Winter woes hit hardest below the poverty line

SUMNER — In his rusting 1960’s era mobile home, built back when the things really were “trailers,” Fred Webber hobbles from the table, across a sagging floor, to a recently rebuilt kitchen counter.

His slow, wavering gait, he says, apologeticaly, is the result of a botched operation to correct a curved spine, more than 50 years ago.

Once at the counter, he rustles through paperwork until he finds the form he wants.  On it, the feds say the 68-year-old can have a mere $50 of his $674 social security, because the $644 he receives in disability counts as “other income.”

That leaves Webber less than $700 to get by on for the month. 

As he heaves himself back into his chair, Webber says most of that goes to heat his home.  His disability is aggravated by decades spent in woods and behind the wheel, work his doctors advised him not to do, before finally getting him to call it quits in the ‘70s.

“Eh,” says Webber, with a shrug, “How’re you going to tell a 20-year-old kid, ‘You can’t work’?”

However, hobbled and unable to maintain his home, Webber has watched it slowly collapse around him.  The bathroom floor caved in not long ago, the front door has an inch-wide gap covered with a piece of blue painter’s tape.

“To heat this place, you might as well just open the door and build a fire on the steps,” says Webber’s neighbor, Donna Dunham.  “This place is all rotted out underneath.  The duckwork’s all open to the outside.  The heat just flies right out of here.

Dunham has tried to help Webber over the years, even giving him piles of her own split wood.  Webber can heat with oil, wood or propane, whichever is cheapest at the time.  Still, Dunham and her husband, Tim, can only do so much, she says.  They’re both on disability, too.

Meanwhile, Webber tried to get help from Community Concepts to weatherize his home. 

“They came by to look at the place,” says Webber.  “They said it’s not worth fixing, but they’d like to give me a loan for a new one.”

Webber then casts a long look sideways at his social security notice, and then rolls his eyes.

“Now, who’s going to give me a loan?”” he asks.

What Webber needs, says Dunham, is just a little help — some materials, a few hours of volunteer labor — to help seal his home from the elements.

Anyone willing to help can call Dunham at 388-2225, or on her cell phone at 577-9920.

2006 Year in Review: August

AUGUST

August 3, 2006

Money, time running out for Cindy

OXFORD/OMAHA, NE — Oxford’s Cindy Hensen, in Omaha for lifesaving intestinal surgery, began to run low on funds while awaiting a suitable organ donation.  The Advertiser updated Cindy’s long struggle with Chron’s disease and provided contact information so readers could make tax-deductible donations to help keep her on standby for her operation, which we were happy to report on two weeks later.

Court says chief deputy can’t carry any firearms

OXFORD COUNTY — An court-ordered protection from abuse cost Chief Deputy James Davis, second-in-command at the Oxford County Sheriff’s Department, his right to carry a firearm.  Davis his eventually retired, staying on administrative leave with pay long enough to preserve his benefits.

Hedgehog Hill Farm closes retail doors

SUMNER — After 35 years, and the death of his wife, Terry, Mark Silver closed the retail end of Hedgehog Hill Farm, in Sumner.  Silber said he would continue to welcome visitors to the farm’s vibrant perennial gardens.    

August 10, 2006

Pro-pot party moving to downtown?

NORWAY — Following repeated complaints of noise and trespassing, Norway selectmen voted to hold Aaron Fuda, accountable under the town’s new Disorderly House ordinance.  Selectmen held a public hearing, declared Fuda in violation of the ordinance, and compelled him to reach a consent agreement with the police chief and the town attorney.  By year's end, the attorney had not attended any meetings and the police chief would approach the problem from a new angle, by proposing a new ordinance banning large outdoor festivals, such as Fuda Fest, without a permit.

Growth Council head steps down

NORWAY — Following a contentious summer in which several area towns threatened to withhold funding, Brett Doney, CEO of the Growth Council of Oxford Hills, tendered his resignation from the local economic redevelopment group.  Doney left for a similar job in Montana and was replaced in early December by John Shuttuck, of New Gloucester.

