At Scarborough beaches, it’s butt out

No-smoking ordinance wins approval, but some details remain up in the air.

published in the Current

SCARBOROUGH – After a two-week reprieve, the hammer finally fell last week on smokers in Scarborough.

At its April 20 meeting, the Town Council voted 4-2 to enact an ordinance outlawing the use of tobacco products within 25 feet of any public beach. 

Healthy Maine Partnerships has offered to supply no-smoking signs, and to pay for public education, in hopes of securing “voluntary compliance.”  For those who don’t comply, fines will start at $100 for each offense, up to a maximum of $500.

Councilors Jessica Holbrook and Richard Sullivan voted against the ordinance, although both raised hands earlier in the meeting for a resolution declaring town beaches to be “tobacco-free zones.”

“To go as far as making this an ordinance with fines and penalties, I just don’t see that it’s in the benefit of most of the public, or the police department, as far as enforcement goes,” said Sullivan.

The resolution was designed to mirror a similar anti-smoking stance taken by the council in December 2004, when it banned tobacco products from town athletic fields, playgrounds and “assembly areas.”

Council Chairwoman Judith Roy allowed the competing measure, she said, “to give credence” to councilors who preferred a more light-handed approach, “to have their opinions heard.”  Roy voted for the resolution, although she noted it was nullified immediately upon adoption of the ordinance. 

Like Roy, Councilor Michael Wood voted for both the resolution and the ordinance. The important thing, he said, was to accomplish something on the topic that night.

“I don’t want to be in the place where we were at the last meeting, where we left with no message [for the public],” he said.

However, two councilors, Karen D’Andrea and Carol Rancourt, appeared to favor the big-stick approach.

“[The resolution] has no weight of law behind it,” said D’Andrea.  “It’s sort of meaningless.  We’d be essentially asking people nicely not to smoke on the beach.”

“Most people are not lawbreakers,” said Rancourt, the only councilor who held office when the 2004 resolution was adopted.  “But if someone is blatantly breaking the law, with an ordinance, we would then have the teeth to take care of that person.”

Under questioning from Sullivan, Police Chief Robert Moulton – on hand as acting town manager while Thomas Hall was on vacation –intimated that his department’s teeth may snap shut only sparingly.  The beach-patrol officer, he said, is not equipped to carry a summons book, meaning assistance would be required from a regular-duty officer whenever a smoker is seen.  Spotting offenders also may be sporadic, he said, because recent changes in other ordinances will necessarily focus the beach patroller’s time on traffic concerns.

“There’s no question that the officer is going to be really busy,” said Moulton.

During public testimony, Toby Simon, the Cumberland County tobacco coordinator for Healthy Maine Partnerships, pooh-poohed the enforcement angle.

“As somebody who is doing tobacco control every day, this is the one issue that comes up repeatedly,” she said, citing similar shoreside smoking bans from California to South Portland.  “People think there will be major issues around enforcement. I can tell you it’s imaginary, that never turns out to be the case.

“All it takes is visible signage, accompanied by some public education,” said Simon, who called the ordinance “self-policing.”

“Most people will respect and abide by these laws, when you put them in place,” she said. “Even smokers do not have a problem coming along with these laws. They’re used to them. They’re everywhere now.”

“I think the time has come,” agreed Wood. “I think this is not an unexpected initiative, certainly.

“I’m convinced that enforcement really won’t be an issue,” he added later, just prior to the final vote.  “I’m willing to take that chance.”

What Wood was not willing to chance, however, was the possibility that the town might be required to build designated smoking areas.  On his motion, several lines in the ordinance citing “the designated smoking area” were changed, by unanimous vote, to “a designated smoking area.”

This “simple amendment,” Wood said, changed the ordinance’s “encumberment” from “shall build” to “may build.”  And that, he stressed, allows town planners time to design smoking areas, without forcing it to shoehorn them in to places like Higgins Beach, where private property lies within the 25-foot setback.

