Sebago Lake Rotary Ice Fishing Derby nearing

By Ed Pierce

It’s said that fishing is not just about catching fish, it’s about the journey and the memories that last a lifetime. For those looking to create some new memories and take home some cash prizes, the 24th Annual Sebago Lake Rotary Ice Fishing Derby is approaching on Saturday, Feb. 15 and Sunday Feb. 16 and everyone who enters qualifies for the 2025 Grand Prize of $5,000.

Children receive ice fishing instruction during a previous 
ice fishing derby on Sebago Lake. The 24th Annual
Sebago Lake Rotary Ice Fishing Derby will be held on
lakes throughout the region on Saturday, Feb. 15 and 
Sunday Feb. 16 with proceeds to benefit 'Feed the Need'
which supports 12 different food pantries in the area.
COURTESY PHOTO 

As Southern Maine’s Largest Ice Fishing Derby and premier outdoors family friendly event, this year’s derby promises to hold interest from start to finish and proceeds benefit “Feed the Need,” which supports 12 different food pantries across the Lakes Region and an array of other Rotary charities.

The Sebago Lake Rotary Ice Fishing Derby is held every year in February and had been organized and managed by the Sebago Lake Rotary Club since 2001.

Every togue, pike, perch and pickerel caught during this year’s derby will serve as one entry into the Rotary’s Fish Pool drawings. Each angler participates must enter their own fish at the weigh station.

The 2025 Derby Fish Pool Prizes will exceed $12,000 but not top $22,600 which is the maximum allowed by state law. All registrants, whether you decide to fish or not, will be entered for the $5,000 grand prize.

Derby organizers say the event serves as an important fisheries management tool for the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife. As such, the prize structure was developed in consultation with the MDIFW Fishery Biologist to encourage the harvesting of invasive Northern Pike in local lakes and to moderate the abundance of lake trout. The derby also provides harvesting information as part of an initiative to manage freshwater sport fishing in Sebago Lake.

Five cash prizes of $50 will be drawn from the pool of those who registered during January.

Other cash prizes include:

Most Pike Caught
1st Place: $500 Cash
2nd Place: $250 Cash
3rd Place: $100 Cash

Largest Perch
1st Place: $250
Kittery Trading Post Gift Card
2nd Place: $150
Kittery Trading Post Gift Card
3rd Place: $100
Kittery Trading Post Gift Card

Largest Pickerel
1st Place: $250
Kittery Trading Post Gift Card
2nd Place: $150
Kittery Trading Post Gift Card
3rd Place: $100
Kittery Trading Post Gift Card

Largest Togue
1st Place: $1,000 Cash
2nd Place: $500.00 Cash
3rd Place: $250.00 Cash

Derby officials say that if Sebago Lake is deemed unsafe because of ice conditions, the cash prizes for togue and pike will remain in the charitable fund.

Every fish that is weighed has a chance to win, but there are some derby stipulations:

 
Pike Prizes: Pike must be caught in Sebago Lake only. The 2025 Pike Prize is for most fish caught, not for size and weight. All pike caught must be brought to the Raymond Beach weigh station for counting and tracking. Pike rules are that there are no limits the most fish caught to win first, second or third place.

 
Perch Prizes: White or Yellow Perch in Perch Fish Category – Debry officials will weigh your top six fish, and the remaining may be donated and entered for a prize drawing.

 
Togue Prizes: Togue must be caught in Sebago Lake only. Prizes will be determined by weight and length. An additional drawing will be held for all Togue caught and donated. No bag limit for Togue under 26 inches and no minimum weight limit. Only one may equal or exceed 26 inches.

 
Fishing Limits: A limit of six fish for togue, perch and pickerel species per day will be weighed for cash prices. Remaining togue can be donated and entered for a special drawing. Only one extra ticket per togue is allowed for donated fish per day and there are no limits on donated fish.

Registrants can donate their catch which will be processed through Nova Seafood in Portland. Containers will be available at each weigh station and each fish donated qualifies to be entered in a supplemental drawing for prizes.

A total of 26 lakes and ponds in Cumberland County are eligible to be fished in the derby. Weigh station times are 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 15 and 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 16.

Entry fees are $25 for individuals, $35 for families of two adults and up to four children. Entries may be downloaded and submitted online at https://www.icefishingderby.com/derby-registration/ <

Windham Town Council approves substance prevention grants

By Ed Pierce

Members of the Windham Town Council have approved more than $6,600 in funding from the Substance Prevention Grant Program aimed at preventing students from using drugs or other dangerous substances and help them make positive choices.

Members of the Windham Town
Council have approved awarding
three grants totaling $6,600 and aimed
at preventing student substance abuse
from the town's Substance Prevention
Grant Program.
PHOTO BY ED PIERCE
  
 

During the town council meeting on Jan. 28, councilors awarded three grants to help support positive activities for RSU 14 students. Funding for the Substance Prevention Grant Program is derived from annual licensing fees collected from cannabis businesses in Windham.

Councilors awarded Windham Middle School’s Smokescreen Program a grant of $2,500. The activity is an evidence-based game to educate students about the dangers of vaping. It promotes vaping prevention, education, and assists students in making positive choices in reducing youth substance use.

Tier 1 of the program will be used for all sixth-grade students and provides a universal prevention program focusing on vaping risks and developing peer resistance skills. The Tier 2 component of the program would be available as a targeted intervention for students involved in vaping or a substance violation at school.

