Gearing up for annual fishing derbies - By Elizabeth Richards

The last two years have been tough ones for the Sebago Lake Rotary Club’s annual ice fishing derbies, but it looks as though that luck will change this year. “Big ice is a chance for a big derby, and we’ve got big ice coming on right now,” said Toby Pennels, the event organizer. 
 

Though the derbies include Kezar Lake and all legal Cumberland County waterways, good ice on Sebago is key to a successful event, said Pennels. “There’s always ice to fish. It’s the allure, maybe the magic, of Sebago that’s the draw. If we don’t have good ice on Sebago, we suffer,” he said.

The last two years were tough, and this year the club considered not even running the derby. Pennels agreed to be the point person, and the club rallied to make it happen, gathering sponsors big and small. “The message that I’m the most proud of is that in the wake of two pretty miserable years for the derby in terms of weather conditions, is that our local businesses have stood up beyond belief,” said Pennels. “The $100, $250 and $500 contributions have been amazing. That’s why we have a derby, because the community stood up and wrote the checks.”

It’s sometimes easy in a bad ice year to forget all the good stuff, said Pennels. And yet, even in a “bad year” thousands of dollars have been raised. “Last year was a bad derby year and they raised over $60-70,000 for Maine Children’s Cancer. It’s amazing, and we forget that,” he said. The Polar Dip, sponsored by Shaw’s and run by the Maine Children’s Cancer Program with assistance from the Rotary Club, is the most consistent fundraiser, since it can occur even when there is no ice, said Pennels. 

The Derby was shifted to the first weekend of school vacation to coincide with free fishing weekend in Maine. This year, it will be held on Saturday, February 15^th and Sunday, February 16^th. Weigh stations will open at 7 a.m. each day, and will close at 5 p.m. On Sunday, the 5 p.m. time is a hard close, meaning you must be in line by then to be weighed. A kids derby will be held on March 8^th, rather than the same weekend as the regular derby, this year. The change is due to both limited volunteers and a hope for warmer temperatures. “Last year was brutal. It was about a five minute stay time on the ice and you couldn’t do it anymore,” said Pennels. 

The derbies serve three purposes; to raise money for charity, to serve as a fish management tool for the state, and, this year, to feed hungry people in Cumberland County. An organization, Hunters for the Hungry, plans to gather unwanted fish from the ice, bring them to a food processor that has agreed to process the fish according to regulations, and feed people throughout the area.

Registrants can fish for all four species – pike, pickerel, perch and togue on both Sebago and Kezar Lakes. The objective in having another togue location was to have a backup body of water, in case Sebago didn’t freeze. Cancelling the derby has a great impact on anyone coming from a distance, so moving weigh stations and recommending another venue is preferred, said Pennels. The management objectives of Kezar Lake are the same as those for Sebago, and therefore this lake can also offer the unlimited fish pool prizes according to state law. “This is the state working with us, understanding the problem – it was perfect,” said Pennels. The Cumberland County Derby allows for fishing of the other three species on all legal ice fishing waters in the county.

There are three ways to win in this year’s derbies. The 30 days of Derby is an incentive for people to register early. Anyone registering between January 15^th and February 10^th is entered into a drawing for a variety of prize packages. Early registrations can eliminate the need to hire outside administrative help, preserving more dollars for charity. 

There are big fish prizes, including a $100,000 prize for catching the largest togue that breaks the state record of 31 pounds, 8 ounces. There are prizes for the top three fish for all four species, including a 2013 Polaris Sportsman ATV for the largest togue.

Finally, there are the fish pool prizes. Any fish caught, up to the limit of six per species per day, will earn the registrant an entry into the fish pool drawings. This encourages those fishing to bring in the smaller fish so biologists can examine the catch and gather important data. 

This year two reality television shows will be joining in the fun. The National Geographic Channel is sending a production crew to film a reality-based show about ice fishing. Signs placed all around the filming areas will serve as permission for anyone in that area to appear on camera. Though Pennels doesn’t know the name of the show or any details, he said, “What I do know is that if it is done right, there is comedy on the ice for sure.” The reality show Northwoods Law will also be filming at the derby. 

Other events for the weekend include the polar dip, helicopter rides at Raymond Beach, vendors for food, ice fishing equipment and bait, and the Sebago Speed Trials on Sunday. Rules, registration forms, prize lists, weigh station locations, and more information can be found on the website, www.icefishingderby.com.

Chili Challenge offers up spicy competition - By Michelle Libby

With ingredients fresh from the garden, chefs from around the area gathered at the North Windham Union Church to show off their signature chili recipes to support the Windham Community Garden. With competitors from Saint Joseph’s College, Portland Arts and Technology High School (PATHS), Rustlers, Buck’s Naked BBQ, Southern Maine Community College as well as private groups like Chili con Corey, Ron’s Mexican Cantina & Grill and Ron Juergens. 
 

