Milton NH hosts Christmas Party to Benefit "Toys For Kids" program

 

The Milton Rec Dept and the Milton VFW

in Milton NH,

invite you to a

CHRISTMAS PARTY

 

Sunday, December 13, 2015

beginning at 1 pm

at the

Emma Ramsey Center

on the corner of

White Mountain Highway (Rt 125) and Charles Street

Milton, NH

 

Goodies, Silent Auction,

and

SANTA

will be making a visit.

 

The Cost of Admission?

1 new unwrapped toy

for

Milton's "Toys for Kids" program.

 

ALSO....

Milton Free Public Library & Milton Recreation’s

6th Annual Gingerbread House Competition

To be judged at the VFW’s Toys for Kids Party On December 13th @ 2:00 pm

This party is a public event, and everyone is invited to attend.

Donations are gratefully accepted.

If you can donate, please bring an unwrapped toy for a boy or a girl

or you may drop off auction items by 1:00 pm on the day of the event.

All gingerbread creations should be dropped off by 1:00 pm the day of the event.

Medicare Open Enrollment: Five Things You Need to Do............. Open Enrollment ENDS DECEMBER 7th......

 

 

Posted on November 30, 2015 by Dr. Patrick Conway, CMS Principal Deputy Administrator and Chief Medical Officer

Routines help keep us focused, organized, and even healthy. However, if your health routine doesn’t include preparing for Medicare’s Open Enrollment, now’s the time to kick-start a new healthy habit.
If you have a Medicare health or prescription drug plan, you should review and compare coverage options. The Open Enrollment runs through December 7 and is the time you can make changes to your plan. Even if you’re happy with your current coverage, you might find a better fit for your budget or your health needs. If you miss an Open Enrollment deadline, you’ll most likely have to wait a full year before you can change your plan.
Here are five things every Medicare beneficiary can do to get in the Medicare Open Enrollment routine.

1. Review your plan notice. Be sure to read any notices from your Medicare plan about changes for next year, especially your “Annual Notice of Change” letter. Look at your plan’s information to make sure your drugs are still covered and your doctors are still in network.

2. Think about what matters most to you. Medicare health and drug plans change each year and so can your health needs. Do you need a new primary care doctor? Does your network include the specialist you want for an upcoming surgery? Does your current plan cover your new medications? Does another plan offer the same value at a lower cost? Take stock of your health status and determine if you need to make a change.

3. Find out if you qualify for help paying for your Medicare. Learn about programs in your state to help with the costs of Medicare premiums, your Medicare Part A (hospital insurance) and Medicare Part B (medical insurance) deductibles, coinsurance and co-payments, and Medicare prescription drug coverage costs. Visit Medicare.gov or make an appointment with a local State Health Insurance Assistance Program (SHIP) counselor if you need help.

4. Shop for plans that meet your needs and fit your budget. You can use the Medicare Plan Finder tool to see what other plans are offered in your area. A new plan may:

• Cost less;
• Cover your drugs costs; or
• Let you use the providers you want, like your doctor or pharmacy.

If you find that your current coverage still meets your needs, then you don’t need to make any changes. Remember, during Medicare Open Enrollment, you can decide to stay in Original Medicare or join a Medicare Advantage Plan. If you’re already in a Medicare Advantage Plan, you can switch back to Original Medicare.

5. Check your plan’s star rating before you enroll. The Medicare Plan Finder includes Star Ratings for the 2016 Medicare health and prescription drug plans. Plans are rated for quality on a one- to five-star scale: one star represents poor performance and five stars represent excellent performance. Be sure to use the ratings to compare the quality of any health and drug plans you are considering.

These are a few easy ways to get a jump-start on your Medicare Open Enrollment. For more information, call 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227) and say “Agent.” TTY users should call 1-877-486-2048. Help is available 24 hours a day, including weekends. If you need help in a language other than English or Spanish, let the customer service representative know the language. You can also visit a local SHIP counselor. SHIP counselors provide free, one-on-one, non-biased Medicare assistance. Get free personalized health insurance counseling by calling your SHIP at the number listed on the Medicare contacts page or call 1-800-MEDICARE.

Obituary: Thomas E. Gilman

 

 

Thomas E. Gilman
November 25, 2015
Springvale

Thomas E. Gilman, 74, of Springvale, passed away on Wednesday November 25, 2015 at the Southern Maine Health Care in Biddeford with his family by his side. He was born in Sanford on October 11, 1941 a son of the late Howard and Marie (Smith) Gilman. In 1959 he enlisted in the United States Marine Corps and was honorably discharged in 1965.

