The Lincoln Home will once again be the idyllic setting for WOOFSTOCK 2008, on Saturday, August 9th from 9:30am-3pm. WOOFSTOCK, a joint venture between The Animal House and the Damariscotta-Newcastle Rotary Club, will feature pet-related seminars and demonstrations, a Family Fun Dog Show, Parade of Breeds, pet-related vendors, activities, services and games, free samples, food, and raffles throughout the day.

Some of the activities and services planned include Canine Good Citizen Testing (sign-up in advance is required), Pet Photography with Ronn Orenstein, Tarot Card and Paw Readings, Face Painting, Nail Clipping, Microchipping and Toothbrushing, Games for People and Pets and “How to Make the Perfect Dog Cookie!”. Plus, the “Taste Test” booth will be back again by popular demand!

Schedule of Events:

10:00am: Judy Garbow, Seminar: Animal Communication

10:30am: Judy Herman, DVM, Seminar: Feeding Raw Diet, Facts and Myths

11:00am: Flyball MAINEiacs, Demoonstration: Flyball

11:00am-1pm: Registration for Family Fun Dog Show

11:30am: Parade of Breeds

12:00pm: Canine Connection, Demonstration: Agility

1:00: Family Fun Dog Show

The following shelters and rescues will be participating at WOOFSTOCK 2008: Lincoln County Animal Shelter, Humane Society of Knox County, Boxers in Need, Life’s Little Paws Cocker Spaniel Rescue, Australian Shepherd Rescue and Placement Helpline, Maine Greyhound Placement Service, Safe Harbor Chesapeake Bay Retriever Rescue, North East Rottweiler Rescue & Referral, Coastal Great Dane Rescue, catwalk.dogpath, inc., Kennebec Valley Shetland Sheepdog Club & Rescue and New England Brittany Spaniel Rescue.

Over 30 pet-related vendors will be joining WOOFSTOCK this year from throughout New England including: Dogswell, Merrick, Blue Buffalo, Maine Friends of Animals, ZiwiPeak, Zuke’s, Planet Dog, Serendipity House/Douglas Paquette, Meadowbrook Kennel & Spa, Northern Tracks, Weruva, Canine Snack Shack, Honest Kitchen and many more.

All proceeds from WOOFSTOCK 2008 will be donated to the participating shelters and rescues and to Rotary charities. Well-behaved, leashed pets welcome. Rain or shine.

The Lincoln Home is located on River Road in Newcastle…look for the big white tents! For more information, please call The Animal House at 563-5595 or email: info@theanimalhouse.net.

Sponsored by Camden National Bank.

WHAT?         AQUAFEST is a community-wide, family event, featuring: Timed 5K Race for the Lakes on a safe, rolling, out and back course; Prize Events for Kids, ages 1 to 12 years; Fun Run, Walk, Crawl or Creep - - all Ages Invited and Dogs, too; Kayak Races; GPS and kayak clinics; Activities such as T-Shirt Painting, Games, and Geocaching; Shopping Opportunities at Village Shops, the Farmers’ Market, and Art Mart ;     Boat Rides, Float Plane Rides; Free Raffle and Great Prizes; Awards for summer long Fishing Derby and Raffle; Family Barbecue and Free Swim Time; Water Events at selected spots around the Watershed                                              

          WHEN?         August 29, 2008 –5 to 7 pm -  Cocktail Reception at the Village Inn in Belgrade Lakes                        August 30, 2008 – 8 to 5 pm  Various activities at the Center for All Seasons (CFAS),  in Belgrade Lakes Village, Point Road out and back from Camp Runoia, and other locations around the Belgrade Watershed

            WHY?  To support Milfoil Prevention and create a Watershed-wide Action Plan (WAP) to improve water quality and public enjoyment of the seven Belgrade lakes for all who live, work, visit, and play in the thirteen towns of the Belgrade Watershed.

