For more information and to sign up, please go the the Camden Public Library web-site here:  http://www.librarycamden.org/

learn more Sarah’s professional commitment and direct community activism here at her web-site,the Campaign to Elect Sarah Ruef-Lindquist Knox County Judge of Probate

Sarah Ruef-Lindquist, candidate for Knox County Judge of Probate

Advance registration required.  No cost for Planning for Good clients / $ 175.00 for all others

May 17, 2010

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

(Portland, Maine) The Maine Center for Enterprise Development (MCED) is proud to announce its newest Benefactor Level Sponsor:  Kepware Technologies.

“MCED is the “go-to” organization for any small business start-up that needs Maine business connections, and mentoring from experienced businesspeople. Kepware was in there about 10 years ago, and I only wish that those resources had been available to me back then,” says Corson Ellis, Chairman and Founder, Kepware Technologies. 

Headquartered in Portland, ME since 1995, Kepware Technologies is the world leader in communication software for automation and offers a unique experience in both OPC and embedded device communications.  The company focuses on the development of communication drivers to automation controllers, I/O and field devices. 

To learn more about Kepware Technologies visit their website at http://www.kepware.com or call 1-888-537-9273.

###

ABOUT MCED

MCED is a private, not-for-profit 501-c-3 organization created to establish an environment where small companies, start-ups and first-time entrepreneurs can grow, prosper and successfully commercialize their technology in southern Maine. As Maine’s first business incubator, MCED was created out of the Portland Regional Chamber in 1997 to be a model of excellence for nurturing entrepreneurs, launching successful start-up companies and implementing innovation as an economic development tool for Maine.

For additional information about MCED please visit http://www.mced.biz.

CONTACT:

Steven Bazinet, President

228-8525

SBazinet@mced.biz

Planned gifts – typically absorbed into endowment funds – generally involve more complicated gift arrangements than current gifts of cash or marketable securities. They also typically begin at the 6 figure level, involve gift, estate and/or income tax benefits to their donors, and can increase significantly the financial resources of nonprofit organizations for their long-term operation.

In this course, we will review and explore:

* organizational prerequisites, including board and staff roles
* underlying policies and procedures
* the industry of planned giving
* wealth transfer and tax implications that incentivize planned gifts
* mechanics of planned gifts
* resources to support planned giving programs (e.g. allied professionals, web-based services)
* the concept of appropriate donor recognition and stewardship

We will also discuss how to identify potential planned giving opportunities.

Sarah Ruef-Lindquist, J.D. is a graduate of the Institute for Civic Leadership and a Certified Trust and Financial Advisor (“CTFA”). She has practiced law, was Vice President for Southern Maine at the Maine Community Foundation and Sr. Administrative Trust officer at Union Trust Company. She is a frequent writer and speaker on the topics of trust and estate planning, charitable gift planning and planned giving.

Wednesday, April 14, and Thursday, April 15, 9 a.m.-4 p.m.
call USM Cont Ed. 1-800-787-0468  or go to USM Cont Ed web site here
$285 (12 contact hours/ 1.2 CEUs)
Abromson Center, 88 Bedford Street, USM Portland campus

Sarah Ruef-Lindquist can be reached at her web-site, Planning for Good here

AUGUSTA On March 18, 2010, Maine Legislature’s Utility and Energy Committee held a  2 hour work session on LD 1810, the bill to implement the recommendations of the Governor’s Ocean Energy Task Force.  Scroll down   to listen to the speakers and legislators at this worksession (mp3s) Listen to March 11th public hearing on LD 1810 Mp3s

Due to the presence of Maine fishermen  and oceanic beauty in virtually every square foot of Maine state ocean waters, commercial windfarm companies may be required by the legislation to keep out of Maine state waters; in exchange, the industry seeks nonconfrontation with the fishing industry further offshore.

