Monday, January 28, 2013


A Lesser Known Writer

If you know where to look, you will find some great writers in Maine who may not be as well known as the names you are familiar with. Names like Stephen King, Sarah Orne Jewett, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Elizabeth Ogilvie, Kenneth Roberts, Edwin Arlington Robinson, and (Charles) Wilbert Snow.
You can find unlimited information about and access to the writing of these famous people. However, there is one author in Maine which I have talked about before who you will not even find listed in the Maine State Library index. His name is Alonzo Gibbs, a writer born in Long Island, who spent many years living and writing in Maine with his beloved wife, Iris. Perhaps his birthplace excludes him from “Maine” writer lists, but I would certainly include him on my own favorite Maine writers’ list.
I have found scarce information about Gibbs, who lived just down the road from The Hilton Homestead, my Uncle Carl and Aunt Freda’s farm, where I spent many happy days of my childhood. His biography reads, born in 1915 in Long Island New York, died in 1992, buried at Hillside Cemetery in Bremen, Maine. The way I see it, if he’s buried in Maine’s soil, he is forever one of us.
I first discovered him through my cousin, Mary Sue Weeks, who is the present owner of the farm in Bremen. In the blog archives for April, 2012, you will see a brief description of his work (Summer Reading—Maine Authors—Guest Blog, Sara Tavares). At that time I promised to bring you a story he wrote about the Hiltons which is included in his book In the Weir of the Marshes.
I have an autographed copy of that book and I will bring you a piece of that story here as well as one other excerpt from that book. See a complete list of his work at the end of this blog. I did not include those that are now out of print. You will most likely find copies of his book where I found them, at Stone Soup Books of Camden, Maine, which has a website. 
From that book I found out that many of the stories included in the book originally appeared in literary magazines, Wetlands, Snowy Egret, The Long Island Forum, the Quarterly Kinsman, and in The Christian Science Monitor.
The last page of this book also contains comments about his books and poetry. These are some of them:
“The poems are clipped, perfect and austere. They are epigrammatic and intense”—Howard Griffin, about Weather-House
About his poetry, Drift South—“I can compare the power of your lines only to portions of the ‘Ancient Mariner’”—Rockwell Kent
About the poem: The Rumble of Time Through Town: “Mr. Gibbs is well aware of the fragility and shortness of life, the sweetness and tragedy. He writes well with a bittersweet tone, with depth and understanding of the human condition”--Sanford Phippen, Maine Life.
Bremen Bygones
I found reference to his book, Bremen Bygones, by Gibbs and his wife, Iris, under Maine Civil War Monuments. This monument was erected by the Patriotic Club of Bremen, a women’s group formed to raise money for the memorial “In Memory of Her Sons/Who on Land and Sea Fought/To Preserve The Union/1861-1865." It was placed outside the Bremen Union Church in 1916, one year after Gibbs’ birth. The first picture shows the unveiling in 1916, and the second picture is a present-day view. By the way, the church is still used on special occasions. The Patriotic Club also still exists.



Excerpts
The story about my aunt and uncle, Freda and Carl Hilton, is found under the chapter, “An Advent Calendar of Garlanded Days” number 13:
“When driving south toward their place you first see the snow-scumbled shingles of the family barn across the road, and in the distance, if the day is clear, the Gulf of Maine like a pewter plate set down amongst the faraway trees. Opposite, off to one side, are locust trees planted by Carl when a boy. He could tell you that every home in the old days had such trees nearby; they provided fence posts which were almost impervious to decay. On a stormy day the snow clings to the rough, deeply fissured bark of these thorny hardwoods, even high up amongst the wintering branches. Or in winter-faded sunlight, bare twigs superimpose a shadowy roadmap on the frosty clapboards of the house farther along.”
This paragraph reminds me a lot of Robert Frost’s poem, Mending Wall, which includes the lines “Something there is that doesn’t love a wall;” and “ ‘Good fences make good neighbors.’ “ I could easily see it in the form of a poem.
Number 19 Excerpt
“Yes, the first snow! And winds cruelly sharp and sturdy from the north.
“All night flakes have fallen on our seacoast town. They came down softly at first on the trim spire of the church or sifted in through the shutters of the belfry to turn to water on the cast-iron bell. When the wind rose out of the ocean, the storm swept across a neighborhood of Victorian Homes and carriage-sheds.
“Old sea captains are no longer alive to hear the rattling windows. But the out-of-staters who have converted one or another house into a Bed and Breakfast know how the surging winds scrap along the clapboards.”
Works by Alonzo Gibbs and Iris Gibbs
In the Weir of the Marshes
Bremen Bygones
Son of a Mile Long Mother
By a Sea-Coal Fire
One More Day
The Least Likely One
The Fields Breathe Sweet
Weather-House
A Man’s Calling
Drift South
The Rumble of Time Through Town
I sincerely hope I have whetted your appetite for one of my new favorite writers, Alonzo Gibbs. Maybe someday someone will write about that lesser known writer, Sandra Sylvester. I sure hope so.
Thanks for listening.