            WHO?            The lake associations for East, Great, Long, McGrath, Messalonskee, North, and    Salmon lakes and ponds, working together as the Lake Trust of the Belgrade Regional                         Conservation Alliance (BRCA).  Lake Trust programs include Courtesy Boat Inspections, Invasive Plant Surveys, the nservation Corps, and a working group to improve and stabilize water quality by limiting Phosphorus enrichment of our lakes.

            INFO?                        Call the BRCA at (207) 495-6039 and ask Mary Kerwood for Information about AQUAFEST; AQUAFEST Flyers with registration forms are also at many local shops and restaurants;   Your Lake Association will be glad to provide Registration materials, too.

              Quick and easy Online Registration is available at www.belgradelakes.org

WebCab Developments does not only create websites, we create a better tomorrow for our customers. We are dedicated to helping our customers get the most out of their website. Either it be a personal website or a business website, we strive to help our customers achieve a large traffic flow to their website. With good traffic flow any website help you gain popularity and or gain more revenue.

Here at WebCab we offer a variety of website designs. We truly believe that the sky is the limit when it comes to designing a website for our customers. If you can dream it, we can built it! WebCab offers anything from a simple one page “about you” personal website, to the most extensive ecommerce website for your business. We also offer the creation of what we call “Clone” websites. Anything from your very own social networking website such as Myspace, or your own auction website such as Ebay. The list goes on!

WebCab Developments also offers excellent pricing on our hosting plans for your website. Our staff at WebCab Developments also provides support to our customers after your website is finished. This ensures that you the customer will have no problems in running your own site!

WebCab also offers installation and repair service to those in need! Our technicians will get you up and running in no time! Need help setting up your computer and all the add on components? Need help setting up your wireless router and network? How about help setting up your new high definition television and all your entertainment components? Is your computer running slow, or not at all? Let the technicians at WebCab Developments help you! See our installation and repair service section for more information.

WebCab Developments pricing and service is designed to beat out all the competition.  We will always work with our customer to ensure that we are within YOUR budget!  Offering exceptional service in a timely manner at a great price! We hope that you consider WebCab Developments for all of your web development needs!

Located near the intersection of Routes 1 and 3, behind Pizza Hut and the Camden National Bank, this brand new, modern 12,000 square-foot Goodwill store will provide the community with a valuable shopping experience–and an easy way to drop off donated goods.  A convenient drive-through area will allow staff members to assist with all donations. 

The store will carry a combination of new and donated goods, from clothing, books, and household items to furniture and jewelry.  The store and donation center hours will be Monday through Saturday 9am – 8pm and Sunday 9am – 6pm. 

“We are very excited to be opening a brand-new store in Belfast,” says Michael Coughlin, Executive Director at Goodwill Industries. “In this, our 75^th year, we continue to expand our retail operations to further our mission.” 

The Belfast Goodwill store will employ 13 full- and part-time employees.  Revenue generated through the network of 25 retail stores in northern New England enables Goodwill to fund its human services programs which assist individuals with disabilities and those who face other barriers achieve social and economic independence.  Visit Goodwill online at www.goodwillnne.org for more information.

Oxford County Medical Reserve Corps (MRC) Unit Coordinator Kevin N. Saisi returned Saturday, April 12th with a suitcase filled with literally reams of information to assist in the development and sustainability of the Oxford County unit. Saisi attended the 2008 Medical Reserve Corps National Leadership and Training Conference in Portland, Oregon. Also attending the conference were Kathy Knight of Northeastern Maine Medical Reserve Corps and Kymara Lonergan, RN of Southern Maine Medical Reserve Corps . The keynote addresses were given by RADM Steven K. Galson, Acting Surgeon General, RADM W. Craig Vanderwagen, Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and Richard Hatchett, MD; National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health. The conference brought together government and non-governmental organizations, public health, preparedness/response and volunteer management experts, and other community-based MRC leaders for a 4-day knowledge sharing, leadership, and training conference. The conference agenda reflected an array of topics in public health, preparedness, volunteer management, and other areas of MRC-related interest.

