Shipyard’s Economic Impact onYork County Increasing

By Larry Favinger
Staff Columnist
KITTERY—
The Portsmouth Naval Shipyard has long been a key factor in the economic health of the Southern Maine and southeastern New Hampshire, especially when other portions of the economy are struggling. In the last three years the shipyard story has been a positive one with overall employment remaining virtually the same but the dollars pumped into the economy are continuing to rise.
According to figures released by the Seacoast Shipyard Association, the civilian payroll at the shipyard for last year was $361,600,759, of which $210,997,710 was paid to Maine residents, $192,873,619 of that to people living in Southern Maine towns. (See Fact Box for Details.)
Of the 4,867 civilian employees, 2,795 were Mainers, by far the largest number from any area, and nearly 2,100 of those lived in Southern Maine with a payroll of $172,873,619.
With the addition of nearly $3 million in purchased goods and services and more than $18 million in utilities, mostly to Maine companies, the financial impact of the Naval facility exceeds $230 million in Maine alone.
Already underway at the shipyard this year is the recruiting and hiring of more than 400 additional workers.
According to a shipyard spokeswoman, in the last four years approximately 1,200 new employees have been hired, including 553 for the apprentice program. In February of this year 176 apprentices were hired.
The mechanics/worker skills progression program and secretarial positions have been filled for 2010 and recruiting for engineering and miscellaneous positions continue.
The Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape School that was housed at Brunswick Naval Air Station and the United States Army Recruiting Battalion - New England are being relocated to the shipyard.
The shipyard’s workload will not increase when the relocations are complete, as the school and battalion are different than the shipyard’s mission, which is the overhaul, repair and modernization of nuclear-powered submarines.
When the relocation is complete, the Coast Guard, the Army, Navy and members of the Marine Corps will all be working from one central location in a joint-service atmosphere.
“Portsmouth Naval Shipyard is committed to providing exceptional service to our Fleet customer,” Capt. Robert Mazzone, the shipyard commander, said. “We continue to focus on process improvement to ensure the deliveries of submarines are on schedule and on budget.”
The shipyard has received $24.4 million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) for repair projects to strengthen its ability to more efficiently execute its mission by upgrading and modernizing critical infrastructure and gaining energy efficiencies.
Other scheduled construction projects include the renovation and demolition of the current waterfront support facility in three phases to support ongoing submarine overhauls. Phase I, for which $20.7 million has already been approved, will consolidate production shops.
Phase II, part of the Department of Defense five-year plan, will demolish 65,000-plus square feet of the current waterfront support facility and construct a 46,000 square foot addition to Phase I.
Phase III is not currently part of the Department of Defense five-year plan.
The consolidation of structural shops is a planned Military Construction project in the Department of Defense five-year plan and is not part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.
The consolidation and renovation will provide efficiently configured facilities for improved process flow of steel fabrication, forging, heat-treating, sheet metal work, welding training and lab operations that support submarine overhaul.
There are currently four submarines at the shipyard. These include the USS Greenville, the USS Oklahoma City, the USS Dallas, and a Naval Research Vessel that is being inactivated.
The shipyard is also doing intermediate level work on submarines belonging to Squadron Eleven in San Diego, Calif., at Portsmouth Detachment Point Loma.
Portsmouth’s scheduled workload for the remainder of 2009 and 2010 includes projects for the USS Helena, USS San Juan, and the USS Hampton and USS Topeka at Portsmouth Detachment Point Loma.
Finally, the USS Virginia, the first of its class, will arrive for work in the fall of 2010.