“Fishermen, resorts, the schooner fleets, a variety of human users are already fully exploiting Maine’s nearshore natural resources.” said Ron Huber “They can only be harmed if the industrial wind companies began leasing nearshore waters.”

Because of the complexity of the 38 page bill,  (see pdf copy of LD 1810 with state waters parts highlighted) the committee could not get through the entire bill and will meet again on Tuesday at 1pm

The Maine Lobstermen’s Association will work through the weekend on acceptable wording protecting fisheries.  Doubtless other fisheries as well.  The ocean windmill industry is no doubt busy, too,  hoping to reinclude permssion to do windpower in state waters in the bill.

Listen to speakers at the March 18, 2010 Hearing

* Introduction to the Worksession 4min

* MDEP’s Beth Nagusky describes proposed changes to Bill Part A 17 minutes

* MDEP’s Nagusky Q&A session 11 minutes

* Patrice Farrell, Maine Lobstermen’s Association 3 & 1/2 minutes

* MDEP’s Beth Nagusky describes proposed changes to Part B of LD 1811

* Suzanne Sayre 2 minutes

* John Ferland Ocean Renewable Energy Corp 1 minutes

* Dianne Messer, advocate, Liberty Maine 2 minutes

* Chris O’Neill, Friends of Maine Mountains 1 minutes

* Todd Rousette (sp?) Preti Flaherty lawfirm 2 minutes

* MDEP’s Beth Nagusky describes more changes to Part B

* MDEPs Beth Nagusky on changes to Part C of bill

* MDEP’s Beth Nagusky on changes to Part D of bill

* MDEP Beth Nagusky on Changed to Part E of Bill
* MDEP Beth Nagusky questioned on Part E 7 min

* MDEP Beth Nagusky questioned more 10 minutes

* University of Maine Dr Dagher 12 minutes

* Final stakeholders and close of work session  11 minutes

The unexpectedly loud powerful opposition to the bill by Maine scallopers, shrimpers and groundfishermen, joined by ocean resort and sailing interests and conservation activist Huber, may be bearing fruit.  “We won’t just stand by and let  the Department of Conservation start leasing out Maine’s legendary fishing and sailing grounds to big energy companies out of Boston and New Jersey.” said Huber  who is the litigant in the aforementioned  Huber v Bureau of Parks and Lands lawsuit over the Monhegan floating test site.

He said the bill would allow companies to seek 20, 40 and 50 year leases over state waters. “Are we really ready for that?” Huber asked. “I don’t think so.  Neither do most fishermen I know.“    The ocean windmill industry is probably busy this weekend too, he said,  hoping to regain language in the bill allowing windpower in state waters in the bill.

Heuber said That  the Maine Lobstermen’s Association leadership, which had been negotiating behind closed doors with the wind industry, had to be taken to task by scallop, shrimp and groundfish fleets and its own rank and file  before it stopped supporting DMR’s “Prepare to Share”  campaign, as  described by George Lapointe at the  wind energy seminar at the 2010 Maine Fishermens Forum.

On March 23rd, all interests will be back in Augusta before the Utility and Energy Committee for a 1pm  final  showdown on LD 1810

The fishermen fear that this could take place if the legislature approves LD 1810, An Act To Implement the Recommendations of the Governor’s Ocean Energy Task Force.

The bill would  authorize the Department of Conservation’s Bureau of Parks & Lands to lease nearshore state waters to the wind industry, and loosens the state’s and municipal environmental and conservation laws, rules and ordinances to be used the state waters windfarm application decisionmaking process.

LD 1810′s public hearing took place March 11th. At the hearing, Marine Resources Committee co-Chair Leila Percy told the Utility & Energy Committee, which is considering LD 1810,   that to protect marine resource users, the 35 page bill – which was only introduced in committee that week – required careful scrutiny before any final action is taken “I want to speak about the bump in the road, “ Percy told the committee. “I haven’t had a chance to read the bill. bsp;And a lot of my constituents haven’t had a chance to read the bill.” Percy said she had spoken with fishermen at the Seminar on Ocean Windfarms & Maine Fishermen at the  2010 Maine Fishermens Forum l

Percy called for the bill to passed as a “resolve”, then brought before fishing and tourism based coastal communities and before the Marine Resources Committee and the Natural Resources Committee,  before final action on a bill in 2011.
“I think having everyone’s voice in a much greater conversation would be helpful” she said.

