There are two important events coming up on Saturday, Sept. 22 here in town. 

A fund raiser for Hunter Pingree, who will be undergoing spina bifida surgery soon.  The event will include games for children, music for all, and food.  All this will happen at Hunter’s house on the Sawyer Notch Road beginning at 11 a.m. and going on all day into the evening. 

The other event is the open house at the Andover Historical Society’s building on Elm Street from 1-3 p.m.  On display, in addition to their regular collectibles, will be tea cups and Veteran’s memorabilia.  The group will be setting up for this event on the 20th, that’s today at 9 a.m. if you’re reading this before that time.  If you have items to lend, please get in touch with one of the members.

Ross Swain, representing the Ellis Pond Sidekicks, is pleased to announce that an anonymous donator has donated $100 to the 2019 Bryant Pond 4-H Scholarship and has pledged to fund a second camper providing the organization can raise half of what is needed to give a student between the ages of 10-13 an opportunity to attend this very worthwhile camping experience.  Students can be nominated until Jan. 1.  See the Ellis Pond Sidekicks Facebook page for full details.  This organization is doing some great work in monitoring the health of what is referred to as Roxbury Pond, Ellis Pond or Silver Lake.  Ross is also asking people to be vigilant and if they see anything in the pond that doesn’t look quite right and might be a a cyanobacteria bloom as the one that occurred in 2013, to let him know at ross88swain@gmail.com.

Sunday when I did my weekly visit to our transfer station, Skip asked me to remind all of you that new punch cards will be included in your tax bill.  You will need them if you must dispose of a mattress or box spring.  The transfer station has received many these items which the town must pay for to dispose of.  All these regulations, no plastic bags, punch card items, etc are aimed at keeping the cost of operating our disposal system down.  Your cooperation will help with that aim.

October 6 will be upon us faster than you think, so I want to remind you to think about attending the Maine Antique Tractor Club pull which will be held at the Grimaldi Field beginning at 10 a.m.  This event was to be featured as part of Olde Home Day, but as you know, rain interfered with the safety of going forward with the pull.

As of Sunday, Sept. 16, a total of 40 bear had been tagged at the Mills’ Market Tagging Station.  If that seems to be a lot, and it did to me, we need to remember that this tagging station covers a large area and in fact is the only one for quite some distance.

As some of  you know, I’ve just spent a few days at CMMC getting my medications regulated.  This column comes to you because people are good enough to e-mail me news items so whether I’m in town or not, I have news to impart.  So, if you have things you would like people to know, please send them to jcrich@twc.com.  I write and submit this column on Sunday afternoon.  Items might include special birthdays, wedding anniversaries, family gatherings or anything important in your life you want to share.  Not everyone is on Facebook or looks at it and this is a good place for people to learn about what is going on in our community.  Many people tell me this column is the first thing they look at when they get their “Citizen.”

Thanks to my neighbors, the people of West Bethel Union Church and Upton Union Church and West Parish Congregational church for their support and understanding over the last six months which have been filled with health challenges for me.  May you be blessed in many ways.  I’m hopeful we are on the other side of this situation now.

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