If Maine voters approve a referendum next fall allowing video gambling and slot machines at horse tracks – a combination that has come to be known as “racinos” – Scarborough Downs has asked town officials to allow at least a limited version in Scarborough.

But town councilors say they have no interest in reaching a compromise on the video gambling ban they enacted last year, with one saying he will take the issue to court if it comes to that.

The council created a ban on video gambling and slot machines in the business district last year, a zone including Scarborough Downs and most of Route 1. Since then supporters of slot and video gambling at the Bangor Raceway have collected enough signatures to place the issue on the statewide ballot this November.

Scarborough Downs is hosting the premier flower show for Maine this March and town councilors are hoping this is a harbinger of things to come at the racetrack.

This is the first year the event called, People, Places & Plants Spring Flower and Garden Show – formerly known as the Portland Flower Show – will be held at Scarborough Downs.

Show organizers are already calling it the largest flower show in Maine history. A 65,000-square-foot bubble tent will be set up to house a total of 25 landscape exhibits along with many other events.

School officials expect that between 10 and 15 percent of the present eighth-grade class, as many as 22 students, will not graduate from high school without additional help to get them over the bar of stricter requirements set by the state and federal governments.

In a School Board workshop Tuesday, Superintendent Tom Forcella told the board that the Maine Learning Results and the federal No Child Left Behind Act will prevent students from graduating if they do not meet local assessment standards now under development.

The numbers are estimates, and are based on present Maine Educational Assessment tests, which are one indication of how well a student meets the Maine Learning Results. Sever- al eighth-graders do not meet standards in math or language arts.

“We have some kids – especially this group in mathematics and language arts – who are not going to make it,” Forcella said.

Cape Elizabeth school Board members will put off the renovation of Cape Elizabeth High School for a year if they can strike a deal with the Town Council to approve an expan- sion to the Pond Cove School.

As part of the deal, the board would like authorization to spend $200,000 for immediate repair work at the high school, including putting a new roof over the gymnasium.

The decision to delay the high school project was in response to pressure from the Town Council to keep costs down and the immediate need for additional space at Pond Cove for the kindergarten.

The high school renovation is estimated to cost $7.5 million. The Pond Cove expansion, to provide room for the kindergarten and move it out of the high school, is expected to cost $1.5 million.

David Hunt of Scarborough has taken over an airplane, invaded a day care center, poisoned a town’s water supply and even staged a riot. But rather than staking out his house, law enforcement officials around the country and across the world are willing to pay him for his services.

He also offers his advice on fighting terrorism, though he knows his views are likely to be controversial.

Not only does he advocate going after terrorists around the world and killing them, rather than arresting them, but Hunt also says the federal government isn’t doing enough to actually fight terrorism, prefer- ring to posture and reorganize instead of tackling the problems.

Hunt is a former Army colonel who served for nearly 30 years, much of it in the Special Forces. He served in “everything from Vietnam to Bosnia,” including covert operations in several Middle Eastern countries, according to a recent GQ article.

“I hate when he writes that,” Hunt said, looking at an article by reporter Bob Drury in which a detailed account of Hunt’s dangerous service record is given, including stints in Iran and Iraq. He didn’t serve during the Gulf War, though, as he was stationed in Korea at the time.

Now retired and in security consulting, governments and companies ask Hunt to bring his security know-how to work for them, helping them figure out how to avoid terrorism, industrial espionage and regular criminals.

“It’s private industry and governments,” who need help with “everything from their intelligence services, training, security,” Hunt said. His company, D.A.R. Inc., from his first initial and those of his wife and son, has offices in Scarborough and Montreal.

He also trains the Scarbor-ough Police Department’s Special Response Team, as well as other police SWAT teams around the country from time to time.

Despite what Cape Elizabeth Town Manager Mike McGovern is calling a “dim outlook” for next year’s budget, town councilors are continuing to look at uses for a vacant lot just north of Town Hall.

The council has enlisted the services of architect and landscaper, John Mitchell, to come up with proposals and met earlier this month to review four of his suggestions.

Mitchell’s first proposal included a highly developed town park with curving walkways, a treed esplanade along Ocean House Road and an open lawn area surrounded with trellises. A second less developed town park proposal with a miniature arboretum, a formal entrance and seating area off Ocean House Road and possibly a fountain, a gazebo and a picnic area also was shown.

The Oak Hill Players of Scarborough High School are presenting “A Day in Hollywood / A Night in the Ukraine,” a musical comedy created by Dick Vosburgh and Frank Lazarus under the direction of Cheryl Greeley and Charles Grindle. A cast of 23 Scarborough High School students presents this Tony award-winning show as a musical double feature.

KeyBank recently recognized Jim Gove of Scarborough with a Maine Achievers Award, honoring his efforts above and beyond what is expected. He is a business sales manager in Key’s business bank- ing department.

Seth Jackson, right, and Emma Dvorozniak play with sand and shells in the sandbox at Our School in Scarborough in this photo from the issue of Jan. 30, 2003. The school was celebrating “Summer in January” day on one of the coldest days of the year. Staff turned the heat up in the room, everyone wore summer clothes and kids played in a small wading pool. The kids also had Popsicles for snack and wore sunscreen all day.