Chamber Leader Joins Senator’s Staff

By Molly McCoy
Staff Columnist
YORK—
Jeff Pelkey, Chairman of the Board of the Greater York Region Chamber of Commerce, announced recently that Cathy Goodwin, Chamber President, has accepted a job with U.S. Senator Susan M. Collins as her state office representative for York County. Ms. Goodwin has led the Chamber for 15 years.
“While we are certainly going to miss Cathy, the board is very pleased that she will be taking on this new role with the Senator,” said Pelkey. “Cathy has grown our chamber into becoming a strong advocate and voice for businesses in southern Maine. We believe her new job with the Senator will only expand and strengthen the linkage between local businesses and our federal government.”
“It’s a mixed blessing,” said Ms. Goodwin, when asked about her new position. “I’ve had a long-term relationship with the [Greater York Region] Chamber, and I was President of the Kittery Chamber for two years prior to that. There is a lot of history.”
Despite the change of occupation, Ms. Goodwin is optimistic about taking that history with her.
“That’s the good part about my new job,” said Goodwin. “I was hired precisely because I have these relationships, and I plan to continue to nourish those relationships and be as helpful as I can to the Senator’s office.”
To say that the Greater York Region Chamber has grown under Ms. Goodwin’s watchful eye would be an understatement. When Goodwin arrived in York as President, there were only two full-time employees, and the Chamber had opened their new building off of Route 1 just two years prior to her coming onboard.
“We didn’t even have a fax machine,” says Goodwin. “Now, we’ve grown the Chamber into the web world. It’s hard to believe that people thought it was just going to be a short-term thing, but now we know it’s hugely important.”
Other big changes under Goodwin’s presidency have included the official purchasing of the Welcome Center land at fair market value, securing their four-acre presence for years to come. In addition, Goodwin has seen her members come together to maintain that building with “huge donations of time, talent and money,” to accommodate the more than 90,000 visitors they see every year – half of which arrive during the three summer months alone.
“We continually have to ask ourselves how we stay relevant to our members,” said Goodwin, referencing the redesigning of the Chamber website as one of many updates necessary to appropriately represent the organization.
“We started the Farmers’ Market before that was a trend, and now we have one of the largest summer markets in Southern Maine,” said Goodwin. “HarvestFest is in its 27th year, and I’ve been around for fifteen of those. It’s been a long, long time.”
In addition to her role as President, Ms. Goodwin has co-chaired a bi-state committee to save the Kittery Shipyard, and worked on committees to manage the Memorial Bridge Project, among other causes.
“I’ve had an active job, an active role,” said Goodwin.
Clearly, her presence has been felt throughout York County over the past 15 years, and her friends and colleagues can look to continue their relationships with Ms. Goodwin, who will soon be working in the Senator’s Biddeford office.
The Chamber Board of Directors has been in a strategic planning process for the past several months. They do not expect to replace Ms. Goodwin until their planning process is completed, at which point a search committee will be formed to fill the position. Holly Roberts, the Chamber’s current business manager, has been appointed Interim Manager for the Chamber.
For more information, contact Mr. Pelkey at 207-439-4900.
Photo caption: Cathy Goodwin, the President of the Greater York Region Chamber of Commerce, has accepted a job with U.S. Senator Susan M. Collins. (Courtesy photo)

Climber Narrates Harrowing Himalayan Adventure

NORTH BERWICK—
The accident happened on Summit Day, four weeks into the Himalayan expedition. Jack Hudock of South Berwick and the 15 members of his climbing team were within hours of the 23,494-foot summit of Mount Pumori, an ice-capped peak on the Nepal-Tibet border about three miles west of Mount Everest.
At first, Hudock wasn’t aware anything was wrong. He and another climber were plodding up the ice field, laboring heavily just to breathe at that elevation, while on the ridge ahead of the team two sherpas were putting in the route with snow stakes. But before the route was fully secured, the climber behind the sherpas put his weight on the rope, the same rope linking all the climbers, and disaster struck.
Hudock will present a slide show about his 2006 expedition on Tuesday, March 8, at 6:30 p.m. at the Noble High School library. The event is free and open to the public. Snow date is Wednesday, March 9.
The event is part of the first annual Community Read sponsored by Berwick Reads and Noble Adult & Community Education. For the past month, a number of MSAD 60 families and school children have been reading “Peak” by Roland Smith, a fictional account of an American boy who attempts Everest, the world’s highest mountain.
Hudock, 46, was initiated into climbing in 1989 on Mount Rainier in Washington, where he and his brother Joel were turned back by high winds and blowing snow at 11,000 feet. Undaunted, he climbed New Hampshire’s Mount Lafayette the following year, fell in love with the White Mountains, and has climbed many of the Whites in the years since.
During an African safari in 1998, Hudock and his then-wife summited Tanzania’s Mount Kilimanjaro, which at 19,298 feet, is the highest freestanding mountain in the world.
A few years later he struck up an internet acquaintance with Dan Mazur, the famed American hiker best known for leading Greg Mortenson’s 1993 K2 expedition described in the bestselling “Three Cups of Tea.” Mazur invited Hudock to join him on a Rainier expedition in 2002, and this time he successfully summited the highest and most glaciated mountain in the continental U.S.
“That experience inspired me to do something bigger,” said Hudock, who works for American Airlines. “I mentioned to Dan that I was looking into climbing Aconcagua in South America, the highest peak in the Americas, and he suggested, why not come to the Himalayas and climb with us? I thought there was no way, you must have to summit certain smaller mountains first, but I took him up on it.”
It was Mazur who, two months after he had to leave the Pumori expedition because his father was ill, helped rescue Lincoln Hall, the Australian climber who collapsed and was left for dead on his descent from the summit of Everest. Mazur and several of his clients abandoned their own summit attempt to save Hall’s life.
Is there another mountain in Hudock’s future?
“Well, I’d like to do an 8000 meter when I’m 50,” he said with a grin. “Maybe Shishapangma in Tibet, the 14th highest mountain in the world.”
Photo caption: Jack Hudock, seen here at 20,000 feet on Mount Pumori with a photo of his children, Alexy, now 10, and Max, 8, will present a slide show about his climbing expedition Tuesday, March 8, at 6:30 p.m. at Noble High School in North Berwick. (Courtesy photo)

