By Gail Geraghty

Staff Writer

Bridgton Board of Selectmen voted Tuesday to dedicate the annual Town Report to Eula Shorey, longtime managing editor of The Bridgton News. The vote came following an hour-long executive session that also included discussion of a land proposal off Kennard Street, with no other details made public.

Shorey died Nov. 15, 2011, at age 97. She had been a journalist for over 75 years, of which over 30 were spent as managing editor of the News. She moved to Bridgton in 1952 with her husband Henry A. Shorey after the death of Henry’s father, H.A. Shorey, to take over management of the family newspaper, which was purchased several months ago by longtime editor Wayne Rivet.

Shorey earned many awards and honors for her service as a journalist in Maine and to the Bridgton community. She edited The Bridgton History, 1768-1968, and was founding member, president and trustee of the Bridgton Historical Society, and also very involved with the Bridgton Hospital Guild, the Bridgton Public Library and the Bridgton Arts and Crafts Society.

Road trip to see wastewater

In other action at Tuesday’s meeting:

Bridgton Selectmen Doug Taft and Bob McHatton will carpool with members of the Wastewater Committee to Rangeley soon to tour its Chick Hill Pollution Control Facility, with an eye toward possibly using its innovative technology to expand the capacity of the downtown sewer system.

Wastewater Committee member Glen “Bear” Zaidman has sparked particular interest in the Chick Hill plant’s aerated treatment lagoons, which allows effluent to be sprayed on land and used for snowmaking. According to their website, the Rangeley snowmaking system as constructed can convert approximately 250 gallons per minute of effluent into snow using any combination of the seven snow guns. The system was designed by Wright-Pierce Engineering, the same firm that Bridgton has hired to oversee ongoing improvements to its system.

The Wastewater Committee has recommended that the town begin looking for available land to expand the downtown sewer system, which has reached maximum capacity at its lower septic field. Without expansion, redevelopment possibilities are limited along Main Street.

The board also agreed to reallocate $1,983 in Community Development Block Grant Funds to the Bridgton Fuel Collaborative, operated by the Bridgton Community Center. There are currently little funds remaining in the fuel collaborative’s account, and the assistance was seen as an appropriate way to use the undesignated CDBG funds.