[dropcap]The[/dropcap] judge handling the appeal of the Clary Lake Water Level Order (AP-2014-01) has issued a Procedural Order based on the results of the Status Conference held back on June 7th. The Order is dated June 17, 2016 which was last Friday. The Order specifies a deadline of August 19th by which time the State should have filed the administrative record as well as their request for discovery. The real surprise in the Order is that contrary to what I had been told and contrary to what had I reported at the time (see: “Update on Superior Court Action“), the proceedings HAVE been Stayed, yet again, until August 1st. I had been assured by Assistant Attorney General Scott Boak when I spoke to him the day after the Status Conference that the suit had not been stayed so I expect the fact that it has now been stayed will come as much of a surprise to him as it did to me. No reason for the additional stay has been given.
Category Archives: News
18 June 2016: Loon Nest Update
A loon sitting on the nest, trying to maintain a low profile. I took the picture from Randy & Arlene Wing’s shoreline. Their place is admirably suited for observing the nest without disturbing the loons. The water level at the time this picture was taken was a little over 56″ below the top of the dam. Photograph by George Fergusson 18 June 2016
46th Annual Maine Lakes Conference Coming Up June 25th
The Maine Lakes Society (formerly the Congress of Lake Associations or COLA) is holding their Annual Maine Lakes Conference on the 25th of this month. The itinerary, as usual, looks excellent. The Clary Lake Association is a long-time member of the Maine Lakes Society. For years the annual COLA conference was attended by Association Member Ed Grant. I’ve made a point of going in recent years and I always learn something new. I’ll be going to this one. The cost is $35 which includes lunch.
Here’s the email notice I received about this event:
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We invite you to join us at the 46th Annual Maine Lakes Conference on Saturday, June 25th, at the Unity College Center for the Performing Arts!
This year we look to the future of Maine lakes monitoring and protection, and the myriad ways citizens can get involved in lake protection. Our Keynote Speaker, Holly Ewing of Bates College, will introduce us to the latest research on Gloeotrichia echinulata blooms and GLEON, the Global Lake Ecological Observatory Network, which is helping scientists and citizens alike better understand and communicate the way lakes are responding to our changing climate. Afternoon workshops on citizen science, lake and fisheries restoration, the latest on LakeSmart, new partnerships with Maine Audubon’s Stream Smart and LoonSmart programs, translating science in your outreach products, and hands on workshops offer diverse learning experiences at a great new venue in Unity, Maine. Additional Workshops include:
The annual conference will be at the fabulous Unity College Center for the Performing Arts nearLake Winnecook in Unity, Maine. Keep an eye on our Facebook page and website for more information on presentations and speakers. We are also still welcoming conference sponsors!
We hope to see you there!
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Maine Lakes Society
P O Box 447 Belgrade Lakes, Maine 04918
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08 June 2016: Update On Superior Court Action
After attorneys with PretiFlatherty representing the dam and mill owners failed to produce a plan to repair the Clary Lake dam by last week’s June 1st deadline, people were concerned that they had come to some agreement with DEP to give them more time to respond. Also, the current Stay on the Proceedings in Superior Court ran out on June 1st as well, and we’ve all been wondering if another stay was going to be granted which would further delay the resumption of court action. With a Status Conference in Superior Court with Judge Billings scheduled for June 7th, we didn’t have long to wait for answers. I spoke with Assistant Attorney General Scott Boak this morning about what happened at yesterday afternoon’s Status Conference and he said there was no agreement between Preti and DEP going into the meeting, and the proceedings have NOT been stayed. Neither the State nor the Judge are interested in further delays.
07 July 2016: Medius L3C Late-Files Their Annual Report
A quick update to an article from a couple of days ago: Medius L3C, finally filed their 2016 Annual Report. The Secretary of State’s Interactive Corporate Services website shows the Annual Report as having been filed on June 3. The deadline for filing was June 1. Better late than never I always say.
Medius L3C, the company that currently owns the mortgage on the Clary Lake dam, remains shrouded in mystery as the Annual Report doesn’t provide any information we didn’t already know, which is to say, not much. The “authorized company representative” provided is the current Registered Agent, Attorney William Logan of Wiscasset Maine. The company logo at left from the “Company Statement” provided to people attending the dam auction last January 29th (see: 01 February 2016: About that Dam Auction).
