Absentee ballot applications available

Are you going away to school or going away for the winter before Election Day on Tuesday, Nov. 8, or just like to vote from the comfort of your home?

Absentee ballot applications are now available in the Town Clerk’s office. Or they can be completed online at www.maine.gov/cgi-bin/online/AbsenteeBallot/index.pl.

Absentee ballots should be available by mid-October. Once the ballots are available residents can simply go into the Town Clerk’s office and vote in person. All ballots are kept in a secure location until Election Day.

For more information, call 222-1670

Closed for Labor Day

Baxter Memorial Library will be closed on Monday, Sept. 5, in observance of Labor Day.

Chili and chowder cookoff

The fourth annual Chili and Chowder Cook-Off sponsored by the Gorham Business Exchange will be held on Thursday, Sept. 22, from 5:30-7 p.m. in the cafeteria at Gorham Middle School on Weeks Road.

The public is invited to sample the chili and chowder entries and help choose Gorham Business’ top chefs.

Four awards will be given – two in each category. Besides popular voting, the entries will also be judged by members of the Gorham Town Council.

Members of the Gorham Business Exchange who wish to enter the competition should call 892-5515 or email dede@gorhambusiness.org.

School made history

Gorham Academy opened for classes on Sept. 9, 1806, with 33 students, according to the Gorham Historical Society. The Rev. Reuben Nason was preceptor.

The building is now on the Gorham campus of the University of Southern Maine.

U.S. taxpayer debt

The Bureau of Public Debt reported on Aug. 25 that the U.S. public debt was $14,653,547,886,356.11.