Discussion focused on issues at the forefront of students’ concerns, such as the job market, education reform and health care.

Primary candidates Democrat Cynthia Dill, Independent Andrew Ian Dodge, Democrat Matt Dunlap, Democrat Jon Hinck, Democrat Ben Pollard, Republican Bill Schneider, Republican Charlie Summers and Independent Steve Woods attended the forum hosted by the University of Maine Democrats; College Republicans; and No Labels, a nonpartisan student political group.

These candidates hope to fill Snowe’s vacant seat after the longtime senator dropped out of the race, citing vitriolic partisanship in Washington as the major factor in her decision.

Woods echoed Snowe’s sentiment by saying he sees a distinctive and insurmountable divide between liberal and conservative politicians.

“I don’t see an aisle,” he said.

While some names may be lesser-known, not all of the hopefuls are new to politics.

Dunlap served as Maine’s 47th Secretary of State in the Baldacci adminstration, Schneider is the state attorney general and Summers serves as Maine’s secretary of state. Hinck is a state representative for part of Portland, and Dill is a state senator for Cape Elizabeth, Portland and part of Scarborough.

The three mediators compiled a list of questions from students, and each candidate was awarded one minute to respond. Question topics ranged from domestic issues, such as the economy and the job market, to the war in Afghanistan.

Students expressed the most interest in the candidate’s stances on education cost reform.

“I think investing in education is one thing that plays a valuable role for government, because people who are educated citizens benefit the entire nation,” Pollard said.

Many candidates found common ground on President Barack Obama’s proposal to keep the interest rate on Stafford Loans from rising, an issue that hits home at UMaine in the wake of an announcement that the interest rate on subsidized Stafford Loans was set to double on July 1.

Dill would further Obama’s effort by “giving credit when students take up jobs that serve in the public industry.”

Summers acknowledged the student debt crisis but placed the responsibility for the cost of education on students.

“I do believe though that students as well as consumers have a responsibility and if they take out loans they have the responsibility to pay those loans back,” he said, adding that he is a firm supporter of the community college system, of which is a graduate.

“Here in the state today, we need to take up every opportunity we can to broaden the opportunities for young people — not just students interested in a four year university,” he said. “Not every student wants to attend a four-year university.”

Students also focused their questions on the uncertain job market.

“I think the most important way we can create jobs is get government out of the way as much as we can,” Schneider said. “Government doest actually create jobs. Government creates the environment that allows jobs to grow.”

Hinck took a different stance from Schneider’s, saying the private sector is the “great engine” of our economy. He conceded that government plays an important role by providing infrastructure for jobs to be created by private enterprise.

According to Dill, job security is greatly enhanced by unionization.

“I support unions,” she said. “They create and bolster the middle class.”

After finally ending the war in Iraq, the attention has now turned toward the war in Afghanistan. Woods was the only candidate to firmly admit his desires to pull out of the war.

“[The US] should aggressively do everything we can to pull troops out of Afghanistan,” Woods said.

Dodge, an independent and self-acclaimed libertarian, said the US needs to “stop meddling in the Middle East.”

“We can not afford it,” he said.

Summers, who served active duty in Afghanistan, discounted Dodge’s urging to pull out of foreign nations.

“The US has responsibility in the world,” Summers said. “It is the world’s last superpower, and I believe that we need to help those nations that can not help themselves.”

Another big topic on the agenda was health care reform legislation. Schneider called the legislation “unconstitutional.” While candidates’ stances on health care reform differed, all admitted that some degree of change was necessary.

“I don’t think it’s perfect,” Hinck said. “It was a compromise. It was our president trying to be reasonable.”

The primary election will be held on June 12.

A piece of paper folded lengthwise into thirds rested on the grass where all could see it.

“This paper is essentially where we are,” Dunn said. “Those two crossed pencils are the objective.”

The objective was breakfast.

Meals, ready-to-eat, had been dropped 110 meters away, and the squad needed to go on a resupply mission to retrieve them. Dunn told his squad that if they encountered four or fewer South Atropian People’s Army fighters, they should engage them. If the group of SAPA insurgents numbered more than four, he instructed his squad to suppress them and then break contact.

Once Dunn was sure the instructions were understood, the squad moved single-file into the woods, their boots rustling softly in the dry leaves. They broke through brush, snapping twigs as they went, until the green glow sticks tied to the MRE cartons were visible.

After bringing the cartons back to main camp, Dunn issued each squad member two MREs for the next day and marked a success for one of the first missions of the University of Maine Reserve Officers’ Training Corps’ spring Field Training Exercises weekend.

‘Our capstone’

The ROTC cadets spent three days in the woods of Plymouth testing their skills at FTX, which is run once each semester, in order to prepare MSIIIs, cadets in their third year, for a month-long training program called the Leadership Development and Assessment Course in Fort Lewis, Wash.

The cadets marched in on Friday and found themselves in the terrain of a fictitious country developed for the 2010 LDAC: Atropia.

Atropia is understood to be located in the Caucasus Mountains and its culture is a blend of Spanish language and Middle Eastern customs.

Younger cadets, such as MSII Dunn, were also given opportunities to step into leadership roles during the weekend and be evaluated by cadre members, active-duty personnel assigned to teach ROTC courses.

One resupply mission did not go as smoothly as Dunn’s.

