Local student places high in poster contest

Grace Sanford, a student at Merriconeag Waldorf School, placed third out of 100 contestants at the state level for her entry in the annual Lions International Peace Poster Contest designed to encourage students to express themselves through art. She received a certificate and $50 prize. Each year a specific theme is given and students are required to depict all aspects of the theme without using words on their poster. This year the theme was Peace, Love and Understanding. Students aged 11-13 from many schools participate in the contest with teachers taking on a large role in conveying the guidelines to the students.

In the first step of the contest the local Lions Club judges all the posters that are submitted and the winning poster is sent on first to the district level and then to the national and international levels. Winners receive prize money and even trips when they win at the international level.

Rotary postpones Wednesday meeting

The Jan. 28 meeting of the Freeport Rotary Club at the Freeport Community Center, which was to begin at 7 a.m. and feature Kaci Hickox, has been postponed due to the snow storm. No makeup date has been set.

Hickox is the nurse who created a media sensation when she returned from Sierra Leone, where she was treating Ebola patients, and fought a state quarantine. She had been living in Freeport with her boyfriend, Ted Wilbur, but recently moved to a nearby town.

FebFest artist registration due

Freeport artists, organizations, and producers are coming together to present a month-long series of events that showcase Freeport arts and culture. Visual, performing and culinary arts are all represented in a full range of events. The FebFest Art Show is calling for artists to send in their registration by Feb. 1 along with $50 fee, made out to FCP. Registrations should include artist’s contact information, a short bio and a description of their art specialty. Send to Gar Roper, 15 Merganser Way, Freeport, ME 04032.

Interest in the art show has been high and space is limited to the first 25 artists who send in their registration. Even if artists have already been in contacted, they must submit a registration to hold a place. For more information, contact Roper at all4omni@aol.com.

Merriconeag students perform ‘Pippin’

Merriconeag Waldorf School’s ninth- and 10th-graders will perform the musical “Pippin,” on Wednesday and Friday evenings, Jan. 28 and 30, at 7, and on Thursday morning, Jan. 29, at 11, at Merriconeag’s Community Hall, 57 Desert Road, Freeport. Donations will be accepted at the door. In this musical, Pippin, the young son of Charlemagne, searches for a life filled with magic and meaning.

Many of Merriconeag’s ninth- and 10th-graders have acted together since first grade. Each year in a Waldorf elementary school, every class performs a play that is chosen to integrate with that year’s curricular themes and topics. In the Waldorf high school, the performing arts curriculum continues with drama as an essential element. Every student in the class has a role in the play. The students also assist with costumes, sets and lights, and productions usually include group singing, dancing and performing on musical instruments.

For more information, call 865-3900, Ext. 103 or visit www.merriconeag.org.

Students achieve at Colby

Freeport students were named to the dean’s list at Colby College in Waterville, for their outstanding academic achievement during the fall semester of the 2014-15 year. The dean’s list is reserved for students whose semester grade point averages were 3.68 or higher. The students are:

Jennifer R. Breau, a member of the class of 2016, is the daughter of David and Amy Breau of Freeport and attended Freeport High School.

Taylor P. Enrico, a member of the class of 2017, is the daughter of James and Denise Enrico of Freeport and attended Freeport High School.

Maxwell D. Jennings, a member of the class of 2015, is the son of Kris and Suzanne Jennings of Freeport and attended Freeport High School.

Gianna M. Nappi, a member of the class of 2017, is the daughter of Adam and Sheila Nappi of Freeport and attended North Yarmouth Academy.

Woman’s Club offers grant

The Freeport Woman’s Club is looking for a candidate for its 2015 Step Up Grant, a $1,000 gift for a woman over the age of 21 from Freeport or Pownal who is seeking occupational training but is experiencing financial need. Criteria for selection of the applicant are based upon financial need, clarity of goals, educational program and references. For questions and further information, call Virginia Boyles at 865-3973.

Tech, business, career classes offered

RSU 5 Recreation and Community Education is offering new technology and career development classes this winter. New laptops for student use have been purchased as a result of an Adult Education Technology Grant from the Maine Department of Education.

Residents interested in managing finances more accurately can register for Introduction to Excel: Part I, 5:30 p.m. on Mondays, Jan. 26-Feb. 9, and Introduction to Excel: Part II,” 5:30 p.m. on Mondays, Feb. 23-March 9. Both cost $55.

