No Candice?

Four seek two Rumford selectmen seats

RUMFORD — Four people are seeking two, three-year seats on the Board of Selectmen in the only contested town election race next month.

The candidates are former Selectmen Frank R. DiConzo and Jolene S. Lovejoy, last year's selectmen candidate Eric L. Giroux, a Rumford firefighter, and incumbent Jeffrey W. Sterling.

Incumbent Mark Belanger is not seeking re-election.

For other municipal offices, Craig F. Chamberlain, who resigned from the Board of Appeals on April 5, is seeking a three-year term on the Board of Assessors.

Last month, selectmen appointed Chamberlain to fill the remaining term of assessor Peter Perry, who passed away.

Linda I. French is seeking a two-year term on the Board of Assessors and RSU 10 board member Tracey V. Higley is seeking re-election.

The municipal election will be held from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday, June 14, at the American Legion hall, 184 Congress St.

Preceding that, the annual town meeting will be held at 7 p.m. Monday, June 6, in Rumford Falls Auditorium due to a scheduling conflict with RSU 10's Mountain Valley High School. Normally, the meeting is held at the high school.

tkarkos@sunjournal.com

SJ Link

Wow, you are so out of touch. Or is it just that you don't read the paper with the real news. This article is from May 2 RiverValleySun.com, long before papers could even be returned. When you finish this, you should check out the current OpEds and the comments from readers there "We Are So Screwed" that is particularly aprapo

Casey Announces She Will Not Run
Candice Casey

Rumford, Maine-It is with deep and heartfelt regret that after intense soul searching and careful consideration I have decided not to run for one of the seats opening in June on the Rumford Board of Selectmen.

The discovery this past week, that the audits the Town of Rumford contracted with and paid Harold A. Blake and his firm for over the past eight or more years are invalid as Mr. Blake and/or his firm have not been licensed, along with subsequent revelations and the ramifications of these are and will be such that for the next few years the motivations for my candidacy are no longer valid. What I had hoped to achieve as a Selectperson will not be achievable from that position for several years while the missing years of audits are replaced, the accumulated years of deficiencies in accounting practices are corrected, any legal issues both criminal and civil are resolved, while amended reports are filed with all relevant agencies, departments, and other concerned parties, and while the town establishes a consecutive three year track record of proper audits.

The primary responsibility of the Rumford Board of Selectpersons over the next few years, what will consume the bulk of their time and efforts, will be seeing to it that the audits are done correctly and in full as prescribed by law and to the protection of the people of Rumford, making certain all accounting practices are brought to above reproach or question, instituting policies and practices to prevent anything like this from happening again, attempting to recover what was paid to Mr. Blake and his firm if that is found to be reasonable, restoring the town to eligibility for grants, in short concentrating this one area and on the basic financial and general day to day operations of the town with heightened awareness to detail. While these are very important, they are not where I am looking to put my time, talents, and training to work; they are not where I feel I can best be of service.

Many years ago, I became aware of the community of Helen, GA. Nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains on the Chattahoochee River, Helen is a re-creation of an alpine village complete with cobblestone alleys and old-world towers. This Northeast Georgia village has a rich history linked to the Cherokee Indians and Indian burial mounds as well as early settlers who arrived to mine for gold and cut virgin timber for a thriving lumber industry in the early 1900s. After falling on hard times, the people of Helen came together in search of a way to salvage their community and their economy. A member of the community suggested transforming the community into a “Bavarian Village.” Now celebrating its thirty-fifth year as a mountain community with a touch of Bavaria, Helen boasts a wide array of attractions. The area has more than 200 specialty and import shops offering everything from candle making to cuckoo clocks. Restaurant options range from German meals of schnitzel, sauerbraten, roulade or wurst with an imported beer or wine to a traditional southern country meal of grits, country ham, homemade biscuits and gravy. There are also plenty of American style steaks, seafood, deli sandwiches, hot dogs and hamburgers as well as homemade fudge, candies and funnel cakes. Outdoor lovers can enjoy river tubing, horseback riding, golf, canoeing, fishing, mountain biking, hiking and more. Festivals and special events include a hot air balloon race, Winefest, Volksmarch, Oktoberfest and Christmas parades, Fourth of July fireworks, and Bavarian Nights of Summer. From mid-September through October, Helen hosts the longest Oktoberfest in the South. Alpenfest offers entertainment for visitors during the Holiday season from Thanksgiving through December. Visitors can hike the many trails to waterfalls in the area, or sit beside a cozy fire and enjoy the winter weather in the mountains. Helen, GA was not Bavarian in any way before the people came together and made the unified decision to become a “Bavarian Village” re-facing homes and businesses throughout the community. The result, however, has been a successful and profitable tourism community.

