In this collection of vignettes, Sun Journal reporters offer an opportunity for you to catch up on people in the news in 2006.

Fire survivors, Auburn

It’s been more than three months since the fire took their barn, their house and their livelihood.

Roger Gauthier Jr. and Virginia Beauchesne have started to rebuild their home along with their herd of milking cows at Graceland Dairy Farms.

It’s been a hard road, but it’s had bright spots, they said.

The couple have been living apart since that early morning in September. He sleeps in a tiny camper parked at the farm. She stays at a friend’s camp 20 minutes away.

She’s taken a job at a local therapist’s office now that there are no mature cows at the farm to milk. They expect to have a milking herd again next fall.

The shell of a new house stands at the site on Penley Corner Road where the ruins of their former home once smoldered. They had hoped to move in by Christmas, but it likely won’t be for at least another month, they said.

When they do, they’ll start to put their lives back together, they said.

In the meantime, they’ve gotten a glimpse of another side of the community in which they’ve lived and worked for so long.

Their insurance didn’t cover the cost of rebuilding. But thanks to friends who set up a fire-relief fund in the name of their farm at a local Bank of America, they have been able to meet those costs. Contractors have given them a break on materials and labor. Friends and neighbors provided meals. A stranger from Yarmouth showed up with a check for $500.

“You see all the hatred and corruption in the world until.a disaster shows you the human kindness and compassion,” Beauchesne said.

–Christopher Williams

“Dead” woman, Rumford

Lorraine Keeley wants to be done with 2006. In March, the 56-year-old leg-amputee was “killed off” by a Social Security error, a wrong that took many months and U.S. senatorial help to right.

“Everything’s hunky-dory now, but it wasn’t until September before everything was completely done, and I was back into the system,” Keeley said on Dec. 22.

Her disability checks were canceled, her mortgage became endangered, dual accounts with her husband were jeopardized, creditors began calling, and one day, her new prosthetic foot fell off.

Additionally, while Keeley was visiting family in Delaware, her 2005 Jeep Liberty was stolen, along with a prosthetic leg made for long-distance driving. Police in Maryland recovered the stripped and fire-gutted SUV two days later, but not her favorite leg.

She really misses it because, three times a week, she drives her husband to the Veterans Administration Medical Center in Togus.

“That’s the only downfall to this whole mess. I’ve got to somehow get a driving leg, but I’m alive and I’m well, so what more can I ask for? Although, I can’t wait for 2006 to be over,” Keeley said.

–Terry Karkos

Cross-stitcher, Wilton

Larry Wilbur has had an eventful six months.

Shortly after a story about the 83-year-old’s passion for cross-stitching ran in the Sun Journal earlier this year, he was contacted by a woman from the British magazine The Crosstitcher.

A story about an older man from Maine and his love of the art ran in the magazine, complete with a photograph of him and several small pictures of his work. Wilbur was disappointed that the story focused more on him than on his work.

“It was quite an honor,” he said.

Then, a few weeks ago – around his 65th wedding anniversary – he got a package in the mail from a man named Marc Saastad.

Saastad is the designer of a line of cross-stitch patterns Wilbur especially loves. Inside the package was Saastad’s newest design, one it took him more than two years to complete. Enclosed was a note to Wilbur, the design directions and a dedication.

“This design is dedicated to Larry Wilbur, of Maine, for his wonderful work and enthusiasm for flowers,” the dedication reads.

“I didn’t have any idea this was happening until I got it in the mail,” Wilbur said. “And I thought, ‘It’s quite an honor,’ you know.”

– Maggie Gill-Austern

Chick-A-Dee II, Lewiston

It’s Korn Haus Keller no more. Bill Hird expects to open a second location of his popular Turner eatery where the former German/seafood restaurant operated for 30 years. Chick-A-Dee of Lewiston should open between mid- and late January, after Hird and his family finish renovations and hiring for their new restaurant.

“A lot of people told us they would visit us more often if we were closer,” said Hird of his more easterly customers. “Now we’re doing it.”

He expects to draw from Lisbon, Topsham and Brunswick – places where fans were willing to drive 20 or more minutes to get to his Route 4 location. The new restaurant is at the intersection of Route 196 and Westminster Street.

Chick-A-Dee of Lewiston will offer nearly the same menu as the original restaurant. There will be a lounge at the new location, and the dining areas are getting new carpets, paint and a general sprucing-up. The kitchen is getting an overhaul, as well.

Hird is hiring between 50 and 60 employees to staff the new eatery. He said he’s been getting a lot of positive feedback about opening a second location.

“It’s a sizable investment that my wife and I are doing,” he said. “But we think it’s well worth it.”

