The Governor's school consolidation proposal brought out crowds at the Edgecomb Eddy School last Tuesday evening! Representatives from Alna to Southport, and of course Edgecomb, had the opportunity to raise questions about this controversial issue after hearing MMA Executive Director Geoff Herman sketch the outlines of the Governor's proposal as well as four others which have been released as options.

For more on this matter, see the news pages of your papers or google MMA and 'school consolidation.' You'll get the January 12 issue of MMA's Legislative Bulletin, which gives a side by side comparison of the Governor's version and the Coalition of Maine Educators' version with which MMA is involved and which it supports, a bottom to top reform of our educational system rather than such a severe top to bottom reform.

I'm sorry that I did not know about the big Feb. 5 public meeting in Augusta on the subject, but you can still send questions or comments to Senate President Beth Edmonds at senbeth.edmonds@ legislature.maine.gov or call her at 287-1500.

My advice, inform yourselves thoroughly on the issue. Don't go off half-cocked. This proposal is a first shot and is being modified, altered, changed as I type this or possibly dismissed in favor of a better shot in due course. Beware alarmists. But don't ignore them. One disturbing rumor about the Governor's 26 school mega-districts is that schools (buildings as well as management) will be taken by eminent domain from the several towns, although the towns will still be responsible for their debt services. Since then I have read an editorial by the Business Manager of MSAD 75 that the Regional Learning Communities must assume the debt service of the existing school unions. Sound good? No, it means the debt service will be spread over the entire new region and each town will be assessed its share of the whole. Not so good.

SAD 75 also asked about the time element for developing local cost-sharing formulas. He learned that 'a separately developed local cost-sharing formula [will be eliminated] and all costs (both those funded by the State and those funded through local property taxes) would be shared using the same cost-sharing percentages that are calculated using the EPS formula.'

So, let us turn to cheerful news! The Schmid Preserve has completed its purchase of the Haselton property. The long outstanding loan from the Woods End Landing Fund has been paid off by funds from local people matched by Edgecomb Development LLC. Thanks, Roger Bintliff, and thanks, Amanda Russell, for seeing this through! The Schmid Preserve Advisory Board meets Wednesday, Feb. 21 at the Town Hall, public always welcome!

St. Andrew's Episcopal Church on Glidden Street in Newcastle is inviting kids in grades one to five (younger or older is ok; home-schoolers welcome!) to join their Junior Choir, currently in rehearsal for their spring musical, 'We Like Sheep.' They rehearse on Thursdays, 4 to 5 p.m. Another perk is occasionally singing during the 9:15 a.m. Sunday services. The church also has a Youth Choir for grades six through 12 which meets Thursdays, 5 to 6 p.m. For more information, contact Director Linda Blanchard at 563-2754 or lindamaine@mac.com.

Meanwhile at the Edgecomb Congregational Church, children will be drumming! Kids and your adult friends come dance to the rhythm and play to the beat at the Children's Drumming Circle on Thursday, Feb. 15 from 10 to 11 a.m., with the Circle of Rhythm, the well-known African-style drummers' ensemble. For info call 882-6579.

For those concerned about the snowplowing, our contractor tells me he had suspended his use of calcium chloride on the town's roads, following the many complaints about it. He has since returned to using it, and it is to be hoped that the roads will be found to everyone's satisfaction.

'The True Cost of Food, and What We Can Do About It' will be Andy Burt's subject this Sunday, Feb. 11, at 12:30 p.m., at the Midcoast Friends Meeting, 77 Belvedere Road in Damariscotta. After a brief film on the effects of current food production and distribution practices, Andy will lead a workshop to discuss how local religious congregations can lead the grassroots effort to put healthier, more environmentally sound food production and distribution measures in place. You will learn about the Eat Local Foods Coalition and MOFGA's encouragement of local farmers and food producers. For more information on this and upcoming outreach workshops (the next will be a workshop on Torture, March 25) and about the Society of Friends (Quakers) in general, visit

www.midcoastfriendsmeeting.org and

www.QuakerFinder.org or call 563-3757.

Cheers from your Local Big Eater at 234 River Road, 633-2978,

bonesukl@midcoast.com.

This column appears in the Boothbay Register, The Lincoln County News, the Wiscasset News-paper, and at www.Edgecomb.org.