Town Clerk Hours Notice

The Town Clerk’s Office will be closed on Wednesday, Dec. 4, so that the staff can attend a seminar. All other departments will be open.

New Equipment

In October, the Standish Fire-Rescue Department was able to put into service five new thermal imaging cameras. Thermal imaging is used to search for heat in cleaning up after fires to see hotspots, searching for hidden fire in walls, etc. and is also a tool the firefighters use in their search for victims. They received the bulk of the funding for these cameras through FEMA’s assistance to firefighter grant program. Each camera has a cost of $9,000 and replaces much older cameras that they had.

‘Almost, Maine’ Starts Tonight

Bonny Eagle Drama, under the direction of Rick Osann, is proud to present: Almost, Maine by John Cariani on Friday, Nov. 8, at 7 p.m. and on Saturday Nov. 9, at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. in the Michael Bourgoin Auditorium at Bonny Eagle High School. Tickets are $5 for adults and free for students.

“Almost, Maine” is a quirky romantic comedy about life in the fictional northern Maine town of Almost, written by Maine native author, John Cariani. It seems everyone in town is having relationship problems and through these quirky relationships we come to appreciate the unique qualities of all relationships, including our own.

Steep Falls Village Design Committee

The next meeting of the Steep Falls Village Design Advisory Committee is scheduled to be held on Thursday, Nov. 21, in the council chambers at town hall. All meetings are open to anyone interested in attending. For more information, contact Town Planner Bud Benson at bbenson@standish.org or 642-4536.

Annual Food Drive

Family Dental Health in Standish has kicked off its annual food drive, which will run from Nov. 1-30. They are accepting donations of nonperishable food items at their office located at 43 Ossipee Trail East. At the end of the drive, all donations will be made to Catherine’s Cupboard Food Pantry serving Standish and surrounding towns.

Steep Falls Bridge Update

As many of you now know, the Steep Falls bridge which crosses the Saco River on Route 11 is scheduled to be torn down and rebuilt, beginning in May 2014. During that time, the bridge will be closed for a period of three or four months. Mark Parlin, project manager from the Maine Department of Transportation’s bridge program, sent this follow-up note in response to some of the issues addressed at the meeting and I wanted to pass it on for those living in the area.

“At the formal public meeting we stated that we would be willing to install a speed-actuated flashing speed limit sign just south of the bridge for traffic traveling north in order to help slow people down before they reached the walking trail area. Someone expressed the desire to have another flashing speed limit sign for the traffic heading south. The flashing signs are fairly expensive and oftentimes they create complaints from local residents about the lights flashing all night long. It is likely that there will be a flashing pedestrian crossing sign installed at the walking trail area after the town constructs the sidewalk up to the bridge. We would prefer not to install the flashing speed limit sign for the southbound traffic, and let the crosswalk sign do the job when it is installed. Is the town OK with that approach?

“In addition, MaineDOT will install regular unlit signs in both directions alerting traffic that there is a pedestrian area. They are technically not crosswalk signs, but they look similar. These signs will be at no cost to the town. We can maintain them as long as they are a standard design.

“As we talked about in the public meeting, MaineDOT will cross-hatch the shoulders across the bridge with a painted cross-hatched pattern in order to give the illusion of a narrower travel way. We will pay for the initial cost but the town of Standish will need to be responsible for future maintenance of the cross-hatching.”

Bea’s Boston-Bound Fundraiser

On Saturday night, Nov. 16, Memory Lane Music Hall will host a benefit to help with the costs of travel, hotels, food and medical bills for Bea O’Leary Gardner who has myelodysplastic syndrome and will be heading to Boston for a stem cell transplant.

Tickets for this evening are only $10 and include a hot meal which will be served up from 6-9 p.m., and hors d’oeuvres will be available beginning at 9 p.m. TJ the DJ will provide the music from 6-9 p.m., followed by live music provided by SoulFront. Soulfront is a 10-piece Portland-based band, which is experts in groove, funk, rock, soul and jazz. Members of the band have performed with big names such as BB King, David Bowie, Primus, Naughty By Nature, The Red Hot Chili Peppers, California Philharmonic, Southside Johnny & Ashbury Jukes, Bangor Symphony, the New Hampshire Philharmonic, James McMurtry, Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys, Rodney Atkins, Ray Lamontange, Lettuce and many more.

Put on your dancing shoes, grab your friends and stay local at Memory Lane for an evening of fun, raffles, 50/50 drawing, food, and most importantly come together for a greater cause.

Fall Back

Now that we have set the clocks back, it’s also a good time to check the batteries in your smoke detectors and clean your chimneys and boilers.

This amazing haunted house pumpkin carved and decorated by sisters Maddie and Grace Dalton took first place at the recent Standish Recreation’s Halloween Spooktacular held on Saturday, Oct. 26.On Friday, Oct. 25, Standish, Buxton and Hollis fire departments teamed up with the SAD 6 transportation division during their inservice day. The morning started with all the transportation staff going through a “bus accident table top drill.” Then they met the fire departments at Reynolds Salvage Yard on Chicopee Road while they explored this bus on its side and watched as the fire departments used their extrication tools to cut the roof open, remove the windows and doors as they would if people were trapped on the bus. The bus was a SAD 6 bus that was no longer roadworthy. According to Brent Libby, director of Public Safety, “The transportation department and Reynolds were great to work with!”Sparky the Fire Dog, McGruff the Crime Dog and Smokey the Bear with Firefighter/EMT Steve Price taken at the annual Standish Health and Safety Fair held on Saturday, Oct. 12.