The other day I emailed our Membership to remind them of the upcoming hearing on the Aquafortis Associates LLC appeal of the WLO Transfer, scheduled for 10:30 AM on Friday, January 10th. The hearing will be held at the Kennebec County Superior Court, 1 Court St Suite 101, Augusta, ME 04330 (map). I wanted to get notice out soon enough so those who would like to attend have time to make arrangements. If you’re not familiar with this proceeding and it’s history, I’ve posted about it a few times on the CLA website, most recently back in the middle of December. Here’s a link to that post, for more information: Continue reading
Category Archives: Association News
We Give A Dam! Clary Lake Association Tee Shirts For Sale
The Clary Lake Association is making another foray into the world of online retailing and to that end we’ve set up a simple shopping cart system using Paypal as our payment processor. While it isn’t the world’s most sophisticated shopping cart system, it works and should serve our purposes well for the time being. It should be self explanatory and problem-free, but if you have any questions or issues with it, please contact the Webmaster.
To start out, we’d like to sell the last of these classic We Give A Dam! tee shirts! There won’t be any more of these! We had a dozen made for the 2019 Whitefield Fourth of July parade and people said they wanted to be able to buy some, so we ordered a bunch. Most of them were sold last summer at the Ice Cream Social and the Annual meeting. We still have a few of these classic tee shirts left (in several sizes) that we’d like to sell. You can have any color you want as long as it’s BLUE! A few of our original Clary Lake Association Sweat Shirts have turned up as well and we’d like to sell them too. Please visit our Items For Sale page to see what we have to offer.
We’re already getting to work on some new products for the upcoming year. We’ll be starting out with tee shirts again but are also planning on offering CLA hats, coffee mugs, bumper stickers, etc. Stay tuned.
Greetings Friends of Clary Lake!
Greetings Friends of Clary Lake!
Here’s wishing you all a Merry Christmas and a very happy and healthy New Year… and more inclusively, Happy Holidays, or whatever and however you choose to celebrate this time of year, this special season that we all cherish as we try to adapt to the waning light of winter. Remember, the light shines from within: may we always be mindful of the blessings we have been given and work to share those blessings with those less fortunate. Continue reading
Happy Thanksgiving 2019 from the Clary Lake Association
On behalf of the Clary Lake Association Board, I’d like to wish everyone a very happy and bountiful Thanksgiving. We’ve certainly got a lot to be thankful for this year! Enjoy family and friends, don’t overeat, don’t drink and drive, and most important, DON’T TALK POLITICS 🙂
15 October 2019: Minor Repairs to Clary Lake Dam Completed
Last spring when the water level reached the top of the Clary Lake dam we discovered a few leaks that were missed during major repairs last fall. There were three gaps between stones near the south end of the dam by the red building, obscured by vegetation, and one small hole at the north end of the dam. At the time we just used sandbags to staunch the flow and made plans to repair the leaks properly this fall when the lake level was down.
We began the fall draw down back in mid-September and as of today the lake was 1 foot below the HWM, plenty low enough to allow us to make the repairs. Two bags of high strength Quickrete mortar mix and an hour and a half and we were done. Many thanks to Dam Operations Committee members Dave Knight and Steve Cowles for helping out with this project! Here are a few pictures from this morning’s work:
30 August 2019: 1st Annual Coffee Clutch
1st Annual CLA Coffee Clutch
The CLA Coffee Clutch event was held last Saturday August 24th and we had a beautiful day for it. All told we had 7 boats and 6 kayaks show up carrying more than 30 people, all rafted together on Clary Lake, drinking coffee, eating donuts, and yakking up a storm. There was a stiff northerly wind so rather than anchoring out in the middle of the lake as originally planned, we moved the event closer to the north shore where we were a bit more sheltered from the wind. People who approached the flotilla from the south (which was almost everyone) had to battle high waves and a stiff headwind before arriving at the Coffee Clutch. Nobody had any trouble finding us- the sight of a few boats moored on the lake was hard to miss. Continue reading
24 August Clary Lake Association Coffee Clutch Out On The Lake!
The Celebration Continues!
Come join us out on Clary Lake…by whatever mode of travel suits you… swim, sail, float, paddle, motor. Look for the boats tied up out in the middle of the lake this Saturday, August 24th from 9-11 AM. We will be serving hot coffee and homemade donuts from the Chase Bakery.