MRC units are community-based and function as a way to locally organize and utilize volunteers who want to donate their time and expertise to prepare for and respond to emergencies and promote healthy living throughout the year. MRC volunteers supplement existing emergency and public health resources. They include medical and public health professionals. Community members can fill key support positions. MRC units are provided specific areas to target that strengthen the public health infrastructure of their communities by the U.S. Surgeon General. The overarching goal is to improve health literacy, and in support of this, he wants the MRCs to work towards increasing disease prevention, eliminating health disparities, and improving public health preparedness

In Maine, the Medical Reserve Corps program is coordinated through Maine CDC with six units in the state. Each unit is self-managed with support and guidance from the state and federal level, including a regional coordinator out of the Public Health Service office in Boston. Oxford County MRC is in the developmental stage with a number of teams being formed throughout the county. Saisi is working with various agencies to develop these teams in preparation for any major emergency that may occur. As the teams are established, volunteers will be sought. All volunteers will undergo screening, training and (when appropriate) credential verification. More information on Oxford County MRC is available at http://www.oxfordcountymrc.org/.

The Office of the Civilian Volunteer Medical Reserve Corps (OCVMRC) is headquartered in the Office of the U.S. Surgeon General. It functions as a clearinghouse for information and best practices to help communities establish, implement, and maintain MRC units nationwide. Aside from the annual conference, the OCVMRC sponsors hosts a Web site, and coordinates with local, state, regional, and national organizations and agencies to help communities achieve their local visions for public health and emergency preparedness. Information on the national program can be found at http://www.medicalreservecorps.gov/.

Featuring:

1st District Congressional Candidate Dean Scontras

Ed Laughlin of the Maine Economic Research Institute

Tony Payne of the Alliance for Maine’s Future

Dr. Katherine Albrecht, President of CASPIAN & Co-Author of SpyChips

Hear from business leaders on the possibilities for a stronger economy. Hear from scholars on the growing threat of privacy invasion from emerging surveillance technology. Don Folkers of The John Birch Society will discuss the ominous trend toward world government and the need to secure our borders, and Jonathan Leavitt of the Maine Marijuana Policy Initiative will confront the need for more health freedom.

Schedule of Events:
9:00am Dianne Gilbert, National Heritage Center for Constitutional Studies
9:45am Biddeford City Councilor Bob Mills, Libertarian Elected to Office in 2007
10:45am Dean Scontras, First District Republican Congressional Candidate
11:30am Jonathan Leavitt, Maine Marijuana Policy Initiative
12:15pm Break for Lunch Buffet
1:00pm Business Meeting, Election of Delegates & New Officers
2:00pm Dr. Katherine Albrecht, Consumers Against Supermarket Privacy Invasion and Numbering & Co-Author of SpyChips
2:45pm Don Folkers, The John Birch Society
3:45pm Open forum for local candidates (We have at least 3 “Ron Paul” Republicans on the ballot in November)
4:30pm Ed Laughlin, Maine Economic Research Institute
5:15pm Audio-Only Teleconference Debate between Presidential Candidates Wayne Allyn Root & Dr. Mary Ruwart
6:00pm Break for Dinner Buffet
6:45pm Tony Payne, Alliance for Maine’s Future

We hope to pack the Cabinet Room at Governor’s Banquet Center in South Portland for an exciting & memorable event.

$20/full day
$50/includes light refreshments, lunch, and dinner

Please RSVP promptly to Dylan at (207) 232-4975 or MarsHillCreative@yahoo.com

Newly elected board members are Debby Abbondanza of Yarmouth, Andre (Andy) Baillargeon of Gorham, Lisa Baillargeon of Gorham, Jennifer Buzzell of Saco, Joshua R. Dow of Cumberland Center, Maureen Keeley of Portland, and Maryann Kelly of Scarborough.

