HERMON – Jon Austin of Otis won both Saturday and Sunday’s Late Model Sportsman features at Speedway 95. Saturday, Austin outdistanced Don Alexander Jr. of Levant, who finished second, and Dave McLaughlin who took third. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]];… Read More
OXFORD – Veteran Oxford Plains Speedway racer Jeff Taylor was asked what was different about the True Value 250 compared with his normal weekly racing at Oxford. “Dave was here,” chuckled Taylor, who drew a good laugh from the media contingent on hand following the… Read More
ORONO – University of Maine President Frederick Hutchinson is working to head off faculty furor over plans to use the school’s inflation reserves to boost funding for women’s athletics. The faculty has been insisting that any extra money in the reserves go to academic –… Read More
OXFORD – When the green flag dropped on the 22nd True Value Oxford 250, Maine drivers occupied the top 10 starting spots at Oxford Plains Speedway here Sunday night. By the time the checkered flag was waved above the finish line, Canadian Dave Whitlock had… Read More
NEW YORK – Colorado Rockies starter Bill Swift (5-2) won his fourth straight decision with a 5-4 victory over the New York Mets here Saturday night. Swift gave up three runs on 10 hits in 6 2-3 innings. In his last four wins, the Maine… Read More
ORONO – Solid pitching – both starting and relief – allowed the Old Town-Orono Twins to sweep a Sunday American Legion baseball doubleheader from Skowhegan here Sunday, 9-1 in the first game and 5-4 in the second. In the first game, Chris Bagley pitched a… Read More
OXFORD – When the green flag dropped on the 22nd True Value 250, Maine drivers occupied the top 10 starting spots at Oxford Plains Speedway here Sunday night. By the time the checkered flag was waved over the finish line, Canadian Dave Whitlock had pulled… Read More
BANGOR – A new trotting mark was set at Bangor Raceway in Sunday’s 14-dash racing program. In the 13th race invitational, The $3,200 Anah Temple Shrine Trot, Cha Cha Laroo and driver Chris Long dropped the Bangor trotting standard by one-fifth of a second to 2:01. Read More
OXFORD – The gleam in his eyes resembled a 7-year-old’s whose first bicycle was sitting next to the tree on Christmas morning. Dick Belisle of North Vassalboro had just won the pole for Sunday night’s True Value 250 at Oxford Plains Speedway by triumphing in… Read More
The Brewer All-Stars are headed to the state finals after capturing the title for 9-and 10-year olds in action over the weekend. Brewer will play in next weekend’s state tourney in Westbrook and will take on the District 4 winner at 1 p.m. Saturday. googletag.cmd.push(function… Read More
WHITNEYVILLE — Kent Stover, vice president of the Community Club, replaced Susan Smith as third selectman at the annual town meeting where citizens also voted to send a message to the state’s elected officials. Voters were in uanimous support of an article that put the… Read More
KITTERY — The Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, which has gone through wave after wave of layoffs in recent years because of defense cutbacks, now faces a new challenge. The shipyard, which specializes in refueling nuclear submarines, may have to delay some projects and lay off workers… Read More
BANGOR — Don Farnham has a really cool job; his work can, in fact, get downright cold. As a sales representative for Getchell Brothers Inc. in Brewer, the 108-year-old ice manufacturing business, Farnham and others spend a good part of their work day in the… Read More
MOUNT DESERT — Mount Desert’s town manager describes his community as a big dooryard for the national park. “Good people are behaving in ways they wouldn’t ordinarily behave. They are saying this is their dooryard and that we owe them something,” Jerry Storey said, describing… Read More
EAST CORINTH — On Saturday mornings, a small spot in the parking lot of the Brewer Auditorium resembles a scene from a Filene’s Basement sale. Consumers line up early anticipating the arrival of David Kousky’s big blue truck. They wait as he backs into his… Read More
PORTLAND — A man who claimed he was fired from his job at the Sheraton Tara Hotel because he has AIDS lost his lawsuit Friday in U.S. District Court. A jury deliberated two hours before ruling against Mark Weeks. The jury agreed with supervisors from… Read More
EAST MILLINOCKET — The president of the Katahdin Regional Development Corp. wants Millinocket to reconsider a $4,000 cut in its funding for the group. Traditionally, the towns of Millinocket, East Millinocket and Medway equally fund KRDC, but this year Millinocket funded only $18,000 of the… Read More
VAN BUREN — About a dozen foster care providers from northern and central Aroostook County heard some welcome news at an emergency meeting Friday night in Van Buren. Last week, foster care providers publicly aired concerns about Department of Human Services staffing shortages in Aroostook… Read More