On September 9, 1969 Tom began his career as a firefighter for the Town of Sanford retiring on April 30, 1997.
Well respected in his field, his career can be summed up in one sentence, “He served by leadership.”

Tom served on the Sanford Firefighters Executive Board Secretary Treasure from 1976 until 1994. He also served on the Executive Board of the Professional Fire Fighters of Maine and was a member of the International Association of Firefighters Local 1624.

After retirement Tom kept active by driving a tow truck for his sons business Gilman Auto Repair as well as doing some snow plowing. He also enjoyed cooking and his favorite eatery was Bay Haven Seafood Restaurant.

He is predeceased by one sister, Glenda Spires.

He is survived by his loving wife of 52 years, Juanita (Sinks) Gilman of Springvale, sons, Thomas Gilman Jr., and his wife, Helen of Alfred, Howard Gilman of Alfred, Bob Gilman of Lebanon, grandchildren, Ashley Hall, Tomi-Lynn Gilman, Thomas Gilman III, Peter Gilman, Luke Gilman, one brother, Robert Gilman of East Syracuse, NY. He also leaves behind his two labs, Bear and Daffy, as well as many nieces and nephews.

A funeral service celebrating his life will be held on Thursday, December 3rd at 11AM at the Carll-Heald & Black Funeral Home, 580 Main Street, Springvale. Burial with military honors will follow at Oakdale Cemetery.

Those planning an expression of sympathy are asked to consider donations in his memory to the IAFF (International Association of Firefighters Burn Foundation) Charitable Burn Foundation, 1750 New York Ave., NW Washington, DC 20006.

Condolences may be expressed at www.blackfuneralhomes.com

Obituary: Doris R. Hodge

 

 

 

Doris R. Hodge
November 25, 2015
Springvale

Doris R. Hodge of Springvale, died November 25, 2015 at the age of 97, surrounded by her children.

Doris was born May 27, 1918 in Acton, Maine to Ernest and Alice Varney Rand. She attended local schools.

On March 14, 1942 she married James F. Hodge in Acton, Maine. They lived in several states throughout the country due to James’ military career until 1976 when they moved back to Maine and settled on Beech Ridge Road in North Berwick. Doris lived in North Berwick for over 35 years and attended the Lebanon-North Berwick Baptist Church.

She was a member of the Nubble Lighthouse Square Dance Club and Seacoast Square Dance Club for many years. She was an avid traveler and loved meeting new people and seeing new places. She was a very active woman who enjoyed snowmobiling well into her 80’s. She was known for her good cooking, especially her homemade biscuits and baked beans. She enjoyed playing cards and games with her friends at the Trafton Center. She also enjoyed spending time at camp on Square Pond with her family and friends.

She was predeceased by her husband James Hodge and eleven siblings.

She is survived by her sons, Bruce Hodge and his wife Kim of Lebanon, ME, Robert Hodge and his wife Cindy of Rochester, NH: three grandchildren, Brian Hodge and his wife Kathy of Kennebunk, ME, Cory Hodge and his significant other Aimee of Somerville, MA, and Kristen Lajoie and her husband Jason of Porter, ME; and five great-grandchildren, Aidan, Kyley, Jacob, Brooke and Kassidy; and one brother Myron Rand and his wife Ruth of Lebanon, ME.

Visitation will be held from 2:00 to 4:00 and 6:00 to 8:00 PM on Tuesday, December 1st at the Carll-Heald & Black Funeral Home located at 580 Main Street in Springvale. A funeral will be held at the funeral home at 1:00 PM on Wednesday, December 2nd. Interment will follow at Evergreen Cemetery in Berwick.

Those planning an expression of sympathy are asked to consider sending a memorial contribution to the

Lebanon-North Berwick Baptist Church, P.O. Box 135, Lebanon, Maine 04027.

Arrangements are under the direction of Black Funeral Homes and Cremation Service, Sanford-Springvale.

"Investigation" of Open Door at Lebanon Fire and EMS Station 1 Leaves LMTS Thankful for A Nice Evening Ride.

 

STOP, TURN, REVERSE!!!

BREAKING NEWS!!

Tonight an overhead door at the Lebanon Fire and EMS station was left open as your responders rushed off to a motor vehicle accident!!!

 

OH, the HORROR!!

 

It must be a very slow news night for this to have been given top honors for the evening!!
I hope you all had as good a laugh out of this report as I did.

