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For complete, official voting results from Lincoln, CLICK HERE.

OFFICE WINNER
President of the United States Barack Obama
U.S. Senate Angus King
U.S. House of Representatives, Second District Mike Michaud
State Senate, District 30 Emily Cain
State House of Representatives, District 11 Beth P. Turner
State House of Representatives, District 12 Jeffery Gifford
RSU No. 67 Board of Directors Katie Clay, Dave Edwards & Dolly Phillips
Lincoln Town Council David Whalen & Sam Clay
RSU No. 67 Budget Rejected
Dr. Carl Troutt School Purchase Rejected
Question #1 Passed

 

Winter night-time parking

The Town of Lincoln has announced winter parking regulations. The town ordinance reads as follows:

"From November 1 to April 1 between 12:01 am and 6:00 am all vehicles are prohibited from parking upon any public way in the Town of Lincoln except in cases of emergency. The Police Chief or any police officer may cause any vehicle so parked on any public way to be moved and placed in a suitable parking space off the publc way street, at the expense of the owner of such vehicle, and without the Town or any of its employees being liable for any damage that may be caused by such removal.

Winter night-time parking permits may be issued to tenants of residential apartments located on Main Street between Lake Street and Burton Street where there is no off-street parking with the building. The permit will allow night-time parking in the Veterans Memorial Square, rows 2 and 3 on the side adjacent to Mechanic Street. Any permitted vehicle must be removed by 7:00 am to allow for snow removal. No vehicles will be allowed to park in the front or rear rows of the parking lot. Each apartment will be entitled to no more than two parking permits. Permit holders shall be responsible for moving any snow in and around the permitted vehicle in order to move said vehicle from the parking area.

The Town of Lincoln shall issue a permit for all authorized vehicles. Permits shall be displayed on the rear driver's side window of the vehicle. Any vehicle not displaying a permit shall be subject to removal in accordance with Section 1407.3.7 of this ordinance."

Phillips announces for RSU No. 67 board

 

My name is Dolores King Phillips, but everyone knows me as Dolly.  I grew up in Lincoln, moved to the Portland area for 18 years and moved back to Lincoln 9 years ago.  I lost my husband to cancer 7 years ago and have been striving to raise my 4 boys, with the help of family and friends, since then.  One of my sources of joy is to volunteer in my sons’ classrooms.  I have been doing this since my college sophomore son was in Kindergarten.  I have dedicated hundreds of volunteer hours to our school system in the classroom and in other areas such as the booster clubs.  For 4 years, I served as treasurer to the Athletic Boosters.  I have also worked with the music boosters for the past 2 years.  Although never holding a “leadership” position, I was active in the Boy Scouts program when the boys were involved.  I served on the Drop-out Prevention Committee during its time here in RSU 67, working to help bring an alternative education program to Lincoln.  This ultimately resulted in the opening of the Carleton Project.  I am a member of the Parent Advisory Committee that works to bring workshops to families in the community on such subjects as “Cyber Citizenship” (coming up on Thur, Nov 8th).  I have also been very active in my home church, doing whatever I can to be supportive.  I believe my track record in volunteerism speaks for itself.  Serving on the school board is just another avenue for me to serve my community.

Why are you seeking election to the board?  

As a parent in this community, I have been actively involved in the schools.  Over the past year, I have become more interested in how the school board functions.  I believe I can do valuable research that can aid in better communication between the school board, the taxpayers, and the district staff. I see the needs of the kids, teachers, school, and the community and am willing to give my time and energy in service to meet those needs.

What are you goals if elected?

My main goal is establish a more transparent communications between the board and the community.  I would like to see more open dialogue about decisions being made.  I would like to see more questions being asked about what is taking place in our district.  Over the past few months, we have seen more of this happening, but under the current stress our district is in, I believe, it must happen regularly, until we are back to a  “business as usual” climate.

What are the strengths and weaknesses of the district and how can the district improve?