Local Standouts Named to Maine McDonald’s High School All-Star Teams

AUGUSTA—
In Augusta recently, the Maine Association of Basketball Coaches (MABC) announced the A/B East and West and C/D West player selections for the 2011 Maine McDonald’s® High School Senior All-Star Basketball Games.
The A/B West Girls’ Team includes Keila Grigware, Biddeford H.S.; Rebecca Knight, Catherine McAuley H.S.; Kayla Burchill, Deering H.S.; Mia Rapolla, Gorham H.S.; Courtney Anderson, Leavitt Area H.S.; Maggie Sabine, Oak Hill H.S.; Abby Hasson, South Portland H.S.; Hannah Ebling, Thornton Academy; Nicole Taylor, York H.S.; Stephanie Gallagher, York H.S.
The A/B West Boys’ Team includes Steve Simonds, Bonny Eagle H.S.; Cam Brown, Cape Elizabeth H.S.; Theo Bowe, Cape Elizabeth H.S.; Sam Johnson, Greely H.S.; Cam Kaubris, Mountain Valley H.S.; Zach Bean, Scarborough H.S.; Vukasin Vignjevic, South Portland H.S.; Andrew Shaw, Thornton Academy; James Ek, Thornton Academy; Alex Furness, Wells H.S.; Luke Pierce, Yarmouth H.S.
Players representing 62 high schools from across the state have been honored with selection to the All-Star teams. The All-Stars were selected based upon ballot returns on a statewide high school basketball coaches’ vote conducted by the MABC in January.
“Since 1988, the local Owner/Operators of Maine’s McDonald’s restaurants have been committed to recognizing student athletes across the state with this hallmark sporting event,” said Mike Ortins, local Maine McDonald’s Owner/Operator and Ronald McDonald House Charities® Board Member. “We salute the Maine McDonald’s All-Star Team players for their dedication to academic and athletic excellence, sportsmanship and team spirit. “
Also announced were seventeen teams from across the state that were nominated for the new Maine McDonald’s/Maine Red Claws Team of the Year Award. Throughout the winter, basketball fans and community members submitted nominations for the award that will be presented at the All-Star Games on Sat., March 12. The Maine McDonald’s/Maine Red Claws Team of the Year Nominees include the Wells High School and York High School girls’ teams.
A selection committee made up of representatives from Maine McDonald’s, Maine Red Claws, and RMHC of Maine will select the winning teams – one boys and one girls – that have made an exceptional impact on Maine High School Basketball and in the lives of others through Contribution to Community, Exemplifying Sportsmanship, Team Competitiveness and Spirit, and Commitment to Academic Excellence. The two teams selected for the Team of the Year Award will each receive $1,000 for their schools’ basketball programs.
Maine McDonald’s® High School Senior All-Star Basketball Games 2011 All-Star Coaches Roster also includes Rick Clark, the A/B West Girls’ Team coach, from York H.S.
The 2011 Maine McDonald’s High School Senior All-Star Games will be played at Newman Gymnasium on the campus of Husson University in Bangor on Saturday, March 12. The game-day program will feature head-to-head competition between top players in the state’s A/B and C/D Boys and Girls divisions.
All-Star players, All-Star coaches, members of the All-State Academic teams, Regional Foul Shooting Champions, Maine McDonald’s Spirit of the Game Award recipients, the MABC Contributor Award honoree, and Mr. and Miss Basketball will be recognized at an awards banquet on Friday, March 11, beginning at 6:30 p.m. at Husson University’s Newman Gymnasium.
Game Day tickets may be purchased at the door on Saturday, March 12 and are good for all four Games. Tickets are $7.00 for adults and $5.00 for students and children.
For more information, visit www.mainemcdonaldsbasketballorg. (Courtesy logo)