Maple’s Organic Gelato on Route 1 in Yarmouth run by Valerie Waters and her brother Patrick Martin had a table to cool down the mouths of the public who were invited in to sample and vote for their favorite. The chili’s ranged from moose meat chili to chicken chili to elk meat chili, there was a flavor and heat level for everyone. 

Scott Walsh, the chef at Saint Joseph’s College, won the people’s choice vote with is elk chili, which is low in fat and low in cholesterol. “It’s heartwarming, heart healthy chili. I’m honored to be named favorite two times in a row. I’m looking forward to doing it again next year,” Walsh said. His secret ingredients were chocolate and port wine. Being close to valentine’s day, he figured he couldn’t go wrong. 

First place in the judged category was Rustlers Steakhouse. “I honestly don’t know (why I won),” said chef Stewart Purinton. “It’s not too spicy and a little sweetness to it. There’s also a lot of meat in it,” he said of his winning chili. He also let it sit overnight for everything to meld. 

 

Second place went to PATHS seniors Victoria Dudley (WHS), Brandon Buck (G-NG) and Adrianna DiBiase (Casco Bay HS) under the direction of teacher Doug Armstrong. “It’s tremendous,” said Armstrong of the win. 

Even in the chili didn’t win, everyone commented that it was a good way to help the Windham Community Garden. 

The event raised close to $500.

"Mum Mum" celebrates a century in Raymond - By Michelle Libby

Muriel “Mum Mum” Yeager asks “Who do you love?” And the answer is always “Mum Mum.” If the attendance at her 100^th birthday party is any indication, lots of people love Mum Mum, who turned 100 last Saturday. 

 

Her daughters Margo Fournier, from Raymond, and Donna Dowse, from North Carolina, organized a surprise birthday party for their mother. They were able to keep the party a secret until 10 a.m. on Saturday when, with the food on the pool table set for an army, they told her that there would be a few people stopping by. 

Yeager was born in Wallace, Nova Scotia, Canada. When she was born in 1914, singer Anne Murray’s grandfather brought her into the world. Yeager was one of 12 children. 

She told her children she didn’t want a party. “No, I want a quiet day.” 

“It was like Grand Central Station,” Yeager said. 

The biggest surprise was when her son Jim arrived with his adult son in tow, after saying he couldn’t be there, said Margo. 

The whole Raymond Village Church was invited and most came to the party. “I told the minister that she could have brought the offering plate here,” Yeager said. People from the neighborhood association also stopped by to wish Yeager well. 

Yeager is part of a group of women who call themselves the golden girls. Anne Harriman, Rosemary Tripp and Yeager were known to take off after church to visit Tim Horton’s and Walmart. 

“They used to raise hell,” said Dowse. “When you get to be this age you can get away with saying anything,” she added. 

“We were never arrested,” Yeager declares.  

Yeager can be found most days, sitting on the couch knitting baby sweaters, pants and hats to sell at the Raymond Village Church’s Christmas fair. She started knitting at five years old. She watches only a few shows on television like The Price is Right and The Sound of Music, which she said she’s seen five times. 

“Oh I love that.” 

On TV she said, “Nowadays someone’s shooting someone or in bed with someone.” 

Back in the day, she was married to Floyd “Bud” Yeager, who passed away at 77. He was the director of military transport for TWA. He was quiet and reserved, which according to her daughters was the opposite of his wife. One night at an officer’s club, he had to beg her to get off the stage, when he came in and she was dancing mostly to egg him on, she said. 

She ran a nursery school where she charged $.50 an hour and $.75 if she gave a child lunch. “But then it was only $.30 for a gallon of gasoline,” she added. 

She moved to Portland in 1996 and spent one year in an apartment before moving to Raymond to live with Fournier. 

Yeager loves to garden and was raking leaves at 98 years old. “I’d rake for an hour, come in have a Boost, then go back out for another hour,” Yeager said. “I told the mailman to drive up very slow. I don’t want the leaves to fall from the trees.” 

She got her hair cut for her birthday at Guys & Gals. “They gave me a freebie,” she said. Yeager wanted everyone to know that they too can have a free hair cut when they turn 100. 

“I’m on Facebook,” she boasted. Joanne Riley at the salon posted a picture of Yeager’s hair once it was done. 

The mother of four children, Bob is the oldest, followed by Fournier, Jim and Dowse. She has 10 grandchildren and 13 great grandchildren. She is proud of her children happy to tell about Fournier working as assistant director of transportation at RSU14, Dowse is an art teacher, Bob was a helicopter pilot in Vietnam and now works for TWA and Jim helped with the building of the lunar module that landed on the moon, she said. 