Nothing to see here folks. Move along.
02 June 2016: Medius L3C fails to file Annual Report
According to a representative at the Bureau of Corporations, Elections and Commissions, the current holder of the mortgage on the Clary Lake dam, Medius L3C, has failed to file their required 2016 Annual Report by the June 1st deadline. This oversight will cost them $25.
Medius L3C has been shrouded in mystery since the corporation was formed back on March 18, 2015, and today, almost a year and a half later, still little is known about the company. The company has no place of business, no phone number. The owner of the company is unknown; the members, if any, are unknown. It does however have an email address: mediusl3c@gmail.com. The company has had 4 Registered Agents since it’s inception 14 months ago, 3 in fact in the past 7 months. The current Registered Agent is Attorney William Logan of Wiscasset who, ironically, was the Registered Agent for the Clary Lake Association when it first incorporated back in 1995 during the Presidency of Arthur Enos. Inquiring minds have been waiting (patiently!) for Medius to file their Annual Report to find out just a little bit more about the company. I guess they’ll have to wait a little longer.
There can be little doubt that the company was formed for the express purpose of taking over the note on the Clary Lake dam from Art Enos (see “Mortgage Assignment“) with the ultimate goal of owning the dam outright through a Power of Sale foreclosure (see: “03 February 2016 Lincoln County News: Result of Clary Lake Dam Auction Unknown“). That didn’t work, and by all accounts, Paul Kelley/PPM are still the record owner of the dam.
What happens now is anybody’s guess.
2016 Clary Lake Association Annual Meeting Scheduled
This year’s Annual meeting of the Clary Lake Association will be on Saturday, August 6th at 2:00 PM at the home of Erin Grimshaw and Christina Bishop (and their three sons) located at 739 Gardiner Road (aka Route 126) in Jefferson. Their home is located about 1/3 of a mile west of (towards Whitefield) the intersection of Route 126 and 215. Most of you will know the place: this is the house at the lower end of the old MacDonald hay field overlooking Clary Lake (picture, below left), and at the end of a looooong driveway. Andy Goss built it a few years ago; Erin and Christina have owned it since 2013. Here’s a Google Map showing the location. If you need help finding the place call 207-549-5991 for directions. The rain date, on the off chance it is raining on Saturday, is the same time, same place, next day. I can’t remember the last time the Annual meeting was rained out. I don’t know if it’s ever happened.
As usual, there will be a pot luck supper at the conclusion of the meeting so bring your favorite casserole, salad, desert, bread, dip, road kill, or what have you and plan to stay awhile and socialize.
We’ll be sending out the 2016 Spring/Summer Newsletter in a couple of weeks or thereabouts, and will include some additional information about the Annual meeting and what to expect. Included in the newsletter will be a membership form for the upcoming 2016/2017 membership year. Dues are still only $25 per year and the membership year runs from annual meeting to annual meeting, therefore in order to be able to participate in this meeting, you have to be a paid-up member for the coming year. We encourage you to mail in your membership form prior to the annual meeting. A lot of you like to renew your membership at the meeting, and that is fine too but we ask that you come a early to register and get settled as we have a lot of business to conduct and will want to start the meeting promptly at 2:00 pm. The registration table will be setup by 1:00 pm. Continue reading
21 May 2016: Clary Lake Water Quality Monitoring Resumes for 2016
On Friday May 20th David Hodsdon and I (Jack Holland was not able to join us) were finally able to resume Clary Lake Water quality monitoring for 2016 albeit a month later than we had planned, but still within the allowable time frame. Better late than never as the saying goes. We had originally planned on starting a month ago, but our YSI Pro 20 digital dissolved oxygen meter which the Association purchased through donations a few years ago failed to pass routine calibration which is performed each spring by Maine VLMP technicians. They first thought the problem was a bad probe but swapping it out for a known-good probe didn’t solve the problem. YSI Technical Support suggested it might be water in the cable connector housing so they let the unit sit around disassembled for a few days to dry out. After that it started working intermittently. They ran some more tests on it over the next week finally certified it for use with the instructions to “keep an eye on it.” We got it back midweek last week.