That squad sat in the dark outside the TOC in nearly the same spot that Dunn had instructed his squad. In the 20 or so minutes Dunn’s mission had taken, the last of the light had drained from the sky, and the faces of this squad’s members were indistinguishable. They sat clustered around the red glow of a cadre member’s flashlight.

That mission had been a failure, most likely the result of gaps in communication and poor planning.

The squad leader had gotten it half right, the cadre member conceded, and he was told to own his mistakes and learn from them throughout the remaining missions in the weekend.

“This is really like our capstone exercise. … Our goal is to validate our juniors,” said Lt. Col. Steve Szewc. “Our whole training plan for the year builds up to this.”

Szewc said the weekend benefits younger cadets by introducing them to field craft and enabling them to use tactics they’ve studied throughout the year. The cadets have weekly two-hour labs, but that short period of time doesn’t always allow for concepts to take root in cadets’ minds, he added.

Standing on a knoll near main camp, he described the transformation he saw in one cadet’s face since the fall.

“I could see the look on her face in October. ‘What am I doing here?’” Szewc said. “She understands [now] how it assesses your leadership and why we’re doing it. … In that months’ time between there and here, it just clicked.

“You can see it,” he continued. “It’s fun to watch.”

Cadets in command

Cadet Tom Ryan, a third-year history student, said he was confident he would perform well in the Squad Training Exercises on Saturday, but he was still a little anxious.

“It’s like that good kind of nervousness. It’s just enough to keep you pushing forward,” he said. “You’re no longer taking care of just yourself. You’re also taking care of everyone beneath you.”

Ashley Hatch, a fourth-year nursing student set to graduate in December, was an MSIV going through FTX as an MSIII after missing LDAC last summer for personal reasons. She was excited about her upcoming training, but transitioning back to an MSIII after a year with her own class was throwing her off a bit.

“I’m kind of like a three-and-a-half,” she said. “I can tell that I’m improving just over this past year.”

Hatch was slated to lead a squad in the first lane on Saturday morning, and Ryan was chosen to assist her. At 6 a.m., while their squad lay low to provide 360-degree security, Hatch and Ryan crouched in the brush with Szewc as he read them their mission — a litany of information Hatch had to winnow down to just what her squad members absolutely needed to know.

As Hatch mulled over the information, Ryan sprawled out in the grass with his nose to a map, studying it before he laid out a terrain model using icons, labeled and laminated to last against the elements, that Hatch would use to describe the mission.

After getting her orders from Szewc, Hatch had only 45 minutes to get her squad moving.

“That’s part of the drill, to put them under that time constraint,” Szewc said. “That’s where they separate themselves from their peers.”

The objective was 240 meters away, Hatch told her squad. They were to conduct an attack on opposing forces “in order to prevent enemy resupply and destroy rocket sites.”

Szewc moved alongside the squad, dropping back or pushing ahead to watch cadets interact with each other. Their movements were more detectable than intended.

“Would I let her lead a patrol in Afghanistan?” Szewc asked as the squad pulled ahead. “No, not right now, but that’s not what I’m looking at.”

Szewc elaborated that FTX is designed to see how confident cadets are as leaders, while tactics and noise control take a backseat in importance.

Hatch lost one team member on the assault, but Staff Sgt. Daniel Trojecki and cadets Brian Landry and Robert Cook, the entire opposing forces team, were killed in a firefight.

“The order, I thought, was pretty effective for the mission,” Szewc said as he critiqued Hatch’s performance in the after-action report that followed the mission. The squad and opposing forces sat in a circle around Szewc as he spoke. “Your terrain model was oriented. … It’s like a big PowerPoint slide out in the field, so use it effectively.”

Szewc balanced areas where Hatch could improve, such as her not-so-stealthy manner of getting her squad across the road, with areas in which she showed initiative, such as when she led her team around a small quarry rather than trying to save time by going straight through it.

“I guarantee half the squads will go through that quarry,” he said. “That was a good thought process.”

‘Ready for LDAC’

A couple of hours later, Hatch sat as the squad member rather than its leader after control had rotated to another MSIII.

“I thought [my mission] went fairly well. It was a little confusing at times, but communication went well … even though we did not have a successful recon,” she said. “A lot of it is based on planning, and I think I definitely improved on [that]. … I basically didn’t give myself enough time.”

Hatch was in charge of a platoon on Sunday, which is composed of two squads. She led the platoon on a raid to capture or kill Abu Sanchez, a high-value SAPA target. This objective was about 900 meters away, and her platoon was given twice as much time as the squads had been given the day before.

She led her platoon through the woods, skirting a field in the beginning and delving deeper into the forest as time went on. The cadets slogged through a bog and then up a steep hill before Hatch split her platoon into two groups.

One would stay put and keep security on the area and the other would forge ahead on a leader’s recon to assess the terrain and see if they could get eyes on the objective.

The recon hit a snag when the cadets found themselves at the top of a cliff, but they doubled back and found a small stream that wound its way toward the objective, where Abu Sanchez sat with three guards.

It had rained all morning, which kept the noise of dry foliage rustling as cadets passed to a minimum, but the guards heard movement in the wet forest and noticed the pattern of the platoon’s Army Combat Uniforms through the foliage, though they could not get a clear view of the cadets.

Before the platoon moved in, green and white smoke grenades were tossed to provide cover so the cadets could cross the open stream in relative safety. They took out the four targets, including Abu Sanchez, played by Aaron Saucier, an MSIV and senior psychology student.