Saturday, January 26, 2013

Captain Sharp is Featured Speaker
at Chapman School











(Found on the Sail, Power & Steam Museum Facebook page today)

Captain Jim Sharp was the featured speaker at the Chapman School of Seamanship, Library presentation, this past Friday evening, (January 18). He talked extensively of the newest accomplishments of his Sail Power & Steam Museum in Rockland Maine and explained in detail the building of a wooden Friendship Sloop, a museum volunteer project. The vessel will be used to demonstrate 19th century Maine lobster fishing methods to the public—under sail—and hauling by hand, the old fashioned way. The Museum is quite active with new building and display projects, both accomplished, and on the drawing board.
He concluded his talk with a synopsis of his new book “Unlocking Europe”—‘10 years cruising European canals in a 90-year old barge’—This exciting story will be the subject of the March 1st presentation at the Chapman School of Seamanship Tiki Talk.


Monday, January 21, 2013


Storytelling and Maine Humor

Our South End poet, Kendall Merriam pointed out to me that I must have read O. Henry’s “The Last Leaf” as inspiration for my poem in the October archives, “Falling Down and Staying There.” I declared I hadn’t but promised to read that story.
I did just that and rediscovered my love of probably the best storyteller of our time. He is known best for his short stories, and as I am presently exploring that genre for a new book, it behooved me to reacquaint myself with his work.
O. Henry was a pseudonym for William Sydney Porter. All of his work can be viewed on a wonderful site called www.online-literature.com/donne/1303/ .

As I reread O.Henry I was struck by his use of language and how much the language has evolved since that time. English is always changing, ever so slowly, every day. You don’t even realize how much our way of speaking and writing has changed until you reread a story like the one from O.Henry called “The Snow Man.” Who would write a sentence like this today?
“The flakes were as large as an hour’s circular tatting by Miss Wilkins’s ablest spinster betokening a heavy snowfall and less entertainment and more adventure than the completion of the tatting could promise.”
Do you even know what tatting is? When’s the last time you heard words like “spinster” and “betokening.” We’ve lost the ability to write such long unpunctuated sentences like this. Today’s reader often doesn’t have the patience to wade through stories containing such drawn out descriptions.
Maine’s Storytellers
After reading O.Henry for a while I began to wonder about our own storytellers in Maine. I have explored this subject before in a Maine music blog.
Maine’s storytellers are mostly of the humor variety. Maine humor is a lot like British humor. Some of you will get it, others won’t. It helps your understanding of Maine humor if you are actually a native of Maine.
I’d like to mention three of our most famous Maine humorists here.
Bert And I
When the “Bert and I” album came out in 1958, my sister and my cousins Diane and Mary Sue used to go around quoting them. Like “Which way to East Millinocket? Come to think of it, you caunt get there from here.”
Mary Sue became the best mimicker, out of the four of us, of these two great humorists and to this day can probably repeat one of their stories word for word.
Bert and I were actually Robert Bryan and Marshall Dodge who recorded the album while students at Yale. They were not Maine natives but developed an uncanny ability to copy the downeast accent. It’s the best stab at it I’ve ever encountered.
In 2008 their humor was celebrated for its 50th anniversary. There’s a wonderful story about the pair at www.boston.com. Just look for Bert and I.
They have been recognized by Garrison Keillor of Lake Wobegon fame, who was inspired by the pair. Keillor says he played cuts from their album as a morning disc jockey. Penn Jillette, of Penn and Teller, has put them on his list of the top 12 comedy albums along with those of George Carlin, Lenny Bruce, and the Smothers Brothers.
Again, as you listen to an old cut from that album you will notice phrases and words we no longer hear. The well-known “downeast” fisherman’s accent is fast disappearing. The old Bert and I album continues to serve as an historical record of the times that included visits from the “Bangor packet.”
Here’s one of the most famous stories from Bert and I via Youtube:


Tim Sample
Another Maine humorist, Tim Sample, was seven when the Bert and I album came out. He later worked with Dodge before his death in 1982 in a hit-and-run crash while bicycling in Hawaii.
The program “Sunday Morning” did a piece on Sample in their “Postcards from Maine” with Charles Kuralt before he left the show.


I listened to some of Sample’s work the other day and I couldn’t stop laughing. He has done a piece about Moody’s Diner and this youtube performance from the Portland Performing Arts Center.


Sample also used the old dialect in his work.
Bob Marley
The third Maine humorist of note is Bob Marley, who is very popular right now. Marley represents how Maine humor has evolved into its modern day form. I have discussed his work before when I did the Maine music blog.  Even though you can tell Marley is from Maine the minute he opens his mouth, Marley doesn’t use the old downeast phrasing like the old Bert and I work or Tim Sample’s work; but follows a popular form of today’s stand-up comics. Here’s one of his pieces. A warning: it has some strong language.


Musical Storytellers
There is a storytelling festival at The University of Maine at Farmington every summer. If you are interested in attending, find out more at www.wmsfestival.org.  
Among participants last year were musical storytellers, David Surette, Susie Burke and Matt Shipman.
There is also a storytelling swap which could be very interesting if you are of a mind to get into storytelling yourself. I think most Maine people have an innate ability to tell a good story.
I like to call myself a storyteller myself. I hope you have enjoyed my efforts so far. Look for many more stories to come.
Thanks for listening.

Monday, January 14, 2013







“We Back Pat Week”
January 13-20


No woman in the sport of basketball or in fact, in all of sports, is more respected than the women’s basketball coach at the University of Tennessee, Pat Summitt.
This week is “We Back Pat Week” in the SEC. More details at the end of this piece.
Long before Title 9 and long before I even knew who Pat was, I played basketball for Rockland High School. I fell in love with the game and like other women who have played basketball; we thank Pat for her advancement of the game and of women’s sports in general. When I moved to Georgia, I followed her career and those of her players as they strove for yet one more championship. Even though my favorite team is the UConn Lady Huskies, I have always appreciated what Pat brought to the game. She sure was fun to watch.
After 38 years as head coach of The Lady Vols at UT, we were devastated to learn that Pat has early-onset dementia. She stepped down as coach at the end of this past season. At that time she said:
“…I loved being the head coach for 38 years, but after consultation with my son, my doctors, my lawyer and several close friends, I concluded that the time had come to move into the future and step into a new role as head coach emeritus, and I am excited for the opportunities that now await my dear friend and colleague Holly Warlick as head coach.”
Where it all Began
Pat began her basketball career as a player at Cheatham County High School in Tennessee. Going by “Trish” she was voted “Most Popular” and “Basketball Sweetheart.” The gym where she played as a “Cubette” now bears her name.
She played her college career at the University of Tennessee-Martin. Although she had wanted to be an Olympian, a knee injury led to her being offered the head coaching position for the women’s team at UT in Knoxville at age 22. The rest is history.
If you don’t believe she was probably the most winningest basketball coach of all time, look at these statistics:
·         Career Record: 1098-208
·         SEC Games: 458-69
·         SEC Championships: 16 out of 32
·         NCAA Tournament: 112-23; 18 Final Fours; 8 Titles
·         SEC Coach of the Year: 1993,’95,’98, 2001, ’03, ’04, ’07, ‘11
·         NCAA Coach of the Year: 1983, ’87, ’89, ’94, ’95, ’98, 2004
·         Naismith Coach of the Century: 2000
Pat has been honored so many times that it’s impossible to list them all here. Some of the most significant include:
·         Presidential Medal of Freedom: announced by President Barack Obama on April 19, 2012. She was honored at the White House on May 29. A Lifetime Achievement Award for the President’s Council on Physical Fitness, Sports and Nutrition on May 3. Named a member of the U.S. Department of State’s Council to Empower Women and Girls Through Sprots on June 21.
·         Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame: 2012 Tennessean of the Year.
·         The Arthur Ashe Courage Award: presented by NFL quarterback and former Vol, Peyton Manning at the July 11 ESPYs in Los Angeles
·         The Billie Jean King Legacy Award: which honors individuals whose outstanding courage and contributions have helped to change the global cultural landscape.