Private proximity prompted one other amendment, made at the suggestion of Holbrook. One passage, added to appease Higgins Beach abutters – at least one of whom was reported by Roy to be a smoker – created language that seemed to confuse, if not contradict, other sections.

An attempt to assure folks who live within 25 feet of a beach that they can smoke on their on land was simply unnecessary, the council ultimately agreed.

“I think this ordinance in and of itself is clear that it does not affect private property, that it only affects town-owned property,” said D’Andrea.

That left Sullivan to make two final assaults on the ordinance.  On the one-hand, he said, the lack of a designated smoking area from the onset means that, in some places, people will not even be able to return to their vehicle for a smoke, if it is parked too close to the beach. Roy was quick to shoot down that argument.

“Those people who do smoke, they have some rights as well,” she said, “but certainly they can’t subject their smoke on other folks.  That’s the designated area issue, but they’ll live without a cigarette for two hours.  They’ll live longer without a cigarette.”

Sullivan also railed on the addition of snuff, dip and chew to the list of banned substances. 

“I’ll tell you what, it looks like we are trying to control people’s behavior, instead of protecting the public,” he said. “I thought this was all about second-hand smoke, but whatever.”

Asked by Wood if he wanted to put his complaint into the form of a motion, Sullivan declined.

“I’m not going to make an amendment, I’m just making a statement,” he said.  “I’m not voting for [the ordinance] anyhow.”

Instead, it was Holbrook who championed the cause, which failed 4-2 after Rancourt described, with accompanying editorial sound effects, what happens when birds and children find nicotine-laced expectorate buried in the sand.

That misuse of public beaches seemed to be what drove the evening’s debate. Terri Eddy, staff adviser to the high school environmental club, described how students found “more than 1,000” cigarette butts during a recent cleanup event at Pine Point Beach. Each one, she claimed, takes up to 15 years to decompose.

“Scarborough needs a serious ordinance for this,” she said, pointing out that smoking has been banned from state beaches, including the one in Scarborough, since 1999.

Although the smoking ban is settled, where the public can puff remains up in the air. Holbrook addressed that concern during her closing comments at the end of the council meeting.

“I really, really hope that we get those [designated smoking] areas in,” she said. “I hope that’s it’s not two to three years, or never.

Still, the final word may have come from Wood, who quipped just after the local law was adopted, “The ordinance goes into affect at midnight – smoke ’em if you got ’em.”

Scarborough budget cuts $18K for agencies

published in the Current

SCARBOROUGH – A public hearing on Scarborough’s 2011-12 municipal budget was scheduled for Wednesday, April 27, after the deadline for this week’s Current. However, at the April 20 council meeting, Councilor Michael Wood, speaking for the finance committee, said both school and town budgets had been cut by “equally, in the $250,000 range.”

Wood also said the finance committee has recommended that all requests from nonprofit agencies be rebuffed, saving “about $18,000.”

As detailed in the agenda for the April 27 hearing, the municipal budget will ring in at $27,681,770 – a 1.89 percent increase over current spending.

The largest increase (16.59 percent) is in debt service, which jumps from $4.25 million to $4.96 million. Other increases are in fire protection (up 3.46 percent, to $3.62 million), policing (up 3.46 percent, to $6.41 million) and community services (up 1.6 percent, to $2.15 million).

The school budget is slated to go up 2.58 percent, to $35,877,462. However, the share to be paid out of local property taxes is proposed at a 5.04 percent hike, from $27.98 million to $29.39 million.

The $1.98 million tax to be paid to Cumberland County is up 2.7 percent.

According to Wood, the hit to the tax rate – which stood at 3.1 percent in the original budget draft – was hovering around 2.7 percent as of April 20, “on current recommendations.”

“I think I can speak for the finance committee as a whole in that they would really like to see that reduced further,” said Wood.  “A tax rate increase at 2 percent, or less, is what we are hoping to achieve.”