During the after-action report, Szewc addressed Hatch’s unease at handling a larger group of cadets than the day before.

“Just take a deep breath and use what you know,” he said. “You’ve got the skills. You’ve just got to project that confidence.”

“I think it went pretty well,” Szewc said later, as the platoon marched up the road back to the main camp. “They were a little tired, and it showed. … They’ve done well at applying what they’ve learned in class.”

“Everyone came out of their shells a little bit, like Hatch,” he continued.

Hatch’s emergence as a leader was evident in how she addressed her troops. Soft-spoken in everyday conversation, she seemed a bit hesitant to issue orders at first. However, after her platoon had taken out Abu Sanchez, she barked at her cadets to stop standing around and move him out of the objective site.

“I think my actions on this lane was better than on the first one,” she said. “I feel a lot better than I have.

“I feel ready for LDAC.”

Unless that call comes from Edith Patch Hall or Doris Twitchell Allen Village, that’s what happens.

“So far, we haven’t been burned by that,” said Ben Pratt, a member of the fire department.

According to a department memo, as of Jan. 2, 2011, “All automatic fire alarms to [Patch] and [DTAV] will be with single engine — all others will remain the same for now.”

“Obviously if the engine shows up and there’s smoke billowing out of a building, all hell’s going to break loose,” Pratt said.

Patch and DTAV are the only suite-style on-campus housing, and each apartment comes with a kitchen. Apartments in Patch have an oven and a range stove, while apartments in DTAV just have ranges.

“Kitchen fires are one of the No. 1 cause[s] of residential fires in the country,” Pratt said.

Pratt, a firefighter with more than a decade of experience who has been with the Orono department for four years, shared his views when asked about the situation, which was brought to the The Maine Campus’ attention by an anonymous third party. He emphasized that his opinions should not be assumed to match those of other crewmembers. Pratt was approached because he is known through a mutual acquaintance.

According to Norman “Buddy” Webb, chief of the Orono Fire Department, it’s the high number of fire alarm activations caused by students using those kitchens, whether by burning food or simply creating smoke while they cook, that led him to reduce the response to Patch and DTAV alarms.

“No one’s ever questioned this before,” Webb said. “If I thought for one second that we weren’t providing the right amount of protection, I would definitely send a ladder truck.”

While Webb sees the high volume of calls related to cooking as “nuisance” calls, Pratt sees them as an indicator that Patch and DTAV need a more diligent eye to guard against a potential fire.

“You’ve got a lot of kids, college kids, living in a dorm environment with a kitchen,” Pratt said.

“I think it’s sketchy for us, and I think it’s sketchy for the folks that are up there.”

Reason for restriction

Sitting in his downtown Orono office on Thursday afternoon, Webb paused several times during an interview to listen to traffic on the scanner calling his crews out of the station. The first call sent out two crewmembers with an ambulance.

“There is nothing written anywhere that says I have to respond with a ladder truck,” he said. “Just because we have it doesn’t mean it has to go.”

The department has a standard operating procedure on file for handling fire alarm activation calls from university buildings. Webb said that procedure was altered by a memo when he decided to change the response to calls from DTAV and Patch. Neither document could be found in the station that day, but a copy of the memo that announced the response change was provided on Friday.

The second call to come in during the interview originated from the Delta Tau Delta fraternity house on College Avenue, and since the ambulance and its crew members were still gone, only the engine went to the house. Asked if the ladder truck would have gone as well if the ambulance had managed to return before the call, Webb said yes.

“That’s what the plan calls for,” he said.

Pratt said the importance of the truck isn’t just the ladder it’s named after, though with DTAV and Patch both standing at three stories, it is plausible that a ladder truck could be needed. The truck itself is a “toolbox,” he said.

“We use the equipment that’s on that thing more than the ladder itself,” Pratt said, adding that the truck carries rope, harnesses and air monitoring equipment, among other gear. “A lot of our true rescue equipment is on that truck.”

The average response time to DTAV and Patch is 6 minutes, and Webb said if the crew members with the engine arrived on scene and decided they needed the ladder truck, it could be there in about 4 minutes.

“Fires on a growth stage can double in size every minute,” Pratt said, unless efforts made to contain it are successful.

By that measure, a fire in Patch or DTAV could have the potential to double in size nine times before the ladder truck could arrive.

Curtailed crews

When Pratt started serving in Orono, each of the three crews — A, B and C — had five people. Currently, C crew has five people, and A and B crews have four people each. Pratt is on C crew.

“They’ve been kind of rotating it around so no one’s been on a crew of four for more than a year-and-a-half,” Pratt said. “It just wears on you.”

He said the financial constraints the town is facing are the source of the slimmed-down crews. The department needs a minimum of four crew members on duty during each shift, which was OK when crews had five people, Pratt said.

With two crews of four each, Pratt said the department pays more overtime because someone calling in sick or taking a vacation day can drop the number of crew members on duty to three, forcing the department to call in someone who is off duty.

“We’re trying to do a lot with a little. We’re trying to do more than we have before with less than we’ve had before,” he said.

One of the ways to stretch that crew is to cut down on the level of response. Patch and DTAV are the only areas of town where Webb gets numerous calls as a result of cooking, and he said the history of sending full resources to an area where they are not needed — he estimated 95 percent of calls to DTAV and Patch fit this scenario — is what prompted him to change the policy.