Blank checks stolen from mailbox

NORWAY — Mail thieves struck although the actual thievery too place eight months earlier.  It was revealed that police were on the trail of whomever stole a box of checks out of a Norway mailbox last fall, subsequently forging and cashing more than $1,800 worth of bad instruments.

August 17, 2006

Future sparkles: New finds at Mount Mica

PARIS — Gary Freeman reported on his efforts to reopen Mount Mica, atop Paris Hill, and the exclusive arrangement with South Paris-based Creaser Jewelers to market the tourmaline found there.

Art group forges ahead in spite of president’s arrest

NORWAY — Only weeks after selecting Ralph Walen, of Peru, as its new president, the Western Maine Art Group (WMAG) was shocked to action when Walen was arrested for stealing $9,000 worth of copper from a former employer, with thoughts of cashing in on the resale market.  The arts group dumped Whalen and turned to Aranka Matolcsy, daughter of WMAG founder Lajos Matolcsy.

Harrison to snowbird: Don’t overstay welcome

HARRISON — Harrison wrestled with two seasonal residents who lived out of a mobil camper on property near Long Lake during the summer months, leaving the vehicle parked there in the winter.  Because the subdivided lot was not large enough to accommodate a “permanent structure, ” selectmen ruled the camper had to be registered and could only remain on the property 120 days out of the year.

August 24, 2006

Dog owners take leash law to lake

OTISFIELD — To keep their water-loving yellow lab, Tanner, from wading ashore down the banks of Saturday Pond from where he bounded in, thereby violating Otisfield’s leash law, a local couple came up with an ingenious buoyed leash to allow the dog to have his fun without risk of a legal crackdown.

No Wyman bank records at trial?

NORWAY — An attorney for Deb Wyman, Norway’s former community development director accused of pocketing more than $115,000 from state grants and town accounts under her care, made an unsuccessful attempt to suppress her bank records from an upcoming trial.

Residents petition state auditor to come to Poland

POLAND — As the convoluted history of Poland’s $2 million TIF snafu with the Poland Spring bottling company started to unravel, residents began to stump for intervention from the state auditor.

August 31, 2006

Norway has 30 days to ‘save’ Oddfellows Hall

NORWAY — Following abandonment by the Growth Council of Oxford Hills of its project to renovate the vacant Oddfellows Hall on Main Street, Norway selectmen were left with a state mandate to find a new developer within 30 days or else risk losing more than $400,000 in grant money awarded for the work.  By the time a new owner was found, after the Growth Council’s first choice backed out, about $265,000 was lost. 

Four Hebron students help to heal the world

HEBRON/MALAWI, AFRICA — Four Hebron Academy students shared their story of how they spent their summer vacation — working with abandoned children at the Littlefield Orphanage in Malawi, Africa.

Cache of pre-Civil War records found in Paris

PARIS — Wini Mott, of Paris Hill, found in her attic three reams of bound papers, all official town records  apparently kept by her late-husband’s ancestor, Hiram Hubbard, who was the Paris town clerk from 1846 to 1851.     The documents were returned to the town, with copies made for the historical society. 

Buckield, Sumner to meet with state education boss

BUCKFIELD — With concern mounting over escalating budgets in SAD 39, the Buckfield Board of Selectmen has decided to call a special meeting so they can attend a regularly scheduled meeting of the Sumner Board of Selectmen. That meeting will be held at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, February 24, at the Bisbee-Dyer Municipal Center in Sumner.

Both SAD 39 Superintendent William Shuttleworth and Maine Commissioner of Education Susan Gendron will be in attendance to answer questions from selectmen and the public regarding education costs.

"I think all of us that possibly can, should attend that," said Buckfield Selectman Oscar Gammon. "I would hope that the school board would be there too, but I think that it's important that the selectmen show up to these meetings."

Buckfield Town Manager Cynthia Dunn plans to post a public notice of the meeting because state law in MRSA Title-1, Chapter 13 dictates that such notice be given "if proceedings are a meeting of a body or agency consisting of three or more persons."

