Hannaford Helps YCCC Look Toward Culinary Future

By Larry Favinger

Staff Columnist

WELLS—

The Hannaford Center for Culinary Arts was officially opened Tuesday at York County Community College.

The new culinary arts center provides space for 32 students at one time, double the capacity of the old facility.

The Hannaford Charitable Foundation donated funds for the project supported by the Foundation for Maine’s Community Colleges. The community college foundation received $500,000 from Hannaford for this and other projects at the state’s other community college sites.

“This expansion allows us to better serve our students and provide well trained employees to local businesses,” said YCCC President Charles Lyons in a prepared release. “Hannaford’s financial support was a key to making this happen.”

Lyons did not attend the ribbon cutting ceremony as he is recovering from surgery.

Beth Newlands Campbell, Hannaford’s president, said the company’s donation was “an investment in our community” as it aids in educating the state’s work force.

Campbell noted the importance to the state of Maine of the hospitality industry adding that the York County Community College is helping train “the next generation” of those who will keep that industry healthy.

Charles Galemmo of the Culinary Arts Department said efforts were successful in upgrading the program but “we didn’t have the facilities” to match that upgrade. As an example he said it was difficult to teach 16 students how to sauté on only 12 burners.

“But now, thanks to Hannaford,” he continued, “we have facilities which gives them 40 burners” and those students each have their own workstations.

Beth Shorr, president of the Community College Foundation, said Hannaford has a history of support for the community college system. She termed the total donation of $500,000 “an incredible gift.”

Beth Walker, a student in the culinary program, and Shorr and Campbell cut the ribbon officially opening the new center.

In addition to added space much of the equipment was upgraded. These improvements included adding five 10-burner ranges, three 32-inch char broilers, a confectionery guitar cutter, an 1800-watt sugar lamp, and assorted chocolate molds.

Culinary arts is a 17-credit program that allows students to complete it in less than a year and could not be easily implemented without the renovations. Faculty is also exploring other new program concentrations that are now possible because of the renovations.

Based in Scarborough, Hannaford Supermarkets operates 179 stores in Maine, New York, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont. The company employs more than 26,000 associates.

The Hannaford Charitable Foundation was founded in 1994 providing financial support to nonprofit organizations dedicated to improving the communities where Hannaford operates.

The Foundation for Maine’s Community Colleges is dedicated to ensuring that the state’s community colleges have the resources they need to provide a high quality, affordable, and accessible college education for Maine people.

York County Community College was established in 1994 and is one of seven community colleges in the Maine Community College System. It enrolls over 1,600 students in associate degree and transfer programs and over 2,500 individuals in non-credit continuing education and professional development areas.

Photo Caption: Beth Shorr, left, president of the Maine Community College Foundation, and Beth Newlands Campbell, president of Hannaford Supermarkets, take part in the opening of the Hannaford Culinary Arts Center at the York County Community College in Wells. (Photo courtesy of Larry Favinger)

Portsmouth Naval Shipyard Endures Through Recession

By Larry Favinger

Staff Columnist

KITTERY—

While the economy of Southern Maine and Southeastern New Hampshire had its ups and downs during 2011, the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard continued to be a huge, steady financial contributor to the local areas.

According to the Economic Impact Study released recently by the Seacoast Shipyard Association, the shipyard increased its employment, its civilian payroll, its military payroll, the purchases of more goods and services, and contracts in 2011.

The total of those activities is over $560 million.

Civilian employment at the Kittery yard has risen from 5,168 in 2010 to 5,187 last year with a corresponding increase in payroll. In 2011, workers earned $408,395,305 compared to $395, 166, 516 the year before.

Those figures break down to show $234,047,564 to 2,948 workers from Maine, $150,79,790 to 1,946 New Hampshire workers, $10,378,138 to 131 Massachusetts residents and $13,176,793 to workers from other states.

A breakdown of the number of employees in area towns and cities and the total payroll for them can be found in accompanying information boxes.