This first time out, the DO meter worked flawlessly (and we hope it continues). With a secchi disk reading of 4.1 meters (13.25′) the water clarity is excellent, and about normal for this time of year. But be warned: it’s early in the season yet, and the water quality can and will deteriorate. The lake has yet to “stratify” meaning that it is pretty homogenous (well mixed) and there is no thermocline yet: the temperature from the surface to the bottom only varied 2.5° Celsius. This means that if you were to go swimming now you’d think the whole lake was cold, not just 6′ down like during the summer. Likewise, the dissolved oxygen reading only varied 2.6 mg/l from surface down to 7 meters. Continue reading
21 May 2016: Clary Lake Dam’s Gate Almost But Not Quite Closed
Late last Thursday afternoon for reasons known only to himself, the Clary Lake dam owner closed the dam’s gate to within about 7″ of completely shut. As you can see from the picture at left, there’s still quite a bit of water flowing out of the lake but the mill pond behind the dam has considerably more water in it than when the gate was wide open. However, while the water may be backing up behind the dam, the lake level is still falling about 1/4″ per day. Remember, water only flows down hill and there is a mile and a half of meandering channel down which the water has to flow to get from the lake to the dam. With the gate wide open and the lake this low, I suspect the water level right at the dam itself has been as much as 2 feet lower than out on the lake, perhaps even more. I’ve actually measured a 3″ difference when gate was wide open and the lake was almost full. Albert Boynton whose family owned the dam in the 1920’s and who was actually born in the little red house on the dam told me once that after a morning of sawing lumber, the upper mill pond would have fallen considerably; when they returned from dinner, it would be full again.
05 May 2016: Black Crappies firmly established in Clary Lake
Black Crappie
Well, we knew that. We’ve known for a while now that Black Crappies were being caught in Clary Lake, and I’ve written about before (see: 28 May 2015: A Black Crappie caught in Clary Lake) but I had not actually caught one myself until yesterday when I hooked this 11″ specimen. Unlike the bass that I catch, I kept this one and had it for dinner last night. It was not bad.
Black Crappie are firmly established in most waterways in other parts of the country, especially down south (in Louisiana they’re called “Sac-a-Lait”) and they are generally considered to be an excellent pan fish, good eating with firm white flesh. However, here in Maine they are considered an invasive species and they are not native to Clary Lake (for that matter, neither are large and small mouth bass which were introduced in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s). Apparently sometime in the last 10-15 years someone introduced them into Clary to “improve” the fishery. It’s clear from the size of this one that we’ve got a firmly established breeding population of Black Crappie in Clary Lake.
I sent a picture of the fish I caught to Jason Seiders, a fisheries biologist with the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife and he responded that his staff will be conducting surveys of the Sheepscot River drainage this summer, focused mainly on assessing bass populations and confirming the presence of black crappie. Black Crappie are a very prolific fish and they can pretty much take over a water body. It is believed that they will likely affect Clary’s small mouth bass population the most.
Jason Seider’s final advice: don’t be afraid to keep all the Crappie you catch. For what it’s worth, I caught this one on a 6″ rubber worm but I expect you’ll be able to catch them on about anything you throw in the water.