Windham Middle School’s Band and Orchestra was awarded a grant of $2,600 by the council from the Substance Prevention Grant Program Fund to help pay for the group’s participation in the Trills and Thrills Music Festival, a recreational event that promotes prevention, education, and positive choices in reducing youth substance use.

The Trills and Thrills Music Festival will be held June 5 and June 6 at Canobie State Park in Salem, New Hampshire. It is a competition staged by former music educators familiar with the abilities of school-aged musicians and helps to build esteem and confidence in student musicians.

Council members also awarded a grant of $1,500 to the Windham High School Student Council for Raising Student Voice and Participation training and bringing a trainer from the National Association of Student Councils to Windham to conduct leadership training for 100 WHS students. The intent of the program is to provide more opportunities for all students to be active members of the school community by learning that they can share their voices, and that real change is possible through this process.

All three of these grants that were awarded by the Windham Town Council were approved and recommended by Windham’s Substance Prevention Grant Program.

In other actions also during the meeting, Windham Town Councilors approved an annual contract with the Animal Refuge League running from July 1, 2025 to June 30, 2026 for services provided.

The rate for the contract’s renewal is based upon 2020 U.S. Census figures for the town, which recorded 18,434 residents living in Windham. The per capita rate charged by the Animal Refuge League is $1.47 per resident under the contract’s terms. The total amount of the contract is $27,098.

Maine law requires municipalities to provide shelter at a state licensed animal control shelter for strayed and lost dogs, cats, and domesticated animals that are a problem in the community and undomesticated animals that pose a threat to public health or safety, and requires that the municipality also must provide services relating to the humane disposition of said animals in the event they are not claimed by their owners. Funding obtained by the communities served by the Animal Refuge League and its shelter in Westbrook allows the organization to offer veterinary care for strays and provide adoption services for as many pets as possible into responsible and caring homes. It is an open-admission shelter, giving every pet hope for a new life.

Windham has contracted with the Animal Refuge League of Greater Portland for stray care services since 1990. Animal control services in Windham are administered by the Windham Police Department through an annual budget of $77,046 and that includes the annual salary for the town’s animal control officer, animal control uniforms, equipment and supplies, and the services provided by the shelter. <

Town of Raymond to hold special town meeting about WiFi project

By Kendra Raymond

A last-minute Board of Selectmen meeting in Raymond was conducted on Jan. 31 via ZOOM where selectmen could vote to make a warrant available for easements requested by Sebago WIFI LLC during a Special Town Meeting.

A map by Sebago Fiber shows proposed
WiFi expansion throughout Raymond. A
Special Town Meeting to approve an 
easement for Sebago Fiber will be
conducted at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 11
at the Raymond Broadcast Studio,
423 Webbs Mills Road in Raymond.
SUBMITTED PHOTO  

As it happens, an oversight regarding a Sebago WiFi project was discovered by the Town of Raymond’s attorney, and it came to light last week. However, Raymond Select Board members were able to pull together an emergency meeting and voted to approve a Special Town Meeting Warrant authorizing a Special Town Meeting.

Raymond Town Manager Sue Look explained the oversight details prompting the meeting.

“In talking to our attorney about the Broadband Contract, I found that the Select Board does not have the authority to grant the easement needed to allow Sebago Fiber to build the proposed building on the Public Safety property for the broadband project, only (a) Town Meeting can do that,” she said.

The Special Town Meeting Warrant was approved with the required votes of at least three select board members. There was no opposition.

Look said this will allow for the Special Town Meeting to be called so it can be voted on by residents. The town is hoping to move forward with the project, so the broadband installation doesn’t get held up.

The Special Town Meeting Warrant stipulates:

Article 2 : To see if the Town will vote to authorize the Select Board to grant to Sebago Fiber & WIFI LLC a perpetual easement over and under a portion of Town-owned property identified as Tax Assessor’s Map 04 Lot 106A support the installation of a fiber optic network ring connecting all municipal buildings and public safety radio towers and for the purpose of erecting, installing and maintaining:

1. A structure of approximately 400 sure feet to be used as a central office,

2. Two new utility poles and underground conduit, and

3. Solar panels

“The easement will allow broadband with a fiber ring to the whole town, eventually,” Look said. “The next steps are developing the wording of the easement and drawing the proposed easement. It will be available for residents to buy, and I think it will be much better.”

The easement will allow construction of a small solar-powered building which will support the broadband ring. The new structure will be located on the town’s Public Safety property.

The Special Town Meeting Warrant voting to approve the easement will be held at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 11, at the Raymond Broadcast Studio, located at 423 Webbs Mills Road in Raymond. The meeting is open to the public.

Sebago Fiber is owned by Andrew Davis and has been in business since 2021. Its team includes workers covering engineering, support, billing, customer service and field service technicians.

“We build our systems for reliability,” Davis said. “Light traveling over fiber does not have the limits of copper telephone or cable networks. Fiber is not susceptible to every power fluctuation in a storm causing power surges down the lines and frying the cable modem. We build our systems with reliable backup battery and generator power.”

To learn more about Sebago WIFI and take the survey visit: https://www.sebagofiber.net/lake

For updates about the Town’s approval process, visit: https://www.raymondmaine.org/ <