Many in Maine consider the State’s primary enterprise and the future to be in tourism with some in Rumford ascribing to the idea this applies equally to Rumford suggesting tourism is key to reversing Rumford’s struggling economy. If Rumford is to become a tourist destination as Helen, GA has, to have a tourist based economy, Rumford must develop in a way that is attractive to tourists. Unlike Helen which had to create a theme, the Bavarian Village, Rumford has a theme and the foundations for tourism with its many sites and buildings listed on the National Registry of Historic Places. What Rumford needs to do is bring these buildings and sites back to the Secretary of the Interiors Standards for Historic Places. There are grants available to do this type of work. The audit situation would disqualify the town’s government from these grants however since such grants require appropriate audits for several years from applicants based on revenues and the town would definitely exceed these revenue criteria. There are organizations within the community however that have qualifying audits or that are below the minimum revenue size such as the Strathglass Park Preservation Society. Strathglass Park is an excellent location for renovation for tourist purposes as well given its historic relevance. Other obvious sites would include much of downtown including, the Rumford Community Center Building, Rumford Falls Power Building, Hotel Rumford, and Hotel Harris to name a few. It had been my hope to work on moving Rumford in the direction of becoming an historic tourist destination and obtaining grants to that end.

Rumford also has wonderful untapped recreational opportunities that can and should be tapped into and linked to the historic places tourism destination concept. Rumford has excellent access to the Androscoggin River for recreation and we have available extensive restricted use flat river bank stretches that would be excellent for camping, yet not a single camping site in the community. The only river use promotion is an annual clean-up sponsored by an out of area organization that promotes a clean-up over a stretch of the river that includes many communities and that it passes through Rumford is barely noted. It had been my intention to work towards encourage river recreational opportunities through private and non-profit development and activities. Now I hope to do this outside the auspices of the entangled town government through the power and drive of the people.

In keeping with the recreational theme, Rumford historically has had many pedestrian trails, many of historic significance. The restoration of these trails through the sweat equity of the citizenry would be rewarded not only with tourists visits as this is an added attraction, but working together to restore these trails would serve to unify the community and the trails would provide valuable community recreational resources and pedestrian routes for our community residents of all ages. By working together to restore these trails, investing our individual and collective sweat equity, we will get far more than we would ever get from expending tax dollars we simply do not have. I had hoped to encourage the formation of one or more groups of citizens to pursue the restoration of these trails and mass volunteerism for this and all these projects, had I been elected selectperson. Now I shall do my best to do so as a private citizen.

Rumford has long had a history for its tight close knit neighborhoods, something that seems to have lost much of its cohesiveness in the last few decades. There was a time when each area of town, Spaghettiville, Virginia, Strathglass Park, Rumford Point, Rumford Center, and so forth had gathering points. The residents of each of these areas looked out for one another, they worked together to keep their part of town neat and clean, they looked out for each other’s children, there was a strong sense of community within each of these subdivisions of Rumford often leading to a competitive spirit between them not only the ball fields but in maintaining a quality neighborhoods. It had been my intention to work towards establishing neighborhood committees to rejuvenate this neighborhood spirit with representatives of each neighborhood then forming a community betterment committee to advance Rumford as a whole. I hope to pursue this without the assistance that would have come from being on a Board of Selectpersons which was not distracted by the issues that have recently come to light.

While I have chosen not to have my name appear on the June Ballot as a candidate for Rumford Selectperson, it is my sincerest hope that each and every one of you will join with me in a mass spirit of volunteerism for the betterment and advancement of Rumford recreation, community spirit, tourism, economic development, jobs, and a better way of life for all of us for I believe that the future of Rumford lies not within the walls of Town Hall or the actions of any Board of Selectpersons but in the power, will, actions, and determination of the People of Rumford coming together in neighborhoods and as a whole community. The future of Rumford is up to us.

"Wow, you are so out of touch."

Ahhh...yes? I don't live in Maine and I don't read your fantasy, gossip column.

Candice feels she's SOOOOO important, she had to make an ANNOUNCEMENT that she's not running?

Wow..she's full of something... and it doesn't smell very good...

But ya gotta admit...she's entertaining as hell... Oh, I HOPE she never goes away!

It sounds like she is saying "There is a problem and I don't want to fix it, so I will ramble on about some village in Georgia".