Report on Opiate Addiction Combating the problem one addict at a time
Battle of the Bulge How two local people lost weight for good
In the kitchen at
THE Fiddlehead
restaurant InsIDE:
Local sports Savvy seniors Regional events
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March 2012
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At Machias Savings Bank, we believe it’s the little things that make life exceptional. Memories that you cherish. Laughing with family and friends. And exceptional service from exceptional people. These, along with great products and services, are the little things that you should experience in your banking. Choose Machias Savings Bank today and start experiencing exceptional.
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March 2012
contents
features an economic powerhouse / 10 D’arcy Main-Boyington has been bolstering Brewer’s economic endeavors for nearly a decade. Working on Weight loss / 12 Meet two Mainers who are winning the battle of the bulge. the opiate trap / 20 Our area of Maine has one of the highest rates of opiate addiction in the country. Find out what’s being done to help. big, bright, and beautiful / 28 Take a look inside the new Brewer Community School and prepare to be wowed. green guide / 36 Our 5th Annual Green Guide focuses on emerging green technology right here in Maine. the fiddlehead restaurant / 50 Chef Mel Chaiken dishes on what makes The Fiddlehead Restaurant such a crowd pleaser.
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Photos: (top) mark mccall; (Right) courtesy of cate street capital; (far right) courtesy of wbrc architects/engineers
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28 www.bangormetro.com Bangor Metro / 1
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columns
in every issue
Metro Fitness / 16 Wendy Watkins wants to get you off the couch this month.
TaLk of the Towns / 6 Tasty news tidbits from Rockland to Lee.
woods & waters / 56 It’s Brad Eden vs. Red Squirrels in this month’s column. Read on to find out who prevails. last word / 64 Thanks to technology, Annaliese Jakimides no longer has to handle her spare change.
Biz Buzz / 8 People and places on the move. Metro sports / 18 Hermon’s running sensation and UMaine’s baseball and softball preview. Perspectives / 54 The fashion photography of Hailey Tash. what’s happening / 45 A month’s worth of activities to beat that spring fever. savvy seniors / 57 Caring for your feet is no small feat.
2 / Bangor Metro March 2012
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Photos: (top) courtesy of the wwe corporation; (left) courtesy of the office of the governor
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The Bangor Metro Region
4 / Bangor Metro March 2012
Photo: Kate Crabtree
elcome to the brand new Bangor Metro! We’re reinventing ourselves under new ownership, and we’re so excited to launch a redesign of the magazine you have come to know and love. We’ve spruced up our logo, changed the design of our pages, and switched up our content to make way for some new features. As you flip through the magazine, a lot of it will be familiar. You will notice that we have added a sports section, featuring college as well as middle school/high school sports. We’ve also added on to our popular Metro Health section with a column by Wendy Watkins, a local trainer and journalist. Our Food File section has changed, too. We’re going to be featuring the chefs behind the scenes at some of your favorite restaurants in our coverage area. We have more new content to come, but we’re going to wait until April to introduce you to the rest of the changes. We’re also reaching out to our readers to find out what they like—and don’t like—about our magazine. Visit our website at www.bangormetro .com and take our survey. The button is located under the link to our digital flipbook on the right-hand side. Your comments really do count, so please take a couple moments to share with us your thoughts about the changes we’ve made to the magazine. The Bangor Metro team is excited to have the opportunity to update our look and change our content to better suit our readers and advertisers. Without you, we wouldn’t exist! Thank you for sticking with us through this transition period. Change is never easy, but we’re confident that we will be putting out a better product in the months ahead. Stay tuned!
coming up www.bangormetro.com April: Home & Garden 263 State Street, Suite 1 Bangor, Maine 04401 Phone: 207.941.1300 Email: editor@bangormetro.com
• Three Lovely Landscape Designs
• Maine Youth Fish & Game Association
PUBLISHER
Metro Publishing, llc EDITOR
Melanie Brooks melanie@bangormetro.com SALES DIRECTOR
Christine Parker christine@bangormetro.com AD SALES CONSULTANTs
Kelly Enberg kelly@bangormetro.com Laura Manzo laura@bangormetro.com ART DIRECTOR
Sandy Flewelling Contributing PHOTOGRAPHers
Michael Alden, Kate Crabtree Mark McCall, Hailey Tash CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
Tom Avila, Brad Eden, Henry Garfield Joy Hollowell, Annaliese Jakimides Mimi Pinette, Carol Higgins Taylor Wendy Watkins SUBSCRIPTIONS
Sue Blake sue@bangormetro.com 10 issues $24.95 Bangor Metro is published by Metro Publishing, LLC. Inquiries and suggestions are welcome and encouraged. Letters to the editor, story suggestions, and other reader input will be subject to Bangor Metro’s unrestricted right to edit and publish in the magazine or on the web. Please address written correspondence to 263 State Street, Suite 1, Bangor, ME 04401. For advertising questions, please call Christine Parker, Sales Director, at 207-404-5158. Bangor Metro is mailed at standard rates in Bangor, Maine. Newsstand Cover Date: March 2012, published February 13, Vol. 8, No. 1, copyright 2012, issue No. 67. Advertisers and event sponsors or their agents are responsible for copyrights and accuracy of all material they submit. ADDRESS CHANGES: To ensure delivery, subscribers must notify the magazine of address changes one month in advance of cover date. Opinions expressed do not represent editorial positions of Bangor Metro. Nothing in this issue may be copied or reprinted without written permission from the publisher. Bangor Metro is published 10 times annually. To subscribe, call 941-1300 ext. 121 or visit www.bangormetro.com.
• MDI Hospital and EMCC Create the First Advanced Nursing Assistant Certification in the U.S.
• Horn of Plenty, Houlton • UMPI Baseball May: Senior Issue
• Super Seniors • The New Penobscot Bay Chamber of Commerce
• New Technology at C.A. Dean Hospital in Greenville
• Schooners, Brewer • Special Ad Section: Senior Guide
June/July: Summer Guide
• 8 Great Hikes • Unusual Vacation Spots • Lyme Disease • 4 Points BBQ, Winterport • American Legion Baseball • Special Ad Section:
This is Maine Summer Guide
Cover photo: Kate crabtree
www.bangormetro.com Bangor Metro / 5
talk of the towns
David Slagger is sworn in as Maine’s first Maliseet Legislator by Governor LePage.
statewide: History was made earlier this year when David Slagger of Kenduskeag was sworn in as Maine’s first Maliseet legislator. With a golden eagle feather and strip of braided sweetgrass in his hand, Slagger was accompanied at the signing with Governor LePage by his wife Priscilla, a native Micmac, and Brenda Commander, the tribal chief of the 800member Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians. Slagger says he brought along the feather and sweetgrass because of their positive energy, and presented the sweetgrass to Governor LePage after the ceremony. Maine is unique in its tribal representatives in that they are selected internally by their tribes. They are allowed to submit bills and serve on committees, but they can’t vote on legislation. Since tribal 6 / Bangor Metro March 2012
members live throughout the state, their districts are represented by other voting legislators. Three of Maine’s four tribes are now represented in the legislature—Wayne Mitchell representing the Penobscots, Madonna Soctomah representing the Passamaquoddies, and now David Slagger representing the Maliseets. Both Mitchell and Soctomah were there for Slagger’s swearing-in. Slagger, a graduate from the University of Maine in Orono, is looking forward to representing Native Americans in Augusta, and already has one proposal he’d like to bring to the table—making it illegal to impersonate Native Americans when it comes to the sale of arts and crafts. Slagger is currently working on his PhD at UMaine on the effects of academic assimilation on Native people.
photo: courtesy of the office of the governor
Representing Their Nation
Pies on Parade
rockland: Did you celebrate National Pie Day on January 23? Three hundred and ninety-eight people in the Rockland area did by taking part in the 8th Annual Pies on Parade Tour. More than 50 varieties of pies were baked, and around 9,000 pieces of pie were distributed at historic inns and restaurants in the Rockland area. Participating pie-eaters also enjoyed tours at some of the historic inns in the area as well as some recipes to take home to try themselves. From shepherd’s pie and gourmet pizza pies to seafood pies and whoopie pies, this pie tour offered more than the age-old favorites like apple, blueberry, and pumpkin. One hundred percent of the proceeds benefit Midcoast families in need. This year, $10,110 was donated to the Area Interfaith Food Pantry and Fuel Assistance Program. The Pies on Parade Tour has raised more than $50,000 over the past eight years for Midcoast families in need. “With fuel and food costs at an all-time high, we’re happy that pies once again translate to food and fuel for the area’s needy families,” says Frank Isganitis, co-owner of the LimeRock Inn and a member of the Historic Inns of Rockland.
photos: (top) Monkey Business Images/shutterstock; (Right) courtesy of bill perna
Small Town on the Big Screen Lee: In 2007, the town of Lee became the smallest community in America to lose two sons in the Iraq war. Joel House was killed on June 23 and Blair Emery was killed on November 30. Both soldiers were 24 years old. Welcome to Lee Maine is a documentary film about how the close-knit community of Lee—845 people—comes together to overcome its tragic loss. Bill Perna, the director of the film, was inspired by an article in USA Today written about Lee’s status as the smallest American town to lose two soldiers. Perna, who lives in Freeport, took a couple of trips to Lee in 2008 and spoke to community members before ultimately deciding to make the film. “It is my hope that this film will become a bridge between people,” Perna says. “No matter what opinion or view on the value of the Iraq war, viewers can understand that the real face of any war is not the newscaster broadcasting statistics and interviews, but rather the shattered families, friends, neighbors, teachers, and communities that must suffer the loss of loved ones.” Both families of the fallen soldiers helped make the documentary film, and 23 local people made up the cast. You can view the theatrical trailer and purchase DVDs of Welcome to Lee Maine by visiting the film’s website at www.welcometolee mainefilm.com. www.bangormetro.com Bangor Metro / 7
biz buzz On the Move JOSEPH F. SCORDINO has
joined Pen Bay Orthopaedics in Rockland. He is a board-certified orthopaedic surgeon who specializes in total joint replacements, shoulder injuries, and sports-related injuries. Scordino previously worked at Miles Hospital in Damariscotta. www.penbayhealthcare.org Husson University has recently appointed CHRISTINA CARON as director of advancement services. Caron joined the university’s advancement office in 2010 as assistant director of development, annual giving. Previously she worked for St. Joseph Hospital as development associate. www.husson.edu Maine Coast Memorial Hospital has welcomed BARBARA A. HOCKING as
chief operating officer and chief nursing officer. She comes to Maine from Hospital Sisters Health System in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. She is a Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives as well as a certified nurse in operating room care. www.mcmhospital.org
CHRISTOPHER T. ARNETT
has joined Edward Jones on Exchange Street in Bangor as a financial advisor. Arnett transferred to the Bangor office from the Edward Jones office in Yarmouth earlier this year. www.edwardjones.com Pen Bay Healthcare has a new webmaster and media specialist. Monica Chau brings over 10 years of web design and Internet marketing to her new position, and she previously worked as the web designer for marketing and brand management at the University of Southern Maine. www.penbayhealthcare.org SUSAN LESSARD is the new finance director for the town of Southwest Harbor. Lessard, who spent the last 11 years as the town manager for Hampden, is also the chairwoman for the Maine Board of Environmental Protection. www.southwestharbor.org Linda crowell has joined Cadillac Family Practice as a family nurse practitioner. Previously, Crowell served as a change nurse on Mount Desert Island Hospital’s medical/surgical unit and in the emergency department. www.mdihospital.org
BARI NEWPORT has been named as the new artistic director of Bangor’s Penobscot Theatre. Most recently, Newport was the artistic associate at the Tony Award-winning Alliance Theater in Atlanta, Georgia. www.penobscottheatre.org
Eastern Maine Medical Center has promoted James raczek, MD, to senior vice president of operations and chief medical officer. Raczek was previously the hospital’s chief medical officer. He has worked for EMMC for more than 20 years in numerous roles, including chief of Family Medicine Service and president of EMMC Medical Staff. www.emmc.org
After 47 years at Allen Insurance and Financial, Cindy norton, the company’s Rockland office manager and customer service representative, has retired. She started working for the company in 1964, after graduating from Rockland District High School, for $1 an hour. www.alleninsuranceandfinancial.com
LINDA HENDERSON was recently named the executive director of Special Children’s Friends. The organization provides therapeutic nursery school programs and playgroups with support services to families and children with special needs. Henderson has worked at Special Children’s Friends for 20 years as a case manager, community liaison, and, most recently, case management supervisor. www.specialchildrensfriends.org
8 / Bangor Metro March 2012
DEB KNEELAND, RN, is the newest nurse
manager at Blue Hill Memorial Hospital. In the past, Kneeland has worked in the hospital’s emergency room and oncology unit. www.bhmh.org Rebecca Hupp is stepping down as head
of Bangor International Airport to take a similar job in Boise, Idaho. Hupp has served as director of BIA since December 2001. www.flybangor.com mike donahue is leaving his position at EMMC as vice president of physician practices to take on a new vice president role at Eastern Maine Healthcare Systems. www.emhs.org jordan a. betts is the new assistant vice president, commercial loan officer for the Ellsworth branch of Camden National Bank. Previously Betts worked for Liberty Bank in Springfield, Missouri. www.camdennational.com
The Noontime Rotary Club in Ellsworth has inducted four new members of the business community: Charlie Therrien, president and CEO of Maine Coast Memorial Hospital; Tracy Shaw, executive director of the Hancock County SPCA; Louis Bassano, regional small business extension educator with the Hancock County Extension; and Richard Tupper, Ellsworth Fire Department chief. www.noontimerotary.org
Grants The Jackson laboratory has
received grants totaling $55,000 from the Betterment Fund, the Sam L. Cohen Foundation, and the Dorr Foundation to support the 2012 Maine State Science Fair. www.jax.org/mssf
Awards Aroostook County potato farmers BERNARD and NORMA SHAW received the 2012 Agriculture Commissioner’s Distinguished Service Award due to their years of hard work, participation in local, state, and national organizations, and notable volunteer efforts with the Windsor Fair and the Augusta Food Bank. www.maine.gov/agriculture
sight ings 1
Six physicians at St. Joseph Healthcare have been included in the 2011 list of Best Doctors, a third-party peer evaluation service for the healthcare field. Physicians included in the list are David Clement, Mark Henderson, John McDevitt IV, David Koffman, Kerry Riker, and William Wood. www.stjoeshealing.org VALERIE STELLINE, general manager of
the Belfast McDonald’s restaurant, has been awarded a Ray Kroc Award, which recognizes the top-performing managers in the nation. Stelline was the only manager in Maine, and one of a select few in the country, to win the honor. She has been with McDonald’s since 1986. www.mcdonalds.com The following people and businesses won awards at the 2012 Bangor Region Chamber of Commerce awards dinner: The Norbert X. Dowd Award went to JOHN BRAGG, N.H. Bragg. The Business of the Year Award was given to CROSS INSURANCE AGENCY. The Catherine Lebowitz Award for Public Service was awarded to HABIB DAGHER from the University of Maine. The Arthur A. Comstock Professional Service Award was given to Nelson Durgin. BILL LUCY and PEOPLE’S UNITED BANK were given the Community Service Award. The MAINE DISCOVERY MUSeUM was named the Nonprofit of the Year, and the Bion and Dorain Foster Entrepreneurship Award was given to SUTHERLAND
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WESTON MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS. BANGOR GREENDRINKS took
Photos: (3 & 4) Anne Schmidt Photography; (6) Don Dunbar
home the Fusion Flava award. www.bangorregion.com HERBERT A. THOMAS of Northeast Harbor was recently recognized by the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) for his 24 years of service. Thomas recently retired from his position as senior area manager for the SBA in Bangor. www.sba.gov
Does your company or organization have news to share? Visit us online at www.bangormetro.com and click on the Submissions tab in the main menu.
