to 6:00 p.m. and Saturday, April 19, from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. at the Damariscotta YMCA! Free Admission! Talk to the Exhibitors! Attend the energizing Workshops! Learn how to Green your home, your property, our world! The website www.MidcoastGreenCollaborative.org will have more information.
While we are on the greening subject, this, from Topher Belknap on Englebrekt Road: "I did a little experiment that I want to share. Paul Kando and I have been telling our energy audit customers that they should remove their window screens during the heating season. I had read a figure of 10% heat input reduction for this, but had not found any corroborating evidence.
"So, I got out my light meter, infrared thermometer, and one of my fibreglass window screens. . . . The light meter read 75 foot-candles (out of the direct sun, since that pegged the meter), and 50 foot-candles with the screen intercepting the light. Next, I put three pieces of dark soapstone on the window sills, one in the shade, one in full sun, and one with the screen in place. I let them sit for an hour. I then measured the temperature with the infrared thermometer. The shaded stone read 76.7º, the screened one 88.7º, and the full sun 96.7º".
"It would appear then that screens in windows during the winter could be robbing us of about 30-40% of the heat that would otherwise enter through the windows. We have found that solar provides from 10-25% of the heating in the houses we have examined. So, this represents between 3-10% of total heating. If your windows have outside screens, bring them in for the winter!"
Topher's business, Green Fret Consulting, will be glad to help you with your own efforts to make your premises more eco-friendly! You can reach him at topher@greenfret.com or www.greenfret.com.
Oh, and if you have a workable cell phone you don't want any more, drop it off for free at the U.S. Cellular office in the Meadow Mall in Boothbay Harbor!
Summer is icumen in and so is the Damariscotta River Association's Hands On History Opportunity! For three weeks in July, an historical archaeology field school directed by Tim Dinsmore will once again address the site of the 18th-century Bryant-Barker Tavern in Newcastle, which in its heyday was also one of the first shipbuilding operations along the Damariscotta River. The specific quests this summer will be measuring the exact dimensions of the tavern building and excavating portions of the cellar, the chimney base and hearth.
While learning the history of the site, the lifestyle of a distant era, you will also learn the fundamental principles and methods of archaeology, working with artifacts in an on-site laboratory. For more information on the project, the fees, the equipment, etc., call DRA at 563-1393 or DRA@DRACLT.org. (I don't know if this address is case-sensitive or not; try it both ways!)
Honors for the second trimester at Lincoln Academy go to Edgecombites Alexander Graves (9th), Mariah Bintliff (10th) and High Honors to Cameron Blake (10th), Michael Carter (11th) and Robert Langton (12th).
A trumpet fanfare for you all from 234 River Road, 633-2978, jocam@midcoast.com. This column appears in several local papers, and at www.Edgecomb.org.