02 May 2016: State Agrees to AQF Request for Stay of Proceedings
[dropcap]Back[/dropcap] on April 20th I posted about how Aquafortis Associates LLC (“AQF”) filed yet another Request for Stay of Proceedings in the matter of the ongoing appeal of the Clary Lake Water Level Order (see: “Lawyers for Kelley, Smith file Yet Another Motion For Stay of WLO Appeal“). That latest Request for Stay was dated April 14th and requested a stay of proceedings until June 1st to give the parties additional time to try and arrive at a settlement. When I reported on this matter, the State had not yet responded to the Motion though I anticipated that they would not object to the stay request. On April 22nd they did respond, and as expected, they did not object. Continue reading
20 April 2016: Lawyers for Kelley, Smith file Yet Another Motion For Stay of WLO Appeal
Attorneys for Aquafortis Associates LLC (“AQF”) have filed another Motion For Stay of the WLO appeal until June 1st. The motion was filed on April 14th and states that AQF, Pleasant Pond Mill LLC (“PPM”), and the Department of Environmental Protection have been “cooperatively working to resolve the issues that are the subject of Aquafortis’ appeal of the Department of Environmental Protection’s (“DEP”) Water Level Order for Clary Lake Dam (“CLD”), including issues that impede repairs to the CLD.” Continue reading
29 March 2016: Aquafortis Associates LLC Files Amended Petition in Superior Court
Attorneys for Aquafortis Associates LLC have finally filed an amended petition in the Superior Court appeal of the Clary Lake Water Level Order. You may recall that back on January 25th the Court issued an Order granting the State’s Motion to Dismiss and gave Aquafortis Associates, LLC 21 days to file an amended petition. Rather than filing the amended petition, they instead appealed the Superior Court ruling to the Law Court on February 16th, followed not quite 2 weeks later by Requests for Stays of Proceedings of both the appeal and the underlying Superior Court action. The appeal was subsequently dismissed by the Law Court on March 1st, and the 30 day stay requested on February 16th ended last Saturday, March 26th. The amended petition was filed yesterday, March 28th. Yes, it has taken a lot longer than 21 days for the amended petition to be filed; the reason for this is explained quite well in the cover letter accompanying the amended petition. Here’s the amended petition; it’s 23 pages and a rather large file, but interesting reading:
The most significant thing about this amended petition for me is that Paul Kelley and his company Pleasant Pond Mill LLC are not parties to it. This is because the Court’s January 25th Order granting the State’s Motion to Dismiss resulted in Mr. Kelley being removed from the proceedings. With that exception, this amended petition is not a whole lot different from the proposed amended petition filed with the court last summer.
So what’s been going on?
20 March 2016: IFW Commissioner Opens Fishing Season Two Weeks Early
From the Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife webpage:
“Effective Thursday, March 17, the 2016 Open Water fishing season began, two weeks earlier than usual, per an amended rule by the Commissioner of the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife.”
“The amended regulation allows bodies of water that were closed to open water fishing until April 1, 2016 to become open to open water fishing effective March 17, 2016.”
“Anglers throughout the state may now get a chance to enjoy the early spring by fishing on their favorite waterway earlier than usual.”
The two men who hit Clary Lake last Friday (picture above) no doubt wish they’d waited for warmer weather! The wind coming down the lake was very strong and bitterly cold, causing them to quit fishing early. The waves were breaking over the back of the boat as they were trying to maneuver it onto the trailer. At least there was enough water for them to launch and retrieve their boat.
15 March 2015: Yet Another Time Lapse Video of Ice-Out, Spring 2016
The first ice-out video I posted has been so popular I decided to make one from images captured by David Hodsdon’s ClaryCam2 webcam. Ice-out primarily occurred over 2 days starting March 10th but I decided to include a third day because it started with an incredible sunrise, and around 11:30 AM an ice floe goes by 🙂
15 March 2016: The Story of a Performing Arts Community on Clary Lake
The Whitefield Historical Society and the Jefferson Historical Society are putting on a program this coming Sunday, March 20th at the Whitefield Townhouse on Townhouse Road in Whitefield. Below is the cover illustration of the Whitefield Historical Society’s latest newsletter.
A performing arts community settled at the eastern end of Clary Lake beginning in the early 1900s. Clockwise from 12 o’clock: Ann Ward; Lucy Lee, a reader; Percy Hunt, baritone, and his wife, Katherine Ridgeway, a reader performed together on the Redpath Lyceum circuit; France King Ward, Crawford Peffer and his wife, Ella Harding, soprano; F. Morse Wemple and George Fergusson, baritones, who taught voice with Percy Hunt at the New England Conservatory. Mr. Peffer owned the New York and New England Redpath Lyceum and Chatauqua Circuits. Katherine Ridgeway and Ella Peffer went on to establish the Katherine Ridgeway Camp for Girls on the northern side of the lake. Descendants and people who knew them are encouraged to come and share their memories
George Fergusson, pictured above at 11 o’clock was my grandfather. He came to Maine and bought our property on Clary Lake in 1922. I well remember from my childhood days visiting with Percy Hunt and his sister Lucy Lee who lived across the road from the Highland Cemetery in a house now owned by Fasano, the Ward Sisters whose house and property on North Forty Lane is now owned by the Relyea family, and Morse Wemple whose property at the east end of Clary Lake was owned for many years by the Stickney family and is now owned by Glenn Bruce MacDonald. I never knew the Peffer family but understand their property was located just north of the Wemple property. The Robbins property on Clary Lake is part of the old Peffer place. They probably owned that nice red cape out in the field just up the hill from the Wemple place.