The number of civilian employees has risen each year since 1998 when there were 3,648 on the employment rolls.

The military payroll to the Navy and Coast Guard shows an increase over 2010 with $40,498,582 last year compared to $39,939,431 the previous year.

The shipyard purchased nearly $50 million in goods and services and over $63 million in contracted facility services, much of it from Maine and New Hampshire.

The Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, the oldest of the Navy’s four remaining shipyards, is considered “the most efficient yard in the Navy”, according to Navy Capt. William McDonough, a retired shipyard commander, now a spokesman for the Seacoast Shipyard Association.

The Association is concerned about the possibility of the formation of another BRAC down the road to consider another round of facility closures across the military landscape.

McDonough said the economic study underlines that a closure of the shipyard would be “a devastating thing to the local economy, as well as the overall states of Maine and New Hampshire.”

McDonough noted the shipyard has “a good workload for the foreseeable future,” another positive situation. Following World War II the Navy had 11 shipyards but that number has since been reduced to four.

More good news for the shipyard is the recent awarding of two contracts totaling over $65 million for modernization work at the yard.

U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine), Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) and Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.) welcomed the announcement.

“The Portsmouth Naval Shipyard is an economic engine that drives the economy of southern Maine and New Hampshire," Sen. Collins a member of both the Senate Armed Services Committee and Defense Appropriations Subcommittee said. “I am pleased that the Navy recognizes the critical need for these investments at the shipyard. This will help improve the safety and efficiency of the terrific workforce that keeps our Nation's nuclear submarines ready for sea every day."

Sen. Shaheen and Sen. Ayotte are also members of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

“We have strongly advocated for the Navy to address critical infrastructure and modernization needs at the shipyard, and we’re pleased that this important work is now moving forward,” said the Senators in a joint statement. “The projects announced this month will make a significant dent in the facility modernization backlog and help improve safety and efficiency at Portsmouth, whose workers set the standard for maintaining our nation’s nuclear submarine fleet.

“We are pleased that the Navy has continued to recognize and correct the critical need for investments at Portsmouth.”

York Public Library Keeps Up With The Times

By Larry Favinger

Staff Columnist

YORK—

In the almost 10 years that the York Public Library has been at its home on Long Sands Road, there have been a lot of changes, many of them driven by the increases in technology.

Librarian Robert Waldman said during an interview in his office earlier this week that when the library moved from its much smaller home on York Street, there were two or three “public computers.” Today there are 19 and the ability to add more should the need arise.

The library’s number of actual books has risen from 40,000 when the move was made to what is now in the neighborhood of 60,000 volumes.

“We also have wireless,” he continued, “and that’s been one of the very big changes,” because “more and more people are bringing in their own computers. They’re more comfortable using them [here at the library].”

“The wireless technology is one of the more recent technologies that really has made a tremendous difference in library use.”

And the impact of electronics hasn’t stopped there. Now there are the handheld devices.

“Those devices are not only for access to information,” Waldman said. “It’s also for access to the actual reading materials.”

Waldman said the number of electronic books beings circulated is growing but, the “book circulation continues to go up. So rather than one instead of the other, they seem to be complimenting each other.”

With the increasing number of electronic devices being given as gifts or purchased and used, the library has responded with classes to help people use them to borrow electronic books from the library.

The increase in the popularity of the electronic readers is also causing concern with the publishing industry, he said.

“Some of the publishers are trying to decide how many circulations to give” to a library.

Their concern, he continued, is how to continue to make a profit while providing public access to the books that they have.

This is not dissimilar to when books first came out, he said. At that time publishers worried about how allowing libraries to lend books for free would impact the number of copies sold.

It actually worked well as the sales of books increased once the public could read it from a library and talk about it with others, many then went out and purchased the title for themselves.

Some years ago the library became part of the Minerva network, giving people the opportunity to access books York doesn’t have on their shelves. In joining this work, people can access material from any library within the state in a matter of days.