7 1: Tina Vanidestine, Jennie Gilbert Dunn, and Liz Flood from the Maine Wedding Association working at the Bangor Bridal Show. 2: Winners of the SAD #22 Story Slam for high school kids, sponsored by Katahdin Trust Company and the Edythe Dyer Community Library: Kyle Grogan, Colin Vidas, Tien Misler, Jimmy Kolye, and Sunny Somers, Hampden branch manager of Katahdin Trust. 3: Andrew George, Annie Collins, and Patrick Frazier at Bangor Fusion’s holiday social at Eastern Maine Development Corporation.
4: Francesca DeSanctis, Christopher Rudolph, and Theresa Kearns at Bangor Fusion’s holiday social. 5: Keith and Jillian Piehler at the Greater Bangor Chamber’s annual awards dinner at the Bangor Civic Center. 6: Students from Washington County Community College participate in their annual Polar Bear Dip to benefit the Ronald McDonald House in Bangor. 7: Gibran Graham and Jessamine Logan at the Bangor Chamber’s annual awards dinner in Bangor.
www.bangormetro.com Bangor Metro / 9
movers & shakers
B
An Economic Powerhouse For the past eight years, D’arcy Main-Boyington has been helping Brewer businesses small and large find their own level of success. by henry garfield
rewer may have the Russian people to thank for its energetic and accomplished Director of Economic Development. If they hadn’t thrown off the yoke of Communist rule during D’arcy Main-Boyington’s senior year of college, she might now be hammering out the next Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty rather than boosting Brewer’s business climate. The Orono High School grad studied international relations at the University of Maine, and attended classes at McGill University in Montreal under the Canada Year Study Abroad program. “All of my attention was on superpower relations,” Main-Boyington recalls. “When I was at McGill in 1988 and 1989 I was studying treaties and weaponry, and really hoped to get into negotiations. That was my goal. I wanted to do superpower negotiations someday. And then in 1990, my senior year, the Soviet Union collapsed, and the world changed.” So did her plans. After earning a graduate degree in International Political and Economic Development from Fordham University in New York, Main-Boyington began to look for work in Third World countries. But husband Daryl, also a Maine native, wanted to return home. “It was actually a wonderful decision,” she says. After a stint as a financial analyst, she took a position in the Angus King administration with the Department of Economic and Community Development. She traveled all over the state and met as many manufacturers as she could, observing and listening. She has had her present job since 2004. On her watch, Brewer has landed two large businesses: Eastern Maine Medical Center’s Lafayette Family Cancer Center,
businesses that we have here, dealing with issues of business climate, trying to make sure that this is a place where a business can be successful. We’ll do whatever we can to help a business get financing, if that’s what they need, or business incentives from the state or federal government. We’ll work very hard to get all of that. But we absolutely want to make sure they stay healthy in the long term.” Though the big businesses get the publicity, Main-Boyington works hard to ensure that the city’s many small businesses get the same level of attention. For example, if a business is remodeling, the city can assist the owner in applying for energy efficiency grants. Not every project has to be big. “The smaller businesses often were overlooked in the past,” she says. “One thing we’ve tried to do is create some small business programs. We want to make sure that those small businesses are getting equal face time with us, equal chance to tell us what’s going well, what’s not going well, what we might do differently to be able to help them. It’s been a big success, but a quiet thing.” A self-described “economics nerd,” Main-Boyington enjoys the diversity of businesses (Brewer has approximately 430) and addressing the challenges they face. “Every day is different,” she says. “I can go from working with someone who wants to start a hair salon in their home, to a meeting an hour later with Cianbro on a massive project. I like to have a bunch of different projects and see a bunch of different people every day.” Her off-hours schedule is nearly as busy as her work schedule. She sits on several boards, including the Bangor Area Homeless Shelter, advisory committees
—D’arcy Main-Boyington and Cianbro’s Eastern Manufacturing Facility. But attracting new businesses to Brewer is only the most visible part of her job. “I think that’s the part that most people are familiar with, that they see in the news,” she says. “The more important part, and what we do most of the time, is business retention—trying to help the 10 / Bangor Metro March 2012
for Husson University, and the University of Maine at Augusta’s Bangor campus. Weekends in the spring, summer, and fall are spent horseback riding with her husband and 11-year-old son or with a group of friends. The family lives in Hampden, with two dogs, a cat, and three horses. “I’ve had horses on and off most of my life,” she says. “My horses are my passion.”
Photo: courtesy of the city of brewer
“The more important part, and what we do most of the time, is business retention.”
Get ready for our annual Best Restaurants contest! This year we’re categorizing the winners by county, so restaurants from Fort Kent to Rockland and Greenville to Eastport are all represented. It’s a great way to give kudos to your favorite local spot, so don’t forget to vote! We will be inserting a ballot in our April issue and opening online voting, too. The results will be published in our August issue.
www.bangormetro.com Bangor Metro / 11
metro health When did you first realize you had a weight problem? What are some early memories about being overweight—or, if you weren’t overweight as a child, how did you perceive people who were? Cathy: Back in 2004 I realized, healthwise, that I didn’t have a lot of energy. I was getting older and my job at Camden National Bank was sedentary. I tried Weight Watchers but I didn’t like getting on a scale every week. I was watching what I ate, but I still wasn’t where I wanted to be. I decided to join USA Athletics in Bangor and I started exercising in the morning. Dan: I remember one situation when I was either in high school or early college—still living at home—and my mother offered to get me a bowl of cereal for breakfast. She tried to pull the “ol’ switcheroo” and replace my 2% milk with skim, and I got really upset. She explained that she was only trying to help, and I think deep down I knew at that point that my weight was becoming an issue, but I didn’t want to admit it. I also remember playing cards with a group of friends in college and I made a self-deprecating fat joke. The response was not laughter or chuckling—which is what I expected—but instead it was just awkward silence. That might have been the first time I admitted to myself that I really needed to lose some weight.
Working on
Weight Loss It’s a new year—is shedding some weight on your list of resolutions? We talked to two people who changed their lives to lose weight—and are still working every day to keep it off. We hope Cathy Maher and Dan Cashman can inspire you to keep working toward reaching your weight loss goal. By Mimi Pinette
12 / Bangor Metro March 2012
What kind of eating habits did you have during your overweight years? Were you physically active? Cathy: I would skip breakfast after going to the gym and end up snacking on animal crackers when I got to work. My fiancé at the time wasn’t on a weight loss program, and he liked to eat sweets, so I’d bake all weekend. I would work out during the week and cheat on the weekends. I was losing weight gradually, but not really changing my eating habits. They were canceling each other out. Dan: During my junior year in college, I peaked. At that time, I was eating five meals a day. And not the small meals they tell you to eat—like an apple here and a sandwich there—these were meals. I made sure to include every course possible at the dining commons. I wanted to get my money’s worth! Then, late at night my friends
Dan Cashman worked his way from being an overweight college kid to running the MDI marathon. Opposite page: Cathy Maher before (inset), and after, her weight loss transformation.
would go to Denny’s for coffee and I would join them—for a full breakfast. What motivated you to try your first serious attempt at weight loss? What did you do, and how did it go? Dan: My first serious attempt was purely situational. I went to New York City during college to do a summer internship and simply couldn’t afford to eat five meals a day anymore. On top of that, it was really hot in New York during the summer I was there, and I was forced to walk around the city a lot. I saw a difference in weight almost immediately. Once I noticed it, I started using my free time in the room I was renting in the Bronx to do things like sit-ups, running in place, and jumping jacks. I began parking in the back of the parking lot at my internship and trying to walk into the building more and more quickly every day. And, when I took the subway into Manhattan, I would try to get off the train a stop or two ahead of my destination, just to walk a little ex-
tra. When I returned home and my family made comments about my initial weight loss, it was all the motivation I needed to keep the ball rolling. What changed that enabled you to finally devise a program that worked? What did you do to lose the weight? How are you maintaining the weight loss? Cathy: I was going to the gym every morning and still not getting the results, so I hired a trainer. Scott is a great motivator and he’s also a nutritionist. In 2006 I went on a 1,600 calories a day diet. My fitness was getting better and I began joining things like the Trek Across Maine, a 180-mile bike ride. It was all coming together. I decided that I could ride my bike faster if I lost 10 more pounds. I started watching and measuring everything I ate. The tools in my kitchen are measuring cups, measuring spoons, and a calculator. I have lost about 50 pounds going from a size 14 to a size 8, and I’ve maintained my weight for two years.
Dan: When I returned to college after the internship, I had lost about 30 pounds. I found healthy food that I liked, and stuck to it as much as possible, but never completely cut out the unhealthy food that I craved—I just ate it less frequently. I also found exercises that I enjoyed and by the time the school year wrapped up, I had lost about 60 pounds. Today, I continue to maintain a healthier weight and diet as much as I can, both with the help of my wife, Karen, as we plan menus ahead of time with healthy options, and by continuing to find exercise options that are both fun and effective. Are there any “tricks” or “secrets” you’ve discovered that work for you on a practical basis? What personal “rules” do you keep to stay on track? Cathy: I still eat 1,600 calories a day. I do cardio four to five times a week and strength training two to three times a week. I eat breakfast every day and I bring my lunch and a snack to work with me www.bangormetro.com Bangor Metro / 13
metro health every day. I allow myself two pieces of dark chocolate during the week after dinner. Before I had three different sizes of clothes in my closet ranging from a 10 to a 14. I recently had all my clothes taken in to a size 8. I’ve transformed my life. Dan: For a while I kept a picture of me at my heaviest on my refrigerator to remind me that I didn’t need a bowl of ice cream, or an extra hot dog. That worked for a while. But now I find that I do a lot of nervous eating, especially when I get really busy. To stay on track, I try to think about how uncomfortable I was before I lost 80 pounds…and how comfortable I was before I gained some of it back. It continues to be a struggle. How has your life changed since you arrived at a “normal” weight?
We’re for big dreams. Small businesses. And genuine partnerships. For the second time in three years, we’re pleased to have been named the Finance Authority of Maine (FAME) “Maine Financial Institution of the Year.” Camden National partnered with FAME on 56 loans totaling over $16 million, which in turn helped to create 87 Maine jobs and retain an additional 561 jobs. So while other banks are talking about Maine, we’re making decisions locally and responsibly to ensure that our communities remain vibrant. From one Mainer to another, stop by or give us a call. We can help.
2 011 FAM E Bank of the Year
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Cathy: My original goal for losing weight was because I thought it would help me swing a golf club better. Now my blood pressure and cholesterol are perfect. I’ve done the Trek Across Maine four times. I’ve run two half-marathons, and lots of 5, 10, and 15k’s. I’m 58 years old and I feel like I’m in my 20s. Dan: I am a happier person. One of my roommates in college used to call me “Mopey Dan” because I would sometimes get down in the dumps over something relatively minor. Today I am much happier and optimistic. Many people who need to lose weight and have failed are reading this interview, hoping to hear something that will help them turn the corner. What can you say to encourage them? Cathy: Don’t give up. I remember pedaling my bike up those hills during the Trek Across Maine, grinding and grinding away. Keep grinding—and you will see results. Dan: There is no question that losing weight is difficult. But there are ways to do it and minimize the struggle. Find what you like and adapt that to getting in shape. It might be healthier foods, or physical activity that’s more fun to you than other types. I like music, so I started running with an iPod and it completely changed my outlook on running.