Other portions of the bill  have also come under fire. If passed,  the Bureau of Parks and Lands could:

* Offer 2 year “lease options,  3 year predevelopment leases”,  5 year “pre-operation leases” and 30 year operating leases. In addition the Bureau plans to offer 50 year  leases of the state’s submerged marine lands to wave and tidal energy interests

LD 1810 would also:

* Allow the banning of commercial fishing within the wind leases using any gear that wind industry insurers deem risky to wind farm’s underwater cables and  structures.

* Allow wind companies to use eminent domain on shoreline and inland property owners, to allow the industry to cut powerline and tower rights of way through private land as needed to connect the offshore developers to the national grid.

* Forbid coastal towns from assessing property taxes on wind turbines or related equipment and facilities in the municipalities’ waters that are “below the mean low-water line on waters subject to tidal influence.”

* Forbid coastal resorts from challenging nearshore windfarms for threatening to  degrade economically critical, measurable scenic values without penalty or need to compensate other users for lost values.

* Forbid Maine citizens from filing appeals of Maine Department of Environmental Protection windmill project decisions to the Maine Board of Environmental Protection. Would-be appellants would need to go straight to state court.

* Forbid the Maine Board of Environmental Protection from assuming jurisdiction over Maine Department of Protection windmill applications.

Critics say  the result of the relaxed and weakened standards could stimulate a wild west style  submerged lands rush, with speculators staking exploratory claims over Maine fishing grounds, then selling their leases for a tidy profit to one of the big energy concerns that hope to dominate the wind energy business.

“Who wrote this junk bill?” said fishermen  Brian Preney of Boothbay, a member of the state’s Sea Urchin Zone Council.  “Would anybody with any civic responsibility propose such a poor piece of legislation?  I would like to know who wrote it and who they represent, because it certainly is not me or the people of Maine.”

As a result of the fishing industry’s concerns, political leaders are taking action. Speaker of the House Hannah Pingree has pledged  that the bill  will be extensively modified.

“I think we’ll scale down the bill significantly”, she reassured one concerned constituent.  ”We were disappointed the bill came from the Governor so late in the session with so many big issues to be resolved.”

The state’s heating industry is also up in arms about the bill, which proposes phasing that business out and requiring Mainers to use electricity for heating their homes and workplaces.

Final action on LD 1810 takes place 1pm Thursday March 18th, when the Maine legislature’s Utility and Energy Committee holds its work session on the bill.

Planning For Good Workshops, presented by Sarah Ruef-Lindquist  March 2010 Topics:

• Assessing organizational readiness

• Involving the Board: ensuring sound policy basis

• Setting Goals and evaluating success
  

Go to :  www.planningforgood.net for more information and advance registration details (required)

March 16th – Augusta location, Maine Bar Foundation offices

March 23rd – Portland location, Cumberland Club

Camden, Maine (January 29, 2010) — Some of the world’s leading experts on Central Asia will gather at the Camden Opera House next month to discuss the future of Afghanistan, Pakistan and India – three conflict-torn countries of vital national interest to the United States.

The 23rd Annual Camden Conference includes panelists who have worked at senior levels in the U.S. State Department, CIA and academia, as well as individuals focused on creating positive change in this troubled region. The conference comes at a time when the United States is increasing its troop presence in Afghanistan, and concern remains high about relations between the nuclear-armed nations of Pakistan and India.

The conference, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India – Crossroads of Conflict, will take place Feb. 19-21. Speakers will travel from Pakistan, Afghanistan, Mexico, Washington, D.C., and other locales to participate in the conference. More information is available at www.camdenconference.org.