Included on the library’s web site is a newsstand that allows people to get magazines on their computers as well. By clicking on the magazine the reader wants, he or she has access to the entire issue. “We’re very excited about that,” Waldman said.

There’s also “learning express” available on the website, where people have access to tutorials on how to apply for a job, help in writing a resume and other helpful information.

“In some ways its like reading a science fiction novel and you’re in it,” he said. “Instead of reading what’s going to happen, it’s here.”

So at this point York and other libraries have the ability to offer more services that are more easily accessible than in previous years, and with computers and websites many of the services—e-books and audio books included—are accessible without ever leaving home.

And there is Minerva, a statewide library catalog. “We tell people now to think that you have a library of six million items,” he said.

A user goes on the site, finds the book he or she wants, and the library notifies them when it arrives, usually within a couple of days.

Additionally, there is Marvel, a service that offers juried information on a variety of subjects for those seeking noted, accurate data.

Other changes have also been made, albeit at a much slower rate. Where once audio books and movies on VCRs were the rage, these are being replaced by what Waldman terms a great collection of DVDs and CDs.

The library’s website is done locally and is purposely easy to read and use. Along with access of those services aforementioned, there is a listing of local community events.

“We’re very fortunate that this library is the center of all kinds of activity,” Waldman concluded.

York’s 10-year-old library has grown and continues to do so not through technology alone, but by acting as a social destination for the town as well.

Estes Oil Celebrates Fifty Years

By Larry Favinger

Staff Columnist

YORK—

Fifty years ago, the late Clarence Estes worked out a deal with two local oil companies to handle their burner repair work, thus establishing Estes Oil Burner Service.

“That’s how Estes Oil Company started,” Michael Estes, Clarence’s son and now president of the businesses, said early this week, sitting in his office at its Route 1 building.

Now, 50 years later, the business is in its third generation, employs 17 fulltime people, has five oil delivery trucks, two propane trucks and covers an area that includes the Seacoast of New Hampshire to Kennebunk and Sanford.

Michael Estes, flanked by his daughter, Kate (Estes) Cavanagh, the company’s service manager, said the company now services approximately 5,000 people.

Company growth has been steady over the years. Estes Oil bought their first oil truck in 1981 and its initial propane truck in 2005.

Michael said the business has grown from about $50,000 at the start to over $10 million at its high point. “When we took this company on I probably had a base of 50 or 60 customers that signed on for oil with us.”

As a teenager Michael worked with his father, but decided it was “not something I’d be interested in” once out of school. Upon graduating from York High School he went to work for Watts Regulator.

But in January of 1987 he joined his Dad and six months later they bought their first truck.

Two years later they hired their first employee and the rest, as they say, is history.

Kate’s entry into the business was a bit like her Dad’s, in that she wasn’t interested when graduating from York High School. She went to the University of Vermont to study to be a physical therapist.

“Two years into school I realized I didn’t like blood and I didn’t want to be a doctor and changed my major,” Kate said. She graduated from UVM with a major in mathematics and a minor in business.

Upon graduation, she said, “I was still on the fence” and went to work for a catering company for about six months. But when her Dad came to her and said he had a place for her, she thought she’d “give it a whirl.” She’s been with the company since 2009.

Over the years, Michael said, “We’ve tried to stay a full service oil company. I like to tell people I built this company from the basement. I mean I went in and fixed your burner, put in your heat.”

The business was also built on one-on-one service.

“There was a time when I could answer the phone and 90 percent of the people would tell me their name and I could drive to their house,” he said.

Kate said there’s a lot of training involved in the business and it, unlike many others, is really a generational business. “It’s really a family affair here,” she said, noting her mother, Terry, is a secretary/treasurer.

Over the years Michael has been active in town affairs, having served with many civic groups including the School Committee, Board of Selectmen, Planning Board, Recreation Committee, and Budget Committee.

Looking down the road as the company moves into its second 50 years, Michael sees more changes in the business with the continued improvement in burners, the inclusion of the bio-fuels and other moves to make burning oil a greener proposition.

“I think our future is strong,” he concluded.