– Carol Coultas

Walking pastor, Oxford

After taking long walks, visiting restaurants and stores, and talking to people about the world’s neediest citizens, the Rev. Frank Jewett had raised more than $13,000 for orphans by mid-December.

Jewett started his campaign, called The Gift for the Kids, in September. His goal was to raise $30,000 by the end of December. He believed he still could raise $20,000 before the new year for the charities World Vision and Central Africa Vision, as well as for a family of children in the Oxford Hills who have lost their parents to AIDS.

Even after he raises the $30,000, Jewett said he won’t be ready to stop.

If he can raise $15,000 for the charity World Vision this year and again in 2007 and 2008, he said the Oxford Hills would be eligible to adopt an African village through one of World Vision’s programs.

“We’re so excited about what the campaign is doing, now we’re willing to commit to a village project,” Jewett said. “That would provide food, clothing, opportunities to visit. We’d like to be more hands-on.”

To raise awareness about his campaign in early November, Jewett walked from the Oxford Advent Christian Church on Route 26 to Boomers restaurant in Norway on Route 117, stopping in at every venue that sells food to ask for money. He said these spots are where orphans would go if they were hungry.

-Rebecca Goldfine

Monica Quimby, Turner

The college student paralyzed in a skiing accident in January has finished her fall semester at the University of New Hampshire and is doing “great.”

Monica Quimby, 20, was home for Christmas, but she won’t be around long. She’s transferring to the University of Arizona at Tucson for the spring semester.

“I love New England,” she said. But going from building to building to change classes in a wheelchair when it’s cold, snowing or raining is tough. She’ll attend college in Tucson for four months, then return to UNH in the fall.

Quimby plans to become a stem-cell scientist to help people like her who’ve suffered spinal injuries. Meanwhile, she continues her physical therapy, using leg braces that enable her to take a few steps.

A graduate of Leavitt Area High School, she is the daughter of Nadia and Scott Quimby.

Monica has had some dark times, mourning the loss of her legs. But multiple interviews throughout the year revealed a focused young woman with a sunny personality and a positive attitude.

Quimby has a New Year’s resolution: “To keep a positive attitude, continue on getting my degree, work on my walking and getting stronger.”

– Bonnie Washuk

Goldfish project, Lewiston

They’re alive and well, and seemingly not pining for the water of the mighty Androscoggin.

Little John, Pat, Barbara and Chandler, goldfish featured in a Sun Journal project to bring attention to the river’s health during the gubernatorial race, have gracefully survived the transition to filtered water. (And they miss those creepy brown algae dots on the tank glass not at all.)

Gov. John Baldacci and former green Independent candidate Pat LaMarche recently inquired, on separate occasions, about the fishes’ health, hinting they’ve dropped from public view but not consciousness.

Little John and Pat are still heavyweights in the tank. Little Chandler seems to hide behind one plastic plant in the corner, according to caretaker/political reporter David Farmer.

His children, Addie and Elias, are keeping the fish fed and entertained. Not a bad retirement.

– Kathryn Skelton

Goat attack, Livermore

Tammy Sanborn and her children are thankful that their remaining goats are alive and gaining strength. Two of the 11 show goats were killed by a neighbor’s pit bulls in November.

Sanborn shot the two dogs as they left the barn, where she had found her goats stacked up and bleeding.

A few are still being treated for injuries and three – Mona, Hope and Honey – have had miscarriages.

“The thing is, they’re still alive and we’re thankful,” Sanborn said.

But the three goats can’t be shown in 4-H competitions next year. All are over the age of 2, which excludes them from being shown in any class except for milking.

The dogs’ owner, Peter Drown, 40, of Livermore, was issued four summons on two civil charges of being an owner or keeper of a dog injuring or killing livestock and on two civil charges of having a dog running at large, Animal Control Officer Wayne Atwood said.

Drown has paid $760 this year in fines for dog-related attacks on animals and poultry. He is due to appear in Lewiston District Court on Jan. 10 on the most recent charges.

–Donna M. Perry

The blues, Auburn

When his five-year run of weekly blues jams ended in October, organizer Kevin Kimball guessed he’d be running another by Thanksgiving.

Not so.

The regular performances – which gave stage time to veterans and novices alike – ended when the Midnight Blues in Auburn closed its doors.

“I haven’t been able to get much going,” said Kimball, who leads the band Blue Steel Express.

Local venues don’t seem to want the weeknight event, instead favoring disc jockeys who play hip-hop rather than live performers.

That saddens Kimball.

“I remember a time when Lewiston was an epicenter of live music,” he said. “Now, the public is turning its back on live music. We’re McDonaldizing everything here.”

