Get receipts

HALLOWELL – State Auditor Neria Douglass has advised residents who pay taxes in cash to get a dated receipt identifying the full amount paid. “With many towns collecting property taxes during the spring, I am reminding all citizens to always get a dated receipt for the full amount paid, especially those who pay in cash.”

Douglass said, “Citizens who pay with a check should make it out to the town treasurer, never to an individual.” Furthermore, “every town should have a policy of requiring checks be made payable to the town when paying for municipal services.”

Information on the Maine Department of Audit can be found at http://www.maine.gov/audit/index.htm. Douglass may be reached at 624-6250.

Fort lecture

AUGUSTA – Old Fort Western’s 20th-annual winter lecture series will continue at 7 p.m. Thursday, March 15, in the learning gallery, city hall, 16 Cony St., with the program, “Restoration Revisited.”

Old Fort Western Director and Curator Jay Adams will talk about and show slides of the 1987 restoration of Fort Western’s 1754 National Historic Landmark main house and grounds.

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the beginning of that milestone project. Adams will discuss each aspect of the restoration and will comment on the things that, in his opinion, might have been done differently.

The 10-program schedule is available at www.oldfortwestern.org or by phoning 626-2385. Series admission is free. Refreshments will be served, and donations to help cover expenses are encouraged.

Open house

SOUTH PORTLAND – A spring campus open house will be held from noon to 3:30 p.m. Saturday, March 31, at Southern Maine Community College. The event is open to anyone interested in learning more about the college and the degree programs it has to offer.

Registration and light refreshments will take place at noon in the Hutchinson Union Building Gym, 86 Fort Road. Students and faculty will be on hand to answer questions along with staff members from admissions and financial aid. For more information, call 877-282-2182 or visit www.smcc.edu.

Astronomy talk

CUMBERLAND – Southern Maine Astronomers will offer a talk on one of the great breakthroughs in classical physics – Kepler’s laws of motion – and how Johannes Kepler determined that the planets followed elliptical orbits.

The discussion, presented by SMA member Kerry Kertes, a physics teacher at Cape Elizabeth High School, will also include a hand-on demonstration of how to map the Earth’s elliptical orbit around the sun. Several Cape Elizabeth High School seniors will assist the audience in actually graphing the Earth’s orbit.

The meeting will be held at 7:30 p.m. Friday, March 30, at the Cumberland Congregational Church. A beginner’s astronomy class addressing lunar eclipses will precede the meeting at 6:40. Both events are free. For more information about the club and directions to the meeting site, visit www.southernmaineastronomers.org.

Trolleys topic

YARMOUTH – Skyline Farm Carriage Museum and the North Yarmouth Historical Society will present “All About Horse-Drawn Trolleys” with Robert Reich of the Seashore Trolley Museum at 7 p.m. Wednesday, March 28, at the farm visitor’s center, the Lane, North Yarmouth.

The evening will feature a talk about early forms of transportation, including the rise and fall of the horsecar (horse-drawn trolley). Reich will include information about local transportation lines. The public is invited and admission is free; refreshments will be served. For information, call 829-2903 or 846-4379.