OXFORD – They called it the war that Americans forgot to remember.

Even though the Korean War lasted three years, involved 1.5 million troops, 37,000 of whom died and 100,000 others who were wounded, it took four decades before the 1950-1953 war earned its own national monument, dedicated in 1995.

On Tuesday, in Oxford Veterans Memorial Park, local Korean veterans were honored by a rousing patriotic performance by the Maine Army National Guard band, under the direction of Chief Warrant Officer M. Stanley Buchanan. The band and its ensembles perform at numerous military and civilian events throughout the northeastern United States and Canada.

Officers from Anderson-Staples American Legion Post 112 called forward all Korean War veterans from the crowd of more than 100 people attending the event, the second in the annual Concerts in the Park summer series.

The 30 or so men, and their widows, lined up to receive ribbons and certificates from the officers. Then several post-1953 Korean War servicemen were similarly honored.

Building’s front

trails in sink rate

NORWAY – A contractor said it will take a week to correct the schism between the front and back of the historic L.F. Pike & Son building on Main Street.

The rear of the building has been sinking over the years, but the first six inches supporting the front of the building is set on concrete and hasn’t moved.

Now the top of the wall leans out, the bottom has rolled inward and a front section of the building leans toward the rear.

Scott Cash, owner of Barn Wright Inc. in Harrison, said water had rotted the sills and the weight of the walls rolled it on the foundation.

He was called in to repair the building and began inspecting it. Workers dug out around the foundation Tuesday.

Town will seek

permit for dam

WOODSTOCK – Selectmen voted unanimously Tuesday to obtain a state permit to construct a dam at the outlet of Concord Pond and raise the water level.

The decision came after a meeting with Roland Pelletier, president of the Concord Pond Campers Association. He said the association has been trying to get Robert and Sheila Theriault to allow equipment to cross their property to replace an old dam at the site.

“We have tried to get the Theriaults to allow us to cross their land and place something in the outlet to bring the water level up,” said Pelletier, “and at a meeting of the association last summer they agreed we could cross their property if we did no damage and would agree to fix any damage that might be done. We agreed to that, but this spring we learned that the Theriaults had changed their mind and do not want us to cross their property at all.”

He said the Theriaults claim there was never a dam in the outlet.

Pelletier and another longtime property owner, Sterling Mills, said there was a dam of stone and wooden planks that was removed in the past 20 years or so.

“I have been at Concord Pond for 50 years and I know there was dam there,” Pelletier said.

Selectman Leon Poland said he also remembers the dam.

“I’ve seen the dam from a boat and stood on the dam. I know there was a dam or barrier of some kind there in the past that held the water back,” Poland said.

Sheriff’s roster

feeling shortage

FARMINGTON – Sheriff Dennis Pike says Franklin County’s deputy shortage is a crisis that is putting added strain on the current squad.

Another full-time deputy should be on the roster by the end of July and the entire force will be back to full strength by year’s end, possibly as early as October, according Pike.

The department relies on the manpower of six full-time patrol deputies and two corporals. They have only four full-time deputies including Heidi Gould, Michelle St. Clair, Brent Howard and Sandy Burke and two corporals – Nathan Bean and Stephen Charles.

The county is down two deputies because of the National Guard activation last October for Kenneth Charles and the resignation of Sarge Daigle after his expulsion from the Maine Criminal Justice Academy in June.

Gift accepted;

partners denied

WILTON – Officials accepted a proposal for a conditional gift of land when they met Tuesday. They voted unanimously against providing domestic partner health insurance.

Town Manager Peter Nielsen said the town discovered that about half of the town’s Little League baseball field in East Wilton was actually on private property. The owner of the property told the town he would trade that property for some help from the town in getting a house site started with enough gravel for a 50-foot driveway and a culvert.

Nielsen said the gravel will costs about $489 and the culvert about $250. In addition, surveying work to put up corner posts will not exceed $800. The total cost to the town will be less than $1,539. Officials signed an agreement to exchange the work for the property.

Selectmen decided against offering health insurance to domestic partners who are not legally married. Nielsen said some towns do offer such coverage. The town pays 70 percent of health insurance costs for full-time employees.

Nielsen said he spoke with Maine Municipal Association and was told municipalities can elect to offer such insurance by a vote of the town’s selectmen. He said as far as he knows there has been only one town employee interested in the coverage so far.

“I think it would set a dangerous precedent. I don’t agree with it,” Selectman Norman Gould said. The board unanimously agreed.

UMF unaffected

by court’s ruling

FARMINGTON – A U.S. Supreme Court ruling on college admissions last week will have no effect locally, says a University of Maine at Farmington official.

The ruling said race could be used as a factor in accepting students into college, but assigning points or values to candidates based on their race can’t.

Tom Donaghue, the school’s director of public information, says the ruling will have “virtually no impact” at the Farmington college.

The word virtually, he says, is because race does play a factor in certain federal and state minority scholarship programs that UMF administers, for example the Native American Waiver Program.

But, when it comes to accepting students, the admissions department will consider the same factors they always have, such as academic success in high school, extra-curricular activities, recommendations, a written essay and an interview.

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