Berwick Area KindergartenersGet Their Book Bags

NORTH BERWICK —

More than 200 children who registered for kindergarten in Berwick, North Berwick and Lebanon this spring were given brightly colored fabric book bags stuffed with literacy materials to celebrate their launch into the “big kid’ world of public school.
This is the sixth year Noble Adult and Community Education has coordinated its popular project, which receives broad community support and is a big hit with the children.
Celia Momenee, 5, registering at the Primary School in North Berwick, chose a patterned pink bag bulging with a storybook, coloring book, crayons and pencils, a ruler, magnetic letters and numbers, a toothbrush, a Frisbee that folds into a pouch—and a coupon for a free haircut.
“She’s been waiting two years for this bag,” said her mother, Jessica. “We still have her older sister’s in a special spot at home. She said, today’s the day I get my bag.”
“A lot of people contribute every year to make this happen,” said Louise Burns, literacy coordinator for Noble Adult Ed who plans and oversees the three-town project. “All the bags are sewn by local women, area businesses donate paper and pencils or money to purchase books and other items, people donate fabric and ribbon. It’s a big production. We’re already planning ahead for next year.”
The kindergarten bag tradition started in 2004 after Adult Ed director Brenda Gagne heard about a similar project in another district.
“We didn’t have money to purchase bags and there wasn’t time to write a grant to buy bags,” she recalls. “Being a lover of fabric, I went through my stash, asked my quilting friends for help, and the process began. Dolly Bolduc and every friend who could sew made a dozen or so bags the first year. As people saw these jewels, staff and quilting friends joined in and the word began to spread.”
This is the second year six members of Adult Ed’s Do Your Own Quilt Thing group devoted a three-hour session to making more than 100 bags, and several participants in Quilter’s Weekend also helped out. The regulars include Nancy LeClair, Ilya Thomits, Kelly Munroe, Becky Hanson, Jacki Lavachhia, Lisa Huestis, Nancy Hay, Jean Whitaker, Joanne St. Pierre and Alice Eaton.
Businesses that contributed to this year’s book bag project are P.Gagnon & Son, Gateway Gas, Farwell’s Auto, Ray’s Barbershop, Kennebunk Savings Bank, North Berwick Physical Therapy, Allard’s Market, Red Leaves, Welch’s Hardware, Chix Salon, Goodrich Insurance, and SAD 60 Title I, also Rachel and Ronald Smith, Alice Eaton, and Kelly Monroe and Lucas.
Photo caption: Alexandria, who will attend North Berwick Primary School in the fall, considers her book bag selection at kindergarten registration recently. The bags, a gift of Noble Adult and Community Education, are sewn by volunteers and filled with literacy materials donated by area businesses. (Courtesy photo)

High Conspiracy in the Ocean Depths

By Chip Schrader
Book Review Editor
NEW ENGLAND –
Jack Rutledge’s Coverup is a cool story. In two hundred pages the author crams World War Two conspiracy theories, submarines, scuba diving, investigative journalism and a potential “oil slick the size of Texas” into one compact novel.
The opening chapter depicts the covert mission of a doomed French vessel manned by a German Valkyrie mission hoping to inform the United States of an internal plot to assassinate Adolph Hitler. As a commercial American plane spots it outside of Cape Cod, the allied forces go in to sink it after a similar ship approached London indicating surrender and attacked instead. The American forces succeeded in sinking the friendly vessel.
Years later, a roughed up Maine scuba diver and history buff named Jerry Scott is asked to help a fisherman untangle his equipment from an unexpected obstacle outside of Cape Cod. Thus begins Jerry’s journey to uncover what he figures are French Nazi-sympathizers in a sunken submarine that the Navy has long obscured. Scott reasons this was to maintain the calm of the American public from the proximity we came to an “Atlantic Pearl Harbor,” or to mask a fatal error.
In order to get funding for this deep sea excavation he and his friend Greg Rivers intend to execute, they needed some publicity to generate interest in their possible discovery. In comes the beautiful, young, and hard-headed reporter Ashley Powell.
Ten years younger, Jerry knows there is no chance, and she is not one for unclean fishermen who carry the stink of booze, misery and the sea. But she is intrigued by a man who knows what he’s talking about.
When he mentions that the ocean is filled with sunken tankers from the war that are slowly leaking, she is all ears. Her story in progress is an exposé of said oil that she figured was coming from modern oil tankers, and she is sure this is her ticket to the big time. Gradually, he works to lure her into his own story so that his expedition could begin, and perhaps to land her interest.
From there, people involved in the sub’s fate come out of the woodwork to fill in the details of the story, to try and trespass and take claim to the wreckage, and friendships change and weave within the narrative. All the while the reader is hoping Jerry and Greg get everything they are seeking, and that Ashley catches the stardom for which she reaches, but first they need to get out of exposing this conspiracy alive.
Rutledge fleshes out the characters’ back stories nicely without them reading like digressions. Moreover, he cleverly uses Ashley’s lack of military expertise to allow for Jerry to more clearly explain the convoluted logic that is involved in the military strategy. Simultaneously, Rutledge portrays Ashley as having an acute ear and razor sharp logic, a fine nuance that avoids the negative stereotype some authors might inadvertently give women.
Rutledge’s respect for his characters reveals his evolved sensibility as an author, and his capability to integrate the finer semantic distinctions of the human psyche. All the while, he has no problem to poke a little fun.
Taking place in areas surrounding Portsmouth, Portland and Boston with several mentions of the Portsmouth Naval Yard, Rutledge will immediately engage the reader familiar with seacoast locales.
From the action packed first chapter, Rutledge hooks the reader in like a seasoned fisherman, and does not let up on the questions, the facts, and the speculations that make this read so compelling. As with any novel with a tough guy at the center, there is romance and flirtation tastefully infused for some narrative flavor.
Fans of Tom Clancy, W.E.B. Griffin, and Clive Cussler will appreciate the details and research the author has put into this story, and will enjoy the opportunity to look just beyond their back yard knowing that is where it all happens. It will surely be compulsively read from page one.
Photo caption: Cover of Coverup by Jack Rutledge. (Courtesy photo)