“We go to Patch Hall and DTAV probably 10 or 12 times to one call somewhere else,” he said. “The issue has not got anything to do with money. The issue has to do with using the appropriate resources.”

The ladder truck is the most expensive vehicle to run, and racks up costs at $350 per hour. The engine costs $225 to run per hour, and the ambulances each cost $150.

Patch and DTAV both have automatic sprinklers that start spraying if they detect flames, which Webb said was a factor in his decision. According to department data, there have been 44 fire alarm activations caused by cooking in the two dorms since the beginning of the school year.

“The only reason we do that is to cut down on the expense of running these vehicles,” Webb said. “I don’t think it’s necessary [to send the ladder truck] for a building that has automatic sprinklers.”

Paying for services

According to Janet Waldron, UMaine’s vice president for administration and finance, the university pays the town of Orono “payment in lieu of taxes” to cover municipal costs, which include fire and police assistance. The university pays a lump sum each fiscal year to the town, and it’s up to the town to decide how that money is spent.

From the 2007-08 fiscal year to the 2010-11 fiscal year, UMaine’s yearly payment in lieu of taxes was $646,466. That price tag rose by $6,465 for the most recent payment.

“We increased by just an inflationary factor,” Waldron said. “It was a minimal increase.”

While the university paid a steady amount to the town for municipal services, the budgets for the fire and police departments fluctuated. According to town budget reports, the fire department spent $1,701,275 in the 2007-08 fiscal year.

With one exception, the amounts budgeted for the department decreased each year, leaving the budgeted figure to stand at $1,273,450 for the most recent fiscal year. Its year-end expenses came in under that figure by approximately $97,000.

Those decreasing budgets mean the fire department cut costs from the 2007-08 fiscal year to the 2011-12 fiscal year by approximately $525,000. However, that trend appears to be reversing, as, according to the town of Orono, the fire department has requested a budget of $1,520,750 for the 2012-13 fiscal year.

Waldron did not know that Webb had decided to alter the level of response to campus alarms based on the location of the call.

“I cannot imagine they would not do the appropriate response,” she said. “They are incredibly responsive.”

UMaine spokesman Ron Lisnet said the university echoes Waldron’s confidence in the department’s decision-making.

“There’s no formal policy, but UMaine basically does not get a report of what equipment that the fire department sends to any particular call,” Lisnet said. “That is fine as far as the health and safety folks here are concerned.”

A question of consistency

The inconsistency of response is what irks Pratt, though he believes Webb would not intentionally place anyone in harm’s way. That three pieces of equipment could roll to a call in Cumberland Hall while only one could roll to a call in Patch, buildings located diagonally from each other across Long Road, doesn’t make sense to him.

“If it’s Cumberland Hall, everyone gets up in the middle of the night,” Pratt said. “But when we go to either Patch or Doris Twitchell, the call will go out per the response plan … but all you’ll get is the engine.

“I don’t think there’s enough difference in those two buildings to justify [a reduced response],” he continued.

Webb doesn’t see it that way.

“On calls to those two buildings, we send the engine,” he said. “I don’t think anyone’s getting any more treatment or any less treatment.”

The University Volunteer Ambulance Corps responds to fire alarm activations on campus, and Pratt sees this as an opportunity to amend the overall response. If paramedics will be on scene anyway, he says, why not make the policy to roll the engine and ladder truck, leaving the Orono ambulance behind?

A well-established mutual aid agreement with Old Town also makes it easy to call for backup if it’s needed, though Old Town’s station is farther from campus than Orono’s.

“At least if we have the ladder [on scene], someone else can come behind us and use it,” Pratt said.

“It seems like the response should be equivalent.”

The festival took place from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. with events for all ages. Booths were set up on half of the gym floor for local vendors and groups to share information about their organizations, sell products or distribute flyers.

Keynote speaker Bill McKibben was present,  as well as juggler Zachary Fields; Timbered Lake music group; and Innana, Sisters in Rhythm.

“The goal of the event is to celebrate a connection to the earth and to each other, share information about all the good work that they’ve done and to celebrate Earth Day,” said Ilze Petersons, director of the event.

Petersons has been running the HOPE Festival for 18 years, though she did not come up with the idea on her own. According to her, the Peace and Justice Center of Eastern Maine started the festival. She was a member of the organization when they came up with the idea and has been organizing it ever since.

According to Petersons, the event continues to grow each year, and she said this year generated the biggest turnout.

“People come back each year, and each year we have new people who come too. And when you have someone of the stature of Bill McKibben, it really brings a lot more people in, and it makes it a lot more worthwhile for the vendors,” she said.

William “Bill” McKibben is a environmentalist and author who has extensively studied global warming. In 2010, Time Magazine referred to him as “the world’s best green journalist.”

Petersons explained that the event moved around to a couple of different places before coming to UMaine.

“It started at University College [of Bangor] the first year, and that was too small,” she said. “We moved to Brewer Auditorium and were there for 10 years.”

The festival moved again to the Field House at UMaine, where it remained for two years before settling in at the rec center for the past three years.

“This is the nicest space, and it’s a green building, so it’s really wonderful to be here,” Petersons said, referring to the building’s LEED certification.

Amy Hughes, a fourth-year philosophy and anthropology student with a minor in sustainable food systems, volunteered her time to organize a children’s venue at the festival.