Debby Abbondanza is Senior Loan Officer at First Financial Mortgage Corporation, Andy Baillargeon is VP at JHA, Lisa Baillargeon is Director of Communications at UNUM, Jennifer Buzzell is Sales and Education Manager of L’Oreal Professionnel, Joshua Dow is member/attorney at Pearce & Dow, LLC, Maureen Keeley is an independent consultant, and Maryann Kelly is Director of Labor Relations at Blethen Maine Newspapers.

Easter Seals Maine provides exceptional services to ensure that all people with disabilities or special needs and their families have equal opportunities to live, learn, work and play in their communities. For more information, please call 207.828.0754 or visit eastersealsme.org.

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The organization’s announcement follows eight months of intensive planning beginning in May of 2007 when the current River Arts Board took over control from an interim board which had announced its intention to dissolve the organization.  The interim board’s decision was based in part upon its determination that the arts center, then known as Round Top Center for the Arts, could not continue to pay the substantial costs of maintaining or upgrading Round Top’s old deteriorating buildings without a large endowment, which did not exist. In taking over management of the non-profit corporation the present Board committed itself to “…developing a financially sustainable vision for Round Top Farm that [would] combine permanent public access to the arts with greater community use of [the] riverfront campus for educational, recreational and cultural pursuits.”   According to Kathleen Mack, the Board remains committed to the substance of this vision, but has reluctantly concluded that it cannot be fulfilled at Round Top Farm.

Mack gave the Lincoln County News a summary of the events leading up to her Board’s decision:

“After we took over the organization, we developed and circulated a survey so that we could assess public attitudes about the Round Top Center. Based on the survey results, we felt that there was public support for an arts center but that it was tempered with a feeling that the campus should be more welcoming for the public in general, and not just for artists, and that more performances and events should take place there.  The survey results were right in line with our Board’s commitment; and we felt that the 1998 deeds by which the Round Top property was conveyed to the non-profit organization would allow combining public recreational use with an arts center. This was particularly true since the person who gave the property for use as an arts center had assigned an important role to the Damariscotta River Association in making the gift.”

“After we had assessed public attitudes, our Board and its Strategic Planning Committee studied a number of financially sustainable in and out of state art centers with a view towards developing an appropriate model for the Round Top campus.  Based on our research, we adopted an “umbrella” type model, meaning that we envisioned the campus becoming the area’s primary venue for all of the performing arts and visual arts and a resource for the many area non-profits lacking suitable facilities for their operations.  A major component of such a center is a performance center for theatre, music and dance.  Our research indicated that the revenues from such a center would be sufficient to subsidize visual arts programs which are critically important but which have historically been financially marginal.”

“We already knew that the existing buildings at Round Top would not be suitable as the type of center we had in mind.  And when we started looking into the feasibility of new construction at the campus, we were advised by a number of local banks that such a project would never qualify for any type of secured financing because of the restrictions and other provisions contained in the 1998 deeds by which the non-profit corporation acquired ownership of the campus.  Our deed prohibits the center from subdividing the campus in any way and forbids putting a mortgage on any part of the property, even for a construction loan.  It also provides that the DRA will get ownership of the property in the future if any of the deed restrictions are not observed. Not everyone knows that two deeds were actually involved in the original gift, the first from the donor to the DRA and the second from the DRA to the non-profit arts center.  It is this second deed that contains most of the restrictions.”

“Another major problem created by these deed restrictions involves our ability to fundraise for a performance center. We have determined that potential major donors are not willing to donate large amounts of money towards the construction of a performance center where title to the property might return to the DRA in the event of non-compliance with a deed restriction.”

