Stonington
Two write-in candidates seek selectman’s seat

by David Walsh
Voters will go to the polls Monday, March 1, prior to the annual town meeting to elect a new selectman, three Sanitary District board members and two CSD school board members (see separate story). The polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 12 p.m. on the second floor of Stonington town hall.

To cast a vote for one of the write-in candidates, voters must write in the candidate’s name and check the box next to it.

Selectman candidates

Donna Brewer is running as a write-in candidate for the board of selectmen. She said when she realized that John Robbins was not running for reelection she thought about running and then a lot of people asked her to run. When she learned that no one had taken out papers for the office she decided to seek the seat as a write-in candidate.

Among of her reasons for running, she said, are that “I would like to see more economic development to provide for steady jobs. I want to keep the waterfront viable for fishermen. I am a native and I want to see things stay as they are, but with more prosperity. I don’t want the dynamics of the change. That is very important to me.”

Brewer is the proprietor of Donna’s Upholstery and Caning, a local business she has run for 10 years, and she is a former business partner with her husband Marsden when they ran Bandit and the Bitch Seafood for seven years. “I was the bookkeeper, dock worker, and Girl Friday,” she said. She said she has held many jobs in the community over the years and the list was too long to itemize.

As a business owner, she brings that experience to the board of selectmen with her. “I feel we should try to keep the budget as under control as we can.” Since making her decision to seek the office, she said has been attending the selectmen’s meetings during the past month and “trying to take it all in.”

Brewer is a native of Stonington and married to Marsden Brewer, a local fisherman and businessman, who has been a Stonington selectman. They have four children and eight grandchildren. She is a native of Stonington and graduated from Stonington High School in 1971. She is also a former school board member and has served as president of the Island’s Fishermen’s Wives Association.

Adelbert Gross is also a write-in candidate for the seat vacated by John Robbins. He served as a selectman for the town for nine years during the 1990s.

“The one reason I decided to run this time,” he said, “had to do with a talk I had with Steve York who is running for the school board. He said there was a 50-percent dropout rate in our schools. I find that alarming. It is unacceptable. We need to demand more for the dollar.”

Gross said the town’s budget is more than a million dollars a year and the school budget was even higher. Changes need to be made, he said.

While the dropout rate greatly concerns Gross, he is also concerned with state regulation of the fisheries industry. He believes that if the state doesn’t cut back on such things as establishing trap limits, more fishermen are going to be forced to lay off sternmen and other help and there will be more jobs lost in the community. He said if over regulation isn’t stopped, Stonington could end up like Prospect Harbor, which has just lost 130 jobs with the closing of the last sardine cannery in Maine.

Gross said right now 250 to 260 boats fish out of this area. More men will be coming ashore if fisheries regulations are not controlled.

Gross said he is also concerned with coastal development and developers putting millions of dollars in shore properties. It is just a matter of time before that will affect all business on Main Street. As to being a working waterfront, he said, very few fishermen are not able to even own access to the shore. He said there is a need to keep the town’s lobster industry alive, because the town cannot rely on tourism, which is just seasonal. “We need to preserve our heritage, but right now that is a hard row to hoe.”

In addition to having been involved in the seafood industry, Gross said he has many friends and relatives involved in lobstering and boat-related industries.

The fishing industry and the school dropout problem, he said, were his two main concerns. “Things just need some tweaking,” he said and he is ready for the job. “I’ve been there. I’ve done that.”

Gross is a native of Stonington and owner of Harbor Café on Main Street, which he bought from his niece 12 to 14 years ago. He serves with the Stonington Fire Department where he holds the rank of assistant fire chief.

Gross declined to be photographed for this story.

Sanitary District trustees

Heather Mathews of Stonington is seeking election to another three-year at-large term on the Stonington Sanitary District board. Mathews is the only candidate on the ballot, having taken out her nomination papers earlier this year.

Mathews said she has served on the board because of the strong effect the sanitary district board has on the community and because of the big effect it has on the quality of life in Stonington.

She said she was originally urged by board member Gay Atkinson to run for office. She said she didn’t know that much about the work of the board, but since she was living in the downtown area where the sanitary district is located she said that what she began to learn was far more interesting than what she expected. She said she began to learn of causes for local flooding and the importance of the work of the board in keeping the harbor safe and clean.

Mathews said if it wasn’t for the state acceptance of the system now being operated, it would cost the residents of Stonington millions of dollars to replace it. “What we do keeps us with this system,” she said.

She said she feels another plus for the board is the diversity of resident volunteers serving with expertise in specialty areas including legal matters, engineering, blueprint reading, business matters and other supplemental services.

The district, she said, operates a small treatment plant, but it can’t handle all of the sewage generated, so the board arranges for some of the solid waste to be taken off the island where it is taken to another sewage treatment plant to be processed.

Mathews is married to Jeremiah Savage, and they have one son. She currently is employed as a bartender at Arborvine in Blue Hill. She attended college for six years, but has yet to acquire a degree because her interests kept changing, she said. Her primary interests have been in the study of choral music and percussion.

Elisabeth (Lisa) Glover is a write-in candidate for the three-year in-district seat on the Sanitary District board.

She decided to run for a seat on the Sanitation Board because she was urged to run by her friend Gay Atkinson who was able to finally wear her down, she said.

Although she has no background in the sanitation field, Glover said she brings her managerial and business background skills to the job. She said she would like to be able assist in investigating issues so the board could make more informed decisions.

Glover feels the board needs to be more fully involved in all the issues involved in all the areas of town where the sewers and water supply services are available. She believes that at least one person on the board should be intimately involved with each area of the district in order to make better decisions.

What are the issues?

She replied that since she has never served on the board before, “not there yet,” she doesn’t know.”

However, in developing her managerial skills, she has learned to be open to suggestions and new ideas. “I don’t discount items that I don’t immediately agree with and I do like to research problems.”

Referring to the job she is seeking she said, “I haven’t done it yet, but I am willing to learn.”

“I am from Oklahoma,’’ she said during a recent interview, “but my ancestors settled here. One by one we’ve been moving back up here.” She is currently the manager of the Stonington Smoke House, a position she has held since January.

No one has declared for the remaining open seat on the Sanitary District board, held by Ben Jeffries, a one-year in district term.

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