UMaine loggers roll on

ORONO – For the third time in the last four years, a University of Maine student is the National Collegiate Game of Logging champion. Josh Bubier, a junior in forestry from Monmouth, won the competition Oct. 18 at Penn State University’s Mont Alto campus.

Bubier’s teammate, John Fogarty of Old Town, finished third in the competition, which focuses on safe and exacting chain-saw techniques used in timber harvesting.

Bubier and Fogarty stood first and second respectively after a series of arena events that determine 10 finalists who then felled a tree to complete the competition.

UMaine forests office staff members Francis and Robin Avery trained the students, who work in the UMaine forests, and Francis Avery accompanied them to the competition.

Fifteen competitors from eight colleges attended the 11th annual national finals. Maine has had six first-place finishes in that time, and 15 of 21 UMaine competitors have finished in the top five.

Bubier and Fogarty harvest timber and perform other activities on the 15,000 acres of forestland owned by UMaine and University of Maine Foundation.

Basketball clinics

BANGOR – The Bangor YMCA, 127 Hammond St., will hold a free basketball clinic for children ages 4 through middle school Saturday, Nov. 1. The boys skills clinic will be 9-11 a.m. with Coach John Giannini and players from the University of Maine Black Bears men’s basketball team.

The girls skills clinic will be 1-2:30 p.m. with Coach Tara Morrison and players from the UMaine Black Bears women’s basketball team.

The clinics are free and open to the public. Each participant will receive a free ticket to the UMaine Black Bears Blue-White game Sunday Nov. 2.

Those who wish to participate should drop in at the Bangor YMCA at the time of the clinic. No preregistration is required. NCAA regulations make high school players ineligible to participate.

For more information, call Lance Cote or Joelene Snelling of the YMCA recreational sports department at 941-2815.