Green Movement Goes Blue

With last week’s Earth Day celebration activities fresh in the minds of Maine residents, Governor John Baldacci claims that the state has a long standing dedication to the environment. One area of major concern is clean water, making the Clean Water Act essential to the future of Maine beaches and coasts.

The Clean Water Act, a federal act, aims to restore and maintain the natural, biological integrity of the world’s waters. In Maine, this means honing in on the protection of coastal waters. On June 12 of last year, a bond was approved, delegating $18.3 million toward improve both water quality and wastewater infrastructure. This came after a report in 2007 announced that more than 80 percent of industrial and municipal facilities in Maine discharged more pollution into Maine waterways than the Clean Water Act permitted.

According to documents obtained by an independent research group called Environment Maine, facilities were exceeding their permits by more than 2.5 times the legal limit. Because of these violations, state officials chose to make clean water a focus in recent years. Currently, most companies violating the clean water laws get nothing more than a simple slap on the wrist. However advocacy groups, such as Environment Maine, is calling for stricter enforcement. The group is not only calling for stricter enforcement, but they are calling for an increase in the amount of the fines given to violators. Their website claims “when fines are imposed, they should be high enough to deter future pollution. It shouldn’t pay to pollute.”

The only way to improve the water quality issue within the state of Maine is to draw attention to the problem. This involves contacting local representatives to voice concerns, as well as report clean water violations to the proper agencies. One agency that fields calls is the Department of Environmental Protection, which allows people to speak one on one with field service and enforcement staff workers to determine the best plan of action to address the specific violation.

With all the media attention on the current state of climate change and pollution in the country, clean water has taken a back seat. It is time to bring the spotlight back to an area of environmental concern which can greatly impact the health of Maine citizens in the future.

Budgets and Policies Weigh Heavily on School Board Agenda

Budget cuts and policy changes were the main topics on the agenda of the AOS 92’s March school board meeting. Administrators, faculty, and others of Vassalboro, Waterville, and Winslow attended the meeting to discuss the impending changes in the newly formed administrative group.
The meeting began with a review of previous minutes, as well as an overview of awards and activities that had taken place from the last meeting. This included awarding the successful music program in the school systems. Assistant Superintendent Peter Thiboutot talked of the success of K-12 leadership meetings thus far, claiming that the coming together of leaders from all schools has helped lend ideas toward a successful future.
“The meetings have been very informant”, Thiboutot explained.
After the opening duties were completed, the discussion moved quickly into budget talks, as the new AOS has to find a way to work with a larger district while still saving money. With the new budget, Waterville Public Schools alone will be losing approximately $909,000 in revenue, and the AOS as a hole will be losing $1.9 million.
“We need to bring our structure down to something we can manage,” Haley claimed. “We need to make proactive decisions about what resources we do have.”
In order to address these issues, a budget team has been developed to work out the figures. This team is made up of both faculty and administrators from all schools within the system, and holds monthly workshops to hammer out the budget details.
In other business, Waterville Senior High School Assistant Principal Carol Dodge introduced a change in the attendance policy. She explained that a team of faculty wrote a complete rewrite to streamline the policy. In the current policy, students were failing in October due to absences, which meant they would fail for the year. This eliminated the motivation for those students. The new policy would allow for students to make up absences through extra work outside the classroom, to help them get back on track.
“The policy was supported by all but one teacher,” Dodge said. “The object is really to level the playing field, lower dropout rates, and raise the graduation rates. The current policies separate the ‘haves’ and the ‘have nots’. Those that ‘have’ can get excuses, but the ‘have nots’ can’t,” explained Dodge.
“I am proud that Waterville is taking the lead in the change in education in the state of Maine,” Pamela Trinward, school board member and state Representative, said.
While the future of education in the state of Maine is currently unknown, the overall feeling of the AOS board members was both optimistic and realistic. The funds are limited, the times are hard, but the determination for success may be just what the district needs to stay on track.

Early Errors Sink Mules

WATERVILLE-Early mistakes proved to be too much for the Colby College baseball team to overcome in the Friday afternoon matchup against conference rival Bowdoin College at Coombs Field in Waterville.
While the Mules fought hard to battle back throughout the game, a seventh inning rally by the opposing Polar Bears, including a homerun and an RBI single, sank the home team in the end. The win moves Bowdoin to a 20-5 record on the season, 3-1 in the New England Small College Athletic Conference. Colby falls to 9-10, 0-7 in the conference.

The Polar Bears struck first in the game, with the help of a hit batter, two walks, and a Colby College passed ball, in the first inning to score a run. They added to their lead in the second inning, thanks to two more hit batters, a sacrifice bunt, and a sacrifice fly by catcher Reid Auger.

Colby fought back, using a two-run single by senior Nick Ruocco in the second inning to erase the deficit. Bowdoin wasted no time getting their lead back, receiving an RBI single by Kevin Zikaras in the third to put them on top 3-2, but again that lead was erased in the next half inning, courtesy of Brendan Gallagher’s two-run triple and Nikolas Atsalis’ RBI single. The Mules led 5-3 at the end of the third.

Both teams fought hard in this back and forth battle, pitching and strategy to garner runs. The Polar Bears took the lead for good in the seventh inning though, scoring two runs in the seventh and adding an insurance run in the eighth inning, taking advantage of one of only five Bowdoin hits in the game.

Carter Butland earned the win in relief for the Polar Bears, while Brady Hesslein took the loss for Colby. The two teams are scheduled to meet again on Saturday in a double header, although due to the impending weather, the meeting is subject to change.

