Contributed photo/Sarah Berthiaume
DEBT FREE – Houlton’s Shiretown Baptist Church held a mortgage burning Dec. 14 to celebrate being entirely debt free. Less than two years ago, the church purchased the former Clyde Hiltz mobile home and acre of property adjacent to the high school. The note is now paid in full and the property is being utilized for Sunday School classes, Wednesday night youth meetings and also as an apartment for visiting missionaries and preachers. Here, Pastor James Gardner, center, burns the mortgage paper with help from members, from left, Paul MacIlroy and Mark Nightingale.