Designers Focus onFamily Room, Guest Bedroom

By Larry Favinger
Staff Columnist
YORK—
Two of the decorators at this year’s Decorator Show House sponsored by the Old York Historical Society were working this week on their assigned areas. The McIntire Farm on Cider Hill Road is the 20th show house presented by Old York. It will be open to the public from July 18 through Aug. 5. The Decorator Show House is the largest fund-raiser annually for Old York.
Valerie Jorgensen of V. Jorgensen Design of Wells and Frank Hodge of F. D. Hodge Interiors of Boston, Mass., were working on the family room and guest bedroom respectively.
The family room, located in the rear of the house with windows overlooking a vast area of woodlands, salt marsh, bog areas and many pastures, was nothing more than bare studs and insulation when the process began.
“This is a wonderful professional challenge,” Jorgensen said standing in the room early this week. “I can do anything I want.”
Last year she did an entry hall at The Ledges in Kittery Point and this year entered a proposal for the dining room. When that area was assigned to another decorator, Carol Coles, the chairwoman for the project, asked Jorgensen to use her ideas on the family room, which she was more than happy to do.
She said she is taking part in the show house because “it is good exposure” and she wanted to support Old York Historical Society because “they do a wonderful job.
Ms. Jorgensen has been in business for herself since 2006.
Mr. Hodge did the master bedroom at The Ledges a year ago and this year had been given the guest room and the kitchen at the McIntire Farm.
“Basically we can do whatever we want to do,” he said standing in the upstairs room.
He plans to finish the bedroom before moving on to the much larger kitchen area of the farmhouse.
He likes doing the show house because of the exposure it gives his work.
The Show House will be open from July 18 through August 5, on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Thursday to 7 p.m. and Sunday from 1 to 4 p.m. It is closed on Tuesdays.
Photo caption: Valerie Jorgensen of V. Jorgensen Design of Wells measures spaces in the family room at the McIntire Farm on Cider Hill Road in York, this year’s decorator show house for the Old York Historical Society.