Hughes had never been to the event until this year. She found out about it through the Peace and Justice Center of Eastern Maine, where she recently became a member.

“I have been volunteering with them for a while, and they have really awesome ways for younger people to get involved, and I just thought this was so cool,” she said.

As she learned more about the festival, Hughes explained that she had found out there wouldn’t be a children’s section unless somebody took the job. She thought that not having a venue for children would be “tragic,” so she took on the challenge.

“For the kids’ area, we just wanted to have crafts that kids could make,” she said. “One thing that we really wanted to do was have interactive crafts so that kids are making stuff together for cooperation sake. I think that’s very important.”

Hughes said the experience was a “realistic application” of her education. She felt it was one of the only things that could bring all of the “social change” groups together, and she said she plans to continue volunteering at the event every year she can.

“I think the reason that the Peace and Justice Center is so awesome is because they make this sort of umbrella mission that a lot of different people fit under,” she said. “It’s like we’re all kind of in our own corners, but it brings back the realization that we are all actually pursuing peace together, and that you can’t do it unless you have awesome ways to meet each other and network.”

Matt Scaccia, a third-year parks, recreation and tourism student at UMaine, also volunteered at the festival for the first time this year.

“I’ve been absolutely loving it,” he said. “I think I’m having more fun than any of the kids here.”

Scaccia put together a booth in the children’s section where they could make homemade bird feeders out of pine cones, seeds and peanut butter.

He said that helping children to engage with the outdoors and the species that inhabit it is important in order to encourage them to spend more time outside instead of watching television or playing on the computer inside.

“A big part about that [effort] is keeping kids outside and involved with the outdoors and hopefully building a stewardship effort for the future, because it has to be carried on,” Scaccia said.

Petersons said that the Peace and Justice Center plans to continue to keep the festival going in years to come as long as they receive enough support.

“There are so many volunteers here that make it happen, and that’s what we need. As long as there are people who are willing to do it, we’ll do it,” she said.

First-place winners Luke and Jake Thomas won $5,000 and start-up business support from the challenge’s contributing companies. Second place was awarded to Shannon Byers and her business, Best In Show Paws; she received a $1,000 prize.

James Morin, Matt Ciampa, Owen McCarthy and Sangam Lama, all 2010 UMaine graduates, founded the competition.

“In its simplest form, which doesn’t do it any justice, it’s a business concept competition involving a business plan and a business pitch,” Morin said.

The four final businesses were offered the opportunity to start on the right foot with the chance to win the top $5,000 prize and “a basic business starter kit, if you will, with legal services, consulting, advertising [and] product development,” Morin said.

The event’s supporting businesses will contribute these services to the winning pitch by the Thomas brothers, a company specializing in low-level aerial imaging using unmanned drones. Drones, known for their use in military operations, can also be used in photography where a person would have difficulty placing a camera, such as on a whitewater rafting trip.

Businesses partnered with these start-up companies understand the position these young entrepreneurs are in. Ry Russell, a partner in the VR Marketing firm, a competition supporter, knows how difficult it is to manage school and starting a business.

“The academic system and the business system need to coincide,” Russell said. “There needs to be more resources to let students go out and do their own thing. I think something like this will help maybe set some perimeters where students can still stay in school and actively start their own business.”

Luke and Jake Thomas tried the University of Southern Maine’s business challenge last year and were excited to get the opportunity again.

“I think it’s really good that it’s happening here,” Luke Thomas said. “I think a lot of college kids get in this zone where they’re focused on getting that job after college, but the economy has changed so much and it’s just as risky to go work for someone nowadays [as] it is to start up your own business.”

Their company uses unmanned aerial drones with a camera attached, allowing for new techniques in photography. Both brothers are at a senior standing — Luke is a marketing student at UMaine and Jake is studying outdoor recreation and business at the University of Maine at Farmington.

Byers, the second-place winner, submitted her company, Best In Show Paws, a mobile nail clipping service for dogs.

“The whole experience, from the very beginning to now, has been a huge learning experience,” Byers said.

All of the contestants agreed the competition gave valuable insight into the business world.

“The biggest thing this challenge has provided us with is an educational experience,” said James Beaupre, a doctoral candidate in chemical engineering at UMaine and partner in the Stillwater Poster Company. “It made us bring everything together and make us formulate what we had in our minds.”

Beaupre and Nate Wildes, a fourth-year political science student, started their company to create an outlet for UMaine artists to sell their work, reconnect with alumni, and get their names and missions out to people.

The company Bio-Remediation shared that sentiment. Tory Stark, a second-year computer science student, and his wife, Kimberly Stark, submitted their pitch to produce a pellet form of natural gas as a heating element.

Though they didn’t win, the team said participating alone has given them valuable experience.

“We’re people who like to tinker around, and we have never had to take this and put it into the business aspect, so it opened our eyes about how to market this to other people,” Kimberly Stark said.

The University of Maine Police Department received a report of underage drinking in a fourth-floor room of Somerset Hall at 11:48 p.m. April 19. An officer found a group of people in the room and a shot glass containing a brown liquid in plain sight. A half-full bottle of Captain Morgan rum was confiscated.

Taylor Gross, 19, was found to have consumed alcohol in violation of bail conditions that resulted from a previous charge of operating under the influence, which occurred on campus. Gross was brought back to UMPD, where his blood alcohol content was found to be 0.17. He was arrested for violation of bail conditions and taken to Penobscot County Jail in Bangor. From the group, an 18-year-old male was referred to Judicial Affairs.