Tell your friends! Hope to see you there!
Editor’s Note: This is just the first “on the lake” event we’re planning.
12 August 2019: UPDATED Lincoln County News Article
The Lincoln County News finally posted on line an article about our Annual Meeting. It appears to be the same article, but with better pictures 🙂
The Bangor Daily News also carried the story, as did the Nonprofit Quarterly who wrote this interesting promotional piece about the Clary Lake Association’s recent accomplishments:
Nonprofit, after Long-Sought Success, Adopts New Stewardship Role
These are exciting times!
12 August 2019: Lincoln County News Article on CLA Annual Meeting
2019 Annual Meeting
It’s been a little over a week since we held our 2019 Annual Meeting and I apologize for not posting anything about it until now. We were all pretty busy in the weeks leading up to the Annual meeting, and I for one needed a break. I had meant to post about the Annual meeting, but Lincoln County News reporter Jessica Clifford beat me to it. She attended the Annual meeting and has written a great article (with pictures!) that appeared in last week’s 8-8-2019 Lincoln County News paper. The article however has not been made available online so posting it had to wait until I could scan and format it for the website:
Lincoln County News 8-8-2019 CLA Annual Meeting
I’m more or less back in the saddle now, and ready to get to work. There are some neat events planned for later this month and this fall. Stay tuned for details!
2018 Annual Meeting Minutes Posted
And just in time too! I had meant to finish and post last summer’s Annual Meeting minutes long before this but with everything that’s been going on, I just lost track of that task.
You’ll find Annual Meeting minutes for previous years on the Archived Meeting Minutes page.
Hope to see you at THIS year’s Annual Meeting this coming Saturday!
23 July 2019: CLA Annual Meeting and Community Cookout Update
Plans for the 2019 Clary Lake Association Annual meeting are coming along nicely! The meeting will be held at 2:00 PM sharp at the Clary Lake dam on Saturday August 3rd. There will be a short business meeting to start followed by our main program including a presentation by Midcoast Conservancy’s Maranda Nemeth about their hopes to establish fish passage into Clary Lake, and a discussion of our Association’s long term goals led by outgoing President Malcolm Burson. Since our membership year runs from annual meeting to annual meeting, in order to participate in the meeting (i.e. vote, speak) you need to be a paid up member. If you plan to pay your dues at the meeting (as many people do) please arrive a little early! We’ll have a registration desk set up by 1:00 PM and plan to start the meeting promptly at 2:00 PM. You can also sign up online. Dues are $25 per year per person.
There will be a number of canopies set up to provide shade along with tables and chairs but it can’t hurt to bring a folding chair or 2 if you have them. We’re expecting the field adjoining the dam property to have been hayed by the time of the meeting so parking should not be a problem.
We have traditionally held a pot-luck supper at the conclusion of our Annual Meeting. This year have decided to invite the larger community of lake lovers to join us in celebration of our restored natural treasure. A cookout open to the public will start at 4 PM. The Clary Lake Association will be offering hot dogs, hamburgers (and some veggie burgers) and an assortment of beverages, and we encourage folks who plan to attend to bring an offering of a side dish or dessert to round out the fare. We also plan to polish off the ice cream left over from our recent Ice Cream Social. The cookout and food is free but donations will be gratefully accepted. We hope to see you there!
A final reminder: for some time now, full Membership in the Association is open to “all persons who support the purpose of the Association as stated in the bylaws and who pay annual dues to the Corporation.” You need not be a Clary Lake shore owner to be a Member, we’re especially interested in attracting New Members from the wider community. There is strength in numbers, and we encourage you to invite your neighbors and friends of Clary Lake to come to the Meeting and join us in our celebration. See you at the Annual Meeting!
16 July 2019: Ice Cream Social a Great Success!
Two of our event-coordinators Kelsie French (left) and Melissa Palmer-Karas.
Our first Ice Cream Social was a great success! By the middle of the afternoon there were about 50 people hanging out on the Clary Lake dam property and on the adjoining property belonging to neighbors Steve & Julie Cowles. Many thanks to them for their help getting the site ready and allowing us the use of their property. It was a beautiful sunny day and the canopies we set up provided much appreciated shade. Jeff French and his family arrived by boat! Many thanks to our volunteers for pulling off such a well-organized event and special thanks to Joe Holland of the Jefferson Scoop for donating tasty Gifford’s Ice Cream, and to Linda Gallion who brought home made chocolate and strawberry ice cream. This wasn’t really intended to be a fund raiser, but we did collect over $70 in our donation jar which helped cover the costs. Next year we’ll do a better job with promotion.
