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Optimist Plant sale rescheduled

The GNG Optimist Club would like to extend our apologies to anyone who showed up at Key Bank last Saturday to support our advertised plant sale. Although we did say our sale would run rain or shine, the winds proved to be too damaging to keep our plants looking in good salable condition, so we decided to postpone until this coming Saturday May 14th from 9 a.m. - 1 p.m.

Our sale will also run as scheduled on Saturday May 21st from 9 a.m. - 1 p.m., rain or shine (but not wind!). We will be selling 12" hanging baskets, assorted geraniums, and 6 packs of annual bedding plants, among other varieties. Marstaller Greenhouses of NorthYarmouth will be supplying some of their wonderful plants for our sale as they have in the past.
Please help support the Optimist Club while purchasing some beautiful & healthy plants for your gardens.

Funds raised from the sale are used by our non-profit club to sponsor our many community service projects throughout the year. FMI about the sale or the Optimist Club, please contact Sheila Myhaver @ 428-4111, or smyhaver@yahoo.com. To learn more about Optimist International, check us out on the web at http://www.optimist.org, or ask for one of our club fliers at the sale!

CC Firemen to meet

Cumberland County Fireman's Association will hold a special meeting on May 19th 2005 at 6:15 p.m. Meeting held at the Westbrook Public Safety Building. Please make reservations for dinner with Richard Cotton-799-2060-Dinner menu is Meatloaf, potato, veg., rolls, dessert, coffee. The future of the association needs to be decided. All Are Welcome.

"Got Tickets?"

On July 13 Hadlock Field in Portland will be hosting the AA Eastern League All-Star Game. The game is sold out, but Gray Little League has your last chance to secure 4 general admission tickets! The League is holding a raffle to raise money for upcoming expenses. The tickets are only one dollar ($1) each and are available right now! You can purchase tickets any weeknight at the Snack Shack at Douglas Field located behind the Town Hall. Tickets will also be solicited by players & coaches or by calling 655-5857. The drawing will be held on June 25th. It'll be a great night of baseball & a great way to support our youth!

G-NG High School Class of 2000 Reunion

The Gray-New Gloucester High School Class of 2000 will hold its five-year reunion on Saturday, June 11, 2005, from 8 to 11 p.m. at Charlie Beigg's Restaurant on Route 302 in Windham.

Class members are allowed to bring a guest to the event. The cost of admission for each guest is $10. Class members will not be charged for attendance. Drinks and light appetizers will be served.

To RSVP, please send your name, updated contact information and whether you will be accompanied by a guest to GNGClassof2000@yahoo.com. An email confirmation will be sent within 48 hours. Please respond no later than May 15. Feel free to submit any questions or concerns you might have to the above email address. And please spread the word about the reunion.

Birth announcement

Tatiana Deva Ames-born 4/30/05-Parents= Shawn and Jessica Ames of Naples. Grandparents are George and Katherine Hitchcock of Gray and Arthur and Gail Ames of Standish

Walk for Wishes

On May 26, Kelly and Ann Arsenault of Colley Hill in Gray will be participating in the "Walk for Wishes" supporting Make A Wish Foundation. Walks will be taking place all over Maine including Portland, Lewiston/Auburn, Augusta and Saco/Biddeford. The Make-A-Wish Foundation grants the wishes of children with life threatening medical conditions to enrich the human experience with hope, strength, and joy. The Maine Chapter opened in 1992, founded by Wayne and Carol Morongo of Camden, Maine.

Since its founding, volunteers have made the wish of 538 Maine children come true. On average every wish granted costs $5,000.00and a wish is granted every five days in Maine. Funds raised during the Walk for Wishes helps fulfill their mission. To pledge support for Ann or Kelly, please contact them at 657-5303. For more information about how to volunteer or to refer a child go to www.maine.wish.org or call 800-491-3171.

Car Wash

International Order of the Rainbow for Girls (Yarmouth Assembly #28) will be holding a carwash from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Freeport Masonic Hall (Mallett Drive-Freeport) on Saturday, May 14th. The cost will be a "donation". Proceeds from the carwash will benefit various charities supported by the Masonic Family.

Tee Ball
From Wendy Trask

Do you have a child, or know a child that plays tee ball? Gray Little League's tee ball division helps children between the ages of 4-7 learn the mechanics of playing ball. This division has a group of dedicated managers and coaches that spend several hours a week teaching your children how to throw, bat, hit & catch. We are also fortunate to have the use of two ball
fields at St. Gregorys. We've used these fields for many years for all divisions of Gray Little League. We can't thank St. Gregory's enough for their support.

The one thing that tee ball does not have is respect from local vandals on foot. Not a season goes by when the port-a-potty isn't knocked over, the benches aren't spray painted, the nets aren't ripped down or the backstops aren't compromised. On May 4th we saw three such vandals and confronted one of them. We ask that people leave the fields & our equipment alone. If you are driving by St. Gregory's fields and see any mischievous behavior, please empower yourself to STOP and ask the perpetrators to leave without further incident. The thanks you'll receive is 60 smiling faces who have a safe place to play ball. FMI 655-5857.

Maine Wildlife Park Event: Fly Tying and Casting

If you have ever wanted to try your hand at Fly Tying and Fly Casting, the Wildlife Park is the place to be on Saturday, May 21st, from 11am to 2 p.m. Members of the Sebago Chapter of Trout Unlimited will demonstrate and invite participation from kids and parents alike to learn these popular fishing arts. Several teenage assistants will be on hand to help visitors with their fly tying and fly-casting techniques. Learn how to tie a fly, and then bring it home with you to try in the nearest stream or lake. You will also have a display featuring some of the many fish and habitat restoration projects with which they are involved.

