Issue of April 24, 2008
Owners of restaurants and businesses that sell beverages are furious about a new, 40 percent tax on syrup used to make soda and a doubling of taxes on beer and wine – passed by the Legislature last week in the waning hours of the session.
The taxes, owners say, will mean price hikes on some favorite beverages.
“The timing couldn’t be worse. It’s going to affect all of us in the restaurant business,” said Bob Westburg, owner of Garofalo’s Restaurant, at Higgins Beach in Scarborough.
With less than a month left before the massive new Cabela’s opens its doors, the smaller, local shops within the Gateway at Scarborough development are scrambling to get their stores ready for the first wave of business.
As Cabela’s is being stocked with hunting and fishing supplies, owners of the shops and eateries surrounding it say that, from installing floors to ordering supplies, they still have a lot to do.
Cabela’s will open at 5 p.m. on Thursday, May 15, following a ribbon-cutting ceremony and the unveiling of a bronze statue in front of the store, and no one wants to miss out on the first rush of business the opening weekend will bring.
Nebraska-based Cabela’s, which
is building a 130,000-square-foot store, calls itself the world’s foremost outfitter of hunting, fishing and outdoor gear. That store alone is expected to attract more than 3 million visitors a year to Scarborough, according to the developer, New England Expeditions, which also estimated that the project as a whole is expected to generate more than $100 million a year in retail sales and create about 800 new jobs.
One hundred bags of litter. Dozens of large Styrofoam packing pieces. Eight metal shopping carts. Eight tires. One car door. A child’s toy sailboat.
The items were identified in an inventory of trash the South Portland Land Trust made after Saturday’s citywide Earth Day cleanup, which drew a record attendance.
From Bug Light and Hinckley Park to Pleasantdale Cove and Firefighter’s Memorial Park, about 150 residents fanned out across the city to pick up litter at 18 sites.
“The cleanup went exceptionally well and we had a huge turnout, especially compared to last year,” said City Councilor Tom Blake, a founder of the nonprofit land trust.
Debbie Peck lives every week as if it were Earth Week.
With reusable grocery bags in her car and a composting worm farm in her basement, she said her entire family participates in recycling and conservation.
“We’ve been doing this for years,” the Cape Elizabeth resident said as she dumped a blue canvas bag full of newspapers into one of the town’s three recycling receptacles. “(Recycling) is so easy, I think it can quickly become a way of life.”
Peck is just one of the continually increasing number of residents participating in Cape Elizabeth’s recycling program.
Check “compete in the U.S. Olympic women’s marathon trials” off Kristin Barry’s lifetime to-do list.
The 34-year-old Scarborough resident placed 73rd out of 124 finishers at Sunday’s trials in Boston with a time of 2:46:58. Only the top three qualified for the Beijing summer games, but that was never Barry’s goal.
“For me, the trials themselves are kind of the Olympics,” Barry said at a press conference last Thursday in Boston. “To get on the line and be in a race with the best runners in the country is a dream for me.”
When the Cape Elizabeth and Gorham High School baseball teams took the field Monday afternoon at Cape’s Holman Field, both coaches had some things they wanted to accomplish.
Scoring more runs than the opponent was pretty low on the list.
“We didn’t even have the scorebook out,” said Cape coach Chris Hayward after the matinee exhibition on the first day of April vacation at both schools. “We’re really just trying to get pitchers some work, get batters at-bats.”
“I’ve got my agenda, he’s got his,” said Gorham coach Rocky Myers. “We sort of let each other know what they are and we try not to step on each other’s toes.”
A lot has changed since last season for the Cape Elizabeth High School girls tennis team.
The Capers ended their 2007 campaign with a 5-0 victory over Waterville for the State Class B championship, capping off an undefeated season. The team graduated six seniors from the team, so the 2008 edition has only one player back with varsity experience, junior Katie Takach, who played No. 2 doubles a year ago.
Already, Cape knows this year especially early on will be a learning experience.
The Capers (0-1) opened the season last Thursday, hosting Falmouth. On a sunny but brisk afternoon, the Yachtsmen won 3-2.
Takach, making the jump to No. 1 singles, fell to Leighton 1-6, 1-6. It may not have been the outcome Takach was looking for in her varsity debut, but she was matched up against one of the top players in the state.
“It was tough,” Takach said. “The biggest adjustment is you don’t have your partner there so there’s no one to back you up. It’s a totally different game strategy. Singles is a lot harder to move around and get up to the net. You’ve got a lot more of the court to cover.”
Hayes acknowledged that this year will be “a little bit of a rebuilding year,” something she never saw during her four years at Cape. A 2000 grad, Hayes was the No. 1 singles player for four years, during which time the Capers won three state championships. She then went on to play at Bowdoin College. She said she’s excited to be back with the Cape tennis program.
Playing for Cape “was one of the highlights of my life. I’m excited to be here for this part of their lives,” she said. “We’re trying to build some experience. A lot of the girls have never played singles matches before.”
Cape Elizabeth’s Sam St. Germain, left, and Adam Danielson get ready to bat against Gorham in an exhibition game in this file photo from April 24, 2008. File photo
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