The jam was a regular Thursday night event for dozens of musicians around the region. And it often brought a busy crowd to the blues club.

During its five-hour farewell, more than 30 performers took the stage before a packed house.

Some have since migrated to a newly created jam, organized by the Maine Blues Society, at Gardiner’s Kennebec Brewing Co.

Kimball, who lives in Lisbon Falls, still hopes to re-create what he had here in Lewiston-Auburn.

“I ain’t done, yet,” he said.

– Daniel Hartill

Buddhist chef, Poland

On Dec. 21, Eric Wilson left Maine for his latest spiritual endeavor: three months of training in macrobiotic cooking combined with study of acupressure and disease-healing massage.

It’s one more step along a personal path toward enlightenment.

As a student of Shambhala Buddhism, he sees cooking as more than just a daily survival ritual. It’s an act that requires his full attention, becoming a form of meditation. It’s also a way to reach out and share with others, as he did when he prepared us a delightful meal in April.

Since then, Wilson’s path has led him to Limoges, France, where he spent part of the past year cooking at Dechen Choling, a Shambhala Buddhist retreat center.

“I learned so much and was cooking for large crowds of people. I think that there was at one time or another 14 different countries represented there,” he said over the holidays.

And he has continued working his way, recipe by recipe, through “108 Recipes: Gourmet Vegetarian Cooking from the Nyingma Institute.”

“I still have to make a Jell-O mold from the 108 cookbook and maybe one other one,” he said.

Chances are he won’t be making that recipe while learning about macrobiotic cooking.

– Kelly Morgan

Whip master, Lewiston

It’s still a whip-cracking world for Bill Rubino, also know as Bill Greene.

The head of the Whip Enthusiasts of Maine, who works as a building supply salesman by day, has set a new goal for himself in 2007 – mastery of the 50-foot bullwhip.

“I enjoy long whips, and it’s a challenge,” he said.

The longest one he’s worked with before is also pretty daunting – a 20-foot bullwhip.

Rubino and partner Cristy Cooke started the Maine chapter of whip enthusiasts last April. Within a few weeks, they had about 20 members, and now they have nearly 30 scattered throughout the state.

Since then, Rubino and Cooke have performed at Wild West Days and Renaissance Days around the state.

They are in the process of moving into a new home in Lewiston, one with a yard and a garage large enough to practice with short whips.

“With the garage, we’ll start practicing on a routine for the Wild West shows this summer,” he said.

– Eileen Adams

Owl lady, Leeds

Leeds has been home to the world’s largest owl collection for a year, but that soon may change.

One by one, hundreds of the glass, plastic, metal and fabric owls have gone to new homes.

Pam Barker bought the massive collection in 2004 after seeing an ad for it in Uncle Henry’s Swap It or Sell It Guide. The original owner, Dianne Turner of Wilton, had died, and a friend was selling.

Barker bought the owls, in part, to count them. Turned out there were 18,055.

The Guinness Book certified the collection as a record-breaker about a year ago. The Sun Journal featured Barker and her collection in January.

Since then, she has sold a few hundred owls from their resting spot at her husband’s North Leeds Building Supply store. She also began selling them on eBay.

A Greene owl collector bought some, as did collectors from New Hampshire and New Jersey. Online, she’s sold them to people in Japan and the United Kingdom, and has gotten an inquiry from Holland.

A copper weather vane owl went for $100. Most others have sold for a dollar or less.

Although Barker is sad, the collection can’t stay together, she said, “Now it’s going to be worldwide.”

– Lindsay Tice

Napping fisherman, Auburn

Butch Davenport’s jury trial, on charges of unattended fishing at Lake Auburn in April, is scheduled for next summer.

“All I can do is wait, I guess,” Davenport said.

He was fishing at Salmon Point, a spit of land on Lake Auburn’s north shore, when he fell asleep with his poles propped against a log.

“That’s what you do when you go fishing,” Davenport said in July. “A big part of fishing is relaxing, and you fall asleep when you’re relaxed.”

He awoke later, hearing two game wardens outside his tent.

Maine fishing regulations forbid using a line attached to a fixed object on shore or floating on the water to catch fish if the rig is not personally attended. His lines were never attached to a fixed spot, Davenport said. They were attached to poles, which were leaning against a log.

Nevertheless, when Davenport admitted to napping, the wardens issued a court summons. The violation carries a $100 fine.

It might have been easier to pay the fine, but Davenport wants his day in court.

“Every year, they come down checking my license, looking for fish, checking my equipment,” he said. “They’ve never been able to write me up for something, and I guess this was their chance.”

– Scott Taylor