Twitter Provides More Than Gossip

Wildfires broke out all around San Diego in October 2007, leaving residents in panic and fear. Where did they turn for their news? Not the television, not the radio, but instead they turned to the more unconventional social networking website, Twitter.
Local and national media outlets flooded the scenes of the wildfires, jamming the airwaves and providing little detail as to what sort of resources were available to citizens. This is when San Diego natives Nate Ritter and Dan Tentler stepped in with a unique solution. The two began posting rapid-fire updates on Twitter, after conducting interviews from friends as well as observing first-hand reports. Twitter provided the people of California real insight into just exactly what sort of danger they were really in.
Twitter, known by most as a website that allows the average people to keep up to date with the lives of their favorite celebrities, is a micro-blogging social network website that allows people to publish 140 character messages that can be read by followers. In the face of a natural disaster, though, Twitter provided a new, invaluable service that other media outlets could not provide.
Not only is Twitter a useful way to provide personal accounts of natural disasters; it is also much speedier than any other news source. Twitter accounts are updated and maintained by average citizens, which means that information can be posted immediately rather than having to wait to go through production, as it does television news media. Reporters take the time to set up a story, and get an angle on the story. With Twitter, information can flow rapidly, before it ever reaches the major news outlets. It provides information immediately, which is what people want in the face of a natural disaster.
Twitter, the free social network site, has evolved from a simple gossip network into an important source of news in the face of a natural disaster. The world of journalism is always evolving, providing citizen journalists the opportunity to serve their fellow citizens in an invaluable way.

SoCal Earthquake a Powerful Reminder of Twitter’s Potential.. (July 29, 2008). http://venturebeat.com/2008/07/29/socal-earthquake-a-powerful-reminder-of-twitters-potential/
Poulsen, Kevin. Firsthand Reports from California Wildfires Pour Through Twitter. (October 23, 2007). http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2007/10/firsthand-repor/

Broadcast script

[Kristin] Good evening, and welcome to the Black Bear News. I’m your host, Kristin Tormollan, and here is what’s happening.
[Take VO]
[CG: University of Maine Rotaract Club at last year’s Relay for Life]
The University of Maine Rotaract Club is still looking for ways to raise money for their team in the annual Relay for Life event held on campus. Relay for Life, a 24 hour marathon for runners and walkers held yearly to raise money for the American Cancer Society, will take place on April 16 at the Orono campus. Rotaract set a fundraising goal of 800 dollars for the event, and has raised around 300 dollars thus far.
[TAKE VO-SOT]
[CG: Alison Dunn]
[TRT: 0:10]
[Kristin] And that’s the latest news.

Club Strives to Improve UMaine

The University of Maine Rotaract club spent most of their Tuesday night meeting organizing some of the major activities remaining on their calendar this semester.
The Rotaract club, a Rotary-sponsored service club that focuses on gathering 18-30 year-old men and women together to serve their communities, consists of around 15 male and female students looking to better the UMaine environment, as well as the Bangor/Orono community as a whole.
Currently, the group is working with the University’s Alumni Association in its annual Phonathon. Rotaract members are volunteering their time to call alumni in order to raise money for the school. Also on the Rotaract agenda is the University’s Relay for Life event, taking place on April 16, 2010. The Relay for Life, a fundraiser for cancer research, requires teams to raise money in order to participate. The Rotaract club has set a fundraising goal of $800 for this event, and is currently brainstorming on ways to reach that goal. They have raised $295 thus far, but still have a ways to go in order to reach their goals. The club is participating in a Penny War, as well as holding events such as a traveling bake sale, in order to help them in their lofty relay goal.
While their projects range from large, like the Phonathon and Relay for Life, the club also organized smaller activities.
“We are hosting Karaoke in the Bear’s Den this Friday night. We have some members helping out at the YMCA Spring Fair this weekend as well,” Rotaract President Alison Dunn explained.
Being a part of the improvement of the school community is a great way to meet new people. So whether you are interested in service or just having fun with a new group on campus, the University of Maine Rotaract club is a great place to start.

To learn more about Rotaract, please visit:
http://www.rotaract.org/

Community Market Thrives in Green Movement

The green movement continues to gain momentum in central Maine towns, as the Sustain Mid-Maine group strengthens its push for a more sustainable Maine. In a Strategic Analysis released in January of 2009, the group announced that it was in the process of implementing a plan to grow and support local food. A direct result of this can be seen on Main Street, Waterville, where Barrels Community Market, a newly developed year-round farmers market, is thriving, giving hope for that sustainability is taking hold.
Barrels Community Market, a nonprofit community market, sells locally produced goods at their downtown Waterville venue. The store sells both food goods as well as locally made products, like lip balm and headbands. Barrels Community Market also provides education and volunteer opportunities for the public, fulfilling the “engage the educational community” goal of the Sustain Mid-Maine project.
As explained within Sustain Mid-Maine’s Strategic Analysis, the expected result of growing and supporting local food would give every Waterville resident access to local, affordable produce every day, as well as space and support to anyone who wants to grow their own food. Members of the team developing this plan included Laura Patterson, Ann Beverage, and David Gulak, among others. Gulak now manages Barrels Market, which is open Monday through Saturday.
“We now average 50-75 transactions a day, with over 100 people coming through the market daily,” Gulak commented in response to how the community reaction has been to Barrels. Gulak also said that their clients range from Colby College staff and students, local business people, and residents. The store also accepts food stamps.
In the future, Sustain Mid-Maine hopes to encourage small gardens, including both community and home gardens, and expand the community supported- agriculture business in Waterville. While there is more to come from the project, the work done by the planning committee, Waterville Main Street, and local government officials is already leading central Maine toward a greener tomorrow.

http://www.barrelsmarket.com/cms/
http://www.waterville-me.gov/content/1233954771sap.pdf