Five Judges Sworn in by Governor LePage

12/07/2015 10:42 AM EST

 AUGUSTA - Governor Paul R. LePage today administered the oath of two magistrates and two lawyers as District Court Judges and a Superior Court Justice as an Active Retired Justice for the Maine Superior Court.

The Hon. Maria A. Woodman, Esq. and the Hon. Paul D. Mathews, Esq. will serve as District Court Judges, as will Jed J. French, Esq., a managing law partner in a private firm, and Michael P. Roberts, Esq., a deputy district attorney.

Superior Court Justice Paul A. Fritzsche will serve as an Active Retired Justice for the Superior Court.

"As Governor, I have the utmost respect for those serving in the Judicial Branch," said Governor LePage. "In choosing judges, my focus is on the qualifications, demeanor and integrity of the candidates. These respected professionals reflect those priorities. I am confident they will live up to the high standards we expect from Maine judges."

The Governor's nominees represent a wide and diverse geographic area of Maine. They come from Kennebunk, Yarmouth, Monmouth, New Castle and Bangor.

Justice Paul A. Fritzsche, of Kennebunk, has served as a Superior Court Justice for 29 years. He was also a Public Advocate from 1983 to 1986, representing consumers before the Public Utilities Commission, courts, the Legislature and federal agencies. He also served from 1975 to 1981 as staff attorney and directing attorney for Pine Tree Legal Assistance in Lewiston and Portland. A graduate of Worcester Polytechnic Institute, he earned his law degree at the University of Maine Law School.

The Hon. Paul D. Mathews, Esq., of New Castle, a family law magistrate in the Maine District Court since 1998, served from 1979 to 1981 as Deputy District Attorney in Augusta and from 1981 to 1983 as Assistant District Attorney in Bath. In his private practice, he handled family law matters, criminal defense and trial work in District and Superior Court. He is a graduate of St. Anselm College in Manchester, N.H., attended St. John's College in Santa Fe, N.M. for graduate studies in liberal arts and earned his law degree at Gonzaga University School of Law in Spokane, Washington.

The Hon. Maria A. Woodman, Esq., of Monmouth, a family law magistrate in the Maine District Court since 2012, served as an Assistant District Attorney from 2003 to 2010 in the Division of Child Support and Maine Care Crimes Unit. From 1999 to 2003, she was an Assistant District Attorney for the Manhattan District Attorney's Office in New York, prosecuting cases ranging from murder to felony drugs. She is a graduate of The George Washington University and American University, Washington College of Law, in Washington, D.C.

Michael P. Roberts, Esq., of Bangor, a deputy district attorney, is a prosecutor with more than 30 years of experience. An experienced drug court prosecutor, he has been with the District Attorney's Office in Bangor since 1983 and is responsible for the case evaluation of all Penobscot County felonies, including arson, manslaughter, robbery, gross sexual assaults, attempted murder and white collar crimes. He is a graduate of the University of Maine and Western New England College, School of Law.

Jed J. French, Esq., of Yarmouth, a managing law partner at Powers & French, P.A. since 1994, has handled cases ranging from unemployment compensation, business dissolution and real estate disputes to felony criminal charges, personal injury and family matters. He is a Judge Advocate in the U.S. Air Force/Air National Guard and has been appointed as arbitrator, referee and special master for 14 courts. From 1988 to 1991, he worked for U.S. Senator William S. Cohen. He is a graduate of the University of Southern Maine and the University of Maine School of Law.