14 / Bangor Metro March 2012
metro fitness
Get Moving this March
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t’s almost time to come out of hibernation and enjoy the beautiful Maine springtime. For many of us, that means gardening, tackling home improvement projects, moving our treadmill workouts back to the street, or maybe taking up a spring sport. And because it feels so good to be outdoors again, it’s easy to overdo all that activity at first. It seems that every spring, I meet people who have tweaked their backs or shoulders after some aggressive work around the yard, or I field questions from people with foot or knee issues related to running on pavement. With a little preparation, you can survive the transition to outdoor activities and hit the ground running—almost literally—when spring finally arrives. The key is incorporating functional fitness movements into your routine. The problem with indoor exercise during the winter is that unless you’re deliberate about it, almost everything you do is in a single plane of movement—moving straight ahead (running, walking, or using almost any piece of cardio equipment) or lifting things up and down (using free weights or weight machines). In daily life, however, we don’t move in a single plane, especially when we’re outside. When you’re gardening, making the first few attempts (hopefully successfully)
No wonder we end up with a few aches and pains. Functional fitness is all about getting in shape for daily life and moving through as many planes as possible. Here are a few exercises to get you started: Squats: My father used to call these “deep knee bends.” Basically, this is like sitting down in a chair and standing back up, except you don’t actually sit. When you do this exercise, keep your feet firmly planted on the ground, and sit your butt back as if you were going to sit in a chair. Look up slightly, and try to avoid collapsing your chest onto your thighs. Lunges: Take a long stride forward, until both your front and back knees are at a 90-degree angle. Your shoulders should be directly over your hips. Pushing back from your front heel, return to standing, and then repeat on the other side. Alternate for 10 repetitions on each side. If this is too challenging for your knees or balance, step back until both knees are at a 90-degree angle, and as you return to standing, keep your weight in the front heel. If balance is an issue, hold onto a sturdy chair. Woodchops: Standing tall, hold a weight at your right hip and then move it at
at waterskiing, or attacking the house with the annual rite of spring cleaning, you’re moving in almost every plane, and often on an unstable surface. 16 / Bangor Metro March 2012
a 45-degree angle toward, and rising above, your left shoulder, transferring your weight from the right foot to the left, and moving your hips as you move the
Photo: tom libbey
With a little preparation, you can survive the transition to outdoor activities and hit the ground running.
weight, as if you were swinging a golf club. This exercise works all the muscles of your core. Planks: Place hands on floor directly under your shoulders, as if you were at the top of a push-up position, a straight line from the top of your head to your heels. Hold for 30 to 90 seconds. If this is too challenging, you can do the exercise with your hands on a weight bench or sturdy coffee table. If this isn’t challenging enough, touch your right shoulder with your left hand, and then your left shoulder with your right hand, hips steady as you slowly alternate for a count of 10 on each side. Unstable surface: If you already have a weight-lifting routine, start incorporating movements that include a balance element. For instance, stand on one foot as you do biceps curls or overhead dumbbell presses. When you do bodyweight squats, try lifting one leg slightly as you come to standing. Farmer’s walk: This is a great exercise if you do activities that involve carrying things. Pick up a weight in each hand and walk as if you were a farmer carrying a heavy bucket in each hand. Running: To keep your cardio capacity up for running outdoors, make sure you set your treadmill at a slight incline (3%) as you run. The outdoor world is never flat like a treadmill, so it’s a good idea to ramp up the grade a little bit if your treadmill allows. The most challenging aspect of transitioning your running workouts from the treadmill to outdoors is conditioning your joints and muscles to the lessforgiving pavement. A rare few can jump off the treadmill and run outside without skipping a beat, while others will suffer shin splints, knee pain, and all sorts of maladies. The key is to take your time, and slowly increase your outdoor running time. Getting too ambitious too soon can sideline you. Wendy Watkins is a personal trainer and lifestyle coach at Bangor-Brewer Athletic Club in Brewer.
Enjoy a glimpse of spring! What better way to break the winter blues than a visit to Northern and Central Maine’s first hint of Spring and Summer. Featuring eight spectacular Gardenscapes and over 50 vendors selling all things gardening! Plus, don’t miss... the Easter Bonnet Contest and Kid’s Easter Egg hunt!
April 6-8 DOORS OPEN
$
5
FRI 10 am – 6 pm L SAT 10 am – 6 pm SUN 10 am – 4 pm
per person Kids under 12 FREE
Bangor Auditorium | 947.5555 | BangorCivicCenter.com | BangorGardenShow.com www.bangormetro.com Bangor Metro / 17
metro sports: middle school
Record Breaker
J
ames Petersen is the fastest kid at Hermon Middle School, where he’s currently in the sixth grade. He also happens to be one of the fastest kids in the nation. His short but notable track and field career started when he attended a weeklong track camp in Bangor when he was 8 years old. “I was always the best runner in school, and I really liked it, so my parents let me go to camp,” Petersen says. There were some track coaches at the camp who thought James was a good runner, too, and convinced his parents to enroll him in the Hampden Track Club. He won all three of his events, the 100 meter, 200 meter, and 400 meter, that
18 / Bangor Metro March 2012
summer at the state competition held in Augusta. He’s been winning state championships ever since. At the ripe old age of 9, he attended his first national meet, the Hershey North American Track Meet in Hershey, Pennsylvania, where he placed fifth in his age group. The next summer, he did well enough in state and regional meets to qualify for the Junior Olympics Track and Field National Championships in Sacramento, California. He placed sixth in the 200 and fourth in the 400. “That was really cool because it was an important national meet,” Petersen says. That same summer, he became the first youth athlete from Maine to win an event at the Hershey North American Track Meet, topping the podium for his time in the 400 meter dash. Back home he ran in the state competition and broke records in all three of his races. And, he says, they weren’t even his best times. By now, Petersen is used to being interviewed by journalists. His very presence belies his ruby red freckles and untied sneakers. His favorite race to train for is the 200, but his favorite race to run in meets is the 400. “The 400 hurts a lot more to train for, because it’s all about how long you can sprint,” he says. His coach is his dad, Dan Petersen, who started the track club for the Hermon school system when James was in fourth grade. The middle school doesn’t have a track and field team, so this gave Petersen, his twin sister, Nicole, and other kids in Hermon who love to run, an outlet. In the winter, Petersen takes time off from his training regimen. There isn’t a close place inside to run, he says, and the indoor track at the University of Maine isn’t always open. Plus, he doesn’t like to push himself if he doesn’t feel like running. “I take breaks when I really don’t want to run, which isn’t often, but it would be unfortunate if I made myself not like running and I quit when I was still good.” He also likes to play other sports, like
soccer, football, basketball, and wrestling. He gave up baseball to run in the spring, but says he’d love to play lacrosse—there just isn’t a team anywhere in the area. Currently, Petersen is on the basketball and wrestling teams at Hermon Middle School. He’s also in the gifted and talented program and says it’s not easy juggling practice with homework. “After school I’ll start my homework, go to practice, do some more homework, and sometimes go to practice for the other sport I play during the season,” he says. “I usually play two sports a season. I won’t be able to do that in high school.” His brother and sisters are busy athletes, too. “We’re a competitive and busy family,” Petersen says. “It’s a good night when we all sit around the table together for dinner, because it doesn’t happen very often.” As a 12-year-old, he’s at the top of his age bracket this summer, which has Petersen making lots of goals—one of which includes running in the Junior Olympics again, which will be held on the East Coast this year. He’s also hoping to knock off three state records. Petersen currently holds the Maine Junior Olympic track records in the Mite category for the 100 and 400 meter dash, which he set in 2008, and the 100, 200, and 400 meter dash in the Bantam category, set in 2010. “I want to hold as many state records as possible,” he says. And we have no doubt this capable kid can accomplish anything he sets his mind to.
Photo: Action sports images, llc
James Petersen is a 12-year-old boy who loves to run. And he’s good at it, too.
metro sports: college
Play Ball The baseball and softball teams at UMaine Orono are gearing up for a great season.
Photo: courtesy of the University of maine
S
pring. It brings melting snow and the crack of the bat. The University of Maine baseball and softball teams look toward spring 2012 with great anticipation. The Maine softball team sports new leadership while the baseball team’s inspired finish last season has the squad excited about a repeat performance. Lynn Coutts was named Maine’s new softball coach last fall. She is no stranger to the University of Maine as she was a four-year letter-winner for the Black Bears from 1983 to 1987 and has 20 years of softball coaching experience under her belt. She also previously served as an assistant coach at Maine, and is in the UMaine Sports Hall of Fame. When discussing the potential challenge of taking over a Division I program, Coutts was more than positive. “I am thrilled! I’m excited to be here. There are only 300 Division I coaches in the country and I get to be one of them,” she says. This attitude seems to be just what this team needs as it looks to bounce back from an 18–31 season in 2011. The 2012 Black Bear season started February 10 in Florida, and included a trip to California. Maine’s first home game is April 7. The softball team returns five position starters and three pitchers. Coutts is eager to get the season under way and says that, for her, it’s all about doing the right thing on the field, in the classroom, and in the community. The softball program isn’t the only spring sport that is expecting big things this year, as the baseball team is filled with high hopes. Fresh off winning the 2011 America East Championship, the team will look to defend its title in 2012 with the Mahaney Diamond opener set for April 4. Coach Steve Trimper is the man behind the machine and understands exactly
what this kind of accomplishment means for the 2012 season. “We are a better ball club this year, and, as a coach, you need to morph to your team, work with the mental side of things, and prepare for the day-in and day-out grind of a Division I schedule,” Trimper says. Last season brought the team great success, as Maine won the 2011 Conference at Stony Brook and then went on to its 16th NCAA Regional appearance in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Here, the Black Bears not only held their own, but defeated 20th-ranked Florida International University 4–1. It was hard work and determination that got the Black Bears to that point. “It wasn’t luck. You make your own luck,” Trimper says. “We are not going to just sit back and tell people how good we are and think we are going to win.” Because of this, Trimper believes it is more difficult to coach a team that has enjoyed championship success, as there
is much more of a need to keep the players grounded. They must understand that it was the time spent in practice and the weight room that got them where they wanted to go in 2011. This year will be challenging for the Black Bears as the early part of the slate features the likes of Clemson, Florida State, and Florida A&M. However, with the talent that the Black Bears have returning, there is also no question that it will be exciting. www.bangormetro.com Bangor Metro / 19
feature story
the
Opiate Trap Across our region, opiate addiction is affecting hundreds of people, from the very old to the very young. story by Joy Hollowell / PHotos by Mark Mccall
I
magine your muscles aching so bad it feels like they are physically twisted in a knot. You can’t eat, you can’t sleep. You’re shaky, sweaty, and suffering from a severe case of diarrhea. That’s what it feels like, says Sue (Bangor Metro is withholding Sue’s last name, in
20 / Bangor Metro March 2012
order to protect her privacy) when she’s not on drugs. “You can’t focus on anything because you’re so in tune to every little thing in your body,” says the 42-year-old from Ellsworth. “A touch on the arm, you feel it 800 more times than normal. Everything
This newborn is going through opiate addiction withdrawal at Eastern Maine Medical Center. Nurses carefully monitor these tiny addicts, and help ease them through their ordeal.
www.bangormetro.com Bangor Metro / 21
feature story just hurts so bad it’s horrible.” Sue’s road to this point didn’t happen overnight. She says she started using drugs when she was just 13. “Drinking first, and then slowly moving up to smoking pot. I said I would never do cocaine or acid, but I did all of it.” When she was in her early 20s, Sue says she suffered a painful back injury. The doctor prescribed her Percocet, a combination of acetaminophen and oxy-
to opioids happens after someone is legitimately prescribed a painkiller from their doctor, as in Sue’s case. “Your body has a naturally occurring opioid or chemical system,” says Moran. “And it’s a system that makes you feel good every time you have a pleasurable experience. It’s your body’s natural opioid system that gives you those little rushes of happiness.” When someone takes a pain pill, the brain recognizes that it’s coming from
“...Very quickly, you’re on a slippery slope, the steepness of which will vary depending upon the person.” —Mark Moran codone. “I got very addicted, very addicted,” she admits. “It didn’t take long, a couple of weeks.” The pain from her back injury was still there, so Sue says her doctor kept upping her dose. He then switched her to Oxycontin, which is a controlled release form of the pain medication oxycodone. It’s a decision Sue calls “a nightmare.” “I felt like the pain kept getting worse,” says Sue. Eventually, her prescriptions ran out, and Sue started buying the drugs off the street. “The medication was the problem, not the solution,” she says, “but I couldn’t see it at the time because I was addicted.” Opioid addiction is defined as a central nervous system disorder, caused by longterm opioid intake. The term opiates and opioids are often used interchangeably. Opiates come from the opium plant and include sedatives such as morphine and codeine. Opioids are produced either naturally or synthetically. Prescription pain relievers are among the most recognized forms of opioids. The illegal drug, heroin, also falls into this category. What makes opioids so dangerous is that they are highly addictive. “For some [addicts], there was a choice at some point,” says Mark Moran, a licensed clinical social worker at Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor. “You tried something at a party and said, ‘Hey, this feels good.’ So, you try it again. It still makes you feel good, but you need a little more this time to get the same effect. And very quickly, you’re on a slippery slope, the steepness of which will vary depending upon the person.” Moran says in many cases, addiction 22 / Bangor Metro March 2012
an outside source, explains Moran. “Over time, as the amount of outside drug coming into your body increases, your brain’s ability to create those natural chemicals on its own, decreases,” Moran says. “So you get this inverse relationship that ultimately leads someone to become dependent on that drug.” And that, says Moran, is why it becomes so difficult to stop. “When you take that outside drug away, your naturally occurring opioid system has been damaged or down-regulated to such a degree that you can’t create those happy feelings without the drug present,” Moran says. “It becomes less of a choice and more of a ‘What do I need to do to survive?’” Moran says withdrawal symptoms from opioids are often severe, from constant sweating and gastrointestinal problems to chronic pain. “These individuals are trying to be productive members of society; they’re trying to go to their jobs; they’re trying to take care of their kids. They can’t do any of those things if they’re living in this place of physical sickness.” They are also dealing with the cravings, which can mimic withdrawal symptoms. “The cravings are always there, and they can dominate the day,” Moran says. “For someone who’s truly opioid dependent, they are not using to get high anymore, they are using to get back to normal.” That was the case for Sue. “It’s a circle that will never meet,” she says, gesturing in the air with her hands. “When you’re high, all you want to be is clean, and when you’re clean, you’re so sick, all you want to
Mark Moran, a licensed clinical social worker at EMMC.
be is high.” Sue admits she “doctor shopped” for pill prescriptions, something that came rather easily because she was working as a registered nurse at the time. “Which I unfortunately used to my advantage,” Sue says. “I was addicted and I’d lie to anybody at that point.” “We treat all walks of life,” says Barbara Royal, executive director of Open Door Recovery Center in Ellsworth. “Addiction doesn’t care if you are wealthy and educated, or an eighth grade dropout living on the streets. You put both of those people together in one room and they’re
going to give you the same story.” Royal says up until about seven years ago, their clients were mostly alcohol-dependent. “We’ve done a complete flip-flop since then,” she says. “Now, 90% of our treatments are for polysubstance abuse, mostly in the form of opioids.” People suffering from polysubstance dependence use at least three different addictive substances over a 12-month time period, rather than just having a penchant for one. In 2010, the state of Maine spent about $1.18 billion on substance abuse. Alcohol tops the list, but opioid addiction comes in second. According to the State Office of
Substance Abuse, the number of people seeking treatment for synthetic narcotics has been increasing since 2005. “One of the things we’ve had to take on is educating the medical profession [about opioid addiction],” says Guy Cousins, director of the Maine Office of Substance Abuse. “It’s very difficult, as you can imagine, for non-doctors to be speaking to prescribing professionals about how to do their job.” Cousins says management and oversight are two key roles for his office. “We’re very vigilant about how [drugs] get incorporated and used,” he says. Cousins cites
the Prescription Monitoring Program as one example. It began back in 2003, after the State Legislature voted to require pharmacies to report all prescribed narcotics dispensed in Maine. Currently, more than 400 pharmacies, both in and out of state, submit weekly reports into a centralized database. They include the patient’s name, birth date, and what medications they are currently using as well as previous prescriptions. Pharmacists as well as healthcare providers can access the program to keep abuse and misuse of drugs in check. The latest statistics show that prewww.bangormetro.com Bangor Metro / 23
feature story
Methadone is a syrupy red liquid that is closely monitored and dispensed to patients across our region.
