Recreation opportunities abound on Clary Lake this winter, apparently. While the rest of us were ice skating down in the west end of the lake, David Knight was out doing donuts on his riding lawn mower with his faithful companion Megabyte:
Below is a tentative agenda for Tuesday’s meeting:
Town of Whitefield Selectmen’s Agenda
September 23, 2014
Item Time Agenda Item
6:00 pm Call meeting to order
Sign Minutes 9/9/14
6:05 pm Sign Warrants Accounts Payable/Payroll
6:15 pm Fuel bids
6:20 pm Roadside Brush cutting
6:30 pm Paul Kelley RE: Building transfer
7:00 pm Fred Duncan RE: Senott Rd./DEP Letter/Tax issue
7:15 pm Discussion
a. Inter local community cooperation
b. Next Week’s Agenda
c. Other
8:00 pm Adjournment
Time: Sunday, June 1, 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
Place: Whitefield Lions Club, Coopers Mills
The Sheepscot Valley Conservation Association invites residents of Whitefield to see and learn about the migratory fish that call the Sheepscot River home. Department of Marine Resources fisheries biologists will talk about our migratory fish, their life history, ecology, and how these species benefit people and the river.
Join us for a conversation at the river’s edge followed by a presentation by DMR fisheries biologist Claire Enterline at the Whitefield Lions Club, 52 Maine Street, Coopers Mills.
*Arrive and park at the Lions Club Den (red schoolhouse next to the Sheepscot Valley Health Center) and we will take a 10 minute walk down the hill for a riverside conversation; returning at 11:00 for the presentation.
The Clary Lake Association Board met yesterday afternoon at the home of George and Margaret Fergusson to discuss, among other things, the upcoming Annual meeting. This year’s annual Clary Lake Association meeting will be Saturday August 2nd at 2:00 PM at the home of Ellis Percy and Joann Tribby. They live in the last house at end of the Madden Road in Jefferson. The rain date will be the next day, same time same place. The big item to be voted on at this year’s meeting will be the revised bylaws. You may recall that a Bylaws Committee was formed at last year’s meeting and charged with the responsibility of reviewing and revising the Association bylaws. The last time the bylaws were revised was in 2001 so they’re long overdue for an overhaul.
The Bylaws committee members have been busy this past winter making many necessary revisions; the proposed revised bylaws will be sent out to the membership for review (along with a proxy ballot for those members who won’t be able to make it to the meeting to vote) well in advance of the Annual meeting. At this time we’re planning to send them out with the Summer 2014 newsletter on or about the 15th of June. The proposed bylaws will also be posted here, perhaps along with a totally unofficial opinion poll to give people an opportunity to comment on them.
More meeting details, a program, and proposed agenda to follow. This event has been added to the Clary Lake Association Events Calendar. Stay tuned!
The Town of Whitefield has been publishing a monthly newsletter since last July and they’re quite enjoyable. If you happen by the North Whitefield Superette you’ll find the latest issue on the counter, free of charge. Otherwise they’re available online on the Town of Whitefield website. You can also receive the newsletter by email by signing up at www.townofwhitefield.com/Newsletter.html.
This issue has an article by Tony Marple about the Central Maine Astronomical Society’s Brower Observatory located across the road from my house in my sister’s back yard, at 341 Jefferson Road. The observatory houses a 16″ Newtonian reflector as well as numerous other scopes of all sorts, and an extensive library of books, star charts, and atlases. The Central Maine Astronomical Society’s website is http://maineastro.com/
Incidentally, Whitefield’s tax maps and assessors land records are now online. This is huge. Get with it Jefferson! More about this in another post when I get a chance.
The following is a community service announcement. The Whitefield Recycling Center is located behind the Whitefield Town Office on Town House Road and is open to the public on Saturdays, 8 AM to Noon. You don’t have to be a Whitefield resident to use the facility. Support your local recycling center!
I hope everyone has been enjoying the hot weather we’ve been getting. I for one am grateful for living close enough to the lake that I can just throw myself in the water to cool off whenever I feel like it, and I’ve been feeling like it quite a bit. It’s hard for me to imagine how people can survive in the city in this kind of heat. We’re fortunate to have received so much rain lately, some of those afternoon thunderstorms have been some real splashers. While they haven’t done much to cool the air off, it’s been enough to largely offset the falling lake level. In the first 6 days of this month we’ve received almost 1″ of rain.
Tomorrow afternoon I’m heading up to the Branch Pond Association annual meeting to talk to them about the water level petition process. Their public hearing is scheduled for August 23rd. On the off-chance anyone wants to go with me, I’ll be leaving about 1 PM. Give me a call.
When I haven’t been floating in my tube this past week I’ve been sitting at my computer working on my Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law, the deadline for submission of which is 5 PM this coming Monday afternoon. I’m in good shape and expect to get them submitted sometime around mid-day so I can take the rest of the afternoon off and float in my tube. I’ll post them here and send around a Petition Update after I’ve submitted them.
Not many people know about the Brower Astronomical Observatory located right here in Whitefield Maine. It is associated with the Central Maine Astronomical Society and is named after Stanley Brower, the man who donated so much equipment to the Society including the 10′ diameter dome and the 16″ Newtonian telescope housed under it. The observatory is located at 342 Jefferson Road in Whitefield, right near the Jefferson and Whitefield town line on the south side of Clary Lake. When you get there, follow the signs to the top of the hill. Star parties are open to the public and are free of charge. Colin Caissie is the administrator of the observatory. You can reach him at 207-549-3338 for more information.
The upcoming star party is on Saturday June 8th from 9 PM until Midnight or until the last observer leaves, which ever comes first Bring bug dope. Bring binoculars if you have some. Bring your telescope if you have one of those! I’ll likely post an update shortly before the event.