SILVER STAR. Local resident and former selectman Ron Nowell has been honored with the State of Maine Silver Star Honorable Service Medal for his service in Vietnam. The medal was first awarded to Maine veterans in August of 2006, and is presented to those who have been wounded while serving their country. Nowell was honored on Oct. 11 along with two World War II veterans, Robert V. Boggs of Augusta and Arnold L. Leavitt of Auburn, and one fellow Vietnam veteran, Martin G. Ellis of New Sharon, at a ceremony at the Hall of Flags in Augusta. During the ceremony, Gov. John Baldacci thanked the veterans and their families for their deep and abiding sense of duty and love for their country, and for their support of troops currently serving overseas. Nowell is pictured here in Augusta with Baldacci and Major General John W. Libby.
Courtesy photo

GRANTING WISHES AT HARVESTFEST. York Education Foundation's "Wishing Well" fundraiser was a great success at Harvestfest, raising money to help in the organization's ongoing efforts to provide local teachers with grants to fund additional activities and projects as well as the purchase of equipment to enhance their students' classrooms. The winner of the fundraiser's $200 unrestricted grant was seventh-grade teacher Ellen Rothwell and the winner of the Apple Video iPod, courtesy of Best Buy, was eighth-grader Rachel Barrows. Both are pictured here with Kristen Gustavsen of the York Education Foundation Board of Directors. YEF also hosted a Grant Expo at York Middle School on Oct. 3 where attendees were able to see how the grants have been used by local educators. Visit www.yorkeducationfoundation.org/ or a full listing of past and present grants, and for opportunities to help our organization.
Courtesy photo

STOP, DROP AND ROLL! Do you know what to do in the case of a fire? During Fire Prevention Week this month, York fourth-grade students learned how to be prepared by finding their way through the Fire Department's "Smoke House" with the help of York Beach Fire Capt. Dave Osgood. Pictured here, Coastal Ridge Elementary School students emerge from the special facility, which is designed with safe, non-toxic smoke to allow children to experience what they would need to do to safely find their way out of a building filled with smoke. The event was one of many special projects coordinated between local firefighters and York's Coastal Ridge and Village Elementary Schools, including a fire prevention poster contest.
Photo by Jennifer L. Saunders