That’s just some of the honors for this year.
Here are some more she received throughout her career:
·         Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame: June 5, 1999
·         Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame: October 13, 2000
·         WNBA Inspiring Coach Award: April 7, 2009
·         Tennessee Women’s Hall of Fame: June 17, 2011
·         Sportswoman of the Year: along with Sportsman of the year, Duke’s basketball coach, Mike Krzyzewski, by Sports Illustrated, December 5, 2011.
Two Basketball Courts and a Gym Bear Her Name
When Pat brought her team to play at the University of Tennessee at Martin, on Nov. 23, 1997, her alma mater spent the weekend honoring the Lady Vol coach. UTM designated a street on campus, "Pat Head Summitt Drive," and named the basketball court in the Skyhawk Arena, the Pat Head Summitt Court, for their former star player. The Lady Vol team christened the newly-named court with a 73-32 victory.
UT Knoxville also named a campus street (Pat Head Summitt Street) and to commemorate reaching the top of the all-time coaching wins list with 880 victories, the University of Tennessee named its basketball court at the Thompson-Boling Arena, "The Summitt," in a surprise postgame ceremony following the win over Purdue on March 22, 2005.
Pat’s Lady Vols made an unprecedented 31 consecutive appearances in the NCAA Tournament and produced 12 Olympians, 34 WNBA players, 21 WBCA/State Farm/Kodak All-Americans earning 36 honors, and 39 All-SEC performers earning 82 honors. Along with the success on the court, Pat’s student-athletes produced in the classroom. She held a 100 percent graduation rate for all Lady Vols who completed their eligibility at Tennessee under her tutelage.
Pat will tell you that of all her honors, seeing all the women on her watch on the basketball court graduate from college is her biggest reward. She is above all a loving caring woman who genuinely cares about people and always looks for ways to improve our world and who everyone calls just “Pat,” even her players.
Pat Summitt Foundation
The "We Back Pat" campaign sprang up overnight and went viral in the social media world following Summitt's medical announcement. A t-shirt was born with the slogan, and proceeds started pouring into Summitt-picked organizations, Alzheimer's Tennessee and the University of Tennessee Medical Center.
This week, January 13-20 is “We Back Pat” week in the SEC. Home games played by the conference during that time will increase awareness of the Pat Summitt Foundation, which seeks answers to the disease of Alzeheimers.
If you would like to donate to the foundation or would like a list of games in the SEC this week, go to http://patsummitt.org
In a recent article written by Pat for Parade magazine, Pat said, “My life experiences, combined with my faith, sustain me now in my fight against Alzheimer’s disease. As with everything in life, I play to win. With the help of my son, Tyler, I continue to take on our newest opponent, early onset dementia. We are playing to win! We have created the Pat Summitt Foundation as a vehicle to do just that—to compete on a national level.”
We Back you Pat!
Thanks for listening.
Note: I had planned to bring you my own recollections of playing the game, and I will at a later date. Right now I’m waiting for pictures to add to the story. Any former players or those who still have their yearbook, I’d appreciate it if you’d scan a picture and send it to me in an email.)

Tuesday, January 8, 2013


Midcoast Community Chorus

Sings Again

A Message from my friend and a member of the Chorus:
Cindy Anderson

Still time to get tickets!!!!! Midcoast Community Concert sings

Sunday the 13th at 4pm 
Strom Auditorium at Camden Hills High School.

If you're going to the Bangor concert, it’s

Saturday, Jan. 12th at Bangor High School at 7pm!!!