'Kala Christougenna'....Merry Christmas in Greek........Christmas Around the World

On Christmas Eve, children, especially boys, often go out singing 'kalanda' (carols) in the streets. They play drums and triangles as they sing. Sometimes the will also carry model boats decorated with nuts which are painted gold. Carrying a boat is a very old custom in the Greek Islands.
If the children sing well, they might be given money, nuts, sweets and dried figs to eat.
Christmas Trees are becoming more popular in Greece, but they aren't traditional. Instead most houses will have a shallow wooden bowl with a piece of wire is suspended across the rim. A sprig of basil wrapped around a wooden cross hangs from the wire. Some water is kept in the bowl to keep the basil alive and fresh. Once a day someone, usually the mother of the family, dips the cross and basil into some holy water and uses it to sprinkle water in each room of the house. This is believed to keep the 'Killantzaroi' (bad spirits) away. The Killantzaroi are meant to appear only during the 12-day period from Christmas to Epiphany (January 6th). They are supposed to come from the middle of the earth and get into people's house through the chimney! The Killantzaroi do things like putting out fires and making milk go off. Having a fire burning through the twelve days of Christmas is also meant to keep the Killantzaroi away.

Every December, in Aristotelous Square in the city of Thessaloniki (which is the second biggest city Greece) a huge Christmas Tree and three masted sailing ship are put up. It's a popular tourist attraction.

Going to a Midnight Mass Service is very important for most Greeks. After the service people can go home and end their Advent fast.
The main Christmas meal is often Lamb or pork, roasted in an oven or over an open spit. It's often served with a spinach and cheese pie and various salads and vegetables. Other Christmas and new year foods include 'Baklava' (a sweet pastry made of filo pastry filled with chopped nuts and sweetened with syrup or honey), Kataifi (a pastry made from a special form of shredded filo dough and flavored with nuts and cinnamon), Theeples (a kind of fried pastry). Another popular Christmas dessert are melomakarono, egg or oblong shaped biscuit/cakes made from flour, olive oil, and honey and rolled in chopped walnuts.
A traditional table decoration are loaves of 'christopsomo' (Christ bread). It's a round sweet loaf and the crust is often decorated with what the family do for a living (if you're a fisherman there would be fish, etc.).

In Greek Happy/Merry Christmas is 'Kala Christougenna'.
In Greece, presents are often brought to children by Aghios Vassilis / Άγιος Βασίλης (Saint Basil) on the 1st January. (NOW do you understand why they use a cross of basil to bless their homes?)

HONEY GLAZED GREEK ROAST LAMB

Ingredients

• 1 leg of lamb, 1.2 kg (45 ounces) or more
• 1.5 kg potatoes (50 ounces)
• 4 cloves of garlic
• fresh rosemary
• salt and freshly ground pepper
• 100g mild mustard (3.5 ounces)
• 100g honey (3.5 ounces)
• juice of half a lemon
• 1 tsp black sugar (optionally)
• 1 1/2 glass of dry white wine
• 4-5 tbsps olive oil

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven at 180C. To prepare this super easy Greek roast lamb recipe, place the lamb in a large baking tray and scar the surface of the meat with a knife. Make little holes (8-9) on the surface of the lamb, using a sharp knife.
2. Chop the garlic into 3-4 pieces each clove. Fill each hole on the lamb with some garlic and some rosemary. Drizzle with 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil and season well with salt and pepper. Pour into the baking tray 1 and 1/2 glass of white wine and cover with aluminum foil. Bake in the preheated oven for 1 1/2 hour.
3. The potatoes and the lamb cook at different times, so you should add the potatoes later.
4. After 1 1/2 hour remove the baking tray from the oven, unwrap the aluminum foil and add the potatoes (cut into wedges and seasoned well with salt and pepper). Drizzle with 1-2 tbsps of olive oil. At this point, there should be enough liquid remaining into the baking tray.
5. Place some aluminum foil on the baking tray and bake for 1 more hour.
6. Turn the pan out of the oven and unwrap the aluminum foil. At this time, there should be a little wine still remaining in the pan and your Greek roast lamb should be almost cooked, but not colored.
7. Prepare the glaze for your Greek roast lamb. Into a microwave, heat the honey, until it becomes liquid. Blend the honey with the mustard and lemon juice. With a cooking brush, brush the glaze over the lamb and the potatoes. Sprinkle with some black sugar (optional), so that the meat becomes more crunchy.
8. Place back into the oven (uncovered) and bake for 20-25 more minutes until the lamb is nicely coloured. Let the meat rest for 5 minutes before serving.