24 / Bangor Metro March 2012
scription drug abuse in Maine is highest among 18- to 29-year-olds. Those 35 and older make up about 14% of the population. But it’s not just adults in the addiction bull’s-eye. A survey of high school seniors in Maine revealed that 24% of those asked admitted to misusing a prescription painkiller. “If we start looking at opioid addiction when they’re 18, then we’re too late,” says Cousins. “The education around here has to start early.” He puts some of the blame on advertising by the pharmaceutical companies themselves. “Take something and things change instantly,” says Cousins, referring to the commercials on television and in magazines. “These companies make it
out like drug use is normal. There’s also the perception that because a doctor prescribed it for you, it must be safe.” The latest data shows that more than a third of all drug-trafficking arrests by the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency involved prescription drugs. Maine now has the highest per capita rate of opioid addiction in the country. Many in the addiction treatment field believe the culture of Maine makes it easier for people to get their hands on prescription pills. “People work hard, especially Downeast,” says Brent Scobie, a licensed clinical social worker and the chief of clinical operations at The Acadia Hospital in Bangor. “They are boating, they are clamming, they’re working hard labor; they have injuries, they have pain, they get prescribed narcotics to treat pain.” Maine’s location on the map also breeds drug traffic, according to Scobie. “We have one highway that runs right up the center of the state towards Downeast,” he says. “And if you plot where the blips are on the radar relevant to opioid addiction problems, you could basically follow it right out to the Downeast region along Route 3 and then out.” In 1997, The Acadia Hospital treated about 20 patients for addiction. “Ninety percent of them were being treated for alcohol-related issues, and the other 10% for poly-drug addiction, usually combinations of benzodiazepines, or cocaine or marijuana on top of alcohol,” Scobie says. One year later, the hospital saw its first case of opioid addiction. “I still remember his name,” says Scobie. “He came from Washington County, spent about three or four days on the inpatient unit, and left against medical advice. It was really a horrendous experience for [the patient]. He was very ill, just a very different sort of presentation than what we were used to. It left us feeling like, ‘Boy, we wish we had done a better job with this guy.’” By 2000, Acadia Hospital started seeing more and more patients with opioid addictions. “Roughly 50%–60% at that point,” Scobie says. He admits the hospital wasn’t prepared. “People were leaving before they completed their treatment,” he says. “We knew we needed to do something differently.” That something was methadone. It, too, comes under the classification of an opioid.
Brent Scobie, chief of clinical operations at Acadia Hospital in Bangor.
Scobie acknowledges the concern. “Why would you give somebody the drug that they are addicted to,” he says. “You wouldn’t treat someone addicted to cannabis with a marijuana joint. And you certainly wouldn’t give an alcoholic a drink.” Scobie says opioids are not all metabolized equally, and methadone is on the low side of absorption. Once it’s taken, either in a liquid or pill form, the drug starts depleting itself in half, typically every two to four hours. “So it comes out of the system very quickly,” explains Scobie. “Methadone, of all addiction treatments, is the most highly regulated and it’s the most widely studied in terms of treatment outcomes and efficacy.” At Acadia Hospital, patients for the Methadone Replacement Therapy Program, as it’s called, must be opioid dependent for more than a year. In order to confirm that, the hospital asks patients not to take opioids for 24 hours prior to their evaluation. “The only way to clearly verify opioid addiction is to see that person in withdrawal in front of you,” Scobie says. The program is administered on an outpatient basis, every day to start. As patients achieve stability over that first year, they can become eligible for “take home doses” of up to six days per week. The first dosage is strictly regulated to a maximum of 30 milligrams. Amounts increase from there to achieve stability, usually between 80 and 120 milligrams
each dose. After a number of months, or even years, many patients decide to slowly taper themselves down. Patients are screened every time they come in for the drug, and that includes showing three forms of identity. “The nurse is looking in their eyes, reading all sorts of features on that individual in order to make a determination that they’re not impaired, and that it’s the right person in front of them,” says Scobie. “And then after they take the medication, the nurse talks to them, so we know it goes down their throat.” But gulping down the red, cherry-flavored liquid isn’t the only part of the treatment program. Counseling is also mandatory. “The idea is to engage them and
withdrawal symptoms, making it less likely for them to “fall off the wagon,” once they stop taking the drugs. “There’s a common misconception that folks are going to the clinic to get high, to get their fix,” says EMMC’s Mark Moran. “Really, it’s about replacing and correcting the damage done by the illicit drug use to begin with.” Methadone is also used at Eastern Maine Medical Center to treat newborns whose mothers are addicted to opioids. In 2010, the Bangor hospital observed 154 babies who were at risk for withdrawal from opioids, numbers that are among the highest in the country. Surprisingly, doctors do not recommend abstinence during pregnancy. “They would be risking miscarriage going cold turkey,” explains Moran. “There’s a misconception out there that the lower the dose of medication that the mother is on, the less chance of withdrawal the baby has. We haven’t seen that in practice, nor has the research supported this.” Instead, pregnant addicts are put on a carefully monitored drug replacement program. Methadone or Subutex are among the most common treatments. “The benefit of being on these is that it’s a long-acting medication,” says Moran. “So instead of this up-and-down cycle of having the drug and withdrawal, you get a much more stable course over 24 hours. It really helps to foster a healthier pregnancy.” Within the first 48 to 72 hours of birth, babies born to addicted moms will start to show signs of withdrawal. “[They] have a much harder time settling down to go to sleep—they’re very sensitive to their environment,” Moran says. “They can also
Many are concerned about the clinics attracting drug users and dealers to their communities, and what it will do to the crime rate. treat them over a long period of time so they can not only physiologically rebalance, but also psycho-socially redevelop a lifestyle pattern, relationships, support, and purpose down the road,” Scobie says. The idea behind methadone replacement therapy is to suppress an addict’s
have an increased respiratory rate, a bit of a higher temperature, and mottling on the skin.” But perhaps the most common symptoms are tremors and muscle tightness. “It sometimes takes two people to change a diaper because one has to hold the baby’s legs down, they’re so clenched www.bangormetro.com Bangor Metro / 25
feature story
Last year, EMMC had 154 newborns who were at risk for opiate withdrawal, a number that is among the highest in the nation.
up,” Moran says. Much like their moms, letting newborns “ride out” their withdrawal symptoms is not an option at EMMC. “Medical providers have a duty to these babies to avoid pain and suffering,” says Moran, adding that the process of withdrawal could lead to seizures. All opioid-exposed newborns are observed for a minimum of five days. If the babies demonstrate withdrawal symptoms that require treatment, methadone replacement therapy is started and typically lasts about 18 days. Babies stay in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit or Pediatrics Unit during that time. “The benefit is that these babies go home on nothing,” Moran says. “We wean them off [the opioids] and the vast majority of them need no further medications once they leave.” There are eight privately-run methadone clinics in Maine, including three in Bangor, one in Calais and in Waterville, and three in southern Maine. Turning Tides in Rockland was shut down in August of 2010, after the owner and a clinic counselor were arrested for drug offenses. The city recently gave approval for a company running one of the Bangor clinics to operate at the former facility. But there has been public resistance 26 / Bangor Metro March 2012
to methadone clinics in Maine. A number of towns and cities including Brewer, Warren, Dexter, and Cherryfield passed moratoriums after residents spoke out against them. Many are concerned about the clinics attracting drug users and dealers to their communities, and what it will do to the crime rate. Others are upset that the methadone, as well as mileage to and from the clinics, is paid for by Medicaid. “It’s a very stigmatized treatment,” admits Scobie. “It takes a lot of effort for systems to do it well and make sure that they are continually addressing the stereotypes and the complications that come up publicly with doing this lightning rod treatment.” Aroostook Mental Health Center (AMHC) has embarked on a unique program to treat Maine veterans who have addiction problems. “It’s the first of its kind in the country,” says Joseph Owens, VA liaison for the private, nonprofit, mental health care organization. “And it’s absolutely free for those who qualify for VA healthcare benefits.” Operation Outreach, as it’s called, started in Aroostook County two years ago. Last March, AMHC opened a second location in Washington County. “There are 136,000 registered Maine veterans,”
says Owens. “Until now, many of them had to drive down to Togus in Augusta for treatment.” AMHC has a contract with the VA Office of Rural Health. “We’ve had 54 Veterans enter the program so far,” Owens says, “and we’ve had 17 out of 18 veterans complete our residential treatment facility.” For Sue, treatment came in the form of methadone replacement therapy at Acadia Hospital. She came two months after the hospital opened the clinic. At that point, Sue had tried both in- and outpatient treatment programs. Each time, she’d get sober, only to fall back into her dangerous routine. At one point, Sue managed to stay clean for nearly a year, “but I would still have the physical cravings,” she says. “Even after all that time, they’d still be there, occupying my thoughts.” Sue admits she had reservations about taking methadone, but more than 10 years later, she has managed to stay in treatment. Sue is now down to just two milligrams a day and says her only side effect is sweating. “I think about the amount of drugs that I put in my body, it’s stunning,” she says. “Most people wouldn’t believe it, most people don’t. The people at Acadia Hospital helped save my life—there’s no doubt, no doubt.”
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feature story
Big, Bright, &
Beautiful
The new Brewer Community School is the largest pre-K to eighth grade school in the state, and, many argue, the greenest school, too.
Photo: courtesy of nickerson & O’Day
story by melanie brooks
28 / Bangor Metro March 2012
I
n 2005, the city of Brewer had had enough. They needed a new K-8 school and they needed it badly. The schools they were using—Capri Street, State Street, Washington Street, and the Brewer Middle Schools—were severely outdated. The elementary schools didn’t even have onsite kitchens. They thought about spending money to renovate these schools, but in working with Bangor-based WBRC Architects/Engineers, realized they could save over $40 million by just building one big, bright, new school. The City of Brewer and WBRC worked together to create the most economically feasible plan possible, and to help find just the right site in which to build a “green” school using sustainable design practices. WBRC drew up the plans for the nearly 146,000square-foot school that would hold 1,100 students, teachers, and staff members. When working on a
project of this size, a lot has to be taken into consideration. WBRC started with the numbers. How many students will be using this school? How many students will there be 20 years from now? How many teachers and staff members need office space in the building? From these numbers, WBRC deduced the total square footage of space needed. The WBRC team also had to take the law into consideration. For example, younger kids must be located on the first floor of any school near the front of the building—where most of the adults have their offices. “Safety is always a concern,” says Jeff Davis, education studio manager for WBRC. “That’s why the main office and adults are located near the entrance of the building.
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“For small children, this is the first building, besides their home, that they will spend a majority of their time in. It has to be a welcoming environment.” —Lynda Casteris-El-Hajj They also took the needs and wants of the teachers and community members into account when designing the blueprints. It was a team effort with a lot of input from the citizens of Brewer. Once they decided what they needed to have and what they wanted to have, the architects began creating the shapes for the rooms, offices, and multipurpose areas— like the library and the gyms—and laying them out in the most sensible fashion. “Designing a school has its own set of challenges,” says Steve Pedersen, senior project manager at WBRC. “You are de30 / Bangor Metro March 2012
signing it so that children of many different ages can inhabit the same space. You have to take all the rooms into consideration—you don’t want the gym or music room to be right next to a room for special education students.” The city carefully crafted a proposal for funding and sent the preliminary plans for the $33.6 million project to the State of Maine Department of Education, and crossed their fingers. In October 2007, the preliminary plans for the school were approved by the state. The approval for the funding came a year
later. And because the funding was coming from the government, the school was going green. “The Baldacci administration mandated that all new state buildings must use green building practices,” says Karl Ward, president of Nickerson and O’Day, the contractor hired to build the school. By December 2008, the final blueprints for the Brewer Community School were approved. Construction began on March 24, 2009. It might have been kismet that Nickerson and O’Day, located less than half a mile from the construction site, was awarded the contract, but Karl Ward didn’t care. He was pumping his fist when the call came in. “We try hard to choose socially redeeming projects that focus on more than just bricks and mortar,” Ward says. “We like projects that make a positive contribution
Photo and drawing: courtesy of WBRC architects/engineers
feature story
This drawing by WBRC Architects/Engineers illustrates the scope of the entire project.