Council to weigh $4.7M bond sale

published in the Current
 

SCARBOROUGH – At its May 4 meeting, the Scarborough Town Council will consider the issuance of $4.7 million in municipal bonds to pay for a bevy of capital improvement projects.

About half of the revenue raised from a $4,428,265 municipal bond sale would go toward a $2.2 million project to improve the intersection at Haigis Parkway and Route 1. 

Other capital improvements on the 2010-2011 budget calendar include: Three miles of "mid-level road rehabilitation” ($441,000), site and parking improvements to Higgins Beach ($300,000), redesign and repair to library parking and sidewalks ($255,000), culvert replacement at Martin Avenue and Broadturn Road ($115,000), high school field lighting ($85,650), fire department station repairs ($85,000), work to the traffic calming island on Payne Road ($35,800) and directional signs to be placed across town ($20,000).

According to Finance Director Ruth Porter, all but four of the municipal projects are already under way.

New equipment funded with the bond sale includes various items for the library ($145,175), a new plow truck and a backhoe for the public works department ($291,000) and fire alarm repairs ($20,000).

The bond sale also would pay $400,000 toward the commercial pier project from the 2006-2007 capital works plan.

At the May 4 council meeting, a separate $451,000 bond sale is scheduled to be ordered for capital improvement projects at Scarborough schools.

Revenue raised from school bonds would pay for laptop computers for teachers in Grades K-5 ($144,000), desktop computers at Wentworth Intermediate School ($137,000), storm windows and roof restoration at Wentworth ($72,000), district-wide energy conservation programs ($45,000), district-wide roofing projects ($30,000) and purchase of a utility tractor ($23,000).

Restrictions on tap for aquifer areas

published in the Current 

SCARBOROUGH – The Scarborough Town Council is on track to impose new limits on homeowners and businesses within 10 newly proposed "aquifer protection districts."

The largest of the restricted-use areas, all based on Maine Geological Survey maps, is in North Scarborough, between Gorham and County roads. Smaller protection districts lie on both sides of Broadturn Road, off the Haigis Parkway and near Mussey Road, with slightly larger districts in the areas of Pleasant Hill and Black Point roads.

"There's higher stormwater management standards than current DEP (Department of Environmental Protection) and town standards for these aquifer areas," said Dan Bacon, town planner.

If Scarborough's zoning ordinance is amended, no new gas stations would be allowed in any of the protected areas. Also zoned out of existence would be any ability to expand existing storage of "petroleum-based products."  Although the proposed amendment does not specifically prohibit gas stations, it does limit storage of any fuels not meant to be used on site to 100 gallons.

Council members appeared to react warmly to the proposal at their April 20 meeting – "I think this is wonderful," said Councilor Karen D'Andrea.  Final reading and enactment of the zoning update is scheduled for the next council meeting, at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, May 4.

According to Bacon, the changes will apply to new construction and building permits.

"This ordinance is really trying to prevent future contamination," he said.  "It's not aimed at mitigating existing issues. If there are any existing issues, DEP would take the lead on any remedy.

"It's really intended to be a preventative ordinance," said Bacon, "to prevent contamination through things such as heating oil from fuel tanks in individual people's homes, commercial chemicals and petroleum products, and larger septic systems that serve, say, restaurants and multi-family housing in un-sewered areas, as well as untreated stormwater runoff."

According to Bacon, the aquifer protection districts were born in the Comprehensive Plan Implementation Committee (CPIC) earlier this year.

"In the comprehensive plan, it highlights the need to protect both the quality and quantity of town drinking water, given their vulnerability due to porous soils," he said, noting that homes in the newly restricted areas are not served by town water and sewage services.

"When the (CPI) committee was rezoning in the North Scarborough area, there was concern about new development impacting this important ground-water resource," said Bacon.  "After reviewing state regulations, it was felt that they were somewhat 'scattered' and, also, they were not locally enforceable.  So, it began work to prevent any contamination in those areas."