View image | gettyimages.com

#85822655 / gettyimages.com

Video of Lebanon Man's Arrest Goes Viral. (from WGME 13)

Many thanks to the Lebanon resident who alerted us to the
Channel 13 News Crews in town this afternoon.

LEBANON (from WGME) -- Video of an arrest in Lebanon is going viral. A 21-year-old man, arrested for domestic violence, says he's a victim of police brutality. It happened Saturday in Lebanon.

The video has been viewed almost a million times on Facebook, but the opinions vary as to who's at fault.

A friend recorded 21-year-old Dennis Prescott being arrested by a state trooper on Saturday.  Police were called to Prescott's mother’s home by Prescott’s girlfriend after the pair reportedly got in a fight.

Prescott says he would have gotten into the trooper's cruiser without a problem, but the trooper refused to let him give his mother his wallet for bail money. That's when Prescott claims the trooper used excessive force to arrest him.

"He said maybe once or twice, ‘You're under arrest,’ and then continued to hit me, pulled out pepper spray; if he had done that right away I would have got down,” Prescott said.

Prescott is charged with domestic assault and resisting arrest. He says he plans to fight both charges in court.
Video of an arrest in Lebanon goes viral

Here's what they had to say...........
CLICK HERE:

http://www.wgme.com/news/features/top-stories/stories/video-arrest-lebanon-goes-viral-30345.shtml#.VmZXVqPovIU

Literary Advent Calendar.......Day 7.........December 7, 2015

Red Skelton

As tonight's portion of the Literary Advent Calendar, we share with you a Youtube recording of Red Skelton reading "The Littlest Christmas Tree".

While most of the stories published for the Literary Advent Calendar are to be read and enjoyed, Sandy and Deborah have both decided to share this story tonight after attending the lovely Christmas Tree Lighting in West Lebanon Village last night.

It's been said that it wasn't a big deal, and that the tree is only small with one or two strands of lights. But to the people who gathered in West Lebanon last evening with family and friends to sing Christmas Carols and enjoy cookies and cocoa together through the generosity of the West Lebanon Ladies' Circle, that tree was beautiful.

It doesn't matter what size that tree it, or how many lights were on it. Those who attended didn't care.
That tree is beautiful.....

Indeed, it's only a little Christmas tree, but it's special.

Please enjoy "The Littlest Christmas Tree" with your children by clicking HERE:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDVVO76wb2A

UPDATE on HOLIDAY DECORATING COMPETITION... PLEASE NOTE CHANGES

 

 

In returning from the Lebanon Board of Selectmen's Meeting tonight, December 7, 2015...The Board has required a couple of changes in our posting in order to allow the Lebanon Recreation Department to participate in the Holiday Decorating Competition. The $50 Cash first prizes are being offered by Lebanon Maine Truth Seekers. The town is in no way responsible for the guaranteeing of that prize. Lebanon Maine Truth Seekers Deborah Wilson will be solely responsible for furnishing $50 cash to the first place winner of Judge's Choice and People's Choice. Lebanon Maine Truth Seekers will also be responsible for the gift basket prize for the home decorated with the most Lebanon pride. The Lebanon Recreation Department will be responsible for the $25 Market Basket Gift Cards used as 2nd prizes for Judge's Choice and People's Choice. Lebanon Maine Truth seekers holds no responsibility for the furnishing of these prizes, they are solely offered by the Lebanon Recreation Department. Lebanon Maine Truth Seekers is not a Department or any part of the Town of Lebanon Maine, it is operated completely free of charge and completely free of any responsibility to the Town, nor does the Town have any part of what we do. In the case of a tie vote on the People's Choice judging, the person giving the prize will be the tie breaking vote. Prizes will be announced on Sunday, December 20, 2015 after all votes have been counted. Winners will be announced on Facebook, and via text to the numbers that they texted in their entry with. There is no delivery of prizes, prizes must be picked up at an agreed upon location within Lebanon.