Wiscasset High School no longer has the Redskin mascot, but the town will now have a Redskin’s Drive. In a split decision, selectmen on August 19 granted homeowners’ request for the name of the private road off Bradford Road.

Selectmen’s Chairman Pam Dunning opposed the name, saying it could reopen an old controversy for the town. The school mascot changed to the wolverine after Wiscasset joined Regional School Unit 12. Some residents have stated publicly that that the removal of the longtime Redskin mascot was one of the reasons the town left the district.

Town Manager Marian Anderson mentioned that another name on the homeowners’ list of choices, Winchester Drive, was not similar to other road names, including roads in nearby towns.

“What’s wrong with Redskin’s Drive,” Selectmen’s Vice Chairman Ben Rines Jr. asked.

“I have no opinion on that,” Anderson said.

Rines made the motion to go with Redskin’s Drive, number one on the list of names the road’s residents asked the town to consider. He was a Redskin in Wiscasset schools for 13 years, he said.

“I graduated a Redskin, and I will always be a Redskin,” Rines said. Fellow board member Bill Barnes seconded the motion, sending it to a vote.

Dunning reiterated the name did not have her support. It’s offensive to some people, she said.

“They consider it very bigoted.”

Rines, Barnes and Selectman Tim Merry voted for the name; Dunning, against it. Selectman Jeff Slack abstained.

When Ashley Gagnon heard the results later Tuesday night, she said, “Yay,” adding that she was happy the town was willing to give that name to the road she and boyfriend Jeff Fortier live on.

Gagnon, a 2002 WHS graduate, said the request for the name Redskin’s Drive was about showing pride for the school and town.

“We should be proud,” she said.

Gagnon was a basketball cheerleader and a manager for boys’ cross country and track and field when she went to WHS. Now that Wiscasset has left RSU 12, she hopes the town will decide to restore the Redskin as the high school’s mascot.

She has Native American ancestry and doesn’t consider Redskin an offensive word, she said.

Asked if she was surprised that the board agreed to the name, she said: “I am a little. It’s a very touchy kind of a name.” Spelling it Redskin’s Drive rather than Redskins Drive was meant to help avoid controversy. It means someone who lives there was a Redskin when that was the mascot, Gagnon said.

In addition to Redskin’s Drive and Winchester Drive, other options on the list selectmen reviewed were Shot Gun Alley, Black-Widow Lane and Remington Drive.

Talking taxes

Selectmen followed Anderson’s advice Tuesday night and held off on any decision about how much of the town’s fund balance to use to offset taxes. She and Dunning noted that there are still unknowns, including the town’s valuation for this year. The estimates selectmen received on what the tax rate would be, based on the fund balance being tapped for as little as last year’s $125,000, to as much as $400,000 are very preliminary, Anderson cautioned. This year’s spending bump stems largely from the first year’s budget for the new school department.

Those early estimates have a $125,000 tap of the fund balance yielding a 9.3 percent property tax hike. An increase that high is unacceptable, Rines said.

“We’ve got to come up with something that’s lower than that,” he said.

“With your help, we will do that,” Anderson said.

The same set of estimates has a $400,000, fund balance tap yielding a 5.5 percent tax hike.

“I as a manager would never propose you take $400,000 out of the fund balance,” Anderson told board members. Plans call for selectmen to set this year’s tax rate on September 16.