to the community. As a father, this project meant a lot to me.” Ward’s favorite part about this project was how his company got the Brewer students involved in the construction process. “The new kindergarteners visited the site before the school opened, and representatives from every class were sent to the site to help set the last piece of steel,” Ward says. Nickerson and O’Day donated a time capsule that the students filled, and placed it inside one of the walls during construction. The bidding process for construction projects of this size is cutthroat. Contractors have a strict deadline as to when they must submit their bids to the client in a sealed envelope. Many get their bids in mere seconds before the deadline because the process of coming up with their final number includes so many subcontractors. “One upside to a lackluster
economy is a very competitive bidding climate,” says Dr. Daniel Lee, superintendent of schools for the city of Brewer. “We were delighted to have a Brewer-based general contractor and a Bangor-based designer join forces to build the school.” It was always in the plan for the school to apply for LEED certification on some level. LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, and both WBRC and Nickerson and O’Day have portfolios chock-full of completed LEED projects throughout the area and the state. “Getting LEED-certified sends a message to the community that we’re serious about sustainable building,” Pedersen says. The trend towards green building and design has shifted the way building is done, Ward says. What were once forcefed ideas and principles are now being used in the process as the norm, instead of the alternative. The sustainable design highlights in the Brewer Community School are just plain cool. The roof of the school is bright white so it reflects energy and negates the use of air conditioning units. Daylight is maximized throughout the school, and the lights in each room adjust to the amount of daylight pouring in through the windows. The concrete blocks that make up the walls of the main hallway don’t need added paint or chemicals, and cabinets are made with recycled wood and biobased linoleum. An astonishing 31% of the materials used in the building of the Brewer Community School were made from reusable material—stuff that has been recycled into
its current form. The upside is that all of these materials can also be recycled in the future. Both WBRC and Nickerson and O’Day have sent in their paperwork for the LEED certification for the Brewer Community School, but the results of their efforts won’t be known for several months. One of the most stunning works of sustainable building is the air ventilation units that are located in three different rooms in the school. These monstrous machines bring in cold air from the outside, heat the air, and distribute it throughout the school. Each classroom has a tall, white, cylindrical air vent in the corner where this fresh, warmed air flows from. The air travels across the floor and is expelled through a vent in the ceiling. The warmed air is then pumped back into the large ventilation units, and used to warm the new, fresh, colder air that came in from outside. Why all the technology when one could simply just open a window from time to time? “Statistics show that kids in a healthy classroom environment do better,” Pedersen says. “They get better grades, they’re more alert, and they are sick less often.” Another technology that is helping students learn better is a speaker amplification system called REDCAT. This system, which includes a microphone worn around the neck and a sound panel placed in the back of the room, lets teachers speak naturally, filling the classroom with sound without them having to yell. It also helps amplify the students’ voices when they have classroom presentations. www.bangormetro.com Bangor Metro / 31
feature story Student representatives from each class visited the job site.
green features Light Shelf
Classrooms with south facing windows have light shelves to help bring more natural light into the room.
How it works: Sunlight bounces off the reflective upper surface of the light shelf deeper into the classroom, reducing artificial lighting requirements.
Occupancy Sensor
32 / Bangor Metro March 2012
move in and out of the school at the same time was not only disorganized; it was impossible with the school bus system. The new school was designed with five wings that house students aged 4 to 13. “Who wants to send their child to a school with 950 students?” says school principal Bill Leithiser. “That’s why we created the wings. No one’s child is in a wing with more than 200 other kids of the same age. This way, the youngest kids are completely separated from the older kids.” The wings are named after chapters from Brewer’s landscape and history. The colors, patterns, and design themes change from wing to wing, giving students the feeling that they are moving up each year, even though they aren’t moving to a different school. The youngest children, pre-K and kindergarteners are located in the River wing. Students in grades one and two occupy the Ice wing with third and fourth graders in the Paper wing. The Maritime wing houses the fifth and sixth graders while the oldest kids, the ones in seventh and eighth grade, are located in the Brick wing. “The themes help younger kids find their way around the school,” says WBRC senior interior designer Lynda CasterisEl-Hajj. “For small children, this is the first building, besides their home, that they will spend a majority of their time in. It has to be a welcoming environment.” Each wing, except the pre-K section, has brightly painted lockers for each of the students, and wide hallways that allow students to pass by each other in
How it works: If the sensor does not detect movement for a predetermined amount of time, both lighting and ventilation systems are reduced to save energy.
Tubular Daylighting
Some classrooms and corridors are equipped with tubular daylighting devices.
How it works: These devices harvest sunlight on the roof and bounce it down through highly reflective tubes to the building’s interior, reducing artificial lighting requirements.
Displacement Ventilation Tempered outside air is delivered at the floor level through a corner supply diffuser.
How it works: Fresh air is pre-warmed, delivered at the floor level, and flows across the classroom to be returned through the ceiling grill to a heat recovery unit. CO2 sensors regulate air flow to unoccupied spaces, saving energy.
Photos: (top) courtesy of nickerson and O’day; (sidebar photos & illulstrations) courtesy of WBRC architects/engineers
Along with this cool, classroom-friendly technology, there’s a lot of back-door technology that you don’t see. For example, all of the heating and lights are automated by computers. Teachers who want to show a video in class no longer have to wheel in an audiovisual unit—all the classrooms are equipped with flat screen televisions, and the librarians can schedule and send a video to any class from the media center whenever the teachers need it. There are also 55 security cameras mounted throughout the school. With a 30-day archive, they are meant not as a minute-by-minute surveillance, but as a backup, just in case there was ever an incident that needed to be cleared up— whether it’s a fight between students or a security breech. “People are used to being able to go in and out of schools,” says Daniel Lee. “We have about 952 students here. We don’t know if someone is going to snag a kid and go out the back door.” Security and comfort for any school, and particularly a school of this size, is an issue that was not lost on the team at WBRC and the adults whose job it is to get kids in and out safely over the course of the day. What the Brewer School Department decided to do was to institute a staggered school day, meaning the older kids and younger kids would arrive at school and leave from school at two different times. The older students have a school day that starts at 7:30 a.m. and ends at 2 p.m., while the younger students start at 8:30 a.m. and leave at 3 p.m. Having nearly 1,000 students
An occupancy sensor in the room senses if people are present.
Top: Emily Barrington, LCPC, who works in the school’s clinic. Middle: The Maritime wing. Bottom: Librarian Theresa Holyoke wearing the REDCAT voice-amplification microphone. 34 / Bangor Metro March 2012
lines without interference. There are also benches where they can change into their winter boots that double as a quiet place for students and teachers to have some oneon-one time outside of the classroom. No net jobs were lost when the city of Brewer decided to close down all of their elementary and middle schools to move into the Brewer Community School. “We have the same amount of students as we did before,” Leithiser says. “Now they’re just all under one roof.” The school department did make one change. They now subcontract the cleaning of the new school, realizing a $200,000 savings using a private company. And there’s a lot of space to clean in this new school. Besides all of the classrooms, there is a cafeteria that serves breakfast and lunch, a gym, multipurpose room, library, and an auditorium that seats 482 people. “Last week, the third graders were in the auditorium having a Skype conversation with former First Lady Barbara Bush,” Leithiser says. While the cost to build the school— $33.6 million—was funded directly from the federal government, the people of Brewer decided to foot the bill for the $2.6 million community-use auditorium. “The auditorium was built with all of Brewer’s students in mind,” Lee says. “Brewer has a very successful K–12 drama program, and the new auditorium will bring added theater classes to the high school curriculum.” Another state-of-the-art area incorporated into the Brewer Community School is the medical clinic run by Penobscot Community Health Care. There are two fully-equipped examination rooms with all the bells and whistles, and a dental room that was installed over February school break. Students, as well as teachers and staff members, can take advantage of the clinic. Penobscot Community Health Care works with the patient’s health insurance and bills them accordingly. “Low income families with parents who can’t afford to take time off from work to take their child to the doctor for an ear infection can have them checked out at school,” Lee says. The clinic handles everything from flu shots and strep cultures to drawing blood for blood tests. For some of the students, their primary care physician works right in their school. The clinic also has a licensed clinical professional counselor (LCPC) on staff. Emily Barrington sees, on average, five or
six kids a day for counseling. “It’s practically impossible for some kids to get immediate access to mental health care,” Lee says. “Kids here can meet with a counselor, get medical attention beyond what our school nurse provides, and have access to dentistry.” But Lee, Leithiser, and Barrington are concerned that, in the near future, the clinic could be closed for good. The clinic is funded by grant money from the Fund for a Healthy Maine through the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). The fund was created in 1999 to receive and disburse Maine’s annual tobacco settlement payments and is Maine’s primary investment in public health. The fund’s intended purpose is to prevent costly chronic illness and promote healthy living, but the LePage administration is currently discussing the idea of reallocating the money from the fund to fill the DHHS budget gap. This has many people across the state—and at the Brewer Community School—worried. “There is data to support that what we are doing here is working,” Barrington says. Time will tell if they are allowed to continue to support the healthcare needs of their school community. But while this debate rages on in the legislature, kids at Brewer Community School are still going about their day in a place that was built to promote a healthy community and environment. “This school is a feather in the cap for the city of Brewer,” Karl Ward says. And even though it is the largest pre-K through eighth grade school in the state, it doesn’t feel like it. Students move seamlessly through their wings from class to class. Upper class student council representatives volunteer to help the younger kids at lunch, putting straws into juice boxes and ketchup on their hamburgers. The air is clean and the rooms are bright. The bathrooms on every wing are spacious and the science labs in the Brick wing rival those in any high school. Students in wheelchairs on the second floor don’t have to worry about rushing out of the building during a fire alarm—there are areas of refuge in the stairwells that are flanked by windows and surrounded by automated sprinklers. Art installations are still being added to the building, but student art is prominently displayed in the hallways— just like at any other school—except that this is not just any other school.
Photos by kate crabtree
feature story
www.bangormetro.com Bangor Metro / 35
green guide
2012gogreenguide Welcome to our fifth annual green guide! Over the past year, there’s been a lot of great news to share, and we’ve decided to focus on two of them—new standards from the EPA to keep our air toxinfree, and a new business in the Katahdin region focused on producing an alternative heating source.
36 / Bangor Metro March 2012
Green Guide Glossary This guide will help you understand some of the terms we use throughout this section. Biofuel A type of fuel whose energy is derived from biological matter, especially plant matter. EPA The mission of the United States Environmental Protection Agency is to protect human health and the environment where people live, learn, and work. Mercury A heavy, silver-white, highly-toxic metallic element. Mercury Poisoning A disease caused by exposure to mercury or its compounds. Symptoms include sensory impairment, disturbed sensation, and a lack of coordination. Natural Resources Council of Maine This nonprofit membership organization aims to protect, restore, and conserve Maine’s environment now and for future generations. Renewable Energy Any naturally-occurring, theoretically-inexhaustible source of energy, such as biomass, solar, wind, tidal, wave, and hydroelectric power, that is not derived from fossil or nuclear fuel.
March 31 Buchanan Alumni House
2012
Torrefaction The roasting of wood or other biomass to create a product that has increased energy density, has characteristics that make it easy to handle and transport, and is practical to use in existing coal plants.
Fabulous Food Hilarious Live Auction Tons of Great Raffle Prizes
6:30 - 9pm
University of Maine, Orono
Tickets $20
Improv comedy by Focus Group
Call 945-5102 sprucerun.net
Bluegrass music by Raw Chicken Sponsors:
Northeast Reprographics Deighan Associates Northeast Cardiology
Miller Drug Northeast Periodontal Associates Edwards, Faust and Smith, CPAs www.bangormetro.com Bangor Metro / 37
green guide
Torrefied wood pellets that will be manufactured at the old Millinocket paper mill.
Torrefied Wood
M
ore often than not, the argument is made that environmentalism is bad for business. It’s an easy idea to cozy up to, until you hear from someone like Richard Cyr, senior vice president of Cate Street Capital and president and CEO of Great Northern Paper. Cate Street is the New Hampshire-based company that purchased two shuttered paper mills in Maine, one in Millinocket and the other in East Millinocket, back in September. The move put some 225 people back to work at the East Millinocket paper mill and paved the way for a new, renewable 38 / Bangor Metro March 2012
energy project that will lead to the creation of more jobs for the Katahdin region. It all started on December 1, 2011, when Thermogen Industries (a subsidiary of Cate Street) acquired exclusive rights to build machinery designed to create torrefied wood, an alternative energy source meant to replace coal. Cyr offered his thoughts on the environmental benefits of torrefied wood and the potential impact to Millinocket and the state of Maine. Could you describe the work Thermogen is doing? Thermogen will use low-grade forest
Photo: courtesy of cate street capital
Thermogen Industries is breathing new life into the old paper mills in the Katahdin region, creating an alternative energy source that will benefit the economy and environment. by tom avila
products that fall to the forest floor during wood harvesting—the same materials used to make wood chips—and produce a renewable biofuel that can be used as a direct substitute for coal in power plants. Our torrefied wood product is called Aurora Black, and it burns with the same energy output as coal, but much cleaner. Coal-fired power plants will add Aurora Black to their fuel mix to reduce how much coal they burn, thereby reducing dangerous emissions as they generate electricity.
And what about the jobs you are creating, particularly here in Maine? Thermogen will create jobs for skilled workers, including plant managers, electricians, mechanics, equipment operators, and semiskilled laborers to operate our production facility. Our initial plant, which will produce up to 100,000 tons of torrefied wood product per year, will cre-
What goes into the creation of torrefied wood? The torrefaction process employed by Thermogen uses microwave energy in a proprietary design to drive off water and low-value hydrocarbons from wood chips. The resulting material is then ground and molded into black pellets that have similar properties to coal, without the dangerous emissions. The brilliance of our proprietary process is that it produces a very durable, stable product, which can be shipped great distances, including overseas, while maintaining its quality and integrity.
It seems that one of the most recurring arguments against “green” and renewable energy sources is the idea that they are too expensive to be sustained. Is
“Designing a school for over 1,000 students spanning grades pre-kindergarten through eight is a huge challenge as program and space requirements vary widely. WBRC’s team spent untold hours listening to our needs and concerns. Working through multiple options, they designed an attractive building utilizing green construction principles to serve future generations of Brewer’s children.”
