Portage Lake Association
to offer educational boat tours
ASHLAND NEWS
The Portage Lake Association is proud to announce there will be educational boat tours on the lake Saturday, Aug. 14. The tours, sponsored by the Portage Lake Association, will be given by the Maine Lakes Conservancy Institute (MLCI). The MLCI is a non-profit educational organization dedicated to understanding, protecting and sustaining the health and values of Maine’s lakes and the communities that depend on them. MLCI was founded in 1999 to address the environmental and economic impact that Maine’s lakes have on our communities.
The “mobile floating classroom,” piloted by Phil Mulville, is a custom outfitted 30-foot glass bottom pontoon boat with an impressive assortment of lake science technology equipment on board. The program and boat are designed to engage the students in hands on, field-based learning. There will be demonstrations and education on the lake and its native plant life. The MLCI has received several regional and national awards, as well as international attention for this and other programs.
The Portage Lake Association will be offering this exciting and unique educational opportunity Saturday, Aug. 14 with a rain date set for Sunday, Aug. 15. There will be five tours available throughout the day starting at 8 a.m. Each tour has a 13 person maximum capacity and is expected to take two hours. Each tour will depart every two hours from the Portage Lake boat launch. The cost is $10 per person with the proceeds going to the PLA. The education is geared more for middle school age children and up. Reservations are highly recommended. For more details and/or reservations, please call Chrystal Oullette at 425-6950 or 768-0458.
Thanks to the efforts of some dedicated folks, the Ashland Hornet emblem that sat in the center of the gym floor in the Bobby Goding Gymnasium has been saved and will live on at a yet-to-be-decided location. For a while, it was a concern whether the “hornet” could be saved and removed in one piece due to the type of flooring and job it involved. Thankfully some very determined and savvy workhorses were able to pull it off!
Some of the folks involved in the project were Corrine Routhier, Doug Chasse, Ray Chasse, Bruce Lavway, Cary and Bonnie Pelletier, Sarah Brooks, Gerri Condon, Debra Holmes, Angela McArdle, Donnie O’Clair Jr., and the crew from Soderberg Construction. A special thanks on behalf of all the local towns and alumni to the Ashland Area PTO for your efforts (and campaigning) to save the hornet, also to Mark Flint for offering to store the hornet until a new home has been decided.
Commemorative pieces of the gym floor are still available for $15 at the Ashland Food Mart, the Ashland One Stop, Babe’s Variety, and Dean’s and Coffin’s in Portage.
THANKS TO THE EFFORTS of the Ashland Area PTO and many volunteers, the Ashland Hornet emblem will be preserved and displayed in a location to be decided.
The Ashland Rotary Club was most fortunate to install three new members from the community. The newest members include Walter Lougee, who resides in Milo. Lougee is the owner of World of Flags and joined Rotary in December, Julie Graham-Berry from Ashland, who was welcomed in January, and most recently this month, Alicia Osgood, the branch manager of Key Bank in Ashland. The Rotary Club also took part in the Ashland Summer Fest appearing in the parade with a golf cart as their float!
Photos courtesy of Janet Jandreau
THE ASHLAND ROTARY CLUB recently welcomed three new members to its organization in a special ceremony. Pictured are, from left: 2010-11 Rotary President Dana Cameron, newest member Alicia Osgood, and Janet Jandreau, Rotary secretary and new member sponsor.
JULIE GRAHAM-BERRY is one of the Ashland Rotary Club’s newest members. Welcoming her to the organization are, from left: Sharon Everett, Rotary president-elect; Julie Graham-Berry, and Patricia Rafford, Rotary Club new member sponsor.
ROTARIAN AND NEW MEMBER SPONSOR Leon Buckingham, left, along with Janet Jandreau, 2009-10 Ashland Rotary president, welcome Walter Lougee, right, as a new member of the Ashland Rotary Club.
FUTURE ROTARIANS, from left: Olivia Tardie, 8, the daughter of Andy and Roxann Tardie, and Ava Cameron, 7, daughter of Rotarians Dana and Sue Cameron, dressed up their wheels for the Ashland Summer Fest parade and handed out candy.
From left: Adam Sessoms, Malcolm Milligan, Evan Morton and Peng Cheng of Boy Scout Troop 179, are waiting for dessert to heat over the campfire while visiting Mapleton Boy Scout Troop 170 at their campsite during Scout camp.
Susan Feeney-Hopkins is the correspondent for Ashland, Portage Lake, Oxbow, Masardis, Garfield, Nashville Plantation and surrounding townships. She can be reached at 435-8232 or feenhop@aol.com.
