August 20, 2015
Maine

Freedom Town News

By Sallyann Hadyniak | | The Republican Journal | Aug 20, 2015 | waldo.villagesoup.com

Reintroduction of the Wind Turbine Ordinance

The Planning Board is considering the reintroduction of the Wind Turbine Ordinance, which was narrowly defeated in 2012.  This will likely occur in mid-autumn.  To that end, the regular Planning Board Meeting on September 8th will focus exclusively on that issue.  The Board encourages all concerned citizens to attend that meeting and offer up any thoughts they may have on the proposed ordinance.  Current thinking is that the newly-reintroduced ordinance will be essentially the same as the draft voted on in 2012.  However, the Board may alter certain details if residents feel strongly that changes will make the ordinance more acceptable.  Subsequent to the September 8 meeting, another “public hearing” would be required prior to an actual public vote on the ordinance.

Cemetery:

The old and long neglected Ranlet-Bowen Cemetery has recently received the very constructive attentions of the Steve Holmes family, members of Freedom’s cemetery restoration association.  They have cleaned and reset many of the old grave stones, and recently were able to remove the old wrought iron gate from numerous cedar trees that had grown up through it.  The intact gate has been refurbished by Dave Bennett of Freedom.  The gate was originally hinged to a granite post which Harold Emerson, from Knox, was able to extract from the snarled stumps with his excavator.  The Holmes’ goal is to reset the granite post and gate in its original position.  Hopefully it will soon swing again, for the first time in about 150 years.  Thank you Steve, Kim, and Scott Holmes for your many hours of labor and skilled restoration efforts.  One civil war veteran is buried there, along with thirteen other folks.

If you are interested in the industrial wind project located in Freedom, visit:

THE BEAVER DAM: Families Against Wayward Wind Power

The families involved in posting to this blog have experienced first-hand what happens when an industrial wind company invades a small, rural town. We live each day with the adverse mental, physical and economical effects produced by the intrusion of a wind power company. We hope our blog helps you make a more informed decision about whether to allow industrial wind turbines into your community.

Posts within this blog will mainly be focused on events – past, present and upcoming – surrounding the Beaver Ridge Wind turbines and our town of Freedom, Maine. However, we welcome any news from beyond our borders that others wish to share. If you’d like to post your story or tell about your own experiences dealing with other wind

projects send it to Barbara Littlefield via the About Us page. Subject line: I wish to share.

RECYCLING in Freedom

In the last year Freedom has increased the number of residences that use curb side recycling pick up (on the last Friday of the month) by 25%! This is very good.

What we need to work on is continuing to sort our clean, dry recyclables. Lately the managers have had to sort Freedom’s plastics that have been picked up curbside. Please make sure you have separated your   plastics as follows:

There are two types of films that need to be bagged separately:

call with any thoughts or questions…382-6123

Recycabies:

Please put out your recycables out by 7:00 a.m. on Friday August 28, which is the last Friday of the month.

Voice of Freedom:

Congratulations:

Just heard that Paul and Kate Flynn are expecting their second  grandchild!  I’m so happy for you guys and congratulations to Katie and her husband!

Birthdays:

I want to wish the happiest of birthdays to:

Selectman, Steve Bennett, Judy Bennett, Glen Sporie, Helen Fararr and Cheryl Grass.

May you all have many more happy and healthy years filled with lots of love, joy and happiness!

Ridgetop Restaurant:

Today I walked into Ridgetop for lunch and was greeted by someone I haven’t seen in years, Lillian Phillips from New Jersey.  I was great to see her and I’m happy to report she is looking great and was with her husband.  One can never walk in or walk out of the restaurant without seeing someone they know, or haven’t seen in a long time, and/or make new friends.

Promotions and Retirement at the Waldo County Sheriff’s Office:

The Waldo County Sheriff’s Office held a promotion ceremony and retirement gathering.  They met with fellow members of the law enforcement community, family and friends to celebrate the promotions of Jason Trundy to the position of Chief Deputy, Matthew Curtis to the position of Patrol Lieutenant, Nicholas Oettinger to the position of Patrol Sergeant, Jordan Tozier to the position of School Resource Officer and Freedom’s very own Jonathan Shaw to the position of full time Patrol Deputy.  Congratulations Jon!  How proud of you we are, especially   your parents, family, friends and neighbors.  I know you will do a great job and by all means May God watch over you and the other fellow members of the law. The ceremony also marked the final day of service for former Sheriff Scott Story who is well known in the state of Maine!   Scott will now be headed off into retirement and his new life adventures. Thank you Scott, for all your years of service and enjoy your retirement.

Things to look for:

Well it’s that time of year, summer is coming to a close and it’s back to school.  The flowers along the roadside are coming to an end, the fern is turning brown, and soon the tree colors will be changing, fall is coming.

Tyler starts Law School at the University of Southern Maine, and Kyle returns to UMO for two years to get his Masters degree in Mass Communications.

Please contact me with any good news you would like to share with the readers of TRJ.

Until next week take care and God Bless!

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2015/08/20/freedom-town-news/