Bangor Daily News

Coast Guard Evacuates 41 After Schooner Runs Aground

BANGOR - A crew from the U.S. Coast Guard station in Eastport evacuated 41 passengers from a schooner Monday evening after the vessel ran aground south of Indian Island in Passamaquoddy Bay. The Coast Guard received a radio call at about 6:30 p.m. reporting the 84-foot vessel Sylvina W. Beal "hard aground and in need of assistance," according to a press release issued by the Coast Guard at about 10 p.m. Monday.

School Union Plans Ok'd State Approaches the Halfway Point

AUGUSTA - The Department of Education is approaching the halfway point in its quest to reduce the number of school districts in the state. As of last week, the number of students in communities with an approved school consolidation plan was nearing 80,000, a figure just over 40 percent of the number of publicly supported students in the state. The school reorganization law calls for reducing the number of school districts from 290 to a maximum of 80.

Recreational Planners Hope Former Rail Line From Pembroke to Hancock Will Become a Trail to Prosperity

WHITNEYVILLE - Bill Ceckler was over the moon. The vice president of the Sunrise Trail Coalition joined a small group in this Washington County town on Monday, where contractors began removing deteriorated railroad ties and tracks to make room for a multiuse trail system.

Harrington Man Sentenced in Crash That Killed Wife

MACHIAS - A 30-year-old Harrington man was sentenced Monday in Washington County Superior Court in connection with the death of his wife who was killed when the car he was driving rolled over and she was thrown from the vehicle. Scott Strout pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of intoxicants involving injury and death, and was sentenced by Justice E. Allen Hunter to 364 days in jail with all but six months suspended and one year of pro...

Schools

Piscataquis Community High School, Guilford Fourth quarter honor roll

Bangor Eyes Tighter Methadone Clinic Limits

BANGOR - Members of the city's community advisory committee on methadone clinics grappled Monday with a proposal to place limitations on the clinics. City officials are frustrated by the state's lack of leadership with regard to where methadone clinics are permitted to set up shop. Though the state has a lengthy and detailed certificate of need process for hospitals and many of the services they provide, there are no such procedures in place when it comes to locating methadone clinics.

Piscataquis Chamber Honors 2 Businesses

DOVER-FOXCROFT - Pleasant River Lumber Co. and Nor'easter Restaurant were honored recently by the Piscataquis Chamber of Commerce. Pleasant River Lumber Co., which was named the 2008 Business of the Year, was purchased in June 2004 by Jason, Chris, Luke, Guy and Adrian Brochu, along with Rodney Irish and Moe Bisson.

Bangor Residents Decry Assessment Hike

BANGOR - About a dozen residents of Bangor Gardens attended Monday night's City Council meeting to sound off about what they see as an unfair rise in property valuations, an increase they say will result in higher property tax bills in a neighborhood with a high concentration of elderly people and families of modest means. Resident Wynn Dwelley said the roughly 10 percent valuation increase proposed for Bangor Gardens should be spread around the city to minimize the impact on individual house...

Red Cross Offers a Pound for a Pint

BANGOR - To celebrate lifesaving blood donors, Dunkin' Donuts is offering a coupon for a free pound of coffee to all presenting blood donors during the week of June 23 at the American Red Cross Bangor donor center. Donate blood from 11 a.m. until 6 p.m. through Thursday or from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., and you will leave with a pound of Dunkin' Donuts coffee.

Somerset County Gop to Meet June 26

SKOWHEGAN - The Somerset County Republican Committee will meet at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, June 26, at Steeve's Strawberry Hill Sugar Shack on 163 Rowe Road. Social hour is 5:30 p.m., the chicken barbecue is at 6:30 p.m., and the business meeting and election of officers is at 7 p.m.

Book Club to Ponder Thomas Paine Works

DEXTER- "These are the times that try men's souls." So said Thomas Paine in his epic essay "The Crisis," on Dec. 23, 1776. The works by Paine will be the topic of the Abbott Memorial Library's book club meeting at 6 p.m. June 25.

Brownville Jct. Supper to Benefit Ailing Girl

BROWNVILLE - A benefit spaghetti supper for Alexis Coover will be held 4-6 p.m. Saturday, June 28, at the Alumni Building in Brownville Junction. Alexis is a fifth-grade pupil at Brownville Elementary School who is battling leukemia. The community hopes to help defray some of the expenses of her treatment.

Greenville Gets Grant for Tree Plantings

GREENVILLE - The Maine Forest Service through its Project Canopy Assistance Program awarded Greenville an $8,000 grant for tree planting and maintenance. The grant, which was developed with the assistance of the Piscataquis County Economic Development Council, will be used to enhance the Greenville Junction Wharf.

Fundraisers to Aid Former E. Millinocket Man

Former East Millinocket resident, Old Orchard Beach firefighter and current Virginia resident 27-year-old Andy Turcotte is being treated for a rare form of spinal cancer, and friends back home are try to help him. The On Fire for Andy Committee is working to raise money to complement two events that will benefit the young man who is the son of Dennis and Patti Turcotte of East Millinocket and Milan, N.H.

Former Tannery Building to Be Razed for Fish Bypass

HOWLAND - The former Howland Tannery building on the Penobscot River will be razed to make way for a fish bypass, but not for a few years, project advocates said Monday. The Penobscot River Restoration Trust is preparing to apply for permits to raze the decrepit structure, but the permitting process likely won't be completed until 2010 or 2011, said John Banks, an executive committee member of that organization.

Dad of Slain Mainer Angered by Insurance Payout

LEE - A town man trying to wrest control of his grandson from the parents of the Texas woman who murdered his son believes the crime occurred so she could collect a $500,000 life insurance policy. In a motion for a new civil-court custody trial that attorney Thomas M. Goff released Friday, Les Severance of Lee expresses dismay that the parents of convicted murderer Wendi Mae Davidson receive more than $2,000 monthly from an Air Force death benefit and Social Security to care for 3-year-old Sh...

Crescent Lumber Founder Dies at 83

BANGOR - Calvin L. Jolley, longtime resident of Greater Bangor and a local businessman for more than 40 years, died June 18 in Mount Dora, Fla. at age 83. Born June 29, 1924, in Waterloo, Quebec, he immigrated to Bangor, after returning from Europe at the end of World War II in 1946. Here he joined his uncle Bruce McDonald in the lumber business. He married Pauline E. Blethen in 1947.

Top Spots Filled On Maine Education Board

AUGUSTA - A retired teacher and a former superintendent will take on the No. 1 and No. 2 spots on the State Board of Education on July 1. Ann Weisleder and Connie Goldman were elected during the board's June meeting. Weisleder takes over for Jim Carignan, who served as board chair for four years. She is a retired teacher who previously lived and worked in Corinth and SAD 64. She now serves the board as chair of the Certification and Higher Education Committee. She is also a board member of Pe...

Courts

Washington County Superior Court Cases May 23-June 23

Feds Study Owls Head Plane Wreckage

OWLS HEAD - Aviation officials Monday examined the wreckage of the light plane that crashed in 3 feet of water near Crockett's Beach on Saturday morning. The officials then turned the plane over to the insurance company Monday.