It will be totally AWESOME!!!! DON'T MISS THIS ONE!!

IT IS GOING TO BE SUPER!!!!!

Call 207-975-0582

Or

Email: info@mccsings.org

 

PS: If you would like to see a video of some of the past concerts
 go to their website:


You can also find them on Facebook.

Monday, January 7, 2013


A Question of Class

The return of Downton Abbey on PBS Sunday evening brings to mind the whole “class” system. Wasn’t it great seeing Shirley McClaine and Maggie Smith go at each other.  They brought 1920s societal differences between America and England to the fore in great style. The Labour Party in England claims that one’s birth is still the most important aspect of anyone’s life in Great Britain.
There is a great tongue-in-cheek site on the British class system at:
Some material is somewhat objectionable, so be forewarned. The British humor shines through however. They break down the class system in Great Britain: Middle, Lower, Working, Lower Middle, Middle-Middle, Upper-Middle, and Upper. Some of the material is hilarious. As this quote says, “The British are in a class of their own, old bean”—Noel Coward on British Class.
Maybe we don’t have a class system in America and maybe we do. It still seems to be a fact of life in our country that the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.
When I was growing up in the South End, we as kids were not aware of any class system in play in the area. Even among Southenders there were different sets of wealth and un-wealth. But like everywhere in the world, when a bunch of kids get together to play they don’t see differences such as race, socio-ecomonic status, intelligence level, and the like. If you wanted to play ball or other games you could always find a bunch of kids willing to join you.
Unfortunately, prejudice and “class differences” are learned. We are taught our place in the world by the adults who raise us; the adults we are exposed to in our daily lives. We in turn, just as unfortunately, may pass on that information to our own children.
Class systems can result in war; in rebellion; in drug and alcohol addiction; in personal depression and loss of hope for our own futures.
Were we as kids in the South End taught not to expect too much out of life; to not have any dreams for the future? I don't think so.  My mother always used to say, “Just do the best that you can.” As I have talked about before in this blog space, there are many leaders who came out of the South End. Some of them are known internationally. We are all proud of them for being Southenders with the guts to follow their dreams.
As an adult coming back to Maine to visit I overheard a person who was not a Southender, say of an unkempt man sitting on a stool down at the Lobster Festival, “he must be a Southender.” That statement was followed by a scornful giggle. My friend and I, both former Southenders, who were helping out in this particular booth said, “Be careful of what you say. We are both from the South End ourselves.” Of course the guy tried to backtrack real fast, but it was too late.
From what I have seen and read about the South End in recent years, I see a very different place from the one I grew up in. Of course all the fancy restaurants and shore development make a big difference.
Have the people changed too? I do still see some disadvantaged people on South End streets, but I’m also aware that we now have artists’ studios in the area. They may be a new “class” of Southenders who are still not privileged financially. The phrase “starving artist” comes to mind. I wish them well and hope the practice of having a special day to visit these studios continues.
My Own Bucket List for the Future
This Southender has her own dreams. Age has not diminished them. Last year I listed some things I wanted to do before I died. More travel to places like Hawaii and Australia. Attending a WNBA championship game. Moving back to Maine. Getting in touch with more friends from my past.  Attending the Rose Bowl Parade. Attending the Ellen Degeneris show. Being a contestant on the Wheel of Fortune at the same time that Nanci is a contestant on Jeopardy. She takes the test for the seventh time (which she always passes) tomorrow online. Crossing my fingers on that one.
I did get in touch with some old friends in the past year. Unfortunately, I found out my old friend, Hedi Bak has passed away. However, I have enjoyed a re-connection with an old college friend and later roommate, Luci Valiant Currier who lives in Florida. We hope to revisit Maine together including our old alma mater down east and eating in our old college restaurant, Helen's.
I haven’t managed to cross anything else off my list yet, but I still dream about them.
One thing I have added to the list is finishing my second book. It’s close to being a first draft at this point. It will be a book of short stories with a South End flavor. I think you’ll enjoy it.
Never let your “class” hold you back. On the other hand, if we lived in a “classless” society not unlike the one in George Orwell’s book, 1984, what would we have to aspire to? Being a little poor, a little disadvantaged, can sometimes bring good things into your life later on. Those people who have struggles in their early lives often appreciate their lives more than those born with a silver spoon in their mouth. We all love good rags to riches stories after all, don’t we?
Follow your dreams…and thanks for listening.