Is there a difference between torrefied wood and what some refer to as biocoal? The terms are often used synonymously, as pellets made from torrefied wood are a biofuel that can be used to replace coal. As such, some in the industry have referred to it as biocoal, but the term is really a misnomer. Thermogen seems to take a good deal of pride both in the contributions it’s making to the environment and the work it’s doing to create “green” jobs in rural communities. Could you describe the contributions the company is making to the environment? Thermogen will produce a clean-burning renewable fuel that will reduce reliance on coal to produce electricity and reduce emissions of greenhouse gases and other pollutants such as mercury and acid gases from power generation. In addition, by requiring our biomass suppliers to use sustainable forestry practices, Thermogen will help promote responsible forest management that leads to healthy forests and provides important wildlife habitat.
ate 22 to 25 new jobs. In addition, Thermogen will support indirect jobs in the forestry industry along with other regional businesses.
Daniel M. Lee, Ed.D. Superintendent of Schools Brewer & Dedham School Departments
Outstanding Solutions. Astonishing Value.
44 Central Street Bangor, Maine 04401 207-947-4511 wbrcmetrobrewerLee0112.indd 1
1/26/12 12:42 PM
www.bangormetro.com Bangor Metro / 39
For your ordinary tasks, expect extraordinary service.
green guide cost a factor with torrefied wood? Costs are a factor for any manufacturing process, including the production of torrefied wood. The Thermogen team has both designed a process and acquired a site that help control operating costs by
Municipalities and Schools
Commercial Office Space
Manufacturing and Industrial
Healthcare Facilities
ServiceMaster Contract Services is the premier choice for green cleaning and facility maintenance solutions in Eastern Maine. ServiceMaster Contract Services Phone: (207) 848-0745 Toll Free: (800) 278-0745 Email: hclark@svmcontract.com www.svmcontract.com
Richard M. Cyr, senior vice president of Cate Street Capital Inc.
Cate Street Capital has made a real commitment to fostering the creation of green technologies and the establishment of environmentally sustainable businesses. What might we, particularly those of us in the state of Maine, be looking for on the horizon in terms of new Cate Street projects? In Maine we are focused right now on continuing to improve efficiencies at Great Northern Paper in East Millinocket and successfully launching Thermogen in Millinocket. We have, however, recently expanded our corporate operations in Portland and will continue to look at ways to create additional jobs in Maine into the future. 40 / Bangor Metro March 2012
Photo: courtesy of cate street capital
leveraging synergies of our Millinocket location, in the heart of Maine’s wood basket. Demand and price for Thermogen’s product is currently driven by carbon regulations in the European Union. Thermogen’s product allows coal-fired generating facilities to meet these regulations by lowering their emissions without incurring significant modification costs to their emissions equipment. We provide our product at a price that adequately covers Thermogen’s operating costs and allows us to be profitable.
With 5 LEED-Accredited Professionals on staff, we are Eastern, Central and Northern Maine’s most experienced LEED/Green Constructor! Visit our website to nd out more about the benets of LEED Construction Technologies!
Brewer Community School, Brewer, ME Completed June, 2011 ~ LEED Silver Pending
Acadia Welcome Center, Trenton, ME Completed June, 2011 ~ LEED Gold Pending
Celebrating 60 years of Building Maine!
green guide
EPA
Mercury Rules W
ith the passing of time comes changing technology. Remember the floppy disc? Eight-track tapes? We thought so. But there’s one piece of technology, created all the way back in 1714, that you, your parents, or grandparents might still have stashed in their medicine cabinets—the mercury thermometer. But mercury is dangerous. It’s a neurotoxin, and exposure to mercury can affect the human nervous system, brain, 42 / Bangor Metro March 2012
heart, and kidneys as well as the immune system. Those are some of the reasons why, in 2003, the state of Maine passed a law that prohibited the sale of mercury thermometers, switches, and other measuring devices. The worry being that once those items wound up in the state’s landfills, they would break open and leach mercury into the groundwater. Which is where the issue with mercury really comes into play. Once mercury has entered the environment, certain
PHoto: © Ventin/Shutterstock.com
Mercury and other toxins float into our state on a breeze. Thankfully, there are new standards to make sure our clean air stays that way. by tom avila
chemical changes can take place that allow a highly toxic form of mercury— methylmercury—to build up in fish and shellfish. And, because of the way the food chain works, animals that eat fish can ingest mercury, too. Animals like human beings. But mercury thermometers are hardly the most significant source of mercury contamination. That distinction belongs to the 600 coal- and oil-fired power plants in the U.S. According to figures from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), power plants are currently “the dominant emitters of mercury (50%), acid gases (over 75%), and many toxic metals (20%–60%) in the United States.” On December 16, 2011, the EPA put forward the first-ever national standards to reduce mercury and other toxic air pollutants from these power plants. It’s a move that received a warm welcome here in Maine, a state that does not play home to any of the big plants that will be most affected. “No, we don’t have big coal-fired power plants in the state of Maine,” says Dylan Voorhees, Clean Energy and Global Warming Project Director of the Natural Resources Council of Maine, “but there are plants just over the border in New Hampshire and Massachusetts.” But that doesn’t mean that Maine isn’t affected. “One of the important sources of mercury and related toxins in Maine comes from other states, on the winds, and the danger is that they are kind of out of sight, out of mind. That’s why this rule is so important. It’s going to do something that’s difficult for Maine to do, which is to crack down on pollution from out of state.” Dr. Laurie Osher, a community organizer and member of the board of Maine Interfaith Power and Light, also notes the challenge of cross-state pollution. “The air quality in Maine is poorer than what you’d expect for such a rural state,” Osher says. “Maine’s air pollution comes primarily from the smokestacks of the Ohio River Valley. The smokestacks there have emissions that have always exceeded Clean Air Act standards. That air pollution is moved east by the prevailing winds, and is rained out (as acid rain) onto our forests and fields and coastline. It is this pollution from elsewhere that causes Acadia National Park to have the worst air quality of any national park in the country. It’s not from people driving their cars in the park.” www.bangormetro.com Bangor Metro / 43
green guide Osher and Voorhees are clear-eyed about the challenges that lie ahead for these new EPA rules. Legislative opposition is already coming from those pointing out potential economic impacts. “When you do something for the environment, there is a business impact. That’s what happens when technology changes. There will be a cost. We need innovators,” Osher says. “There’s a chemist who’s worked out a process where you can bleach paper without chlorine, which means you’re removing the mercury from the process. It’s not an accident she’s a UMaine professor. That’s why people come here. Part of what drives innovation in Maine is that people come here for a clean environment.” “There are lots of motivations for clean air standards and the Clean Air Act,” says Voorhees. “They’re about saving lives and improving people’s health. But they’re also about clean air. We live in a beautiful state. People come here to hike our mountains and go to the coast. Air quality is absolutely part of that.”
44 / Bangor Metro March 2012
what’s happening
Photos: (top) courtesy of the collins center for the arts; (bottom) Robert Pernell/shutterstock.com
March
March 16 South Pacific / Orono
March 23–25 Bangor Boating & Marine Show / Bangor
South Pacific Orono • March 16 Considered to be one of the greatest Broadway musicals, South Pacific is about an American nurse at a U.S. Naval base during WWII who falls in love with an expatriate French plantation owner with a dark past. The original Broadway production won 10 Tony Awards, including Best Musical, Best Score, and Best Libretto. It is the only musical production to ever have won all four Tony Awards for best acting. This is a production you will remember for a lifetime. Bangor Boating & Marine Show Bangor • March 23–25 Sunny days and warm weather are right around the corner (we promise) and it’s time to start thinking about how you want to enjoy your Maine summer. If lazy days spent on Maine’s lakes, rivers, and bays suit your fancy, put the Bangor Boating & Marine Show on your radar.
www.bangormetro.com Bangor Metro / 45
Events
Theater
March 1 NT Live: The Comedy of Errors The Strand, Rockland The Grand, Ellsworth Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors directed by Dominic Cooke, will star the hugely popular comedian and actor Lenny Henry. Broadcast live at 2 pm; rebroadcast at 7 pm. 594-0070 • www.rocklandstrand.com 667-9500 • www.grandonline.org March 1 Erica Brown Unity Center for the Performing Arts Unity A fiddling aficionado as a child, today Erica Brown has her own bluegrass band—Erica Brown & The Bluegrass Connection, which performs all over New England. Her talent for combining the precision of classical music with the spontaneity of country and bluegrass fiddle makes for a fun-filled performance every time she plays. 7:30 pm. $15. 948-SHOW www.unityme.org/theater March 2–4 Northeast Championship Sled Dog Race Jackman This yearly event is fun for the whole family. A fast-paced and diversified event featuring everything from one dog skijoring to large sled teams. Sponsored by Plum Creek and the Magic Falls Rafting Company. 888-633-5225 www.jackmanmaine.org March 3 Vancouver Chamber Choir Collins Center for the Arts, Orono Based on the Pacific Coast in British Columbia, conductor Jon Washburn and his 20 singers are noted for their diverse repertoire and performing excellence. 3 pm. $33. 581-1755 www.collinscenterforthearts.com
Music March 3 & 4 Gilbert & Sullivan Society of Maine Presents Trial by Jury The Grand, Ellsworth This one-act comedic opera’s plot is ludicrous, but the characters behave as if the events were perfectly reasonable. First performed on March 25, 1875, the production is frequently revived for audiences of every era. Sat. 7:30 pm; Sun. 2 pm. $17 adults; $14 students and seniors. 667-9500 • www.grandonline.org March 4 Road to Raw Wrestlemania Tour Bangor Auditorium WWE returns to Bangor after a threeyear hiatus. Don’t miss out on this opportunity to see all of your favorite WWE superstars in person. 5 pm. $17–$62. 990-4444 www.bangorciviccenter.com March 3–6 Can-Am Crown Sled Dog Race Main Street, Fort Kent The 30-mile, 60-mile, and 250-mile Iditarod qualifier attracts thousands of spectators and hundreds of volunteers and racers to Fort Kent. Begins Sat. 8 am. 444-5439 • http://can-am.sjv.net March 8 The Carolina Chocolate Drops in Concert The Strand, Rockland The Carolina Chocolate Drops, 2011 Grammy Award winners, take the stage in Rockland to perform their own electrifying style of traditional roots music, the blues, and more. 8 pm. $24. 594-0070 • www.rocklandstrand.com March 8 J.P. Cormier with The Elliots Unity Center for the Performing Arts J.P. Cormier has performed across the U.S., including many nights at the Grand Ole Opry with notable artists like Waylon Jennings, Vince Gill, and Marty Stuart. No matter the combination, J.P.’s
performances are simply electrifying. 7:30 pm. $15. 948-SHOW www.unityme.org/theater March 9–11 74th Annual Eastern Maine Sportsmen’s Show University of Maine Field House, Orono Come check out more than 150 vendors ranging from sporting goods dealers to hunting and fishing guides. A chance to win a canoe from Old Town Canoe is included with each ticket. Fri. 5–9 pm; Sat. 9 am–8 pm; Sun. 10 am–4 pm. $7 adults and children 12 years and older; $1 for children 6–11; free for children under 6. www.conservationassociation.org March 10 New England’s Funniest Women Comedy Show Spectacular Event Center, Bangor Karen Morgan, Jody Sloane, and Amy Tee will take the stage in this all-female comedy show. Appetizers included. Cash bar. Doors open at 7:30 pm, show starts at 8:30. $20. 941-8700 www.spectaculareventcenter.com March 11 Tchaikovsky 4 Collins Center for the Arts, Orono This Bangor Symphony Orchestra production features Gilad Karni on viola and conductor Lucas Richman. 3 pm. $19–$43. 581-1755 www.collinscenterforthearts.com March 13 Celtic Music by DANU Camden Opera House Prepare for St. Patrick’s Day by celebrating with the acclaimed Irish ensemble Danu. The group has thrilled Celtic music lovers around the globe with their fiddle, flutes, button accordion, percussion, and the gorgeous voice of Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh. 7 pm.
Please visit our site, www.bangormetro.com, and submit your event under our submissions tab. 46 / Bangor Metro March 2012
$30–$40; $8 for children under 18. 236-2823 www.baychamberconcerts.org March 14 Thomas Hill Standpipe Tour Bangor Get a great view of Bangor’s winter wonderland at the top of the standpipe. 2–5 pm. 947-4516 • www.bangorwater.org March 14 DANU Collins Center for the Arts, Orono Prepare for St. Patrick’s Day by celebrating with the acclaimed Irish ensemble Danu. The group has thrilled Celtic music lovers around the globe with their fiddle, flutes, button accordion, percussion, and the gorgeous voice of Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh. 7 pm. $33. 581-1755 www.collinscenterforthearts.com March 14 Business & Community Expo Samoset Resort, Rockport Don’t miss this fun, annual event, sponsored by the Penobscot Bay Regional Chamber of Commerce. This year’s show will feature over 100 of the region’s best businesses, crafters, and nonprofit organizations. 2–7 pm. www.mainebusinessshowcase.com March 16 South Pacific— National Broadway Tour Collins Center for the Arts, Orono Set on a tropical island during World War II, the musical tells the sweeping romantic story of two couples and how their happiness is threatened by the realities of war and their own prejudices. 8 pm. $58. 581-1755 www.collinscenterforthearts.com March 17 Up Hill Down Hill St. Patty’s Day Race Camden Snow Bowl This fundraising event to support the Mountain of Possibilities Campaign to redevelop the Camden Snow Bowl and Ragged Mountain Recreation Area is open to all ages and abilities. 9–11 am. 236-3438 www.camdensnowbowl.com
March 19 Harlem Globetrotters 2012 World Tour Bangor Auditorium Don’t miss this exciting event that is sure to delight the entire family. 7 pm. $20–$54. 990-4444 • www.bangorciviccenter.com March 21 The Road Back Gracie Theater, Husson University This movie was written and created by a group of Maine high school students. The documentary follows two teens as they struggle with anxiety and depression. Visit the website to reserve your free seats. 7 pm. www.acadiatheroadback.org March 22 An Evening With Leo Kottke The Strand, Rockland This guitarist-singer-songwriter is a true American original. He’s been touring and recording for over 40 years and is known for his innovative finger-picking style. 7:30 pm. $28 in advance; $33 at the door. 594-0070 • www.rocklandstrand.com March 23 Comedy Show Spectacular Event Center, Bangor Three local comedians—Adam Hatch, Kyron Hobdy, and Tuck Tucker—take the stage for a night of laughs. Appetizers included. Cash bar. Doors open at 7:30 pm, show starts at 8:30. $15. 941-8700 www.spectaculareventcenter.com March 23–25 Bangor Boating & Marine Show Bangor Auditorium It’s never too early to start planning for the 2012 boating season. No matter what you do on the water—ski, fish, or just relax—you’ll find the perfect boat at a great price at this annual show. Fri. 2–8 pm; Sat. 10 am–8 pm; Sun. 11 am–4 pm. $5 adults; free for children under 12. 990-4444 www.bangorciviccenter.com March 23–25, 30 & 31 Freud’s Last Session Rockport Opera House Everyman Repertory Theater presents
celebrate 200 years of community with
Brewer, Maine.