In addition to the ban on new gas stations and expanded petroleum storage, the aquifer protection districts also would feature higher standards for home fuel tanks (including a requirement for double-linings), new rules on the storage and use of chemicals, and permit denial on any septic system of more than 1,250 gallons until the owner proves nitrate concentrations will not exceed 5 mg/L.

Also, with the exception of sump pumps, any new floor drain will have to be registered with the state, and any geothermal heating unit designed to draw more than 2,000 gallons per day will not be allowed without proof that it will not "adversely impact" the quality or quantity of groundwater. A stormwater treatment plan will be required of anyone disturbing more than 10,000 square feet of land for non-agricultural purposes.

Finally, any commercial use of manure or fertilizers would require adherence to best management practices of the DEP "and/or" the Department of Agriculture.

This last requirement drew criticism at last week’s meeting from Councilor Richard Sullivan, who wondered aloud if citizens would be buffeted between the two departments, and which one would prevail in any dispute over whose best practices really were best.

"Before the second reading, we can clarify that," said Bacon.

Also ripe for clarification, Bacon said, either in time for final adoption or as an additional amendment shortly thereafter, are even "better treatment standards for runoff" and a greater delineation on allowable standards for residential, versus commercial, uses.

What does appear to be set in stone, however, are the borders of each protection district.

Asked by Councilor Michael Wood if the districts would become a "moving target" over time, Bacon replied, "There may be minor adjustments based on new information, but not dramatic changes."

Election has statewide significance

Some see Dill-Maietta race as referendum on LePage, while others see only two solid candidates.

   published in the Current    
 

When voters in State Senate District 7 enter the polls May 10 to replace Democrat Larry Bliss, who’s taken a job in another state, the featured bout will be Cynthia Dill, D–Cape Elizabeth, vs. Louis Maietta Jr., R–South Portland. 

But the ballot may not tell the true tale. Since the Dill and Maietta entered the race, a debate has surfaced over whether it is between two strong candidates, both with State House experience, running on their own merits, or, as some liberal activists contend, an early indication of how Mainers feel about Gov. Paul LePage.

“This (election) will be a pretty clear indication of how people are feeling about the first few months of the LePage administration,” said Maine Democratic Party Chairman Ben Grant.

However, conservative radio commentator Ray Richardson of Westbrook calls the notion of this special election speaking to statewide politics "a media creation."

"The governor's ability to impact things is by passing his budget," says Richardson. "That hasn't happened yet, and even if it had, it wouldn't go into effect until July 1. For this to be seen as a referendum on Gov. LePage is an absolute joke. It's a farce."

Rockland architect Gerald Weinand, who runs the popular liberal blog DirigoBlue.com, said the stakes are high in a business where perception often leads reality. The race matters, Weinand said, for the same reason Dill says she wants a promotion to the upper chamber in the middle of her House term — a senator simply represents a lot more people.

“Unlike the special election held on March 1 for House District 11, this race between Rep. Dill and former Rep. Maietti will be a referendum, in part, on the LePage administration's first few months in office,” said Weinand. “Rep. Dill has made no secret of her feelings towards Gov. LePage, and she is strong advocate for liberal issues.”

Dill attempted to get the ball rolling on the creation of a recall process, based on what she says were “hundreds” of calls telling her LePage has got to go, barely 100 days into his first term.  The attempt failed, though it didn’t hurt Dill’s liberal credentials, and she reportedly assured caucus voters that she would not focus her campaign on ousting the governor. 

That, said Weinand, coupled with the fact that Bliss retained his seat by a slim 85 votes in the Republican wave that washed LePage into office last fall, means a Dill victory would speak volumes about the governor’s job performance.

“I think Gov. LePage’s behavior during his first months in office can only help Democrats,” agrees Jamie Wager, chairman of the Cape Elizabeth Democratic Committee.

But another prominent Cape resident sees it differently. Eliot Cutler, who, as an independent candidate, ran runner-up to LePage, doesn’t think the race holds any larger political significance.