You KNOW I had to RUSH right down and DEMAND of Chief Meehan how he DARED to leave the overhead doors open on the station when he was rushing off to be sure that there was no one injured or dying out on Rt. 202 tonight!! (kidding)

When I arrived at Station 1 on the corner of Depot Road and Upper Cross Road, ALL the doors of the station were wide open and all the lights were on!! The crew were all busy restocking, cleaning, taking off turn out gear and heading in for a discussion with the Chief on how things went at the scene. There were a lot of "them" there, those responders who left the station with reckless abandon, leaving that one overhead door gaping open wasting thousands of taxpayer dollars, since the station is heated to 70* and it was SO cold out tonight, and WORSE, here it was 9:44 pm when I arrived, and EVERY door was open!!!

 

 

By now, I hope you're all giggling, just as I am.

You see, it was 58* at 9:44 pm tonight as I arrived at Station 1. Warm for a late November evening. The crew were hard at work. I'm sure that everyone was a little warm, as they were dashing around in fire pants, suspenders and t-shirts.

I tried to get them all to come and stand in front of the open doors and wave, but they all declined. Yes, I aggravated them a bit, taunting them and trying to get them to come and pose for me. :::sigh::: but they were all a bit nervous about having their photos taken. You know how that is. If their photo is taken, there are no guarantees as to who will use it, or what horrible meme will be created with it. There is no honor amongst photo thieves.

Anyway, there were about 10 of them, all responding to a traffic accident, even though there are only TWO who are scheduled to be at the station at that time of the evening, and we shared a bit of good natured ribbing and a few laughs.

I had to question the Chief on WHY the heat would be set to 70* in the station, considering how warm it is tonight and how warm it's supposed to be during the overnight hours, and the truth is that the heat was NOT set to 70*, but 65*.

But that's neither here nor there.

What's important is that there were 10 responders who answered a call for help in Lebanon tonight. TEN. They left the station in good time and as they left........ a door was left open!!!

OR WAS IT??

I got a good laugh out of the TRUTH.

Chief Meehan, several responders and I went into the Chief's office and rolled back the video tape. YUP the proof is in the video!!

We see on the video, the responders arriving at the station, gearing up, unplugging and starting vehicles and rolling out on the call. Typical call. Nothing strange, out of the ordinary, or discouraging. Each to their vehicle and out the large overhead doors of the station.

Yes, I'm dragging this on, because the TRUTH is so funny that I'm purposefully making you wait for it!!!

So the last vehicle out of the station is the Squad vehicle with 2 responders aboard.

Out of the station they go.........and DOWN starts the big overhead door.

About the time that the door gets a quarter of the way down, the door stops, and raises..........

It never shut all the way.

WHY??

Because there are electronic eyes on the bottoms of the doors.

Electronic eyes are on each of the large overhead doors of the station for protection. If anything penetrates the field of the electronic eye, it causes the door to stop its decent and raise itself back up into the rafters of the station.

So tonight, as the Squad vehicle left the station, there was a water hose, that is coiled and hanging by the door, that somehow had shifted so that one of the coils of hose was blocking the electronic eye.

Your responders would have been out of the station and on their way to the accident scene by the time the door began to go UP again.

So the door was open.

Big Deal.

Since the thermostat in Station 1 was set at 65*F, and the temperature at the time, outdoors, was 58* F, the heating units would not have kicked on until the temperature inside the back room where the thermostat hangs, reached 60* F. Since the room where the thermostat is kept has DOORS separating it from the larger garage bays, that would not have happened for several hours.

:::sigh::::

Not one penny of your taxpayer dollars was wasted. Not even one.

I must say that it was a nice evening for a ride across town to Station 1, and spending time with our responders is always a joy for me. So, no harm, no foul.

THANKFUL for a good laugh, good company, and a nice late evening ride!!

 

 

P.S.........LOVE the green light in support of our nation's veterans!!

WAY TO GO Lebanon Fire and EMS!!

 

 

 

 

 

Maine Department of Agriculture Seeks Public Help in Locating Destructive Insect.

Department seeks public help in locating destructive insect

11/25/2015 08:44 AM EST

 

 

*When moths fly with snow, let the Maine Forest Service know*

AUGUSTA - If you are seeing moth flights this time of year, the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry's Forest Service would like to know in order to better understand the locations and size of winter moth (Operophthera brumata) populations in Maine. Assistance from the public is being sought to help combat the destructive moth through use of a simple on-line survey to report winter moth sightings.