We kicked off our Bicentennial year with Winterfest in February and have many more events planned for 2012 including the Chamberlain Golf Tournament, Celebration Concert, historical tours & luncheons, family events and more!
Visit us at www.brewerme.org or on Facebook at facebook. com/brewer bicentennial For more information on how to get involved, call us at (207) 989-5432.
www.bangormetro.com Bangor Metro / 47
Mark St. Germain’s play about a discussion between Sigmund Freud and C. S. Lewis at Freud’s home two days before the start of WWII. Fri. and Sat. 7:30 pm; Sun. 2 pm. 236-0173 • www.everymanrep.org March 24 The Music of Queen: A Rock & Symphonic Sensation Collins Center for the Arts, Orono No other show combines a world-class rock band comprising some of the UK’s finest musicians. Four incredible singers, all of whom have played leading roles in the West End production of We Will Rock You come together with the Bangor Symphony Orchestra. 8 pm. $58. 581-1755 www.collinscenterforthearts.com March 24 Maine State Science Fair Jackson Laboratory, Bar Harbor Students from high schools across the state are invited to compete in this annual event. Some of the brightest minds in Maine will be on display in Bar Harbor and winners will be chosen from a variety of categories. www.jax.org/mssf March 24 & 25 Midcoast Model Festival Owls Head Transportation Museum Modelers display a mix of kit models and handmade creations from antique model steam engines to cars, planes, and trains. Indoor and outdoor demonstrations. “Make and Take” family activities and more. 9:30 am–5 pm both days. $12 adults; free for children under 18. 594-4418 • www.othm.org
Visit www.bangormetro.com to subscribe, read, browse, and find local events and advertisers. 48 / Bangor Metro March 2012
March 24 & 25 7th Annual Music Off Broadway Peakes Auditorium, Bangor High School The theme for this year’s performance is Music from the Movies. Reminisce and listen to your favorite movie songs, thanks to a talented cast of about 40 community members. This performance is presented by the Rotary Club of Bangor and all proceeds support local nonprofit service organizations. Sat. 7:30 pm; Sun. 3 pm. $18 adults, $15 seniors, $10 youth. www.bangorrotary.org
Events
March 25 Maine Maple Sunday Statewide Join Maine’s maple producers as they celebrate Maine Maple Sunday—the day when sugar makers around the state open their doors of their sugarhouses to the public. It’s your chance to see how maple sap is turned into syrup. Visit the website for more info and a list of participating sugarhouses. www.mainemapleproducers.com March 28 The Spirit of Uganda Collins Center for the Arts, Orono The Spirit of Uganda presents riveting programs of music and dance for audiences of all ages. To the melodic tones of standing drums, with dramatic choreography, bright, layered rhythms, and gorgeous call-and-response vocals, a vibrant cast of performers, aged 8–18, brings to life the sounds and movements of East Africa. 7 pm. $33. 581-1755 www.collinscenterforthearts.com March 28–31 Ink Penobscot Theatre, Bangor Penobscot Theatre is thrilled to present
museums Hancock County Abbe Museum Bar Harbor 822-3519 • www.abbemuseum.org Birdsacre-Stanwood Wildlife Sanctuary & Homestead Ellsworth 667-8460 • www.birdsacre.com George B. Dorr Museum of Natural History Bar Harbor 288-5015 • www.coamuseum.org Seal Cove Auto Museum Seal Cove 244-9242 www.sealcoveautomuseum.org Wendell Gilley Museum Southwest Harbor 244-7555 www.wendellgilleymuseum.org
the world premiere production of this engrossing play which won the audience favorite award at our 2010 Northern Writes New Play Festival. Ink tells the true story of Mary Rowlandson, the first woman published in America, and James Printer, the Harvard-trained Nipmuc who saved her life and helped her put her words on paper. Wed. and Thurs. 7 pm; Fri. 8 pm; Sat. 5 pm. $35. 942-3333 • www.penobscottheatre.org March 29 NT Live Presents: She Stoops to Conquer The Grand, Ellsworth One of the great, generous-hearted and ingenious comedies of the English language, Goldsmith’s She Stoops to Conquer offers a celebration of chaos, courtship, and the dysfunctional family. 2 pm. $17 adults, $15 seniors, $13 members, $12 students, $10 children. 667-9500 • www.grandonline.org
Theater
Music
Fri. 11 am–8 pm; Sat. 10 am–8 pm; Sun. 10 am–4 pm. $5 ages 13 and up; $3 for children 1–12; free for children younger than 1. 941-2800 • www.bangory.org March 31 Overcoat Tour Penobscot Marine Museum, Searsport Take a guided tour of the museum’s Merithew House, featuring exhibits of maritime art, ship models, scrimshaw, and the industrial history of Penobscot Bay. Dress warmly. 2 pm. 549-2529 www.penobscotmarinemuseum.org March 31 Wedding Expo Old Town Elks Lodge Meet a wide variety of local wedding vendors to answer your wedding day questions and help you plan your big day. 10 am–3 pm. 852-7724
March 30—April 1 Bangor Y Spring Fair Bangor Civic Center The spring fair is back, and you’re not going to want to miss it. Bring the kids to experience indoor carnival rides, games, and delicious food for all ages.
Woodlawn Museum Ellsworth 667-8671 www.woodlawnmuseum.org Knox County Coastal Children’s Museum Rockland 385-1105 www.coastalchildrensmuseum.org Farnsworth Art Museum & Wyeth Center Rockland 596-6457 www.farnsworthmuseum.com Maine Lighthouse Museum Rockland 594-3301 www.mainelighthousemuseum.com
Owls Head Transportation Museum Owls Head 594-4418 • www.ohtm.org Penobscot County Hudson Museum at the University of Maine Orono 581-1901 www.umaine.edu/hudsonmuseum Leonard’s Mills Bradley 974-6278 • www.leonardsmills.com Maine Discovery Museum Bangor 262-7200 www.mainediscoverymuseum.org University of Maine Museum of Art Bangor 561-3350 • www.umma.maine.edu
www.bangormetro.com Bangor Metro / 49
kitchen confidential What is your first food memory? My first food memory is school lunch. My mom was very good at switching things up so my sister and I wouldn’t get bored. Some days we had sandwiches—the traditional tuna with cucumbers, peanut butter and jelly, or pastrami with lettuce, tomato, and mustard. Other times, we had Japanese rice balls covered in seaweed, stuffed with either tuna or bonito. Snacks were the traditional potato chips or Clementine oranges, but sometimes I got sontong (sundried cuttlefish strands) or mini packets of dried baby anchovies mixed with peanuts. Those are the things I remember—if I didn’t grow up with those things, I probably wouldn’t like them as an adult. What are some of your early cooking experiences? My mom didn’t really want me cooking as a kid, or rather, messing with her kitchen space. Whenever we visited our extended family in Malaysia, however, my aunt would always put me right to work in the kitchen. She was the head of the 10person household, so whenever my sister and I visited, she took the opportunity to take a little break and have us help her out with some of the chores, in which cooking was my earliest cooking memory.
Restaurant
Chef Mel Chaiken grew up in Tokyo, Japan, with a Malaysian mother and American father. Her tri-cultured family atmosphere helped shape her taste and skills in the kitchen. She came to Maine via Colby College, and today practices these skills six nights a week at The Fiddlehead Restaurant in Bangor. By melanie Brooks
50 / Bangor Metro March 2012
Where did you study or apprentice? I have no formal culinary education. I knew, early on, that I didn’t want an office job—I need to be moving and physically doing things. Cooking food seemed the perfect job. I liked to eat food, and I liked the creative aspect of it. I worked in several restaurants, mostly in the Bar Harbor area—moving on to completing two summer seasons at the Asticou Inn in North-
Photos: michael alden
The Fiddlehead
Any family influences on your style and taste? All of my cooking is based primarily on my family’s cooking techniques and taste preferences. My mother is an amazing cook (although she will deny it). She mastered everything from Malay-style curries to homemade lasagna to traditional Thanksgiving dinners. She taught me that you can make any type of food you want and that you can make it taste awesome, no matter what your culinary background is. That’s what gave me the confidence to pursue a culinary profession; it helped that I had somewhat of a knack for it as well!
east Harbor. There, I met two amazing chefs that were willing to teach me all they knew culinary-wise, as well as a good work ethic, which I felt I somewhat had a grasp on. But watching these amazing chefs work, as well as my fellow line cooks and dishwashers, made me want to work harder, do better, and have fun while I was doing it. When did you realize you were a chef? I got the “title” of chef when I was 26 years old, working at a fine dining restaurant that has since gone out of business in the
Opposite page: Mel Chaiken in front of the bar at The Fiddlehead Restaurant. Above: One of the chef’s signature meals, a char-sui marinated pork chop.
Bangor area. I was, however, far from being a chef. It took me a good three years of trial and error and developing my skills to be able to feel like one. There are two instances in which I thought to myself, “I am now a chef.” The first was when my business partner, Laura Albin, and I opened our current establishment, The Fiddlehead Restaurant. The second is when I experiment with food and certain dishes that I am totally unfamiliar with, totally mess it up, and realize I know exactly how to fix it and make it better. Owning my profession physically, with a restaurant, and mentally, with my skills, was the caveat for me to consider myself a real chef. What was your pivotal career move? Opening our own restaurant. Thinking back, it was a lot more liberating than I thought it would be. Trusting your instincts, making your own decisions, and relying on a group of people that you love and admire to help you achieve that one goal. It’s amazing. It’s the third-best thing that’s ever happened to me— after meeting my fiancé and the birth of my child. When did the Fiddlehead Restaurant open? How did it happen? We opened on August 25, 2009. Laura and I had just gotten done working at another restaurant in town. Both unemployed (and me with a 1-year-old), we knew we wanted to stay in the Bangor area and we knew we were good at working in restaurants—we didn’t, however, want to work for anyone else. We decided to open our own place. Things just happened to fall into place, after that. We are still pretty amazed at how it all came together—but it www.bangormetro.com Bangor Metro / 51
kitchen confidential did. We must be doing something right— we’re still crossing our fingers. What is your favorite ingredient to work with? I’ll discover something new (to me) one week, really like using it, and then find something new the next. What I really like are challenges—people coming in with food allergies, dietary restrictions, and/or personal food preferences. We like to make everyone feel welcome at the Fiddlehead, so when I look into my fridge and try to create a dish for people with what I have available—not just to get by, but to make the dish taste good and succeed—that makes me feel like a real chef.
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52 / Bangor Metro March 2012
You source a lot of ingredients locally. Why is this important to you? It’s not just a trend, in my opinion. It really gets the community together—people get to know each other, and yes, it fosters a certain type of pride in the “stuff” we create because we have to “own” it, and answer for it. For example, we can’t just blame the “big company” if our greens aren’t good— we discuss our issues with our local greens person and fix the problem, and it’s a matter of pride. People are willing to work together to make our food better and people want to create things that are of good quality and reliable items. Slowly but surely, we’re creating a little self-sufficient community that we will all be proud to be a part of. What is the dish we have featured? How did it come about and what ingredients are used? This is a char sui-marinated pork chop with Japanese-style fried rice and hot sesame oil. Simply, I missed the taste of Japanese fried rice, so I recreated it for this dish. Char sui is a Chinese-style marinade, mostly used with pork, so it naturally goes with the pork chop. Bringing it all together is the hot sesame oil, which mellows out the sweetness of the char sui marinade, and kicks up the flavor of the fried rice. Usually, with a dish, I start with the thought: What do I want to eat today/what do I want to make that sounds good? It’s all downhill from there. What is your least favorite job-related task? It’s usually the simplest things that I hate
doing. The type of chores that only take three minutes—like chopping herbs or shredding cheese. Thankfully, I have a sous chef and line cook who like me enough to do it for me most of the time.