BANGOR — Seven teen-agers received minor injuries late Saturday when their car crashed into a utility pole. Anthony Michaud, 19, of Bangor, was driving a 1985 Subaru station wagon down 13th Street at 10:20 p.m. when he dropped a lighted cigarette, according to a Bangor… Read More
NEW SWEDEN — One hundred twenty-five years ago next Sunday, about 50 Swedes knelt on a hilltop in Aroostook County to thank God for a safe trans-Atlantic journey. They were part of an experiment, a state effort to populate the northern Maine wilderness. Some may… Read More
CLINTON — A 2-year-old Connecticut boy was the the only survivor of single-car accident on Interstate 95 early Saturday morning that took the lives of both his parents. Guildo Lang, 45, and his wife, Patricia, 37, of New Britain, Conn., were both killed in the… Read More
A business owner, preparing to tap into the Internet to expand access to the world market, rings up the phone company to request a separate line for the office computer. He is told that the Bangor central switch is operating at full capacity and only party-line service is… Read More
Enough horror stories about EPA and OSHA have been told to persuade just about anyone that regulatory reform is overdue. But as Congress re-examines the rules it helped create, the public should look at the intent behind the reform movement to ensure that this isn’t designed merely to… Read More
FAIRFIELD — For 13 years Joan and Art Larsen pumped a good living out of the old underground gas tanks that served as the heart of their convenience store. They didn’t realize when they installed new above-ground gas tanks four-and-a-half years ago that they would… Read More
BRADFORD — A handful of Bradford residents got a rude wake-up call Saturday morning when a fierce “twisterlike” storm swept through their neighborhood, uprooting trees and flipping over a mobile home. The fierce winds cut a path through the woods and struck the dozen or… Read More
Northeast COMBAT, in cooperation with the United States Consumer Product Safety Commision (CPSC), would like to inform you that six retailers announced the recall of WG6-S and WG8-L electric “Worm Getter” worm probe models due to the potential electric shock and electrocution hazard. Approximately 83,000 worm probes were… Read More
There were no reports of grammar school children crying when they took this year’s Maine Educational Assessment test. That’s good. There were no administrators grousing, however. That’s suspicious. The last time the results came down on the new, improved MEA, they were accompanied by horror… Read More
ORONO — A 22-year-old Orono man drowned early Sunday morning after he jumped off the Main Street bridge into the Stillwater River. A diver from the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife recovered the body of Scott A. Houston at about 7:30 a.m. Sunday,… Read More
FORT FAIRFIELD — The Houghtons of Fort Fairfield, named the 1995 Farm Family by the Maine Potato Blossom Festival Committee, have left an indelible mark on the seed potato industry. They will be honored at an industry dinner on Friday, July 21, during the festival. Read More
DEXTER — Dexter councilors Thursday voted not to accept a federal grant which would have paid for the creation of an additional police officer position in town. According to Steve Whitesel, town manager, the consensus of the council was that the additional position would not… Read More
BUCKSPORT — Rethinking stairway and elevator placement has led to a revised plan to expand the town’s public safety building, built in 1967 when the town had only one police officer. As reported to the Town Council last week, the building renovations committee reworked its… Read More
The recent budget debate has renewed my belief that there is definitely too much government in Maine. Maine is a large state geographically, but its population is insignificant in relation to many city populations. Many large cities are governed usually by 10 or less people. Read More
After reading your July 7 editorial, “Flag amendment,” I feel the writer needs to do some extensive reading of he Flag Code. This code was drawn up at a National Flag Conference on June 14-15, 1923, in Washington, D.C.; it was revised in 1924. Congress, in 1924, adopted… Read More
John Nash’s article (BDN, July 12) indicates that the SAD 22 assistant superintendent, Emil Genest, thinks SAD 22 is a humanitarian industry and is happy because the teacher salary negotiations went so well. I wish the taxpayers could be as happy as Genest since it is at their… Read More
Recently, President Bill Clinton decided to re-establish diplomatic relations with Vietnam. I was shocked at first. Several thousand American POWs and MIAs of the Vietnam War are still unaccounted for. Vietnam’s “help” in the hunt for missing Americans has been minimal. The former anti-war protester… Read More