Sunday, January 6, 2013


Schooner Bowdoin is 90 years old this year. Not sure what year this is actually.

(I came upon this story about Captain Jim Sharp of the Sail, Power and Steam Museum. The museum is closed for the winter, but I thought you’d enjoy this story meanwhile.)

Schooner captain sets sights on old shipyard

by Steve Cartwright


Sharp’s Point South

Captain Jim Sharp isn't averse to risk. Instead he seems to thrive on it. He has bought old schooners and then brought them back to life as paying windjammers. He helped rescue the Arctic exploration schooner Bowdoin; he gave the schooner Adventure to her home port of Gloucester.
Over the years, this feisty waterfront entrepreneur has bought tugboats and a Camden wharf. He once turned a steam tug into a restaurant. Now he has purchased the old Snow shipyard in Rockland's South End and created a museum there. The yard built scores of sailing and other vessels in the 19th and early 20th centuries and the Snow mansion was most recently part of MBNA's Rockland complex, until that huge credit card bank was acquired by Bank of America.
Years ago an old steam tug that Sharp had sold sank, and now he is hoping that his development, Sharp's Point South, won't meet a similar fate. He is proud of his new Sail, Power & Steam Museum, and glad to have a few tenants in other buildings that formerly housed the Outward Bound training and adventure programs.
But, "The day I signed the paper on this, the economy crashed. I'm so worried. There are empty storefronts all over town," he said. The complex he bought for what he calls a bargain is bleeding him now, and he said he is practically giving away space just to fill it.
At 76, and with one leg deteriorating from the polio he suffered at age 4, Sharp is still going strong or as he puts it, "I flunked retirement." Even as he says "worried" you sense that he really isn't that anxious. Slim, alert and energetic, Sharp admits that, "I've been successful, I've been lucky. I've managed to do what I love to do, and now I'm spending my kids' inheritance. Might as well."
This is a man who took his third wife, Meg, and traveled thousands of miles on inland waterways with a 47-foot riverboat. "I'm too old to make any money," he joked.
Already he has small boats, nautical instruments, ship models, tools and fishing gear on display, some of it from the Snow shipyard, some of it depicting the sail-powered lime trade that built the city of Rockland. Sharp's Point also hosts a children's museum, a restaurant, office space, docking space and Sharp's 1914 flagship motor vessel, the Rekord.
It's been 42 years since Sharp rescued the Bowdoin, a Boothbay Harbor-built vessel that was already being dismantled at Old Mystic Seaport Museum in Connecticut when he heard about it.
The big engine had been removed from the vessel and placed on a beach, where sand blew into it. The marine hardware had been removed from the schooner. But Sharp put it back together and, in 1969, managed to sail the Bowdoin to 95-year-old Admiral Donald MacMillan's Provincetown home so the explorer could see her one more time. The hardy schooner was fogbound but it lifted just in time and there was the Admiral, ramrod straight. He sat on the dock beside his old schooner and told stories, Sharp said.
That sort of pluck is also a Sharp trait. Jim Sharp grew up west of Philadelphia, and at first followed his father, who died when Jim was 19, into the world of finance. After nine years of that, Sharp tried the charter business with the 44-foot yawl Malabar in the Bahamas.
In the 1960s he got a taste of Maine working with the tired old schooners, Mattie and Mercantile in Camden, and in 1964 he bought the Adventure "for a song," restoring this 1926 beauty and sailing it until 1988. "I re-rigged her, gutted her. The Adventure is my first born," he said. A nonprofit group in Gloucester is now again rebuilding this fast and graceful schooner, which fished under sail and later an engine until 1953, and apparently landed more fish than any other Grand Banks fishing schooner.
One of his more unusual experiences occurred in the 1970s when the vessel became the We're Here for a film version of Rudyard Kipling's “Captain's Courageous”. Sharp was underwhelmed by the movie but continually impressed by his schooner's performance.
In his 2007 autobiography, With Reckless Abandon, he writes about setting sail in Camden: "What a thrill to call out the gang of crew and passengers to turn to and heave on our halyards and hoist that vast mainsail. After a long, cold winter of hard work, the massive power of that mainsail in a fresh breeze of wind would feel like a religious experience...she would heel over, wetting a couple of strakes on the leeward side, and my gaze would roam up and down the enormous mainsail as it took shape with the press of a fresh morning breeze."
"Sailing the Adventure," he wrote, "was to me like sailing a living museum."
For more information about the new museum, go to: www.sharpspoint.com.