"The total economic impact of Maine's forest industry is $8 billion with direct and indirect employment of 38,789 workers," said Governor Paul R. LePage. "Fighting invasive insects like the winter moth is important to help protect that sector of our economy; in this case, hardwood trees and agricultural crops such as apples and blueberries. Public involvement will help professionals combat and minimize the destructive potential of this and other invasive species."

Commissioner Walt Whitcomb stressed that filling out a simple online survey set by the Department to report winter moth sightings is very important. "These reports are critical to building the bigger picture of this insect's distribution," said Whitcomb. "A healthy forest is key to Maine's forest economy. Citizen involvement in monitoring invasive pests is important to the future of rural Maine."

The survey can be accessed online at: http://www.maine.gov/dacf/wintermothsurvey . Reports of moth flights can also be made by phone at (207) 287-2431.

**Why Look For Moths in December?**

December may seem like an odd time to set up traps for a defoliating forest pest. However, during the first week of December, DACF staff will set up traps along the coast and inland in southern Maine. Towns in the study region are cooperating by allowing traps to be hung on municipal property. Two homeowners in the most heavily infested areas have volunteered their services for a third year to make nightly counts of the moths trapped in their yards.

Winter in Maine is quite suitable to getting winter moth observations from the public. The moth flies when it is dark-this time of year many people are still out after dark. Even if people are inside and glance out their windows, they may notice if there are small tan moths attracted to lights.

**Winter Moth History**

The winter moth was introduced into North America from Europe in the early part of the last century. It was first seen in Nova Scotia in the 1930s and then in the Pacific Northwest (British Columbia, Oregon and Washington) in the 1970s. Winter moth showed up in eastern Massachusetts in the early 2000s and has since spread westward in MA, into Rhode Island and now coastal Maine from Kittery to Bar Harbor. It was first reported in Maine in significant numbers in December 2011.

The larvae (caterpillars) of winter moth defoliate deciduous trees and shrubs such as oaks, maples, apples and blueberries, in early spring. Heavy defoliation for several consecutive years leads to branch dieback and tree mortality. Winter moth defoliation has contributed to tens of thousands of acres of oak mortality in Massachusetts.

Winter moth defoliation was first recorded in Maine in 2012. This year the annual Maine Forest Service aerial survey picked up moderate to heavy defoliation in the Cumberland County towns of Cape Elizabeth, Chebeague Island, Harpswell, Portland (Peaks Island) and Scarborough with over 10,000 acres mapped. On the ground, light to heavy defoliation could be seen in scattered locations from Kittery to Rockland.

Adults are active from late November to January whenever the temperature is above freezing. Males are small, light brown to tan moths. They are attracted to lights and a chemical released by the females. Adult females are small, gray and look like a mosquito wearing a fur coat. They have reduced wings and are flightless. Females are most commonly found crawling on the trunks of trees. So if you see moths flying in December, let the Maine Forest Service know.

Obituary: Alfred W. Weeden Sr.

Alfred W. Weeden, Sr.
(July 27, 1921 - November 24, 2015)

          

Dover, New Hampshire: Alfred W. Weeden, Sr., age 94, of County Farm Cross Road in Dover, died November 24, 2015 at Wentworth-Douglass Hospital. Born July 27, 1921 in Dover, son of Scott L. and Betharlene (Hutchins) Weeden, he was a lifelong resident of Dover. A United States Arm Veteran of World War II, he was recipient of a Purple Heart and a Gold Cluster. In earlier years, he was a shoe factory worker, a Farmer and was retired from Moore Business Forms. He especially loved farming, loved his cows and chickens. A member of Milton Assembly of God Church, church was most important in his life. Survived by his wife of 73 years: Evelyn M. (Haigh) Weeden and their children: Alfred W. Weeden, Jr. and his wife Nancy Weeden, Jane E. and husband William Crosby, Thomas E. and wife Roxanne Weeden, 9 grandchildren, many great grandchildren and great great grandchildren, 2 sisters: Beulah Eldridge and Betharlene Miller, also many nieces and nephews. Predeceased by a daughter: Evelyn Weeden Bateman and several siblings. Calling hours are Saturday, November 28, 2015 from 9-11am at Milton Assembly of God Church, 370 White Mountain Highway in Milton, NH with a funeral service at 11am with Pastor Alfred W. Weeden, Jr., his son, officiating. Interment will be at Forest Glade Cemetery in Somersworth. Arrangements by Peaslee Funeral Home, 24 Central Street, Farmington.