Sorry for not posting something sooner, but the past couple of days have been pretty hectic. Here is a gallery of pictures from the event. I’ll get around to adding some captions when I find a round tuit:
Clary Lake Association Ice Cream Social Reminder!
Just a reminder that our Ice Cream Social is this coming Sunday July 14th at 2 PM at the Clary Lake dam! The weather is looking perfect with temps in the mid-80s. Stop by and make yourself a Sundae! Bring a friend! We’ll have some tables and chairs set up, and some canopy tents so you can get out of the sun if you wish. Here’s a link to the original post about this event:
Clary Lake Association Ice Cream Social July 14th
One thing we forgot to mention in the original post is that The Jefferson Scoop has donated two tubs of ice cream to the event! Help us spread the word, because ice cream!
Hope to see you there!
08 July 2019: Aquafortis Associates LLC Appeals BEP Ruling
In a move that defies understanding, Aquafortis Associates LLC (AQF) has decided to appeal the June 6th Board of Environmental Protection (BEP) ruling denying their appeal of the DEP transfer of the Water Level Order to the Clary Lake Association (see “06 June 2019: BEP Denies AQF Appeal“). This new Petition for Review of Final Agency Action, Docket No. AP-2019-TBA, was filed today in Kennebec County Superior Court by counsel for AQF Dennis Carrillo. Mr. Carrillo has represented Richard Smith and AQF in both the Paul Kelley Bankruptcy proceeding and the Rubin/Ayer lawsuit. The petition names the Board of Environmental Protection as the Defendant and they will be doing the heavy lifting in this court case. The Clary Lake Association has been named a Party-In-Interest. I am not going to comment further until I’ve had a chance to read the Petition carefully. Without further palaver:
Stay Tuned!
Clary Lake Association Ice Cream Social July 14th
CLARY LAKE ASSOCIATION
ICE CREAM SOCIAL
Stop by the Clary Lake Dam site on Mills Road in Whitefield and join us as we continue to celebrate the return of fun and frolic on our beloved and restored Clary Lake!! On Sunday, July 14th @ 2PM we will be treating Members (if you’re not currently a Member, consider becoming one!) and our community friends and neighbors to an ice cream social. We’ll be featuring ice cream supplied by some good folks in Jefferson…our friends and supporters, Joe Holland, who owns and operates The Jefferson Scoop, and Linda and Rick Gallion of Clary Lake Bed and Breakfast (they make their own!!).
Plan on staying a while… there will be tables and chairs so you can sit and linger with friends, awnings to get out of the sun, and water to keep you hydrated… and most importantly—plenty of ice cream! We hope to see you there!!
We’ve added this event to our Upcoming Events Calendar and you can also keep track of it on the countdown timer on the sidebar to the right. We’ll post updates here as the event approaches!
03 July 2019: Clary Lake Association Putting a Float in Whitefield 4th of July Parade
Whitefield 4th of July Parade, 2010
The Clary Lake Association has been threatening to put a float in the Whitefield 4th of July Parade for a few years, and we’re finally doing it! With everything that’s been going on, I completely forgot to post anything about it so sorry for the late notice! The parade starts at 10 AM. Come on down to Kings Mills (intersection of Route 194 and Townhouse Road) and cheer us on. If you’d like to ride on the float or have kids that would like to ride on the float, be at the intersection of Route 194 and Route 218 at after 9 and before 10. Hope to see you there!
Courtesy Boat Inspection Training Set For July 1st
HYDRILLA (Hydrilla verticillata)
Back in late May I posted about the CLA’s plans to participate in the State’s Courtesy Boat Inspection program, which is administered by the Maine Department of Environmental Protection. It has taken a while, but we have finally received a date for Courtesy Boat Inspection (CBI) training: Monday July 1st at 3:30 pm at Coastal Rivers Conservation Trust in Damariscotta which is located right across the road from Hammond Lumber Co. on Business Route One. The address is 3 Round Top Lane, Damariscotta ME 04348. This training is a joint venture of Midcoast Conservancy and Coastal Rivers Conservation Trust and is being provided free-of-charge.