Mack pointed out that the River Arts Board had written to the donor and to the DRA seeking to initiate a dialogue about relaxing the deed restrictions to the extent necessary to accommodate River Arts’ plans.             Mack said:

“Neither the original donor nor the DRA were willing to make any changes to the deeds.  We fully understand and respect their decision, but we feel obligated to pursue our goals.  Doing so requires a location where we know they can be achieved.  In the meantime, the Board felt that it made no sense to continue to pay the substantial monthly expenses of maintaining the campus and its buildings now that we know we will not be able to realize our long term vision there.  And we are leaving with the comfort of knowing that the campus will remain in good hands and will always be used for the conservation purposes of the DRA.”

Mack explained that the deed contained a provision that the DRA is required to use the property for its conservation purposes in the event that ownership of the property reverts to the DRA.

Mack went on to say that River Arts expects to turn the property over to the DRA on or about March 8th, but she hopes that the print shop and other activities will continue at the old ice cream making building on the Round Top campus.  According to Mack, River Arts will soon be announcing new programming for the coming year at the Coffin House.  At the same time, she explained that the River Arts Board has appointed a search committee to locate a suitable unrestricted site upon which to construct a performance center and visual arts facilities. Mack also said the the Board will commission a formal feasibility study to confirm the perceived need for such a center in this region of the state.  She expects that the results of this study will reinforce and support the results of the Board’s work to date.

Mr. Phipps comes to The Iris Network having served 18 years on the organization’s Board of Directors, most recently as its former Chairman. Prior to his arrival at the Iris Network, Mr. Phipps was an attorney and partner at the Portland-based law firm Preti, Flaherty, LLP. For over 20 years, Mr. Phipps has been representing nonprofit organizations in areas such as rehabilitation, health care, education, and transportation, with assistance in Medicare compliance and nonprofit tax issues.

Mr. Phipps is a graduate of Florida State University. He earned a joint MBA/Juris Doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania. He is a member of the Maine State Bar Association. Mr. Phipps lives on Chebeague Island, ME with his wife and two daughters.

“The Search Committee was impressed by Mr. Phipps’ long history of dedication to the Iris Network and to the visually impaired and blind community of Maine,” said Nancy Hawes, Board Member and Chair of the Presidential Search Committee. “As a leading attorney in the state of Maine representing nonprofits, Mr. Phipps will help guide the organization toward accomplishing its mission to serve as a resource for people across Maine with vision loss.”

Mr. Phipps will begin his duties as President /CEO in March 2008.

The Iris Network serves as a state wide resource and catalyst for people who are visually impaired or blind so they can attain their determined level of independence and integration into the community. Headquartered in Portland, the Iris Network has outreach offices in Bangor, Brewer, Ellsworth, Houlton, Lewiston and Saco.

Visit www.theiris.org for more information.

The Center is also sponsoring a raffle with the grand prize of a Trip for two to the 2009 Super Bowl in Tampa Florida. This once in a lifetime opportunity includes: two tickets to the game, airfare voucher, game transfers, 2 tickets to the NFL experience and 4 nights hotel accommodations. Only 350 tickets are being sold and are available for $100 each. Tickets are available on our website www.cgcmaine.org or by calling The Center at 775-5216.

The evening’s events begin with a Silent Auction and Cocktail Reception. The Silent Auction features over 100 items donated by local businesses and other supporters of The Center. This event is also a celebration of The Center’s 20th Anniversary and as part of this celebration we will hand out our first Bill Hemmen’s Founder Award.

Following the Silent Auction will be Dinner and the Live Auction with items that include a Kid’s Crooked House, a Condo in Miami for a week, and tickets to a Red Sox/Yankees Game.

Don’t miss the fun – call The Center at 775-5216, email us at cgc@cgcmaine.org, or visit our website www.cgcmaine.org for more information or to order your tickets today!

The Center for Grieving Children’s mission is to provide loving support to grieving children, teens, families, and the community through peer support, outreach, and education. We honor and encourage the safe expression of grief and loss. We provide a loving community to foster the discovery and development of each child’s own resiliency and emotional well-being.