Areawide

Head Start openings

Penquis CAP is accepting applications for its child care programs. Head Start and Child Care services are available for children ages 6 weeks to 5 years. Before and after achool care is available for children ages 5-8 years.

Children are provided developmentally appropriate classroom activities to increase skills in learning, thinking and doing, social interactions, large and small muscle development, and daily health and nutrition routines. With permission from parents, Penquis CAP Head Start and Child Care centers offer health screenings for vision, hearing, speech, language and growth measurements. Meals and snacks are provided to the children at no extra cost to families.

Penquis CAP Child Development is designated a “Quality Program” by the Federal Head Start Program and the National Association for the Education of Young Children. The “Quality Program” designation allows families of enrolled children to receive a double tax credit for the state of Maine income tax child care credit.

Full-day, full-year care is available at centers in Bangor, East Millinocket, Exeter, Dexter and Old Town. Part-day, part-year care – September to May – is available in Bangor, Brewer, Dexter, Dover-Foxcroft, East Millinocket, Exeter, Howland, Lee, Lincoln, Milo, Newburgh, Newport, Old Town and Parkman. Before- and after-school care is available in Dexter and Exeter.

Child care subsidies are available to eligible families on a sliding scale. For more information, call 973-3567 or 800-215-4942 or visit the center nearest you.

Training and advising

Maine Centers for Women, Work and Community has received a $20,000 grant from the Ameriprise Financial Community Relations Program to offer its Creating Your Future training and advising program in five regions of Maine.

The 30-hour course combines career and education planning with financial literacy training. As part of the program, participants develop lifelong learning plans that focus on gaining economic security for themselves and their families. The training is offered free of charge to participants, who are often dislocated, unemployed or low-wage workers in a work-to-life transition.

Gilda Nardone, executive director of Maine Centers for Women, Work and Community, said, “Creating Your Future is a unique program in its comprehensive and realistic approach to giving adults the support and tools they need to succeed in the Maine economy. We are thrilled that support from Ameriprise Financial will help us to meet our mission of reaching more adults in transition throughout the state.”

Joel Davis, a senior Ameriprise financial adviser in Augusta, said, “I have a longstanding relationship with the work of Women, Work and Community, and I am excited about this partnership.”

Maine Centers for Women, Work and Community is a statewide education and training organization committed to helping women succeed in the Maine economy and achieve economic success for themselves and their families. For 28 years, it has provided comprehensive programs to advance women’s economic status through access to education, livable wage jobs, self-employment, asset development and civic leadership.

Bangor

Graffiti cleanup

Keep Bangor Beautiful is recruiting volunteers for a citywide graffiti cleanup 8:30 a.m.-noon Saturday, July 21. To volunteer, call 990-1201 or e-mail

bangorbeautiful@bgrme.org.

Keep Bangor Beautiful, a local affiliate of Keep America Beautiful, met July 12 with Bangor building and business owners to discuss what could be done to curb the incidence of graffiti.

Katherine Guerin, executive director of Keep Bangor Beautiful, gave a presentation about graffiti, what it is, who is likely doing it and what the business community can do to combat it. Guerin has been removing graffiti as her time permits during the last year. In her talk she gave advice about how to eradicate graffiti and restore surfaces that have been subject to graffiti.

Common targets for graffiti in Bangor are electrical transformer boxes at intersections, traffic signs, retaining walls, statues, fountains and public and private buildings.

Mystery writer

L.C. Hayden, an El Paso, Texas, mystery writer, will visit the Bangor Public Library at 2 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 2. She will discuss her latest book, “Why Casey Had to Die,” and share insights on writing, which helped make one of her books an Edgar Award nominee and an Oprah On-Line Reading Cafe selection.

She’ll also introduce attendees to a contemporary form of treasure hunting, geo-caching, which is the subject of her latest book set in Maine.

Lending a hand

Good Shepherd Food Bank in Auburn and Brewer suffered a loss when 250 gallons of fuel was stolen from a tractor trailer diesel tank recently.

Several businesses and individuals stepped forward to help out, said Good Shepherd official JoAn Chartier, including Sam’s Club in Bangor.

Managers and associates made an immediate gift of $800 to help with fuel, and Sam’s also donated a security system with installation.

Preserving America’s history

Two hundred librarians and museum curators met recently at a special conference in Washington, D.C., to learn more about preserving America’s history. Mold, mildew, insects and extremes in temperature or humidity are the enemies of often fragile artifacts, and those who attended the National Conservation Summit learned more about how to protect books, documents, paintings and other treasures.