I cannot believe that people still think there is a need for more AIDS education. Enough already. It’s clear why they feel there is such a drastic need for more education, and that is to get more money to spend. The only way a person can get AIDS… Read More
Last week, the NEWS reported on the work of Penobscot Indian Barry Dana and his friend, craftsman Stephen Cayard. The two men were gathering spruce roots to use in the construction of a traditional birch-bark canoe for the 7th Annual Native American Festival held Sunday in Bar Harbor. Read More
BOISE, Idaho — Farm experts said Friday a potato disease has spread to more than 20 farms in southwestern Idaho, and all spud farmers in the state should check fields for it. University of Idaho Extension Service experts said the fast-spreading late blight fungus, carried… Read More
AUGUSTA — Maine Republicans, long shut out of legislative power until a narrow Senate takeover this year, are in a position to gain even more influence with the help of term limits. Next year, legislative term limits will force 30 veterans from office, and nearly… Read More
MILBRIDGE — Strong, gusty downdrafts accompanied by hail and rain in the Narraguagus Bay region wreaked havoc Saturday by sinking a moving lobster boat whose owner swam to shore, and by nearly capsizing a second lobster boat and its two-man crew. David Jellison, 52, was… Read More
AUGUSTA — Responding to an increasing number of complaints about reckless boaters and jet-ski operators, the Maine Warden Service will be stepping up its enforcement efforts during the rest of the month in many parts of Maine. According to Warden Sgt. Tim Peabody, a team… Read More
ST. ALBANS — Two people from Augusta narrowly escaped injury Sunday afternoon when their canoe was struck by a motorboat that sliced the craft in half. The two, Enid Jones, 33, and Paul Mitnik, 45, were paddling their canoe on Big Indian Pond around 2… Read More
JIMMY VAUGHN JR. of Wade has been named director of maintenance for Pine State Airlines in Frenchville. He was previously with Aroostook Aviation and was maintenance supervisor with McBurnie Aircraft Charter since 1991. He has been in aircraft maintenance for 13 years and has airframe and powerplant certification… Read More
LEE — Despite budget cuts, the towns in SAD 30 will see an increase in their school assessments. SAD 30 residents will consider a $2.5 million school budget on Wednesday, July 26, at the junior high school. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes… Read More
PITTSFIELD — Family doctors are getting hard to find in rural towns like this, where weathered clapboard houses line Main Street and many patients rely on Medicare and Medicaid. But Lisa Bartley, with her white coat and stethoscope draped over her neck, says her growing… Read More
LIMESTONE — Ten-pin bowling will return to Aroostook County on Aug. 1 when the bowling center at the former Loring Air Force Base opens for business. The operator will be Ronald Ouellette of Oakland, president of County Bowling Lanes Inc. and a former resident of… Read More
LINCOLN — Residents of Chester, Lincoln and Mattawamkeag will decide this year’s school budget in a daylong referendum vote rather than at a nighttime district meeting. School officials are urging SAD 67 residents who might have questions or who want more information about the budget… Read More
A lovely garden expanded two years ago, coupled with the need to purchase a multiperson wheelchair-equipped van, prompted Judy Young to tie the two together in a fund-raiser that will appeal to many senses. The first Bangor City Nursing Facility Garden Tour from 10 a.m. Read More
ROCKPORT — As the mothers of aspiring Little Leaguers, Charlene Mazzeo and Sue Tolman thought Rockport could do better by its young ballplayers than its assortment of mow-to-play cow pastures, so they set out to do something about it. That was 15 years ago. The… Read More
OLD TOWN — An Old Town man escaped injury Sunday after sparks from an automobile project set fire to his garage. Brian Osgood of 55 Lincoln St. was working on a friend’s truck when sparks set a nearby pail of oil on fire. googletag.cmd.push(function ()… Read More
CUTLER — Thirty-three years after enlisting in the U.S. Navy at his hometown of Seattle, Wash., Cmdr. William R. Castle will assume command of the Naval Computer and Telecommunications Station Cutler on Friday, July 21, from Cmdr. Nancy E. Brown. Brown, originally from Glen Cove,… Read More
CASWELL PLANTATION — A local man was hospitalized briefly over the weekend after the car he was driving left the road on Route 1A, according to police. Clement Jean, 70, was driving his 1992 Nissan north late Saturday morning when he apparently blacked out and… Read More
CALAIS — Fire Chief Jack Brocato died suddenly Saturday. Town officials were tight-lipped about his death, saying they would release information about it at a weekly scheduled press availability at 1 p.m. today. Police Chief Mike Milburn was scheduled to make an announcement at that… Read More