Coppers and robbers

UMPD received a report of a theft at 7:17 a.m. April 17. Penobscot Construction reported copper wire, worth $500, was stolen from the construction site at Stewart Commons between 4:30 p.m. April 16 and the time of the report.

Hartless destruction

UMPD received a report of vandalism at 8:53 p.m. April 16. The window in the Long Road entrance of Hart Hall, which will cost $300 to replace, was broken.

It’s getting old

UMPD received a report of criminal mischief at 11:06 a.m. April 16. Eight graffiti tags were found in Fogler Library men’s bathrooms. The tag is the same that has been found in multiple locations on campus. Clean-up is estimated at $300.

Little lift

UMPD received a report of a theft at 1:05 p.m. April 17. A wallet containing $113 was stolen from a backpack in Little Hall between 5:45 p.m. April 16 and the time of the report.

Tag jag

UMPD received a report of criminal mischief at 4:47 p.m. April 17. A graffiti tag was found in the third-floor men’s bathroom of Hart Hall. The tag was not the same that has been found in multiple
locations on campus. Clean-up is estimated at $50.

Plucked passes

UMPD received two unrelated reports of stolen parking passes between April 16 and 18. A resident parking pass was reported stolen at 9:34 a.m. April 16 from an unlocked red 2003 Dodge Neon in the Hilltop parking lot, taken at some point since April 6. A resident parking pass was reported stolen at 2:07 p.m. April 18 from a vehicle between 4 p.m. April 13 and 3 p.m. April 17. The owner is unsure if the theft occurred on campus. Both passes will cost $5 to replace.

April showers

UMPD received a report of disorderly conduct at 1:32 p.m. April 16. A witness reported that a group of individuals threw buckets of water from a fourth-floor window of Oxford Hall at people below. The group was gone when an officer arrived.

Quad oddities

UMPD received a report of disorderly conduct at 3:06 p.m. April 16. A 31-year-old female transient was reportedly acting strangely in the Hilltop quad near Oxford Hall. She was not intoxicated. The University Volunteer Ambulance Corps evaluated the female and transported her to Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor for treatment.

Protzmann, a junior new media student and senator pro tempore, wrote in an email that his decision to choose Sen. Sam Helmke was based on his “ambition and dedication” for the future of student government.

“Sam has always been [the] voice of reason in senate and respected for the very same reason,” Protzmann wrote.

He also added that the vice president of SG takes on more responsibilities than just running meetings.

“We have talked extensively about the position and I truly believe that we are both very much dedicated to making this coming year one a new page for student government, with a more educated senate and greater outreach and advocacy to the student body,” he wrote.

Protzmann also wrote that he was very happy with the executive board that is in place for next year as well as the “unbridled drive and ambition” the board members have to insure that SG reaches “new heights” for the 2012 and 2013 year.

“I [am] excited,” Helmke wrote in an email. “I believe that any student that has a desire to lead would covet any executive position in UMSG.”

Helmke, a junior political science student, came to prominence in student government in spring 2011 as the public face leading senators’ charge to remove Nelson Carson, who assumed the student body presidency in January of that year.

In the impeachment trial, Helmke served as the lead prosecutor of Carson, accusing him of not fulfilling the duties of his job. Senators voted 31-2 to remove Carson from office that March.

Helmke wrote that he hopes to make the senate “more efficient and educated” in all Student Government issues. He plans to “revamp” the committee system in order to set more realistic goals to better serve the undergraduate community.

“I feel that I can bring a new sense of internal organization to senate,” he wrote. “The organization with all its moving parts can become easily scattered and unorganized. I plan to bring organization and cohesion to the body in order to maximize our potential output.”

He also said his job is to help GSS run in the most “efficient and dynamic” way it can.

With these goals, Helmke believes there is room for improvement, one area being the voice of the student body. He would like to see more student input on issues like facilities management, parking and dining.

“[T]his will come from more consistent outreach from the leadership of student government,” he wrote.

He plans to work with Protzmann to improve the image of Student Government across the UMaine community.

“With a new sense of organization, a new image and a clear set of goals I feel myself and the other executives can accomplish much in office,” Helmke wrote.

Student trustee rep selected

The senate also selected a new board of trustees representative at its meeting.

Colin Buttarazzi, a first-year business management student, was chosen for the position over Dana Freshley, a third-year communication student. He will replace Katie Foster, who has held the position the past two years and will graduate in May.

“When I first heard about this position, I was immediately interested,” Buttarazzi said. “I knew holding this position would be an amazing opportunity both for me to get experience at such a professional setting and, more importantly, to better the university.”

His goals are to gather as many ideas from the undergraduate community as possible and represent them to the board in hopes of influencing change. One of his plans to better connect with the student body is to create some type of forum on FirstClass where students could express their concerns.

Buttarazzi also believes his “approachability” will help him to communicate with the UMaine community to learn about their concerns.

“I think talking one-on-one with a lot of undergrads would be one of the best opportunities, and I’m around a lot of places, and I talk to a lot of people,” he said.

He feels it is important to have an undergraduate representative for the board because the ability to be able to communicate with students on a personal level is crucial.

“I don’t think a board member just talking to an undergrad, I don’t think [that student] would express the same feelings that they would to a peer,” he said.