According to Dunn, as all three of Buckfield's selectmen — Lawrence "Skip" Stanley, Joanne Bly, and Gammon — plan to attend the Sumner selectmen's meeting, that constitutes a special meeting of the Buckfield board.

The agenda for the Sumner meeting stems directly from a December 30, 2003, letter sent to Shuttleworth by the Sumner selectmen.

That letter read, in part, "We believe that our school budget must reflect the financial realities of our towns. Therefore, we request that you hold the school budget to its present level for at least the next three years."

A copy of this letter was sent to the Buckfield selectmen, along with a request that they sign their copy and forward it to the school district.

"This letter will be more effective if it is submitted by all three towns in SAD 39," and accompanying letter addressed directly to the Buckfield selectmen said.

At their regular meeting of January 6, the Buckfield selectmen considered both letters and declined to sign the one addressed to the school district.

Selectman Bly commented at the time that the actions of the Sumner board were "inappropriate" given that they had not consulted with the Buckfield selectmen before printing and distributing the letters.

Superintendent Shuttleworth was in attendance at the January 6 meeting of the Buckfield selectmen, just as he had also recently attended a meeting of the Sumner selectmen in response to the letter they were circulating. He commented that the SAD 39 budget was already "bare-bones — to a point were it is interfering with the quality of education."

He also cited statistics showing that SAD 39's annual per pupil cost to be $600 below the state average and that, despite this, SAD 39 currently ranks within the Top 10 percent in school performance in the state of Maine.

Shuttleworth further started that a three-year cap on spending would be virtually impossible because the upcoming budget will include at least a $253,000 increase in obligations, including teacher's contracts, as well as increases in the costs of liability insurance, health insurance, and heating oil.

Suttleworth laid the blame for SAD 39's perennial budget increases squarely on the state legislature.

"The state is currently only paying 44 percent of its 55 percent school funding obligation," he said. "If the state paid 55 percent, SAD 39 budgets would have only slight increases, if any."

Gammon agreed that the voters of Maine, "need to take all necessary steps" in mandating that the state meet its 55 percent funding obligation to the school districts.

However, Chairman Stanley appeared less sympathetic, while agreeing that the three-year freeze on any budget increase, as requested by the Sumner selectmen, was "probably unrealistic," he did decline to allow Shuttleworth a free pass on personal culpability for increasing budgets.

"The [school] district needs to be aware that it is being watched by the selectmen and the people of the community," he asserted. "The selectmen are always looking at ways to cut as much as possible from the budget and still maintain an appropriate level of service. The district needs to make the same good faith effort.

"Buckfield realizes that the [school] district's hands are tied when it comes to mandated costs," he continued. "However, I strongly believe the district can look at other areas for possible budget reductions. The people are up to their necks with taxes."

With neither the selectmen of Sumner nor Buckfield fully satisfied with the results of their respective meetings with Shuttleworth, the Sumner selectmen — including Clifford McNeil, Tom Standard and Chairman Mark Silber — began looking for other outlets at which to vent their frustrations. It was decided that, if possible, a meeting with Maine Commissioner of Education Susan Gendron should be sought.

Silber explained Sumner's reasons for seeing the meeting:

"The purpose of the meeting is to explain why we wrote the letter asking for a stasis of funding in education. In other words, we don't want it to go up in the next couple of years because we as a town are feeling an incredibly high burden. Because [of this] we can't maintain roads. We don't have a tax base.

"We just want to explain to her connections between high educational budgets, mandates that the state puts on towns and school districts, and the connection between that and local taxes."

Whether the reasons for the spiraling costs of SAD 39 lay with the towns, the school administrators, or the state, Buckfield's selectmen hope to get some answers by attending the upcoming meeting in Sumner.

Despite declining to sign the letter Sumner's selectmen circulated asking for a three-year budget freeze, Chairman Stanley said, "I appreciate their frustration and understand where they are going."