The Historical Society held a small reception for their intern Kate Turpin who has graduated from UMF this month. Kate has worked with the Society over the course of the past year to help with the immense project of documenting our archives. The Town Office staff and members of the Society’s Board of Directors shared cake and punch with Kate as well as laughter.

The Board members told Kate stories behind some of the photographs she had been working with as well as more of the history of Temple’s families. Kate told them that some of her friends at UMF were surprised by her recent devotion to her religion, especially as they did not even know she was Jewish. They were impressed that at least twice a week she was now going to Temple.

In other Historical Society news, the display case in the lobby of the Town Hall now contains an exhibition of Temple baseball memorabilia with balls, gloves, photos and uniforms from the mid-1950s and earlier. Take time for a look next time you’re at the town office.

Temple will host a stop on the Franklin County 2015 History Tour on June 6. Both the Red Schoolhouse and the archive room will be open from 10 to 4, along with more than a dozen other sites from Jay to Rangeley. This is a great opportunity to learn more about local towns and Franklin County in general.

Our Girl Scout troops recently held a camp out at Temple’s Red School House. They cooked their supper over an open fire, made s’mores, told stories and sang all the traditional Girl Scout camp out songs. The weather cooperated so that they could sleep in their tents in the field even though they had use of the schoolhouse as back-up.

Chris Knapp from Koviashuvik had retrofitted the old schoolhouse outhouse so that it will compost wastes, and posted instructions for its use. The Girl Scouts were the first to make use of the facilities and they thought the whole concept pretty intriguing. We have now an entire generation for whom outhouses are nearly unfathomable.

Bread & Puppet Theater is returning to the Temple Stream Theater on June 5 for an 8 p.m. show titled “The Public Access Center for the Obvious, Presents: The Situation” Watch for more information.

Temple’s Recreation Committee is still collecting the surveys that went out with the most recent edition of the Temple Times. The goal of the survey is to get feedback about resident’s priorities for recreational opportunities in Temple. The Committee would also like to find out who might be interested in helping out with specific projects in the future.

There is an envelope on the bulletin board at the Post Office for your completed survey, or you can drop it off at the Town Office. Can’t find your copy? Just jot down your suggestions and turn them in by May 30.

Our annual bulky waste drop-off day was held on Saturday, May 16. Setting up a collection site at the Town Hall continues to be a good alternative to the curb side pick-ups that were held in the past. This year the collection hours were shortened to just the morning, 8 a.m. to noon, and traffic was pretty steady. Tire collection was down, but a large roll-off container was filled with metal, everything from washing machines to hunks of rusted culvert.

Selectmen Austin Foss and Kevin White were amazed at the capacity of a standard compactor wielding garbage truck. Couches, mattresses and overstuffed chairs went in and then a whole truck load of old plastic kids toys, and there was still room for much more. So it went for the entire morning. By 12:30 the site was cleaned up and everyone had time to spend the afternoon in the garden.

The town will receive credit for the metal that was hauled away but will have to cover the cost of dumping the “trash”. Once the receipts come in from the haulers, they will be balanced against the fees collected and we’ll have a good idea of the cost to the town for the collection day. Whatever the financial costs, it is less than the environmental cost if all of these items had ended up being dumped “out back” instead.

A Deane apple tree is once again blooming in Temple. The Deane originated from a chance seedling that had sprung up on the Cyrus Deane farm in the early Twentieth Century but had become lost as a result of the focus on just a few commercially valuable apple varieties.

A growing interest in heritage apples and the work of Fedco Seed and others, has brought the tree back from near extinction. Four aged Deane trees were found on an old farm on Tory Hill in Phillips and scions were cut to propagate new trees. Some years ago, Jo Josephson acquired one of the trees and it has bloomed for the first time this year. In its day, the Deane was of considerable importance as an apple for the local market. The tree is hardy and a great bearer of tart, fine-grained tender and juicy fruit.

The Cyrus Deane family had a long history in Temple and was active in the work of the Underground Railroad in the years just preceding the Civil War. Pierce, in his History of Temple notes that a descendent, Flora Deane Weeks, recalled “vague traditions of negroes arriving under cover of darkness from the southern part of the state the following night being on their way to the Canadian border.”

The Public Hearing held at the Temple Town Hall this week discussed a number of issues prior to the Special Town Meeting to be held on June 2. A fireworks ordinance is still being considered and several ideas were offered on how to go about crafting one. At issue is the cost of enforcing an ordinance and the lack of any zoning that would make it possible to allow fireworks in only certain parts of town. The June 2 Warrant will include an item to explore changes to the State ordinance as can be applied in Temple.

A great part of the Public Hearing was devoted to the question of changing the fiscal year and moving the Town Meeting date from March to September. The benefit would be that our town’s year would line up with the state, county and school district fiscal years. The Selectmen would then be able to craft a budget in time for Town Meeting that would include all of our expenses and revenue.

With the change in the fiscal year, the Town would also begin billing for property taxes on a biannual basis. By spreading out our tax income, the Town could avoid having to borrow money to tide us over as we now do every summer.

A fact sheet is needed to describe how the new system would work and the foreseeable benefits and drawbacks. The change will not be on the Warrant in June.

Two items that will be on the Warrant are the election of a Selectman to fill the seat vacated by Michelle Clark for the nine months remaining on the term, and an authorization for the Selectmen to sell surplus property worth less than $100. An example of such property are the doors that were swapped out at the Town Hall. The Selectmen could simply throw away the old doors but they are perfectly serviceable and throwing them away would be a foolish waste.

Temple residents, please feel free to call me at 778-3856 with news or announcements, or if you have an antique apple.