Tuesday, January 1, 2013



Sonny’s Sunshine Corner
 
Sonny, Butchie, Nanci, and I wish all of you out there a very Happy New Year and a wonderful 2013. If we don’t all fall off a cliff financially, it could indeed be a very good year. At least I got a slight raise in my SS check beginning in January. Wonder of wonders, my car will be paid off in April, so that will help too. Things are looking up down here in Georgia. I hope the same can be said for all my loyal readers and my family and friends up north.
Again I thank all of you for your continued support of this column. There was a gain of 1,353 this month and it now stands at 22,360 and climbing.  Hopefully, I can predict a readership of 30,000 by this time next year.
I want to thank those of you who have inquired about my book, The South End, this holiday season. One of you got the book for Christmas and wrote me a thumbs up review. If I continue to have no more problems with this computer, I hope to have at least the first draft done this year for my new book. Now if I can remember how to use a flash drive so I can save what I’ve already written, that will be a big help.
By the way, as to the computer, one area that seems to be a problem is one of the email addresses I’ve had for as long as I’ve been a member of the computer community. It has become unmanageable because of so much spam ending up there. Therefore, I will be changing that address in the near future. I will tell you all what the new address is as soon as it’s changed. You can still reach me here at southendstories@aol.com.
This month, Ted’s column involves the predictions he made about city government and other areas in the year 1987. There is quite a lot of history involved and you may remember some of what he mentioned. Kendall Merriam’s column will also continue in the New Year.
I will also continue to include news from the Thomaston Public Library because they send me material quite often. As I’ve said before, I can no longer continue to include all the library news in the area or all the benefit affairs. They do take too much time away from other things I want to do here and you can also get that information in local papers. However, if any organization, library, and the like would like to send me specific information they would like included on this blog space, please send it to the email address above.
This blog space has evolved into one with a more national and international flavor. I have readers from all over the world now. The blogs most read are those pertaining to Maine, its history, and what Maine has to offer. Therefore, I will try to continue bringing that information to those out there who are looking for it. I always strive to show Maine in its best light, hoping to bring more people into our beloved state to experience what we’ve known since birth.
I’m not sure what stories I will bring to you this month. Let that be a surprise, O.K. All right, I really don’t have any ideas right now, but I’m working on it. I promise.
A sad note in my own family this month. You will remember that I lost my “twin” cousin, Diane Hilton O’Connor on Thanksgiving last year. Unfortunately, her big sister and my cousin, Cynthia Wass, passed away early on Christmas morning of this year. My cousin Mary Sue Weeks is now the only one left of those sisters. Cynthia was the mother of Keith Wass, owner of Wasses’ Wagon, who many of you will know. We will miss Cynthia.
My hope for the family for 2013 is no more deaths, but only happy times. I will attend the wedding of my great-niece, Danielle Sylvester, in July. It will be a happy time and I look forward to it. I wish all of you the best in the year to come.

By Ted Sylvester
 
(This was Ted’s New Year’s column for 1987. A lot of local history here.)
 
