Lions Club meetings

The Gorham Lions Club meets at 6 p.m. on the second and fourth Tuesdays of each month at their clubhouse, 414 South St. (Route 114).

The Lions Club has about 20 members and is looking to grow. Members are at least 18 years old and mostly business men and women. Club president Jim Burnham said they are looking for new members, new ideas and new ways to serve.

The club fundraisers put 100 percent of the money back into the community. Gorham Lions Club projects have benefited the community in many ways. It has given thousands for eyeglasses and scholarships in addition to $7,000 to renovate Robie Gym. It also bought the first band uniforms for the high school and lights for the soccer field.

Burnham said the Gorham Lions Club was also the driving force in purchasing Fort Hill Park for all residents to enjoy. In addition, the club has donated many times to the Gorham Food Bank, Gorham Meal Site, the Susan Curtis Foundation, Gorham Fire Department and the Gorham Library. It has also built ramps for elderly and handicapped besides giving holiday baskets to the needy.

Officers are Kal Hoffstrom, immediate past president; Burnham, president; Marina Hoffstrom, secretary; Bruce Hill, treasurer; Gary Olsen, 1st vice president; Paul Weeks, 2nd vice president; Ash Pike, 3rd vice president; Al Milasauskis, tail twister; Arnold Quint, two year director; Cal Hamblen, two year director; Bob Dorr, one year director; and Aubrey Knowlen, membership chairman.

Gorham Lions Club celebrated its 50th birthday last year and Richard Barden is a charter member.

For more information, call Burnham at 892-6540 or Knowlen at 839-4769.

Smith-Wagner Post to meet

The Smith-Wagner Post 60 of the American Legion will meet at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, May 11, at the Little Falls Community Center on Gray Road.

The post will install new officers in June. For more information, call Gregory Yahm, post commander, at 839-5926.

Memorial Day plans

Plans to commemorate Memorial Day are underway.

George Gerrish, commander of Gorham Memorial Post 10879 of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, said Gorham would have its usual parades and ceremonies in Gorham Village and Little Falls.

Town Councilor Calvin Hamblen, who served with the Marines in Korea, is calling for all veterans to participate. Hamblen is hoping 100 veterans will march.

For more information, call Gerrish at 727-6965.

Community picnic

Please join us for a Community Family Picnic from 2 to 5 p.m. on Sunday, June 5, at the gazebo near the Gorham Municipal Center.

Sponsored by the Gorham Ecumenical Commission, the picnic is free to the community. Donations will be accepted. Bring your own picnic supper, blankets and chairs and enjoy live music, games, crafts and more. Desserts and beverages will be provided.

For more information or to volunteer for the event, please call Kelly Roussel at 839-7727.

Cutline (high school 1) – Kim Farrar presents a lifesaving device on Wednesday to Gorham High School. Pictured, left to right, is Rep. Chris Barstow, Dave Farrar, school nurse Joyce Larou, Kim Farrar and Assistant Gorham High School Principal Sandra Gnidziejko. Dave Farrar is Kim’s husband. Staff photo by Robert Lowell

(high school 3) – Kim Farrar presents a lifesaving device to Gorham High School on Wednesday. Sandra Gnidziejko, assistant principal, on the left, and Joyce Larou, school nurse, receive the gift, compliments of Philips Medical Systems and the American Heart Association. Staff photo by Robert Lowell

(high school 4, 5 6) – School nurse Joyce Larou, on the left, and Brenda Quinn of the American Heart Association, on the right, demonstrate use of a lifesaving device to Barbara and Jack Farrar on Wednesday at Gorham High School. Staff photo by Robert Lowell

GHS receives life-saving device

Kim Farrar, the top fundraiser last year in a heart walk, presented a lifesaving device on Wednesday to Gorham High School.

Farrar raised $4,120 in the 2004 Southern Maine Heart Walk. She participated in the walk as part of the CB Richard Ellis/The Boulos Company team, which raised $11,970.

She earned the honor to place an automatic external defibrillator in her community and she chose the Gorham performing Arts Center in the high school. The defibrillator restores normal heart rhythm to a cardiac arrest victim. The defibrillator, which costs about $1,200, was given compliments of Philips Medical Systems and the American Heart Association.

“My father-in-law, Jack Farrar, a long-time resident of Gorham, suffered a stroke a few years ago and through treatment and personal diligence has made almost a full recovery,” Farrar said. “My mother, who lives in New York, suffered a series of mini-strokes a few years ago and has also made almost a full recovery.”

“So, since, both heart disease and stroke are issues at the forefront of my mind, and since my entire family is fairly involved in the wider Gorham community, a gathering place used by all walks of people for all kinds of functions within Gorham seemed the ideal place to put this life-saving device.”

The defibrillator has two pads with one placed on the chest and one on a side. It delivers a shock only if one is needed.

The unit will be placed in the lobby near the Performing Arts Center and the gym. Sandra Gnidziejko, assistant principal of Gorham High School, said that she is one of 15 people in the Gorham school district who has been trained to operate the defibrillator.

“It could save a lot of lives,” Jack Farrar said.

North Gorham bean-hole-bean supper

The United Church of Christ in North Gorham will hold its first bean-hole-bean supper of the season from 4:30 to 6 p.m. on Saturday, May 21. $6, $3.

The beans and brown bread recipes date back to the beginnings of the church, which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year. The church, located at the corner of the North Gorham and Standish Neck roads. Janice Labrecque is church secretary.

The bean-hole-bean suppers will be held on the third Saturday of each month through October.

USM to unveil dorm plans

The University of Southern Maine is making plans for a new residence hall on the Gorham campus.

A meeting to share the early plans with Gorham citizens and to get feedback will be held at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, May 24, in the Alumni Reception Center, which is the conference room in the USM Ice Arena.

The university has received approval from the University of Maine System board of trustees to proceed with planning, and has hired an architect, Harriman Associates of Auburn. Plans call for the 324-bed hall to be located behind Bailey Hall, adjacent to the water tower.

A building committee has been working with the architect to develop a preliminary plan for the building, which the university will share with the public at the meeting on May 24. The building committee includes two community representatives, Lennie Cross of School Street and Roger Marchand of South Street.

University officials hope to have the hall ready for occupancy in September of 2007. But before moving ahead into a formal design phase, the university wants to outline plans at this early stage, and ask for feedback.

There currently are about 1,400 students in Gorham who live in six residence halls, including the 221-bed Philippi Hall, which opened in September of 2001. Philippi was the first new residence hall built in Gorham in more than 30 years. The halls are at capacity, and demand remains strong. Nevertheless, new residence halls have to be considered carefully because they are supported by room fees, not tuition or state dollars.

For more information, contact Bob Caswell of USM Public Affairs at 780-4200 or caswell@usm.maine.edu.

(Contributed by Bob Caswell.)

U.S. taxpayer debt

The Bureau of Public Debt reported on Thursday, May 5, that the U.S. debt was $7,747,996,452,325.38.

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