Town posts info

on West Nile virus

The town of Gorham has posted information on its website about West Nile virus after being notified last week that a mosquito pool in town tested positive for the disease.

“We want to make reliable information available to folks,” Gorham Town Manager David Cole said this week.

The town’s site, www.Gorham-me.org, includes preventative measures and links to the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention for updates about the disease in the state.

West Nile virus is transmitted through the bite of an infected mosquito. It can cause serious illness in humans, large animals like horses and some species of birds. It can also cause meningitis/encephalitis, according to information posted on the agency’s website.

In September of 2009, the state reported a horse in Gorham had been euthanized after being stricken with Eastern Equine Encephalitis, a disease carried by birds and transmitted by mosquitoes.

Maine Center for Disease Control can be reached at 1-800-821-5821.

Library program

on wheels

Gorham child care providers can request a visit from the librarian at North Gorham Public Library twice a month on Thursday mornings.

The 45-minute program of stories and a craft activity is designed for children aged 3 to 6. “To be eligible for this free program, you must be a Gorham resident, have between four and seven children, and be within approximately five miles of the library,” Library Director Kathy Corbett announced.

Children under 3 years old and their caregivers are invited to the library at the corner of Standish Neck and North Gorham roads every Wednesday at 10 a.m. beginning Sept.12. The half-hour program includes stories and activities.

For more information, call 892-2575 or email the library [email protected]

Thompson attends New York conference

A local high school student is back home after participating in a national career exploration camp for deaf and hard-of-hearing students at Rochester Institute of Technology. More than 200 students from as far away as Hawaii participated.

Fangen Thompson of Gorham will be a 12th-grade student at Arizona School for the Deaf and Blind this fall.

Thompson recently attended Explore Your Future, a six-day career exploration camp at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf on the Rochester Institute of Technology campus in Rochester, N.Y. Campers got a taste of possible careers in computer art design, lab science technology, business, computing, engineering and health care.

To see a video about the camp, go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uT_Hu_enCN4.

Grads continue education

Gorham School Department figures show that 86 percent of the 2012 high school graduates are continuing their education at either four-year or two-year colleges.

USM one of ‘best’

The University of Southern Maine is one of the best colleges in the Northeast, according to the nationally known education services company The Princeton Review.

“We’re pleased to recommend the University of Southern Maine to users of our site as one of the best schools to earn their undergrad degree,” reported Robert Franek, Princeton Review’s publisher. “We chose it and the other terrific institutions we name as ‘regional best’ colleges mainly for their excellent academic programs. From several hundred schools in each region, we winnowed our list based on institutional data we collected directly from the schools, our visits to schools over the years, and the opinions of our staff, plus college counselors and advisors whose recommendations we invite.”

The Princeton Review also took into account what students at the schools reported about their campus experiences at them on our 80-question student survey for the project. Only schools that permit it to independently survey their students are eligible to be considered for the regional ‘best’ lists.’

Founded in 1981, The Princeton Review (www.PrincetonReview.com) is a privately held education services company headquartered in Framingham, Mass.

U.S. taxpayer debt

The Bureau of Public Debt reported on Aug. 23 that the U.S. public debt was $15,976,519,029,144.14.