Fifth-graders at Manchester School made 107 birthday cards for Yeager. “I’m going to get every card out and read every one of them,” said Yeager. 

In addition to gardening, being a New England sports fan and knitting she also likes to have a glass of wine every night. She was a member of a wine of the month club at one point. “My wine and Boost and eating oatmeal every morning,” she said are her secrets to longevity. 

“I try to do for myself,” she said. 

When she blew out her birthday cake candles she made a wish, but this year, she didn’t want material possessions. Her wish was for everyone to get home safely.

Safety is top priority for one Windham resident - By Elizabeth Richards

Suzanne Grace has a passion for protection, particularly when it comes to child passenger safety. In fact, Grace’s interest in preventing unintentional injuries and deaths prompted her to form a nonprofit organization, Tall Pine Safety Resource Center, in 2010.  
 

The formation of Tall Pine Safety Resource Center allowed Grace to bring the Safe Kids program, an international program dedicated to preventing unintentional childhood injuries and deaths, back to Maine. “This is a passion of mine, and no matter how much I try to move away from it, it just calls me back,” she said. 

Most of the work Grace does for the nonprofit is volunteer time. A partnership with Chevrolet funds the car seat inspection events, and volunteer technicians are offered a stipend to attend those, but the nonprofit does not have funding to pay for the behind the scenes work. Grace said she is supported by Maine Medical Center, as their injury prevention coordinator, to sit on the national child passenger safety board, which helps create the curriculum to train car seat technicians around the country.  But the behind the scenes work, like maintaining a website and promotion of events, does not have funding. The nonprofit would like to find a corporate sponsor to build the program, as well as promote the programs they currently offer. 

Attendance at the events can vary widely, said Grace, and promotion can at least let people know they are happening, as well as encouraging people to stop in even if they think they have installed their seats properly. “Our challenge is that we have over 90 percent of families who do it wrong, yet probably 90 percent of families think they’re doing it right,” she said. There are many nuances to proper installation and use of child safety seats, so Grace adds that one of their goals is to get people to understand that even if they think they are doing it properly, it’s a good idea to have a trained technician double check.

Grace said that often, once people have stopped in, they find out that there was something that wasn’t being done correctly. On the surveys people often say that they learned a great deal and are happy they stopped, said Grace.

The program in Windham has close to 50 car seats available for training purposes, and in addition to the monthly inspections, the organization offers certification classes to individuals interested in becoming a certified car seat technician. The class teaches the foundation of what to look for, such as recalls, identifying and correcting misuse, and knowing the resources available.

 Because there are so many car seats on the market, Grace said, nobody can know everything about all of them. That is why written resources are so important. “The vehicle’s owner manual and the car seat manual are two critical tools that a lot of people overlook,” she said, adding that she feels if people took the time to read the manuals, the misuse rate could be cut in half. 

Knowing a seat’s history is also crucial, said Grace. “What we warn families about is if you’re taking a car seat that you don’t know the history of, you’re taking a chance, hoping it’s going to withstand a crash, but you’re not really sure,” she said. 

As for using a car seat that has been involved in an accident, Grace said that they recommend contacting the car seat manufacturer to ask their advice. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has a definition for a minor crash, in which case they say it is okay to continue using the car seat.  Some manufacturers recommend replacing the seat after any crash. Car insurance will often pay for the replacement of a car seat involved in an accident. 

The car seat safety events are free and open to the public, and go far beyond a quick inspection.  The technicians work with the families to teach them how to properly install and check their seats. “It’s all educational, hands on,” said Grace. “The people we interact with are happy to spend the time doing it, and our technicians are happy to help, so it’s a win-win for everybody all around.”

In Windham, car seat inspections have been happening since 2002 at the Windham Fire/Rescue building at 718 Roosevelt Trail. The event is held on the third Saturday of every month, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. The Windham site is the third most active site among the regular inspection locations, Grace said, with an average of 15-20 inspections each month.   Grace said that they also recommend that families return annually, or any time something changes – a new seat, change in the position of the seat, or a change in vehicles. Typically, she said, the ones that they see come in correctly are the repeat customers.

Child passenger safety is the biggest program of Tall Pine, but they also offer a variety of other services including workshops with parents, preschools, child care staff, a cub scout automotive safety patch, bicycle safety, water safety and playground safety.  While Safe targets children under the age of 14, the larger organization also covers injury prevention topics for all ages.

Safe Kids Maine offers free car seat inspections and education in eleven locations on a regular basis, as well as offering other quarterly and annual events in additional locations. The full schedule of events can be found on www.maineseatcheck.org.  Information on Tall Pine Safety Resource Center can be found at www.tallpinesafety.org.