What does a perfect day off look like? I love my job, but any day off is a perfect day off. More specifically, watching my son (now 3 years old) learn to skate and play hockey, and learn to swim. I also enjoy movie nights with my fiancé/ Contact our meeting Contact specialist, our meeting specialist, With eleganceWith and sophistication, elegance and sophistication, Hilton Garden Inn Hilton in Bangor Gardenoffers Inn in first Bangor offers first our me Contact ourorsales teamContact With elegance and sophistication, Hilton Garden Inn in Bangor offers first best friend, cooking good, simple food at Jesse MichaudJesse at Jesse.Michaud@hilton.com Michaud at Jesse.Michaud@hilton.com or class amenitiesclass and amenities service forand yourservice groupsfor and your special groups events. and special We have events. We have Whitty at information Jesse Michaud at Jesse call 1-207-262-0099 call or 1-207-262-0099 1-877-TOPHILTON or 1-877-TOPHILTON for Kathleen more information for more home, and yes, cleaning my house! class amenities and service for your groups and special events. We have
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more info the Fiddlehead Restaurant 84 Hammond St Bangor 207.942.eden (3336) Hours: Tuesday–Friday 4–9 pm; Saturday 5– 10 pm; Sunday 5–9 pm. Bar open late. Specialties: Local sourcing; fresh-made desserts, food, and drinks; great atmosphere; and affordable prices. First-timer tip: Call ahead for reservations (it is a very small space). Be prepared for a lively atmosphere. Dress up or dress down, all are welcome! Sample menu items: Crispy lobster spring rolls with spicy aioli and sherry vinegar. Also, grilled romaine salad with stilton cheese, oven-roasted tomatoes, roasted garlic vinaigrette, and apple cider reduction.
www.bangormetro.com Bangor Metro / 53
per spectives
Hailey Tash
54 / Bangor Metro March 2012
When Hailey Tash‘s father placed a vintage Nikon 35mm camera in her 10-yearold hands, something clicked. She spent the next eight years taking photos of her surroundings in northern Maine before migrating south to study at the University of Maine in Orono. She started her business, Hailey Tash Photography, in the fall of 2010, and specializes in wedding, portraiture, and fashion photography. What makes a perfect photo? “Natural light and a gorgeous Maine backdrop,” Tash says.
www.bangormetro.com Bangor Metro / 55
A
Wintertime Tormentors Extreme measures often need to be engaged when woodland creatures invade our homes. by brad eden
nyone who lives in Maine can expect to have wintertime visitors that stay too long. Those of us who live in older houses are particularly susceptible to transients taking up residence. I can anticipate that by the time I have battened down the hatches on this old farmhouse a few mice will have snuck in. Small snap traps baited with peanut butter placed about the house take care of that problem. One winter we began to be awoken by something much larger than mice scrambling around above our bedroom ceiling. Upon investigation I found that something had chewed holes through the roof cornices on the outside of the house. By the size of those holes I suspected that the pesky red squirrels that torment my dogs from the pine trees out back had chosen my attic as their winter den. The American red squirrel can be found just about anywhere from backyard bird feeders to mixed coniferous and deciduous forests. They are sometimes called pine squirrels or tree squirrels and have a rufous coloration; a mixture of gray and red with creamy white around their eyes and on their underside, and a predominantly reddish tail. Significantly smaller than the eastern gray squirrel, they make up for their diminutive size with their raucous behavior. Red squirrels are the bane of deer hunters. They are very territorial, and if they detect you stalking through the woods or trying to remain undetected in a tree stand, they will harass you unmercifully with a cacophony of chatters and screeches and barks. They seem to know you won’t waste a bullet on them and will crouch on a limb, just out of reach, or peek at you while clinging upside down on the
“If you blink, they will dash about spitting and stamping their feet in infuriation.” tree trunk, and give you a prolonged and furious scolding. If you blink, they will dash about spitting and stamping their feet in infuriation. In the meantime, some form of squirrel social networking will have commenced with other distant red squirrels broadcasting your presence to each other and all creatures, including the deer you have been patiently waiting 56 / Bangor Metro March 2012
for. Yet, I will admit, once they become bored with accosting you, watching their frenzied gymnastics can be an amusing distraction to the numbing boredom that stand hunting can produce. By the time I had figured out what was living in our attic, my wife, who is a notoriously light sleeper to begin with, was threatening to move to a motel until I solved the infestation problem. Unlike the dimwitted mice that couldn’t resist the baited snap traps, these furry invaders proved to be a savvier adversary. I tried leaving a light on in the attic to drive them out. Didn’t faze them. I left a radio turned on up there. They simply danced longer and more loudly into the early morning hours. Finally, I bought a squirrel-size live trap. Problem solved I thought. I baited the trap with a hand-selected variety of seeds and fruits, the goodies red squirrels prefer. I placed the trap in the attic with a smug grin on my face and waited. That grin soon turned upside down when the nighttime roughhousing above our heads continued. They simply ignored the banquet I had provided. My wife was now sleeping downstairs on the couch leaving me snuggling with two Springer spaniels who spent most nights staring at the ceiling and growling. I decided to use my noggin. I knew that the squirrels were likely leaving their attic den during daylight hours to gather their winter larder. Sure enough, some stealthy surveillance revealed they would emerge from the hole in a cornice and hop onto the front porch roof, leap into the maple tree out front and then onto the ground. Our proximity to a busy road explains why I didn’t employ a gun to exterminate these little demons. I strategically set the live trap outside along their apparent food-gathering route. Within days, I had caught over a half dozen red squirrels that I released miles away. We finally started getting some sleep. Needless to say, red squirrels are not welcome on our property and I am forever vigilant in my live trapping efforts. To date, I’d guess I have caught and relocated a couple dozen of these precocious little fiends. But I make sure not to let them go anywhere near my deer stands. Brad Eden is an artist, writer, Registered Maine Master Guide, and owner/editor of the online magazine www.uplandjournal.com
Photo: © Pictureguy/shutterstock.com
maine woods & waters
savvy seniors
Treat Your Feet Right Good foot care is important— especially with sandal season right around the corner.
Photo: © Yuri Arcurs/Shutterstock.com
by carol higgins taylor
A
ccording to the calendar, summer is on its way—so the time to take a good long look at your feet is now. You’ll want to be ready for sandal season, of course, but more than looking nice, healthy feet are a necessary component to overall good health. Think about it. If your feet hurt, the rest of you is not too happy, either. We abuse our feet while expecting a lot from them. And being diabetic complicates things. “People with diabetes are 10 times more likely to have a lower limb amputated than people without diabetes,” says Roy Corbin, a Bangor-area podiatrist. “The disease can cause poor blood circulation and nerve damage in the feet, making them vulnerable to developing ulcers, infections, deformities, and brittle bones.” Corbin suggests these tips for good foot care: • Inspect your feet daily for injuries that could lead to dangerous ulcers. If there is loss of sensation in the foot, these things can crop up without you realizing it. • Gently wash your feet in lukewarm, not hot, water every day, but don’t
soak them for a prolonged period of time, as that can cause dryness— especially if you are diabetic. • Moisturize your feet, but avoid the area between the toes where the skin is quite thin. And dry between the toes well. You can try using a disposable sponge-tipped toothbrush if your toes are hard to reach. • Never trim corns or calluses, as this can lead to a serious infection. Corbin warns against being a “bathroom surgeon.” • Trim toenails very carefully, and never shorter than the end of the toe. Cut straight across or lightly follow the natural curve of the toe and use an emery board to smooth to avoid rough edges. • Inspect the insides of your shoes before wearing for any rough spots that may have developed. “The biggest problems among seniors that I see in my practice are toenail disorders and fungal and bacterial conditions,” Corbin says. “Feet spend a lot of time in shoes, which are a warm, humid, and dark place. That is the perfect condition www.bangormetro.com Bangor Metro / 57
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for fungus to grow.â€? Since wearing shoes is not usually optional, Corbin has some more advice for avoiding these conditions and for keeping your feet healthy: • Wear shoes that actually fit and replace them when they are worn out. When buying new shoes, shop later in the day when feet tend to swell and put the new shoes on a flat surface before buying. Make sure they are level and don’t tilt in either direction, which could signal a manufactures defect. • Wear acrylic or wool socks, as they wick away moisture from the feet, and change them often. Be sure they are not too tight, which can restrict circulation. Watch out for cotton socks because they can mat over time and be abrasive. • Alternate shoes every day. Wearing the same pair all the time doesn’t give them a chance to dry out. • Spray the inside of the shoes with a disinfectant and let them dry. Use an antifungal powder as prevention. Topical fungal treatments rarely work on toenails and oral medication may be necessary. “The most common foot injury I see in my office is plantar fasciitis or heel pain,â€? says Corbin. “Continual stress causes small tears in the plantar fascia resulting in inflammation and eventually a heel spur. It is a painful condition.â€? According to Corbin, there are three principles of treatment for plantar fasciitis: • Reduce the inflammation with ice and ibuprofen. • Protect the plantar fascia from further trauma through taping the foot, shoe inserts, or wearing a shoe with a stiff shank that doesn’t bend in the middle of the arch but across the ball of the foot. • Stretch and strengthen the ankle, foot, and calf muscles. If symptoms persist, you may need physical therapy. Heed this advice and you’ll certainly put your best foot forward in no time. And ladies, for a real mood booster, paint your toenails the brightest pink you can find. Carol Higgins Taylor is director of communications at Eastern Area Agency on Aging. She may be reached at chtaylor@eaaa.org.
58 / Bangor Metro March 2012
resources for seniors Area Agencies on Aging
877-353-3771
Legal Services for the Elderly
800-750-5353 Medicare
800-MEDICARE (800-633-4227) Attorney General Health Care Crimes Unit
888-577-6690
Adult Protective Services
800-624-8404
Confidential number to report suspected elder abuse or financial exploitation.
Maine Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program
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800-499-0229
Investigates complaints made by or on behalf of someone in a long-term care setting or who is receiving inhome care.
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800-438-5963
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Office of Consumer Regulation
800-332-8529
Public Utilities Commission
800-452-4699
942-3000
1407 Broadway | Bangor | www.drsevey.com www.bangormetro.com Bangor Metro / 59
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Joel West from Raymond James Financial Services answers your investment questions.
60 / Bangor Metro March 2012
What are some ways your typical older client might be at risk financially without realizing it? A very common mistake many seniors make is assuming the term “estate planning” only applies to the wealthiest of individuals and families. In fact, everyone should have some sort of estate plan in place before it’s needed. Also, many seniors fail to plan for increasing life expectancies that can directly impact their
retirement income, as well as possible nursing home costs. Many of your clients are married. What are some of the financial or legal issues that you find most married couples have not dealt with? While it has improved, we still frequently find that only one spouse, typically the male spouse, is the sole handler of the family’s finances. As we know, the wife is the one who is likely to live the longest—and this can create issues after the husband passes away. Regardless of who normally handles the family finances, it’s very important that both spouses have an understanding of the family finances before there is a need. Some of your clients have companions whom they are not married to. What are some of the common issues that come up when managing their finances?
Photo: © Yuri Arcurs/Shutterstock.com
Your Finance Questions Answered
When you meet with clients looking toward retirement, what is their greatest concern? By far the greatest concern among most retirees and those looking to retire is the fear they will outlive their assets. Given the so-called lost decade of the past 10 years, that risk has increased, so more and more people realize their chances of success increase by working with a financial professional.
The most common issue we see is when an illness incapacitates someone, even temporarily. Without durable powers of attorney and advanced healthcare directives previously in place, the companion will not be able to get very far on a legal basis in assisting their loved one with medical or financial issues. There are times when a senior client is being taken advantage of financially by another person. In your experience, what are some good ways to handle this situation? If the issue cannot be resolved within the family, or the abuse is being committed by a family member, a concerned person should contact Maine Department of Health and Human Services’ Adult Protective Hot Line at 800-624-8404. How often does a retired person need to meet with a financial advisor in order to stay on top of things? That varies depending on each situation. However, new retirees should probably meet quarterly initially and then two to three times a year afterwards. A person should see their financial advisor anytime there are major life changes, such as illness, divorce, death of a loved one, or anytime they have questions about their plan. Are there any new financial products or laws/regulations that have come about in the past that you think are important for people to know about? The tax laws in particular have been changing frequently the past several years, and given the various budget problems around the country, that is likely to continue. By meeting with their financial advisor at least annually, most of those changes should be able to be accounted for, as well as any other law changes that may affect them.
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JOEL WEST is a financial advisor at Raymond James Financial Services, Inc.
DISCLOSURE: Any opinions are those of Joel West and not necessarily those of RJFS or Raymond James. Please note, changes in tax laws or regulations may occur at any time and could substantially impact your situation. While we are familiar with the tax provisions of the issues presented herein, as Financial Advisors of RJFS we are not qualified to render advice on tax or legal matters. You should discuss any tax or legal matters with the appropriate individual. Securities offered through Raymond James Financial Services, Inc. Member FINRA/SIPC). Raymond James Financial Services, Inc. is located at 470 N. Main Street in Brewer. Contact the office at 989-6082.
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last word
Rolling the Coins Technology has changed the way one writer counts her pennies. by Annaliese Jakimides
Annaliese Jakimides’ prose and poetry have been published in many journals, magazines, and anthologies, broadcast on public radio, and nominated for the Pushcart Prize. She lives in downtown Bangor. 64 / Bangor Metro March 2012
Photo: © Anna Hoychuk/Shutterstock.com
A
ll of my life I have had an odd relationship with money. As a child, I might hoard almost every coin that came my way, saving up for a book, a silky scarf, a Veronica and Archie comic book. Unless, of course, I needed a penny candy fix. Joe’s Variety was on the same block on the same side of the street as my house, and so, from the time I was 5 or 6, my mother would let me walk to the store by myself. I’d push open the glass door that Joe Demerjian or Mrs. Joe Dermerjian cleaned at least twice a day, rubbing away all of our smudgy little handprints. I’d head straight for the back wall where the wide glass case held a fortune in gummy bears, licorice, hot balls and bubble gum, paper strips with rows of colored candy dots. Fifty cents could go a long way in this magical sugar world. When I look back on those days, I am struck by how rich I felt. My brother, on the other hand, recognized poverty in every piece of furniture, every T-shirt, every toy we didn’t have, vacation we didn’t take—no matter the penny candy and all of his coins. It never occurred to me that anything about my life was not exactly the best of all possible worlds. I had everything. Much as I do now. Throughout my life, the only savings I have ever had has been in a container: a pale pink piggy bank that really was shaped like a pig with a large slot in his very large snout, a hand-painted ceramic dancer with a hole in her head, a two-foot-tall glass water jug (the family savings account!), and, in recent years, many cereal bowls overflowing with change harvested from the bottom of my pocketbook. Whenever I have needed money, I have pulled out my stash of paper coin rollers, dumped out the pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters, and sorted and wrapped and carried them to the bank. It is how my children learned the value of money—how many pennies it required to make a dollar, how many quarters to make 10 dollars, how many rolls of 10s to make a hundred. It is how they learned to count to large numbers—all of us sitting around the kitchen table balancing piles and piles, laughing and telling stories, losing our places, starting over again. Yesterday, I gathered up all my cereal bowls’ worth of money. I brought the coins to the bank, where a friend had told me I could now dump them into a machine that would count every cent and spit back a paper that told me how much money the clerk would give me. I had $375. Today, I have a new container. I am putting my change into an elegant, red metal box that has housed an exquisite unused bottle of perfume a friend bought me a few years ago. I will now wear the perfume. I will put my change in this small container. I will carry it to the bank when it is full, and empty it into the counting machine. I will throw away the few wrappers I have left, and I will trust that children will continue to learn how to count, that families will find reasons to sit around the table laughing. And I will accept that I will never go without. I never have.
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