$2 Million Gift to Berwick Academyto Support Financial Aid

SOUTH BERWICK—
Berwick Academy is pleased to announce a major gift to support financial aid for the next twenty years. Former President of the Berwick Academy Board of Trustees, Mary Z. Schleyer, has donated $2 million from The Schleyer Family Foundation to establish the Mary Z. Schleyer Scholars program. During a time when affordability is a major concern for all private educational institutions, the Academy is delighted to receive this kind of support and generosity from a family that has held Berwick Academy close to their hearts for many years.
Mary and Bill Schleyer sent their three sons Will, T., and David to Berwick for a combined total of 26 years. All three sons have continued to find great success in their endeavors after Berwick Academy, receiving educations from Yale University, Amherst College, and Vanderbilt University, respectively. Prior to serving on the Board, Mary was a president of the School’s parent organization. Her years of service and her love of Berwick continue long after her boys have left the Hilltop, and her legacy has been one of continually finding strategies to maximize the potential of the Academy while creating ways to improve the experience for all students.
Mary Schleyer commented, “Access to quality education has always been important to our family. Both Bill and I were recipients of scholarship funds when we were young and it made such a difference in our lives. We are honored to assist Berwick in its quest to find and nurture talented local students to reach their highest potential. Berwick is such a special place; the relationship between faculty and students is magical. To be able to offer this experience to students who may otherwise not be able to attend is so rewarding. In these difficult economic times it is incumbent upon all of us to invest in the next generation, each to the best of our own ability. These investments are important to our future.”
The Mary Z. Schleyer Scholars Program was created specifically to assist students who demonstrate financial need and a potential to graduate in the top 10% of their class at Berwick, along with a significant talent in at least one of the following areas: Athletics, Arts, Service, or Student Leadership. Two students will be awarded with the scholarship each year, a boy and a girl entering ninth grade. This annual restricted gift will be provided by the Schleyer Family Foundation for immediate use, and therefore has immediate impact on the school’s financial aid budget and admission process. Berwick Academy has recently enrolled the first two Schleyer Scholars for the 2009-2010 academic year: Kelsey Hayden of South Berwick and Ben Muthig of North Berwick.
Head of School Greg Schneider commented, “This gift from the Schleyer Family Foundation is nothing short of transformational for Berwick Academy. By supporting our financial aid budget in such a creative way, the Mary Z. Schleyer Scholars program has been able to make a Berwick education more accessible to the brightest students in the Seacoast. We are particularly thrilled to award the first two Schleyer scholarships to students from North and South Berwick.”
Kelsey Hayden is currently attending Marshwood Middle School in South Berwick. She is a straight A student and a member of the Gifted and Talented Program. She contributes to the life of her school by playing flute for the school band and as a peer mentor. Her greatest passion lies in the pool, ranking as a top ten swimmer in New England three times. She also possesses a dedication to community service, which includes greeting troops at Pease Air Force Base, preparing Christmas baskets for needy children, and volunteering at a local soup kitchen. For fun, Kelsey skis and enjoys reading and writing.
Ben Muthig attends Noble Middle School in Berwick. When discussing his advanced math placement in geometry, he gave the credit to his father who is a math teacher. Ben contributes to the life of his school on the baseball field as a star pitcher, hockey rink, and cross-country trails. During the summer, Ben volunteers his time at a YMCA family camp by delivering mail, assisting with program activities, and helping out on the waterfront. On his own, he began a camper recycling program. For fun, Ben enjoys football, archery, and swimming.
Berwick Academy believes that these two recipients will be the first in a long line of incredible Schleyer Scholars on the Hilltop.

Shipyard Benefiting From Stimulus Package

By Larry Favinger
Staff Columnist
KITTERY—
The Portsmouth Naval Shipyard has received $24.4 million funding under the provisions of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009. The funds will be used for repair projects to upgrade key infrastructure and improve energy efficiency for a of number yard facilities.
There are five projects specifically identified to receive funding under ARRA. These include structural repairs and upgrades to berths; repairs and improvements to the waterfront building adjacent to Dry Dock 2; roof repairs to the main administrative building; and roof repairs and some window replacement to the training building.
Maine has received nearly $130 million in state stabilization through the ARRA as well. These funds will be allocated by the Maine State Department of Education formula already in place for state aid to education.
The school districts in Southern York County will share in the funding through that formula. According to a report on the department’s web site, York will receive $157,335 for the 09-10 school year while Kittery will receive $106,302, Biddeford $929,988, and Wells/Ogunquit $106,778.
School Administrative District 35 will receive $583,362 and School Administration District 60 will receive $605,844.
It is estimated that Maine will receive $1.2 billion, plus $650 million in tax benefits to its citizens, and a significant but unknown amount in grants for specific projects in a number of areas.
“I voted for the stimulus package because I know how important these investments are going to be for Maine,” U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-Maine, said. “ Over half a million people in Maine will be getting a tax cut and well over a billion dollars will be invested in saving and creating jobs in education, health care and clean energy in Maine.”
Maine veterans and seniors are already receiving $250 checks as part of the federal stimulus package approved by Congress and signed by the president earlier this year.
“When we passed the stimulus package, we wanted to get money back into the economy as quickly as possible,” Rep. Pingree, said. “These stimulus payments to seniors, disabled veterans and SSI recipients do just that.”
Later this summer similar payments will go out to Railroad Retirement Board beneficiaries, followed by Veteran Compensation and Pension beneficiaries. Altogether, Maine residents will receive over $72 million in payments, Pingree said.
U.S. Sen. Olympia J. Snowe and U.S. Sen. Susan Collins said the state stabilization funding will provide needed budgetary support for elementary, secondary, and postsecondary education and for other high priority needs such as public safety, and the modernization, renovation, and repair of K-12 and postsecondary schools.
Sen. Snowe and Sen. Collins worked with a bipartisan group of senators to craft the legislation that became law in February.
According to the offices of the Maine Congressional Delegation other money coming to Maine includes $5,158,000 for water and environmental projects, $6,757,951 to support child care for working families, $11,281,300 in block grants to foster energy efficiency in building, transportation, and a wide range of other improvements, $41,935,015 to support the weatherization of homes, including adding more insulation, sealing leaks and modernizing heating and air conditioning equipment, and $27,305,000 to the State Energy Program, available as rebates to consumers for energy saving improvements; development of renewable energy projects; promotion of Energy Star products; efficiency upgrades for state and local government buildings; and other innovative state efforts to help save families money on their energy bills.
Funds to be used for health care include $2,590,713 to fund two new Community Health Centers, which will serve an estimated 11,170 patients and create a projected 85 jobs; $3,345,917 to expand services at 18 existing Community Health Centers, which will expand service to an additional 11,862 patients and create or save a projected 62 jobs; and $485,000 to provide meals to low-income seniors.
Also included is $9.6 million for state and local law enforcement assistance available through the Edward Byrne Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) Program. The program supports a variety of efforts such as hiring and support for law enforcement officers; multijurisdictional drug and gang task forces; crime prevention and domestic violence programs; and courts, corrections, treatment, and justice information sharing initiatives.
These are a few of the Maine projects and programs supported by federal funds at this time as the state and nation deal with slow economic times.

