New Year just another work day

by Staff Pioneer Times
16 years ago

By Elna Seabrooks
Staff Writer
    HOULTON — Market Square was quiet New Year’s Day. Stores were closed and dark. But, just a few yards away, construction workers were laboring on Market Square Commons — the senior citizen complex being constructed in the lot behind the Temple Theater.
ImageHoulton Pioneer Times Photo/Elna Seabrooks
NEW YEAR’S DAY — Mark Matthews cut insulation panels for the outside of the Market Square Commons senior-citizen complex while his co-worker, Steve Vose installed them.
    Mark Matthews, a laborer from Houlton, said it was “just a regular day putting insulation panels on the outside of the building.” Some may have been sleeping in after a night of partying, taking it easy or getting ready for football games. At the jobsite where snow was falling gently around 10 a.m., Matthews said: “We all feel fortunate to have a job, especially at this time of year when we can use a little extra money.”
    His co-worker Matthew Brown was putting up vapor barriers. “We’re just working trying to get our day in. It’s mild compared to what it’s been in the past. It’s been below zero. We’ve worked through pretty much everything.”
    Another construction crew was laboring on a roof for the Elm Tree Diner at the site where it had burned  down late last year on Bangor Rd. and Hogan St.
    The threat of a major storm Saturday forced a shift in freight deliveries to New Year’s Day at County Yankee. Dennis Spooner, one of the managers, said for him it was just a regular work day and he would have been there regardless. “It’s slower because of the holiday. A lot of people have been out at parties and a lot of them bought what they needed yesterday.”
    While the expected vital services — fire, police, ambulance and hospital — were expected to be in operation along with local stores and gas stations, there was a certain calm around town. Jack Galda, dispatcher at  Houlton Police Department Headquarters, confirmed that over the New Year holiday, “it was quiet. And that’s how we like it.”