“It’s very early to have a referendum on the governor first of all,” said Cutler. “Secondly, it’s hard to have a referendum on the governor when he’s not on the ballot. I think this is an election between two able people, both of whom have experience in the House.”

Dill, 46, a civil rights attorney, is now in her third term, having won election to House District 121 in 2006, soon after moving to Cape Elizabeth with her husband and two children following 10 years in South Portland. 

“It was in 2004, when President Bush was re-elected that I became very concerned,” said Dill. “I figured, well, I better stop complaining from the sidelines and get involved.”

A run at the Cape Elizabeth Town Council came up six votes short. The next year bore better fruit, leading the successful legislative run the next year.

Dill’s profile has grown in the last year, as she has become a loud critic of LePage, a blogger on the national left-leaning site Huffington Post, and a quotable source for news organizations looking for a liberal point of view.

Miaetta, 54, is a lifelong resident of South Portland who grew up in the family construction business, serving many years as vice president. A longtime firefighter and dispatcher who holds an associate degree in fire safety from Southern Maine Technical College, Maietta has more recently run a wireless store with his wife and a banquet facility with his three daughters. Currently, he focuses his time on managing two buildings he owns on Broadway in South Portland.

His political career began on the city’s Zoning Board of Appeals, leading to a term on the City Council in 1999 and election to the state Legislature in 2002.

He chose not to run for a second term in order to focus on the banquet facility with his children. However, twin tumults of a faltering economy and a bout with prostate cancer (ultimately successful) led to the sale of the business.

Maietta says his priority, if elected, would be on job creation.

“I’ve knocked on hundreds of doors in the sort amount of time in this campaign, and the number one thing I’m hearing is that people want their children to be able to stay in this state,” he said. “This district is starved for jobs.”

However, although he has made appearances with U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe, campaign aid from the governor has been neither solicited nor offered.

“I’m going in as my own person. I’m not going in there as Gov. LePage’s hand-picked guy,” said Maietta. “I’m my own guy.  I’m not a puppet on a string. I’m not going up there (to Augusta) to support the governor’s wish list. I’m going to represent the wish list of my district.“

  

That’s one way of looking at it. Here’s another, courtesy of Weinand: “That Mr. Maietta has not asked Gov. LePage to campaign for him is indicative of how much a political liability the governor has become.”

Regardless of who’s wishlist is being served, Maietta said the best way to secure jobs is to light a fire under state regulators. 

“They absolutely need to wake up,” he said, citing a Western Avenue development built by his brother, Vinnie, allegedly held up by regulatory review at a cost of “40 months and $350,000.” 

“He stuck it out and eventually put 250 people to work there,” said Maietta. “But that coming right at the very worst part of the economy, that could have cost him his business.”

“They (DEP workers) need to do their job – and I totally support the job that they do, being conscious of the environment – but they should be diligently working with developers to put people to work,” said Maietta.

“There’s no doubt that bureaucracy has been creeping at the state and local level,” said Dill. “I’m a firm believer in streamlining government and making it more efficient.”

However, Dill is dubious of Republican efforts to ease the path to development.

“I believe government plays an important role in reasonably regulating corporate greed,” she said. “Clearly people with legitimate concerns should have their concerns addressed. I’m open to that. Regulatory red tape should be cut at every chance, but at the same time, I think it’s foolish, as in the governor’s initiative, to roll back environmental laws and basically do the bidding of huge corporations.

“I don’t support so many of the measures he (LePage) has suggested,” continued Dill. “They do not reflect what people in this community want. They reflect what people from out-of-state manufacturing companies want.”

For his part, Maietta declined to address any specific regulatory proposals made by the governor, saying he could not do so, “until it crosses my desk.”

Instead, he falls back on his family history, saying he knows development issues “start to finish.”

Dill, on the other hand, touts her legislative experience, including her proudest accomplishment, creation of a broadband advisory council.

“I take very seriously my role in representing people,” she said. “And when I say people, I don’t just mean wealthy, special interests. I mean older people, I mean children, I mean school districts.”