One of our greatest assets is our quality staff.  They are a dedicated group of people who strive to provide a caring environment for all students.  The moral in our district is at an all-time low.  We need to spend some time and energy into rebuilding trust and supporting the staff.  We, as a board, need to provide strong, compassionate, caring leadership and bring some unity to a much divided community. 

Do you favor the repurchase of the Dr. Carl Troutt School in Mattawamkeag?

I do not support this purchase.  Although great figures are being provided regarding what the costs will be, there is too much conjecture and speculation on what the revenues will be.  We have been told that there is a waiting list of up to 60 students waiting for a place to go.  While this might be true, the conversations I’ve had with another district, don’t hold up to this speculation.  In these economic times, I’m rather leaning towards being more fiscally conservative then being a speculator.  I fully support the Carleton Project, but I don’t support the vision of making RSU 67 a “regional” Carleton Project. 

What are the key issues facing the district and how would you help solve them?

One of the key issues is the FACT that the community doesn’t feel any trust in the leadership of the school board of the superintendent.  We have to find a way to restore some sense of TRUST.  I, honestly, don’t know what the answer is to this question, other than to say we all need to work together and find the answer.  I don’t think “those in the know” have been listened to (teachers, staff) and that people who haven’t set foot inside a classroom have been making decisions based on trust in the wrong person.  I believe, we need to take a step back, listen to the quality staff that have been in the trenches and do some of our own research.  I will not just take at face value information given me, but check for accuracies and other options.

In closing, I’m going to just refer to a piece that I put on my website, dollyphillips.com, that kind of sums me up.  I am an emotional person, but I try very hard to not respond EMOTIONALLY.  I feel things (especially people's pain) deeply, but try to give myself time to pray and think BEFORE reacting. However, I am human and sometimes get a little caught by a knee-jerk reaction. I can promise to do my best....to not slack once elected to the board, but to continue to bring out the FACTS and let people decide for themselves based on complete information. I will always be honest, and I will work very hard to treat those, even when we disagree on something, with respect.

Governor declares state of emergency

AUGUSTA, Maine —Gov. Paul LePage has declared a state of emergency as Maine deals with the effects of Sandy. Declaring a state of emergency gives the governor broad authority to direct state agencies to respond to the storm.

According to statute, "In the event of disaster beyond local control, the governor may assume direct operational control over all or any part of the emergency management and public safety functions within the state."

LePage had declared a limited state of emergency on Friday to bring in help from outside the state and relax regulations to allow crews to drive longer.

RSU No. 6 candidates meet the public

October 25 -  There are seven candidates from Lincoln running for three seats on the RSU #67 School Board in the November election. Tonight, in a "Meet The Candidates" event sponsored by the local Teacher's Association, five of them were on hand to talk with and answer questions from the local public. The event was held from 6:30-8 pm at Northern Penobscot Tech on West Broadway in Lincoln. Five of the seven announced candidates were there: incumbent David Edwards, and challengers Katie Clay, Gilberte Mayo, Dolores Phillips, and Mary Plourde. Jeffrey Schick did not attend, nor did Garland Hurd who, it was reported, is out of the state today.

 
A similar event was held last fall, with meager attendance. This year's turnout was low again, with only 20 citizens attending, along with the five candidates, which, in our opinion is unfortunate, as these events offer the voters an opportunity to meet with and talk to these prospective school board members one-on-one.
The election is one week from this coming Tuesday. CLICK HERE for a photo slideshow.

Arbitrator vidicates Bisson in RSU No. 67 case

-The Ella P. Burr School in Lincoln, Maine.

October 22 - Lincoln teacher Jodi Bisson has been vindicated, according to the Arbitrator's ruling handed down by Sarah Garraty on October 16,2012. This concerned a disciplinary action against Ms. Bisson taken by RSU # 67 on October 7, 2011. Bisson was awarded lost wages and benefits from her 3-day suspension, and all references to the discipline be removed from her records.
Ms. Bisson is a popular long-time teacher, for 21 years, who was teaching second grade at the Ella P. Burr School (pictured above) at the time of the incident.