My sister and I have worked closely with Marie Sacks this past year to help her collect the information and materials she’ll be using in her presentation. I’m really looking forward to this!
13 March 2016: Time Lapse Video of Clary Lake Ice Out, Spring 2016
Last spring I made time lapse video using campics from the original ClaryCam showing the 2015 ice-out event. I decided to do that again, because I can. This video actually covers 2 days, March 12 and 13 with most of the night time images NOT included, because boring. Not much happens on the first day but the wind really picks up midday on the 13th:
13 March 2016: Ice Out on Clary Lake
Clary Lake Ice Out 3-13-16
David Hodsdon usually makes the official ice-out determination but I haven’t heard from him today and according to my precise calculations, today Clary Lake became completely ice-free. The northwest end of the lake from the outlet around the point at the end of Duncan Road has been ice-free for some days but the southern side which gets less direct sunlight was still mostly iced in until yesterday. Today’s high winds (see above) rapidly broke up and dispersed the remaining ice sheets. Today marks the earlier start of the open water season on Clary Lake going as far back as 2001, when our records start. The criterion for ice-out is when the lake is sufficiently free of ice that one can boat round the lake within a few feet of shore (essentially completely free of ice).
According to the Clary Lake Water Level Order, at ice-out the lake level should be at or very near the “normal historical high water mark” of the lake which has been determined by DEP survey to be at an elevation of 151.2′ which corresponds with the top of the dam. The lake level is supposed to be maintained at that elevation or as close to it as possible through the end of July to provide a stable water level to maintain fish and waterfowl breeding habitat. Unfortunately, the lake level is currently a little more than 2 feet below that elevation and falling and with no snow pack to provide spring runoff, we’re entirely dependent on spring rains to keep the lake level from falling too far, too fast. I’m not very optimistic.
I’ll post a time lapse video of this year’s ice-out shortly. I can’t wait to get my boat in the water.
05 March 2016: Law Court Dismisses PPM Appeal
The appeal filed with the Law Court back in late February by counsel for Pleasant Pond Mill LLC (PPM) was dismissed last Tuesday, March 1st because the appeal was deemed to be “interlocutory” which is a term referring to an interim ruling issued before the conclusion of a suit. While it is certainly good news, one shouldn’t try to read too much into this decision: it is not uncommon for a Law Court to dismiss an appeal of a lower court ruling while the underlying suit is still being heard. Consequently, this dismissal isn’t really unexpected but it is interesting that the dismissal was issued so quickly. PPM’s Motion to Stay the appeal, filed last Monday, February 29th, has also been dismissed as moot.
So what all this means is that when the appeal of the Clary Lake Water Level Order in Superior Court resumes at the conclusion of the current stay on March 26th, it will proceed without the benefit of Paul Kelley/PPM being a party to it.
Things do seem to be proceeding at a fast pace.
03 March 2016: PretiFlaherty Files Motions for Stays of Suits
[dropcap]Last[/dropcap] Monday, February 29th attorneys representing Aquafortis Associates LLC (AQF) and Pleasant Pond Mill LLC (PPM) filed motions requesting a Stay of Proceedings in two pending suits, the February 2014 Water Level Order appeal in Superior Court (No. AP-14-1) and the recently filed appeal of the recent lower court’s ruling in the Maine Supreme Court (No. LIN-16-63). The stay requests are for 30 days and end on March 26th. The Law Court action was initiated when Pleasant Pond Mill LLC appealed the January 25th Superior Court ruling granting the State’s motion to dismiss (see PPM Appeals Superior Court Ruling on Motion to Dismiss).
Stay tuned.