Town Office will be closed Sept. 19 from 8 a.m. – 1 p.m. for mandatory motor vehicle training, but will be open from 3-6  p.m. that day.

For those of you who are suspicious, this is one of the days each year set aside for you – Friday the 13th.

Friday the 13th has long been considered a harbinger of bad luck – just like walking under a ladder, crossing the path of a black cat or breaking a mirror. Many people hold fast to the belief that Friday the 13th brings “bad luck”. Though it’s uncertain when exactly this particular tradition began, negative superstitions have swirled around the number 13 for centuries. The following is one of the more popular.

Dan Brown’s 2003 novel “The Da Vinci Code” helped “popularize the incorrect claim that the superstition originated with the arrests of hundreds of members of the Knights Templar. The Knights Templar were founded in 1118 as a monastic military order, devoted to the protection of pilgrims traveling to the Holy Land following the Christian capture of Jerusalem during the First Crusade.

The Knights Templar quickly became one of the richest and most influential groups of the Middle Ages, thanks to lavish donations from the crown heads of Europe eager to curry favor with the fierce Knights. By the turn of the fourteenth century the Templars had established a system of castles, churches, and banks throughout western Europe. It was this astonishing wealth that would lead to their downfall which was in the early morning hours of Friday, Oct. 13, 1307.

Tuesday night, Sept. 10, the Select Board met and one of the topics was a clarification of the Rec Committee’s responsibilities to the selectmen and the town. They are now a municipal committee reporting to the Select Board, as opposed to a separate entity of the U of M Extension and reporting to that group.

This now “town” committee must get permission for what they want to do, by bringing their planned projects before the Select Board, for the board’s approval of any projects. Keeping the Select Board aware of what they have planned, they basically are part of town government now rather than a separate entity of the U of M Extension group. This is a new set of rules which they will have to adjust to, but basically, I think it is just a different procedure.

There was a rather lengthy presentation by one of the select people. The information for the few of us in attendance leaves the possibility of mis-clarification when those in attendance speak with others who weren’t at the meeting, in my opinion.

The valuable information gathered should be established as a policy of the board, being referred to in other related matters in the future. This is a policy issue and should be discussed among the board, and not the few members of the general public who attended the meeting and the board, who possibly heard it for the first time as well. I will clarify some this information hopefully before my next article and pass it on to you.

The pot luck supper followed by games, square and contra dances that was canceled last month due to everyone’s busy schedule was rescheduled to Wednesday, Sept. 28. The supper will begin at 5:30 p.m. at the Town Hall. Bring a dish – casserole, salad or dessert to “share”, your plate/eating utensils/drink and enjoy the smorgasbord before the dance which is from 6:30-8:30 p.m.