Berwick Student-Athletes Cook UpHot Meals for the Homeless

SOUTH BERWICK—
Berwick Academy student-athletes Peter Jenkinson of North Hampton, N.H., Tell White of Newcastle, N.H., and Ethan Hawes of Eliot and St. Thomas Aquinas senior David Baxter of York have been cooking up meals for the homeless on the first Sunday of every month for over a year. The boys volunteer their time and donate the home-cooked meals to 50-70 people staying at Cross Roads House in Portsmouth, N.H., the largest emergency and transitional shelter in New Hampshire housing both individuals and families. The idea to become involved with Cross Roads came from Peter’s mom Vickie Jenkinson, after their family served dinner to the residents during the winter holidays in 2007. Since March of last year, Tell, Peter, and Ethan have been whipping up a different meal every month. On May 3, they brought a spread of salad, hot dogs, baked beans, green beans, and éclairs for dessert.
The boys made the decision to become involved with the program on their own; it is not a school or sport related requirement. Uncertain of what to expect, all three admit they were nervous on the first day of volunteering because the experience was truly stretching them outside their comfort zone. Once they met the staff at Cross Roads and interacted with the residents, however, they realized how rewarding it would be. When asked why participating in the program was important to them, they all had the same thing to say; it is a gratifying experience that has grounded them, and has given them a greater appreciation of what they have in life. It has allowed them to realize and be grateful for certain luxuries they have always been accustomed to and has motivated them to continue with charity work like this indefinitely.
All four students are actively involved in several sports and activities both on and off campus at their schools. Peter, a senior, plays varsity soccer and lacrosse. He was an EIL All-Star and MVP on his soccer team this past season, and was an All-League player on his lacrosse team last year. He graduates from Berwick this June and will attend the University of New England in the fall where he will play lacrosse. He plans to continue doing volunteer work while in college.
Tell, a junior, plays varsity soccer and basketball and received the Coaches Award on his basketball team this past season. He traveled to Costa Rica for a community service program his freshman year and has played percussion instruments for two years.
Ethan, a junior, plays varsity soccer, basketball, and baseball. He was the class president his sophomore year and has participated in on-campus community service projects like the Red Cross Blood Drive. He also earned the Science Department Award as a sophomore.
David Baxter, a senior at St. Thomas Aquinas captained the varsity basketball team and was voted MVP last season. He also received an honorable mention for the Class I All state team. David will be attending University of Miami this fall. All four boys will volunteer at Cross Roads through the summer and although Peter and David go off to college this fall, both Tell and Ethan plan to continue, with the hope of making it a Berwick tradition.
Cross Roads House Volunteer Coordinator, Diane Bundow, commented, “It has been an absolute pleasure working with the boys for the past year. The fact that they cook the meals at their homes and bring them to Cross Roads House has been such a big help to us. I am so pleased that they plan to continue volunteering through the summer and into next year. They have been such a wonderful addition to our volunteer program and I look forward to continue working with these boys as well as other Berwick Academy students in the future.”
Photo caption: From left – Peter Jenkinson (BA’09,) David Baxter (STA ’09,) Ethan Hawes (BA ‘10,) , and Tell White (BA ’10) have been cooking up hot meals for Cross Roads House residents for over a year. (Courtesy photo).