What do courtesy boat inspectors do? The program is really an educational one. As boaters launch and remove their boats from the water, CBIs will discuss with boaters how invasive aquatic plants spread, show how to inspect boats and equipment for plant fragments, urge boaters to inspect before and after every launch, distribute information about invasive plants, and articulate Maine law regarding the transport of these plants.
We need volunteers! Our goal is to line up enough Courtesy Boat Inspectors to be able to cover the State boat launch on Clary Lake during the “busy” hours (7 AM to 3 PM) on weekends, as those are the days that typically see the most boat traffic. Typically volunteers would sign up for 2 hour shifts, and inspections would continue through Labor Day. If you’re interested in helping out with this important initiative, please contact the Secretary.
Glenn B. MacDonald Feb. 26, 1947-May 26, 2019
Glenn B. MacDonald
Feb. 26, 1947-May 26, 2019
June 11, 2019
Major MacDonald was born in Gardiner, Feb. 26, 1947, the son of the late Mrs. Marian Graffam of Rome, N.Y., and the late Judge Paul A. MacDonald, of Woolwich, Maine.
He was educated at Higgins Classical Institute in Charleston and The University of Maine in Augusta. He also graduated from many Army service schools and won numerous journalistic awards as editor of Guardlife Magazine.
He was also a retired major in the U.S. Army Reserve, having risen in the ranks as an enlisted man, non-commissioned officer, company grade and field grade officer. Major MacDonald was a U.S. Army combat correspondent in 1971 and 1973. He also covered fighting in Laos and Cambodia. Continue reading
06 June 2019: BEP Denies AQF Appeal
In a decision that should come as a surprise to no one, the Board of Environmental Protection after listening to comments from Aquafortis Associates LLC [AQF] and others, summarily denied AQF’s appeal of the December 2018 DEP Order transferring the Clary Lake Water Level Order to the Clary Lake Association. The Board also denied several parties requests for a public hearing. So the DEP Transfer Order stands.
The information-gathering portion of the hearing lasted over 2 hours, the bulk of which was used by attorney for AQF Dennis Carrillo to explain and justify AQF’s appeal; this was a non-testimonial hearing and the record was closed which means all of AQF’s attempts to supplement the record with additional material were for naught. After AQF spoke, CLA President Malcolm Burson issued a short statement on the Association’s position- basically that we filed a satisfactory application and did everything right and in a timely fashion and that we applaud the Department’s decision to transfer the Order to us. Finally, counsel for DEP spoke briefly stating their opinion that the DEP had covered all the bases and that the CLA transfer application was deemed satisfactory and complete. The Board then asked if there were any additional comments; Butch Duncan spoke briefly about his desire for a public hearing, and Paul Kelley spoke about why the thinks the Clary Lake Association lacks sufficient Right, Title, and Interest in the Clary Lake dam to operate it, an argument that Mr. Carrillo also attempted to make. The Board however correctly observed that there is a forum for resolving title issues, and they aren’t it.
The Board deliberated for all of about 2 minutes before issuing their unanimous decision denying the appeal.
A number of CLA Board members and several Clary Lake Association members attended the hearing. I have no idea how many people if any listened in on the DEP Virtual Meeting Room, if you did I’d be interested in hearing your reactions.
05 June 2019 Reminder: BEP Hearing on AQF Appeal This Thursday
Just a reminder that the Board of Environmental Protection hearing on Aquafortis Associates LLC’s appeal of the DEP’s Transfer Order is tomorrow, Thursday June 6 at 9:00 AM at the Augusta Civic Center. This hearing is the result of an appeal filed by Richard Smith of Aquafortis Associates LLC back in December 2019 and was originally scheduled for May 16th but was rescheduled at the last minute to June 6th at the request of counsel for AQF. You might want to review the previous posts on this matter for more information; here are the two most recent:
- 13 May 2019: BEP Hearing on AQF Appeal of Transfer Order Continued
- 04 May 2019: BEP Hearing on AQF Appeal of Transfer Order Scheduled
The hearing is expected to last about 45 minutes. If you can’t attend in person but would nonetheless like to listen to it online, you’ll find directions for how to do that in the 04 May 2019 post.