Some of Buttarazzi’s other goals are to “strengthen” the relationship between the students and the board and help them to better understand what the board is.

“I know that the first-years and a lot of students in general don’t really know that we have a board of trustees,” he said.

Foster believes Buttarazzi has the “potential to bring a fresh perspective” to the board and is confident he will work well with representatives from other universities.

“He will be extremely successful and has already shown that he is a motivated and articulate leader who can efficiently lead groups on campus,” Foster wrote in an email.

Foster plans to meet with Buttarazzi to introduce him to the “duties of his job,” the work previous representatives have done in the past years and “brief him on the current major board level issues.”

She also plans to introduce him to the graduate student representative, attend the May meeting meeting with him, and be available to answer his questions and concerns now and throughout his term.

“I hope to see him take on the challenge of gathering feedback from across campus,” Foster wrote. “I hope to see him engage with students on campus whose concerns may not always be voiced the loudest and to represent the students articulately and clearly, which I [have] faith that he will do.

Foster also wrote that Buttarazzi has shown he has the potential to “be a great leader and motivator.” He was recognized as UMaine’s 2012 Outstanding Emerging Leader, which, according to Foster, is a “huge accomplishment and honor.”

“Colin is upbeat, charismatic and a pleasure to be around,” she wrote. “I know that he will have success as the BOT rep and will continue to represent the University of Maine in the best possible way at the system level.”

The letter was signed by 10 state senators and representatives, including Houlton Band of Maliseets tribal Rep. David Slagger, a University of Maine Ph.D. candidate. It was sent to the Office of Program Evaluation and Government Accountability, which enforces GOC decisions.

The letter contains seven complaints about the landfill and Casella Waste Management Inc., the private operator of the state-owned landfill.

It alleges Casella engages in questionable business practices and refers to allegations made by Portland-based ecomaine in December 2011 that a University of Maine contract for single-stream recycling on campus was crafted so that the only successful bid would be Casella’s, which is also linked to the university through a contract to supply the Steam Plant with landfill gas through a yet-to-be-built pipeline. The university denied the claims.

“[The legislators] asked us to seek input from the Juniper Ridge advisory committee, and we will do that and bring that back to them at their next meeting, which is May 25th,” said Beth Ashcroft, director of OPEGA.

Ashcroft said GOC did not give much direction on what information it wants OPEGA to bring to the table at the May meeting.

“Quite frankly, [GOC was] squeezed for time at this meeting,” Ashcroft said. “I think there’s a general sense that OPEGA’s not in a position to get started on this review.”

That general sense, Ashcroft said, is a combination of OPEGA’s backlog of investigations and of the sentiment expressed by Sen. Thomas Saviello, R-Wilton, who addressed the GOC at its April 10 meeting.

Though Saviello chairs the Legislature’s Natural Resources Committee, he said his views should not be extrapolated to apply to the entire committee, as the group did not form an opinion on the letter before the meeting.

“I am not an advocate of the state of Maine being in the landfill business. Period,” Saviello said, emphasizing that he did not have an opinion of Casella itself and was narrowing his points to the issue of out-of-state waste, a major bone of contention with Juniper Ridge.

Juniper Ridge Landfill was purchased by the state in 2003 in the hopes of keeping Georgia Pacific as the operator of the Old Town mill. After Georgia Pacific left the area, a $26 million contract to operate the landfill was awarded to Casella, the only bidder.

“Three organizations looked, but only one bid on the operations,” Saviello said.

He said he addressed GOC in order to tell the committee members that, as far as he knows, no formal complaints have been lodged with the state in relation to Casella’s Operating Services Agreement with the state, the host communities of Old Town and Alton or the landfill advisory committee.

“[That committee has] no statutory authority to intervene against the landfill,” Saviello said. “They are specifically identified as to what they can and cannot do. To my knowledge, there have been no complaints issued to them.”

From Saviello’s standpoint, the argument that Casella illegally disposes of out-of-state waste in Juniper Ridge is invalid. He concedes that construction and demolition debris, the majority of which comes from Massachusetts, enters Maine and is processed at KTI Bio-fuels Inc., a Casella subsidiary in Lewiston. From there, waste is trucked to Juniper Ridge.

“This is a semantic argument,” Saviello said. “Waste is defined as something that cannot be used for its intended purpose. … Because KTI can actually recycle this material, it’s not a waste until they can no longer recycle that material.”

By that process, the construction and demolition debris is a commodity, not a waste, when it enters Maine, and only after approximately 70 percent of that is recycled, according to Saviello, is waste generated. Since that waste is technically generated as a by-product of recycling efforts in Lewiston, it is in-state waste.

“If their complaint is ‘They’re taking out-of-state waste in,’ then my message to Beth is to look at the definition of waste,” Saviello said.

“OPEGA … has bigger things, bigger fish to fry,” Saviello said, naming as an example the investigation into computer glitches in the office of the Department of Health and Human Services that allowed ineligible residents to receive MaineCare benefits, which GOC initiated at the April 10 meeting. “If I was going to tell Beth Ashcroft where to spend her time, it would not be there and not with Casella.”

Ashcroft’s next step is to compile more information about the legislators’ complaints and speak to the landfill advisory committee.

On Tuesday, Ashcroft said she had not yet set up a date to meet with the committee, which is composed of representatives from Old Town, Alton and Indian Island.