“The subject could not be more timely than it is right now,” said John Snow, president of the Camden Conference Board of Directors. “This conference will help us to learn about the culture and history of this important and little-understood part of the world.”

The keynote address will be made by Ahmed Rashid, a Pakistani journalist, scholar, and best-selling author of books about Central Asia. Rashid’s work on the Taliban was used extensively by U.S. State Department after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Other presenters include:

• R. Nicholas Burns, a former Under Secretary of State, described by the Washington Post as “one of the most high-profile diplomats at the State Department” and currently Professor of the Practice of Diplomacy and International Politics at Harvard University’s Kennedy School.
• Paul R. Pillar, who worked as the chief of analytics units within the CIA, prior to becoming Director of Graduate Studies at the Center for Peace and Security Studies at Georgetown.
• Athanasios Moulakis, Chief Academic Officer at the American University of Afghanistan.
• Teresita Schaffer, director of the South Asia Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

The Camden Conference was founded in 1987, in part, as an outgrowth of the large group of retired Foreign Service and CIA officials who live in and around Camden. The nonprofit, non-partisan educational organization works to foster informed discourse on world affairs, and has a history of bringing leading statesmen and thinkers to the Camden Opera House.

“We make sure there is ample time for questions, and because our audience is so informed and engaged, there’s always a great exchange of ideas,” Snow said. “Many of our presenters say that the interaction here is as good as any they have anywhere, even though many of these speakers participate in events around the world.”

A substantial portion of the audience travels to Camden each year for the conference from other parts of the United States and, at times, international locations.

Camden itself has a long and continuing intellectual heritage that includes literary figures such as Edna St. Vincent Millay and continues today with events such as the national Pop!Tech technology conference and annual events focused on literature, creativity and the arts. Artists have historically flocked to the Midcoast because of its unique quality of light and dramatic, rocky coastline.

The Town of Camden remains a vibrant, authentic New England village of unique beauty, where the mountains meet the sea. Down East magazine labeled Camden Harbor the prettiest in Maine, and Boston magazine named Camden One of New England’s Best Small Towns.

“We’re quite proud of our artistic and intellectual heritage here in the Camden area, and always enjoy it when people from other communities visit to share in that tradition,” said Daniel Bookham, Executive Director of the Camden-Rockport-Lincolnville Chamber of Commerce.

The Camden-Rockport-Lincolnville Chamber of Commerce is a non-profit membership association that serves businesses and organizations from 54 towns and seven states who actively seek to support business and community in the Camden Hills region of Maine.

Founded in 1987, the Camden Conference is a nonprofit, non-partisan educational organization whose mission is to foster informed discourse on world affairs.

###

presents 5 Planned Giving Workshops

The first and very timely for many  Executive Directors,

this January 19 in Portland Maine

and January 26 in Augusta Maine
“Strategies for Planned Giving for the “small” Development Office”

attendees will learn:

• Maximizing potential with minimal capacity
• Engaging board and senior management for support and success
• Sustaining the effort for the long-term

Fees detailed at www.planningforgood.net

advance registration required,  no charge for Planning For Good clients

Complete details available at www.planningforgood.net

email @srueflindquist@gmail.com or call 975-5165

The films include “The Triumverate”, ‘Vital Records” and ‘For the Life of Me” by Jean Strauss, “Adoptee Rights:Philadelphia 2009” by Scott Hancock and “Roots: Unknown” by Zara Phillips.

Admission is by donation and light hors devours will be served at intermission. Festivities begin at Noon at The Maine Studios Facility on Presumpscot Street in Portland.

Snowdate is January 3^rd, 2010.

The Maine Studios is an eco-friendly Film Studio located in Portland; Maine’s largest city.  With over 43,000 square feet of production and office space, this facility is one of the largest film studios in the Northeast.  www.mainefilmstudios.com