In the end, however, despite what appear to be clear delineations in party and philosophy, at least one observer sees this as a toss-up between two strong candidates.

“I’ve met with both Cynthia and Louie and I like them both,” said Cutler. “I think they are both well-intentioned and I think South Portland, Cape Elizabeth and that little section of Scarborough in District 7 would be well represented by either one of them.”

Shore Road Path not set in stone

  published in the Current  

CAPE ELIZABETH – The dream of a two-mile walking path along Shore Road in Cape Elizabeth, connecting the town center at Route 77 to Fort Williams Park, took one step closer to reality last week, with the receipt of a $729,000 grant.

That’s good news for the project, which has floated around town in various states of planning since 1993. The bad news is that it might not be enough.

The Maine Department of Transportation grant covers 70 percent of the $1.04 million construction cost, but it also requires a 20 percent local match.

A local group, Safe Access for Everyone (SAFE), has raised $80,000 in private donations to date. Town Manager Michael McGovern says $26,000 remains of $100,000 the Town Council appropriated in 2009 for path design and surveying. Other available funds, he said, include $60,000 from a town center sidewalk fund and $40,000 in credits from the Portland Area Comprehensive Transportation System (PACTS).

That leaves the kitty short by $107,000. Perhaps most galling to fans of the path project, what’s available so far will cover actual construction costs. The missing money, McGovern said, is almost entirely for contingency – money set aside for possible cost overruns.

“The project won’t start until we get that, or the council decides we don’t need any contingency,” said McGovern. “That’s going to be the controversy over the next month or so.”

“We have some work to do,” said SAFE co-chairman and treasurer Jim Kerney. “Many of our gifts have been $20 and $25, so it’s a long and arduous path to get to the numbers we are looking for, but I am confident that it will happen. That’s what our mission has been, to generate community interest.”

Town Planner Maureen O’Meara said Monday that all permits are in place. 

“Everything was designed to be in the right of way,” said O’Meara, “so nothing will be taken by eminent domain. We did ask for one drainage easement, and that was donated by the Barber family.”

The only thing holding up the project is a green light from the council. If that does not happen by October, O’Meara said, the grant could be in jeopardy.

McGovern says the path project will be on the agenda for the next council meeting. What happens, he said, is anybody’s guess, especially considering that when the councilors appropriated $110,000 last year at least one member said no more should come from town coffers.

Kerner noted that, once before, a grant was awarded to build a sidewalk and bike lane where the path is planned. The council, he said, rejected the money.

No surprise in Desjardins' National Appointment

Gerry Desjardins, 55, stands atop Lost
Valley, in Auburn, where he volunteers
as a member of the National Ski Patrol
(NSP).  Desjardins recently was awarded a
National Appointment, his badge just the
11,088th issued since the NSP's founding
in 1938.

AUBURN — If you guessed Gerard Desjardins has been on skis his entire life, you wouldn't be far from wrong. 

The National Ski Patrol (NSP) Senior Patroller, who turns 55 next month, first hit the slopes at Auburn's Lost Valley Ski Area when he was just six years old. But Desjardins — known to all as "Gerry" — was sliding on sticks even before that. Using hand-me-down slats twice his size, Desjardins used to play on "Pepper's Hill," off Lake Street, in Auburn.  The site got its name in typical kid fashion, Desjardins explains, not because Pepper the name of the folks who owned the local attraction.  No, "Pepper," he notes, was the name of their dog.

"It was a little hill, two or three houses from my parents house," says Desjardins.  "My parents had these old, wooden skis with bear-trap bindings and square, leather 'jump boots.'  I never did find out where they came from, but I strapped 'em on and away I went.

"I was basically self-taught," he recalls, with a fond smile.  "Of course, there wasn't a whole lot of turning involved.  All I'd do is go up and down, up and down, all day long."

Desjardins graduated from Edward Little High School in 1975, where, naturally, he was a member of the ski team.

"At first I saw that as a way to get out of class early and kill the rest of the day," Desjardins laughs, "I never thought I'd go anywhere with it."