Bill Cook, Bangor Room historian at the Bangor Public Library, was one of several Maine conservators to attend the conference. While he shared his own concerns of history at risk here at home, as it is in communities across the nation, Cook reported on the library’s successes and received the latest advice on preservation techniques.

All libraries must meet the challenges posed by the nation’s deteriorating collections, Cook said. While technologies are available to preserve the nation’s history, funding and political will are the necessities needed to make it happen, Cook learned.

Training grant

The Penobscot County Sheriff’s Office and the Bangor Police Department again are seeking to share a $31,448 federal grant to fund training and the purchase of equipment.

The sheriff’s office will use $15,000 of the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant to purchase equipment, provide training for the Special Enforcement Team and help fund a program that helps prevent fraud against the elderly.

County Commissioners voted unanimously last week to apply for and accept the money. The county also is expected to receive an additional $1,448 to administer the grant.

Bangor police plan to spend their $15,000 share to purchase equipment and provide training for its explosive Ordnance Disposal Team, also called the bomb squad, and its Accident Reconstruction Team.

The Government Operations Committee recommended last week to the City Council that the city apply for the grant and accepting it. The council is scheduled to act on it at its July 23 meeting.

Once the council approves the proposal, the money is expected to be allocated.

Bradford

Bradford Days

The dedication, dinner and open house at the town office and community center in Bradford is set for 5 p.m. Thursday, July 19.

Bradford Days celebration will kick off on Friday, July 20, with the Bradford Volunteer Fire Department Auction at 6:30 p.m. at the new building.

Activities on Saturday, July 21, include the parade at 11 a.m. from the elementary school to the town hall; a book sale 9 a.m.-noon at the John B. Curtis Free Public Library; and museum hours 9 a.m.-1 p.m. at the library. The archives will be open until 3 p.m. that day at the library.

This summer, the archives are open during library hours, 5-7 p.m. Wednesdays and 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturdays. The museum is open by appointment, 327-1246.

Dedham

Open Farm Day

Peaked Mountain Farm, at 16 Ellery’s Lane, will join more than 100 farms around Maine in a celebration of support for local agriculture by participating in the statewide Open Farm Day 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Sunday, July 22.

Activities will include a dog-handling demonstration by Renaissance Dogs of Holden and a demonstration of the fresh packing of blueberries.

Peaked Mountain grows MOFGA-certified organic, wild, native Maine, lowbush blueberries and is the home of the Bite O’ Blue Wild Blueberry Dog Treat.

Leashed dogs with well-behaved responsible owners are welcome.

Family owned since 1868, Peaked Mountain Farm offers educational resources, scenic views, hiking opportunities and an expanding farmstand with a variety of organic and local products.

For information and directions, visit www.peakedmou

ntainfarm.com/ or call 843-6484.

Hermon

Musical theater camp

Morgan Hill Performing Arts, a nonprofit organization, announced that Nathan Halvorsen of New York City will be the artistic director for the Junior Musical Theater Camp, 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday through Friday, July 23-27. The camp is for children in kindergarten to fifth grade.

Halvorsen is in Bangor this summer as the resident director for the Penobscot Theatre. He also was accepted into the Internship Directors Program at Lincoln Center in New York City. He has worked extensively with children in the area of musical theater.

Campers will have the opportunity to sing, act and dance, and be part of a performance open to the public on Friday, July 27. For more information or to register, call 848-5083.

Orono

Planetarium shows

The University of Maine’s Jordan Planetarium will offer a variety of public shows during the summer. July will feature “The X-Tra Terrestrial Files” at 1:30 p.m. Thursdays and “Destination Pluto” at 1:30 p.m. Fridays.

“The X-Tra Terrestrial Files” gives curious viewers some possibilities and problems of the idea of alien life. “Destination Pluto” takes families on a ride through the solar system to the dwarf planet Pluto.

The planetarium’s August shows include “Hubble Vision” at 1 p.m. Wednesdays, “Worlds of Wonder” at 11 a.m. Thursdays, and “Earth’s Wild Ride” at 7 p.m. Saturdays.

Older audiences will love “Hubble Vision’s” breathtaking visuals from the Hubble telescope, while families will enjoy the solar system tour and laser show provided by “Worlds of Wonder.”

“Earth’s Wild Ride” features the Omni Dome system, allowing Earth’s dramatic history to be seen on all 360 degrees of the planetarium dome.

Admission is $3, free to University of Maine students with a MaineCard. For more information and reservations, call 581-1341 or visit www.galaxymaine.com.