The Maine Wildlife Park has over 25 species of native wildlife on display, plus wildlife gardens, nature trails, and other interactive exhibits and displays. The park is open daily through November 11th from 9:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m.; visitors must leave the premises by 6:00 p.m. Admission to the park is free for ages 3 and under; $3.25 ages 5-12; $5 for adults, and $4 for seniors. Groups of 15 or more are $2.50 per person. Bring a picnic and spend the day! Family and Community Season Passes are available.
For more information about any of these programs, please call the Maine Wildlife Park at 207-657-4977 or check us out online at www.mainewildlifepark.com, www.mefishwildlife.com

Shaker Museum to open:

The Sabbathday Lake Museum, Route 26, New Gloucester, ME opens on Friday, May 27th for the 2005 season. The Museum will be open Monday through Saturday, 10 am - 4:30 pm (closed Sundays) through Columbus Day. The Shaker Museum is part of the Sabbathday Lake Shaker Village, an active community of Shakers. New this year are Family Workshops in addition to tours, gift shop and book shop, Nature Walks, Apple Saturdays, craft demonstrations and workshops. Special exhibit for 2005: "Built According to His Mind: The Works of Br. Hewitt Chandler." For more information call (207)926-4597.

New Gloucester Historical Society To Meet
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The May 19th regular meeting of the Society will be held at the NG Meetinghouse beginning at 7:30 p.m. The meeting will be a business meeting conning bylaw revisions. All members are encouraged to attend.

Vets wanted for Memorial Day Parade

An Invitation to all returning Service men and women. New Gloucester AMVETS Post #6 invites all returning service men and women to lead the annual Memorial Day Parade. For those who cannot march, transportation will be available. Please contact the Post at P.O. Box 301 or call Bill Kiley at 926-4232 or Bill Greene at 998-5455 if you are willing to take part. The parade will be held on May 30th and will form at the AMVET Hall at 8:30 a.m. Any other group or organization wishing to take part are also invited.

Youth Learn to Fish Day

Sponsored by Pineland Community Optimist Club & FET, Inc. In conjunction with Hooked on Fishing (not drugs) on May 15, 2005 from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. at the Pineland Farms Campus, New Gloucester, ME. Ages 4-12.

Join us for an exciting day of hands-on fishing instruction, activities, games, prizes and a free cookout! Youth participants are encouraged to bring their own open water fishing gear and tackle to use. Gear and tackle will be provided for those without. The first 100 children will receive a free tackle box filled with goods and a Learn to Fish Day tee shirt.

Contact Steve Massing at smassing@homesellersmaine.com or Barbara Hanley at 688-8248 for more information.

Third Annual Yard and Garden Plant Sale

at The Coastal Humane Society, May 14 - 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Annuals, perennials, shrubs, trees, and plants for beneficial insects, birds, and butterflies. Raffles & Refreshments. Proceeds benefit the Coastal Humane Society. Call 725-5051 FMI. Coastal Humane Society, 30 Range Road, Brunswick, Maine 04011. www.coastalhumanesociety.org

Clutterer's Anonymous

Is your Clutter unmanageable? Are you having a hard time getting organized? Do you find it impossible to throw anything away? Do you have goals and visions that cannot be realized due to clutter around your house or in your thoughts? Check out Clutterer's Anonymous, Sundays at 7 p.m. at Unity Church, 54 River Rd. Windham, FMI 1-866-800-3881 or on the web at www.clutterersanonymous.net

Academic Achievement: Gray student inducted into National College Honor Scholarship Society
West Hartford, Conn.-Forty-five students were inducted into the Connecticut ceremony at the University of Hartford on Saturday, Feburary12. Alpha Chi is a coeducational academic honor society that accepts students from the top ten percent of the junior and senior classes. Among those honored was: Rebecca Neal; of Gray, ME.

New Gloucester Student makes Dean's List
Elmira College has released its Dean's List for Achievement for the Winter 2005 Term. The Dean's List recognizes students that have a grade point average of 3.6 or higher for the Winter 2005 academic term. Jonathan Blatchford '07 of New Gloucester, ME, a Art Major, son of Mr. & Mrs. Peter Blatchford has been named to Dean's List of Academic Achievement for the Winter 2005 Term.

Farming Book Published

The Cows Are Out! Now available as an audio book
New Gloucester, Maine-Islandport Press is pleased to announce that "The Cows Are Out!" Two Decades on a Maine Dairy Farm by Trudy Chambers Price is now available as an unabridged audio book. Read by the author, this popular, heartwarming memoir is presented in a four-CD set. In The Cows Are Out! Price captures the essence of a way of life that is disappearing in Maine, that of life on the family farm. Price, now a resident of Brunswick, and her husband raised two sons and hundreds of cows on Craneland Farm in Central Maine.

The work was never-ending and exhausting, but also exhilarating and rewarding. Price tells of the daily trials of haying, cow breeding and milking against a backdrop of gentle and entertaining rural life. She introduces kind neighbors, eccentric neighbors, visiting city folk and loveable pets. The Cows Are Out! Audio book is available for $25.00 at bookstores and from Islandport Press at 207-688-6290. For more information, please visit www.islandportpres.com. Islandport Press of New Gloucester publishes quality books about the state of Maine. Recent titles include Nine Mile Bridge: Three Years in the Maine Woods by Helen Hamlin, A Moose and a Lobster Walk Into a Bar by John McDonald, Silas Crockett by Mary Ellen Chase, When I'm With You by Elizabeth Elder and Leslie Mansmann, and In Maine by John N. Cole.