But go he did. Desjardins enlisted in the Army, where a chance conversation about skiing while training in Georgia, of all places, opened up new opportunities.  Desjardins learned the army had a ski patrol in Germany, where he was to be stationed, and he wasted no time putting in an application.  He didn't make the ski patrol, but he was asked to work as an instructor and spent much of his enlistment teaching military families how to ski.

"I was in the signal corps, but I didn't work that very much." he says, with a broad smile, looking in his white beard not a little like Santa Clause with a naughty secret. "It was great.  The only time I put a uniform on was once a month to do duty 'in charge of quarters' at the barracks.  Other than that, what I wore was ski boots."

Desjardins more than made up for the easy assignment, however.  After his regular stint was over, he re-upped as a medic in the Army Reserves, and only recently retired after 31 years. His medical training served him well when he returned to Lost Valley to join the ski patrol there.

Desjardins started at the bottom of the hill, so to speak, as an NSP candidate.  Eventually, he worked his way up to Senior Patroller. Today, Desjardins is Southern Section Chief of NSP's Maine Region, in charge of training at six mountains. And his duties don't end when the snow melts, as Desjardins leads more than 200 hours of instruction for ski patrollers across the region each year. 

"We may ski three months out of the year, but we're at it [training] year round," he says. 

Desjardins' NSP work is done entirely on his own time, without pay, working around his installer's job at Damon Insulation and a full-time course load at Colorado Technical University.

"All the patrollers respect him, the older guys and the young ones," says Lost Valley manager Phil Brushwein. "We're lucky to have him around here."

"I enjoy it, of course, because we get to ski, but I like working with the people," says Desjardins.  "That's the fun part of it.  We don't just help people when they're hurt, we try to be helpful when they have questions.  We're ambassadors to the hill, really, and we try to be a presence to the public."

As a sign of his dedication to helping others learn how to help others, Desjardins recently won an NSP National Appointment, landing him in an invitation-only group within what is the world's largest search and rescue organization. Desjardins is just the 11,088th person to get an NSP National Appointment — as signified by his badge number — dating back to the group's founding in 1938.

"I'm very active in the education aspect of the National Ski Patrol," Desjardins acknowledges, "but even so, I was surprised. I mean, you always want to get nominated, but it's not something that you go up to people and say, 'Hey, you want to put me in for this?'"

"He had not a clue about it, even though I had been working on the paperwork for over a year," laughs Desjardins' fellow NSP National Appointment member, Roland Gaumont, who made the filing  at the behest of NSP Maine Region director John Kane.

"Gerry is one of the hardest workers I know," says Gaumont. "I just don't know anyone who goes the extra mile like he does for the National Ski Patrol.  If somebody needs help with anything, anywhere, he just jumps in and does it."

Almost as proof, Desjardins stops an interview mid-sentence. He'd been working hard to deflect the spotlight, talking about the NSP's training programs and bragging on the 36-member ski patrol at Lost Valley, all of who are NSP members, including two who share National Appointment with he and Gaumont.  "You're pretty well taken care of here," he starts to say when, spotting a snowmobile coming down the trail with a toboggan in tow, he springs into action. Suddenly, the interview is over and his sole focus is on guarding the young boy in the sled from oncoming skiers.

Later, with the boy taken care of (it was a slight knee injury) Desjardins walks back across the bottom of the hill, between the slope and the chairlift, where faces of all ages wait in line and watch him as he goes by in his bright red jacket, with the big, white cross. He's not wearing his skis at the moment, but, still, Desjardins can't resist his love of outdoor adventure. As he hits the back side of a foot-high mogul he might as easily have stepped over, Desjardins locks his boots together and begins to slide. As he does so, a twinkle plays across his eye, and, for just a moment, he might pass same six year old who played all day on that neighborhood hill that belonged to a dog.

Some people flee Maine in the winter.  Some people grow old before their time.  It seem unlikely Gerry Desjardins will ever do either.