Dave Wolfe drove the grant application that would transform Monmouth’s Phoenix Farm into Project TLC to Augusta on Friday.

“I’m going to hand-deliver it,” he said from the road.

The project, which would work with up to 10 homeless women to teach them farming and life skills, faced a public hearing in Monmouth on Wednesday.

Wolfe said between 15 and 20 people turned out, some with questions.

“Some residents had concerns about ‘people like that’ moving into town,” he said. “There was some education. Not everybody who is homeless is drunk and addicted.”

Selectmen continued to support the project, making it possible to hit the Friday application deadline. Wolfe is looking for a $100,000 workforce development grant from the state’s Community Development Block Grant program.

He hopes to hear in the next few weeks if the project has received preliminary approval for the money. It would still face a town vote before the money could be officially awarded.

— Kathryn Skelton

Waiting on Death

Sometimes during interviews, fate steps in and shows an alert reporter sent to cover filming of a Harry Potter short story in rural Maine the angle to pursue.

In my case on Oct. 19, it started with our silver minivan at the New England School of Communication’s “Tale of the Three Brothers” short film location shoot at New Portland’s wire suspension bridge.

I inadvertently parked it within the movie camera view of the span’s west entrance while filming was ongoing on the eastern side of the bridge in the woods. When the crew was ready to shoot Death’s scenes on the bridge, the assistant director politely asked me to move the van out of the shot.

As I walked past a silver Subaru parked ahead of our van, Emma Thompson, 9, of Winterport, who portrays Death, was getting her makeup applied in the rear of the car.

I quickly moved my van and returned to the Subaru. I mean, how often does a reporter get to interview Death?

—  Terry Karkos

Death becomes her

Death jokes flew fast and furious on the set of the New England School of Communication’s “Tale of Three Brothers” short film production on Oct. 19 at New Portland’s wire suspension bridge.

Nine-year-old Emma Thompson of Winterport was cast to play the part of Death in the school’s adaptation of J.K. Rowling’s short story “The Tale of the Three Brothers” from her book, “The Tales of Beedle the Bard.”

“Ah, here she comes,” a woman on the film crew said as Thompson, her mom and grandmother walked onto the wire suspension bridge. “And there is Death.”

Then, the driver of a car started for the bridge to cross on Wire Bridge Road, had second thoughts and reversed direction.

“I think they saw Death and turned around,” a member of the crew joked.

“Shall I go greet her like an old friend?” the woman on the film crew asked.

Thompson’s mom, Michele Campbell, joined in later.

“I had Death in the backseat of my car,” Michele Campbell said in simulated awe.

Emma’s grandmother, Frances D’Errico of Hampden, said that when her granddaughter learned of the roles, she wanted to play Death.

However, Michele Campbell told Emma that “some old man” would likely get cast as the Grim Reaper. That, however, earned an “I told you so” rebuke from Emma when the cast list was released.

Describing her surprise, Michele Campbell said, “It goes in the Top Five Things I Never Thought I’d Read’ as ‘Cast Lists that Said ‘Emma Campbell as Death.’ I never thought I’d see that.”

—  Terry Karkos

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