Closer look at a nurse, Ebola and the contagion of fear

The Portland Press Herald over the past couple of days have put together several stories and op-ed pieces to look closer at a Maine nurse, Kaci Hickox, and the frenzy of fear surrounding the chances Ebola could spread in Maine. Hickox is from the city where I was born, Fort Kent, and I still have family in the area. My mother travels there every couple of weeks to visit with them. Of course, I’m concerned for health of all of them. But neither Ebola nor Hickox are the greatest threats to my family. Here are links to several of the pieces by the Press Herald:

Ebola nurse Kaci Hickox speaks out | Portland Press Herald

Close-knit Fort Kent finds itself split by a frenzy from away | Portland Press Herald

Bill Nemitz: Suit up, Maine, in case governor’s ignorance of contagion is contagious | Portland Press Herald

Bill Maher, Angus King discuss Hickox, Ebola on HBO show | Portland Press Herald

Our View: Maine’s Ebola reaction based on fear, not science | Portland Press Herald

Advertisement

Ashland soccer teams use strong defensive efforts to gain berths in EM ‘D’ finals | Star Herald via Bangor Daily News

I played soccer for Ashland before there was a girls team. The passage of time has dented my memory, but I recall that there were nine or so seniors my last year there and we went undefeated. We had a heartbreaking defeat in the playoffs, but I often think about those days.

ASHLAND — Stifling defensive efforts led the Ashland varsity soccer teams to victories over Fort Fairfield Saturday and berths into Wednesday’s Eastern Maine Class D championship.

The Hornet girls came through with a 2-0 win in the opener, and then the boys prevailed, 3-1. The top-seeded and now 16-0 Ashland girls will next host No. 2 Penobscot Valley of Howland, another undefeated team, for the Class D regional title, while the boys, ranked third, will be on the road to take on No. 1 Bangor Christian.

Shots on goal were hard to come by for the visiting Tigers in both contests. Fort Fairfield managed only one in the girls’ game and just five in the boys’ game as the Hornet defense was brilliant all afternoon.

In the first game, the Ashland girls showed off a defense that has now shut out nine consecutive opponents. The last goal the team allowed came on Sept. 18 at Washburn. Since then, the Hornets have outscored the opposition, 63-0.

“We just try to work together and try to cover each other when we can,” said junior defender Laura Sturgeon, who fulfilled her assignment of bottling up one of the Tigers’ scoring aces, Chelsey Pelkey.

Read more of this story by Kevin Sjoberg on the Bangor Daily News website.

What’s going on with my alma mater?

Here are a couple of opinion pieces about what’s going on at my alma mater, University of Southern Maine. I attended USM in the early 1980s before traveling to California to attend California State University, Chico.

Greater Portland’s economy needs the graduate-level science program USM eliminated | Bangor Daily News

Let’s preserve USM. Future students deserve the chance I had to succeed | Bangor Daily News

Window to the Woods with Rhon Bell: Fall hiking and wine tasting in coastal Camden | Maine Today

What do a quintessential Maine hike with near-peak-foliage views, a quiet yet bustling coastal town and an amazing wine-tasting experience all have in common? They are all a quick drive up Rt. 1 in Camden. This streets of this picturesque coastal town are simply a stone’s throw away from all that Maine has to offer, and today that’s an amazing hike. Today’s plan is a packed one. My advice: Get an early start on the day and try to hit everything.

Nice photos from Camden in this blog.

Lakes, Islands, Mountains, Moosehead | Maine magazine

The ancient mountains and cliffs above Moosehead are tempting us. How do we get closer? For starters, we’ll need a motorboat and a floatplane.

Nearly 70 years old, the old bird just doesn’t want to start when it’s this hot outside.Pilot John Willard explains the situation while we sit behind him in the narrow cockpit of his 1947 Piper floatplane.

The engine isn’t turning after two, three, and four tries. Hot is a relative term—it’s mid-70s at most on this early summer evening—but this is northern Maine. Earlier, on the drive up Route 15, we’d stopped for a cone of maple-nut ice cream at a take-out, and I heard another customer complaining of the day’s “oppressive” temperatures. Willard admits he’s no fan of steamy weather himself. (Much of the year, this is snowmobile territory, and sleds fly across the frozen-solid lake.)

Read more of this nice travel piece on Moosehead Lake by Sandy Lang with photography by Peter Frank Edwards in the September 2914 issue of Maine magazine.