Win some, lose some in predictions game
 
It finally happened. After years of criticism of those professional prognosticators who make year predictions so nebulous that no matter what happens they can claim a correct prediction. I have fallen into the same trap. Several of the predictions for 1987 could be taken either way. It was stated that 1987 would bring a blizzard to the coast the likes of which we have not seen in a decade. We had some whopping snowstorms, but were they really classifies as blizzards? Were they the worst in a decade? Of course the prognosticators would say yes.
Residents were told they would get a real break on food prices when two new supermarkets went head to head for business. Did that happen? The prognosticator would say definitely. But my grocery bill seemed as high as ever. You be the judge on that one.
Then there was the prediction there would be a major commercial push in the downtown area by the Chamber of Commerce to ward off the competition from shopping centers. Also, it was said that a men’s clothing and shoe store would locate in the downtown and there would be construction in the area of Rankin Block. Well, Coffin’s reopened under new ownership. It has men’s clothes and shoes. A new Wasses’ Wagon was built at Rankin Block. The prognosticator would tell you that those predictions were right on the money.
I added up the score using conservative and liberal interpretations of the rules. On the one hand, the score was 14 of 25 predictions correct for a 56 percent accuracy rating. On the other hand, using a most liberal interpretation of the list, the score was 23 of 38 predictions correct for a 60 percent rating.
What it boils down to was that with the help of a few friends, the predictions here last year were pure guesswork. No one can look into the future accurately but can try to provide fodder for those of us who have nothing better to do than to let the mind wander and wonder.
At the top of my list, I said that Frederick Newcomb 3rd, prominent in local Republican circles, would get the appointment from Gov. John R. McKernan to become the area’s new district attorney to replace John Atwood, who was tabbed as Maine commissioner of public safety. Mark that one wrong. William Anderson got the appointment.
Along the same line, I said that there would be more than one “major” appointment to state positions form the county. Well, Richard Warner was appointed to the state energy department. Can’t think of any others.
Also I said that at least three presidential hopefuls would visit the coastal area in 1987. Close. There were two. Pat Robertson and Pete du Pont.
But how about this one? I said that there would be two new city councilors elected this year. Right on. Jean Chalmers and Robert Peabody joined the council. But I also said that incumbent councilors, Raymond Moulaison and Warren Perry, would not seek re-election. Got that half-right. Moulaison did not run. Perry did, but lost.
About the SAD 5 election, I said that Adele Faber would be re-elected and that Ronald Melendy would not run for another term. Fifty-fifty on that one. On the issue of reapportionment, I said that despite several court appeals, the SAD 5 board’s makeup of 13 members would remain unchanged. Wrong. Reapportionment was accomplished. We now have an 11-member board.
As far as city government was concerned, I predicted a major revamping, which would include restrictions in several departments. That was close enough for two check marks in the correct column. The City Council created a new department to be headed by a planner and economic developer that would have under its umbrella the operations of the Code Enforcement and Community Development departments.
I also said there would be the usual personnel changes in local government, the city and schools, which would result in the resignation of more than one department head. Was that accurate? One almost needed a scorecard. Resignations included William Sternberg and Gerald Malcolm from the school department, and David St. Peter, Alton Curtis, Barry Faber and Valmore Blastow from department-head positions in the city.
The biggest bomb in the prediction list was to say that the city’s fish pier would be completed and in operation. Not only would it be a big success with fishermen, it would serve as a catalyst to boost the windjammer trade. None of that happened. But keep it in mind for 1988. It will happen eventually.
On the opposite side of the picture, I said that the controversy surrounding the proposed construction of a new jail would be a major story in 1987. From the looks of our files, that certainly was true. Another “right on” call was to say that despite court action, there would be no new trailer parks located in the city in 1987.
Law officers were supposed to haul off the biggest drug bust the county ever saw in 1987. They had some success, that’s for sure, with several arrests made. But the biggest ever? Naw.
There was supposed to be a new bank locating in the Lime City this year. Didn’t happen.
I also said that Maurice Nute would retire from the U.S. Post Office after many years. He tricked me into that one. At year’s end, he was still doling out those stamps one at a time.
In sports predictions, the batting average was .500. There was a three-way prediction concerning the Red Sox. Some said they would repeat as champions. Wrong. Others said they would pick up a major player who would lead them to the promised  land. Wrong. I said that they would finish third behind the Yankees and Baltimore. Wrong, wrong, wrong.
But on the local scene, get this. I said that Rockland would repeat as state golf champions, Belfast as state wrestling champions; that Rockland and Mount View basketball teams would fight it out for Class B basketball honors; and that the two teams would meet in the Eastern Maine finals. Correct on all counts. Also, I said that Georges Valley would capture the state soccer title. They had a great year, but came up a little short.
What about 1988? Have to give that some thought.