For those interested in learning how to promote their business, the following courses are offered: Introduction to Website Design, 5:30 p.m. on Mondays, March 23-April 13, $64 fee; and Social Media Marketing for Your Business,Tuesday, April 14, at 6 p.m., $30 fee.

Two free career-development workshops will also be offered. Write a Winning Resume is Wednesday, Feb. 4, at 6 p.m., and Ace the Interview, is Wednesday, March 18, at 6 p.m.

Suggestions for future classes are welcome, or those with an interest in teaching can email parkk@rsu5.org. To register for classes, visit www.rsu5-rce.org or call 865-6171.

Metro seeking comments

Officials with Portland Metro want to know what is most important to local residents about the expanded service from Portland to Freeport. To help, residents are asked to fill out a survey at www.gpmetrobus.com. Metro service is expected to start July 1.

Dog licensing due

Dogs 6 months and older are required to be licensed by law. Owners can register their dogs at the Freeport Town Hall or online at www.doglicensing.com. Proof of the rabies vaccination and spay/neutering is required. The cost at town hall is $6 and $11, respectively. All dog licenses expire Dec. 31 of each year. Residents must renew their dog licenses no later than Jan. 31 of each year, or a late fee of $25 per dog will be charged.

Program features Casco Bay steamboats

Rebecca Hotelling will present “Steamboats of Casco Bay,” Wednesday, Jan. 28, from 7-8:30 p.m., in the meeting room at Freeport Community Library. The program is in conjunction with the Freeport Historical Society’s exhibit, “You Can Get There From Here: How Transportation Defined Freeport.”

Steamboats ruled the waters of Casco Bay for more than a century, from 1823 through the 1930s. At its height, the traffic included 48 steamboat companies operating from 98 wharves. Hotelling will discuss the history of these vessels in the greater Casco Bay region, with a particular focus on vessels constructed in Freeport, as well as their owners, captains and routes. Hotelling has lived in Freeport for more than 40 years and spent much time sailing the waters of Casco Bay. During her time volunteering for Freeport Historical Society, she conducted research for the current exhibit. In the course of that research, she became intrigued with the stories of local steamboats.

The exhibit runs through the end of January Freeport Historical Society’s headquarters at 45 Main St. It is open Tuesday-Friday, from 10 a.m.-4 p.m., with a suggested donation of $3. The exhibit and lecture series are made possible by the Maine Humanities Council and Norway Savings Bank.

Admission to the talk is free for historical society, $5 for non-members. For more information, visit www.freeporthistoricalsociety.org.

Author Ellen Cooney to talk at library

The Freeport Community Library will host Maine author Ellen Cooney, Wednesday, Feb. 4, at 6:30 p.m., for a talk on her most recently published book, “The Mountaintop School for Dogs and Other Second Chances,” published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in August 2014.

“The Mountaintop School for Dogs and Other Second Chances” is about two women and a pack of dogs who find a place at a training school and radical rescue center. According to a press release, it is a story of strays and rescues, kidnappings and homecomings, moving on and holding on and letting go.

Cooney is the author of eight novels and stories published in The New Yorker and many literary journals. She taught creative writing for some 25 years, most recently in the Writing Program at MIT and the Extension School at Harvard.

Parking ban

There is no parking on town streets from 11 p.m.-7 a.m. until April 15. Additional emergency parking bans are also regularly implemented for snow removal purposes during storms. Emergency parking bans are announced on local news networks in the same manner as school closures. Those with questions as to whether there is an emergency parking ban in place can call the police department business line at 865-4800.

Upcoming meetings

Freeport Community Library board, Monday, Feb. 2, 6:30 p.m., library.

Board of Appeals, Monday, Feb. 2, 7 p.m., Town Council Chambers,

Town Council, Tuesday, Feb. 3, 6:30 p.m., Town Council Chambers.

Planning Board, Wednesday, Feb. 4, 6 p.m., Town Council Chambers.

A full listing of upcoming town meetings and agendas is available on www.freeportmaine.com

Those involved in the Lions International Peace Poster Contest are, from left, Freeport Lioness-Lion President Tina Snow, Lioness-Lion Tanya Ziegler, Merriconeag Waldorf School student Grace Sanford, Vice District Gov. Cliff Roderick and Lioness-Lion Kelly Profenno. Courtesy photo

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