A downloadable PDF copy of the complete ruling can be read, downloaded, or printed by CLICKING HERE.
RSU #67 Superintendant Denise Hamlin issued the following statement after the decision was made public:

"The contract dispute between the RSU 67 Board of Directors and the Local Teachers Union has been resolved.

Although I disagree with the Arbitrator's ruling, it is final. It is time for this district to move forward and direct our energy towards good teaching and learning.

As a school community, parents trust us every day with the well-being of their children. As educators our responsibility is to ensure that all children attending our schools are safe, supported and nurtured. We have many wonderful things going on in our schools. Please stop by and see it in action." - Denise Hamiln , RSU 67 Superintendent

Efforts to contact Ms. Bisson for a statement from her have been unsuccessful, but we will publish one as an update to this story if/when one is received.

The RSU 67 school budget will be voted on again, for the fourth time, during the general election on November 6th. The budget warrant articles will be published on this website as a public service. Also, several candidates for the RSU 67 School Board will be vying for three open seats. They are incumbent David Edwards and challengers Katie Clay, Garland Hurd, Gilberte Mayo, Dolores Phillips, Mary Plourde and Jeffrey Schick.

- Lee Rand
 

Jeff Schick to run for RSU No. 67 board

 

Name: Jeff Schick

Mailing Address: 652 Main St., Lincoln, Maine

Physical Address: Same

Telephone: 794-4905

Marital Status: Divorced

Years of Residence in Lincoln: 49

Email Address: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Employer: Lincoln, Paper and Tissue

Years Employed: 29 years

Children: 2, Son, Jarret and daughter, Stephanie

Education: Graduated from MA, some College

Position you are seeking: RSU #67 Board of Directors

Qualifications; I have been a resident of Lincoln all of my life, and I know the core values of the taxpayers of this district. I also ran the education program for the PPRC, which I feel, gives me a unique insight to the inner workings of this district.

Incumbent: No, but I have served on the Board of Directors in the past.

Other community service: I just recently started coaching Football again for the Lincoln Rec. Dept. I am also a DoD certified bugler.

Reason for running and goals for the future: I feel that the district as a whole has lost its focus and direction. This is something that is very troubling and needs to be dealt with in a most expedient fashion. The children are our most important assets and I believe that the controversy that has enveloped this district has caused us to lose that focus. This, to me, is a very dangerous path to go down. The students are our future and that fact should always be considered when any decision is made in this district. We have allowed agendas and personality’s to become the focus. This detracts from the main goal of the district as a whole. That goal is to provide all of the students of this district with the tools for a successful future.

The other part of this equation and equally important are the taxpayers of this district. They must be considered in every decision and given the respect they deserve. We are living in financially perilous times on both the federal and state level and for anyone to not recognize that fact is both irresponsible and financially suicidal. For any party to think that the taxpayers will sit idly by and accept a massive tax increase shows me just how far removed from reality they are. The days of blindly passing a budget are gone. These are the times of financial uncertainty and must be treated accordingly.

I know that we can find a solution to this present impasse. This will not be an easy task to accomplish but given the other option of failure… We can all agree on one thing and that is a start. That is, we MUST put the welfare of our students first. To argue over this, to me, is not an option we can entertain. To assign blame for the present situation would be counterproductive and serve to only exacerbate an already volatile situation. We have all seen where playing the “blame game” will get us. It cannot continually be “them” it must be “us” or failure awaits and not just ours but more importantly our students.

In closing I would like to say that our district is worth saving and I look forward to be given the chance to do so. We are at a crossroads as a district with two roads to choose. One leads to success, the other to failure. I know which one I want. It’s all about the students, not agendas and personalities. 

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