To deal with the issue of declining enrollment, housing services will consolidate residence halls, create new Living Learning Communities (LLCs) and explore the possibility of building a new dorm on campus.

Estabrooke Hall will no longer be a dorm in the fall, and new premium singles are being set up in Kennebec, Aroostook and York halls. These new singles will occupy former double rooms and  will offset the loss of single dorm rooms from Estabrooke, which currently houses 147 residents in 15 double and 117 single rooms.

According to the Housing Strategic Plan, there is a current capacity level of 3,661 students, though only 3,267 live on campus. It is projected that the fall’s capacity will be reduced to 3,383 students.

This consolidation is just one of numerous changes across campus for the fall.

“We have been reviewing quite a few changes to encourage students to live on campus,” said Daniel Sturrup, interim director of Auxiliary Services.

The new premium singles being added to housing address the fact that “current room options are outdated and less desirable,” according to the plan.

These updates have been designed in hopes of keeping students on campus.

“Statistics show us the students who are part of some First Year Experience and who live on campus are more likely to succeed and graduate within five years than those who have never lived on campus,” Sturrup said.

With a rise in off-campus housing opportunities, it’s no surprise that on-campus housing is facing challenges, according to Kelly Beers, assistant director of First Year Experience.

“[We are] trying to be competitive with off-campus housing, such as The Grove,” Beers said.

Even though first-year students are required to live on campus, the First Year Experience program is undergoing some changes to provide freshmen with a memorable on-campus living experience.

“The things we are doing in the first-year area are to give first-year students a really good first year so that hopefully they’ll want to stay on campus their second, third and fourth year,” Beers said.

Eight new LLCs are being set up in freshman housing.

“Essentially [it] is a way to bring students into a community knowing they will already have something in common with other students living there,” Beers said.

“Explore UMaine” will be located in Androscoggin Hall above the First Year Center, a room devoted to helping first-year students . This learning community is for “people who don’t have [declared] majors, who are coming from out of state [and] people who want to get really involved,” Beers said. “The goal is for all of those students to be exposed to everything there is to do on campus.”

Other new LLCs will include “Good Reads” in Cumberland Hall, a learning community targeted to people who admire literature; a health and fitness community that will be placed in Somerset Hall; and a technology-themed community in Gannett Hall. Chem-free housing will also be offered in the form of Choice Housing, according to Beers.

The assignment process for the LLCs will also change for 2012’s incoming freshmen. An application process will be put in place for anyone who wants to live in one of these communities. The reason for this, Beers said, is because “sometimes students don’t fully understand what the LLC is about, and so they apply for it thinking it’s one thing and it’s totally different.”

The current Outdoor Adventure and Support for Sciences living learning communities will stay as options, but their residence halls will change.

“We like to move things around every couple of years,” Beers said.

The Student Agriculture Enthusiasts and the Black Bear Food Guild sponsor the program and do the work needed on the farm.

Last year the program was canceled due to lack of interest.

“We planted cover crops anyway,” said Laura Hackney, president of SAgE and third-year environmental horticulture student.

This enriched the soil, making it more hospitable for a wider variety of plants.

CSA began in 1994. The program encourages people living in the Orono area to support local farming during the summer months by buying shares in Rogers Farm, located on Bennoch Road in Orono.

A full share costs $450 and will provide enough vegetables for four people each week during the harvest. Half shares are also available for $275. Shares will be available for purchase until May.

There are approximately 100 half shares available on the two-and-a-half-acre area given to the Black Bear Food Guild by the University of Maine.

“It’s a big thing to plan, especially with a full load of classes, and this is crunch time,” said Garth Douston, a second-year sustainable agriculture student.

The university pays most of the overhead costs for the farm, according to Douston.

“It’s a really awesome opportunity for someone who wants to get into sustainable agriculture,” he said.

The money spent on CSA shares goes to provide for the resources needed to plant crops.

Most shareholders are faculty and community members, but students who will be in Orono for the summer are also encouraged to purchase shares.

“It’s all stuff that can be easily added to other foods, like pasta,” Hackney said. “You can split the cost with your roommate.”

“The first 20 people that signed up this year signed up in the first week,” she added.

The majority of those who signed up early were previous shareholders.

Food will be delivered to shareholders once every week for 16 weeks starting in June. Vegetables to be grown this summer include peppers, broccoli, varieties of tomatoes, watermelon and peas, as well as a variety of greens.

“The soil is really good this year. That’s why we have so many varieties of plants,” Hackney said. “We want to expose people to different things to eat.

“With the surge of local food recently, we’re hoping that people will give this a try,” she added, saying purchasing a share in CSA would lower food costs for participants.

Locally grown produce is widely considered one of the better options to feed people while creating a healthier environment, because the environmental impact from transporting produce from state to state is removed.

The crops from the Rogers Farm are also certified organic by the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association standards, further decreasing the impact on the environment due to farming.

“We practice all organic methods,” Hackney said. “We also buy our seeds from Johnny’s, a local Maine business.”

There are approximately 10 people who have volunteered to work on Rogers Farm this summer. Volunteers will work during the summer weeding and harvesting the crops for delivery. For insurance purposes, they also must go through training in order to work on the farm. This will allow those in charge to prevent accidents and know who is on the farm.

“It’s a farm: Accidents happen,” Douston said.

SAgE also sells seedlings.

“We want to encourage people to buy shares in local food and grow their own,” Hackney said.