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Serving Bridgton and the surrounding towns of Western Maine since 1870. Vol. 146, No. 20
28 PAGES - 2 Sections
Bridgton, Maine
May 14, 2015
(USPS 065-020)
Weather . . . . . . . . . . 10B
www.bridgton.com
SEVENTY-FIVE CENTS
July start date
Chief resumes under review
By Gail Geraghty Staff Writer If all goes as planned, Bridgton should have a new police chief in two months. Town Manager Bob Peabody said Tuesday that 19 applicants from Maine and New England, with a few from other states, have applied to become Bridgton’s next police chief. Applications closed May 8. Peabody distributed a timeline anticipating that the new chief would start work on July 20. Former Brunswick Police Chief Jerry Hinton has been filling in following the departure of Police Chief Kevin Schofield, who left to become Windham Police Chief. Copies of the resumes will be distributed this week to the Board of Selectmen and members of the Police Chief Search Committee. The board went into executive session to consider requests to serve on the search committee. Following the session, they
appointed Steve Plimpton and Doug Taft. Plimpton is a paramedic/ firefighter in two nearby towns and works full-time as a paramedic for United Ambulance. He has 20 years experience as a law enforcement dispatcher. Taft served on the previous search committee that resulted in Schofield’s hiring. Plimpton will serve as a citizen representative, and Taft will represent selectmen. Taft is running as a write-in candidate for reelection to the board, and should he not be elected, he will serve on the committee as a citizen member, Board Chairman Bernie King said. Rounding out the search committee will be Peabody, Deputy Town Manager Georgiann Fleck, Oxford County Sheriff Wayne Gallant and a current police chief from another town. Although selectmen will see copies of all 19 applications, it will be up to the search committee to trim the
list to a number of semifinalists when they meet next Thursday, May 21, to review and rate the applicants. Selectmen will make their preferences known to Peabody. The search committee will conduct their first interviews with the most promising candidates on May 27, and Peabody, who is responsible for hiring the new chief, will likely conduct a second interview with a few finalists on June 4. Peabody will make the hiring decision, which must be confirmed by vote of the selectmen. “I am hoping to make an offer on June 18” to the person selected as the top choice, Peabody said. He added that he will be talking to Tideview, the consulting firm hired to help with the search, about conducting background checks on the candidates. Hinton, who is a consultant for Tideview, said he may participate in the background checks.
By Gail Geraghty Staff Writer Residents in favor of bringing public transportation to Bridgton have mounted a strong challenge to the “vote no” recommendation by Bridgton Selectmen regarding a citizen’s petition to help fund a Lake Region bus route. They say the benefits of helping Regional Transportation Program operate a Portland to Bridgton route far outweighs the $10,000 annual cost to taxpayers. “For people like me who don’t like to drive, a bus service would be so important and could enhance Bridgton
so much,” said Sally Chappell at Tuesday’s public hearing on the June 9 referendum questions. Question 1 asks voters if they want to fund the service by raising the mil rate by one cent, which would amount to around $10,000. “The increase is one dollar a year on a $100,000 home,” added George Bradt, who came armed with copies of a four-color fact sheet and single-panel brochure. “The increase is very, very tiny.” The fact sheet stated that in a survey of 400 Lake Region residents by the Greater Portland Council of Governments, “Three out of four people sup-
port funding a portion of the bus’s operations with local taxpayer money.” One in six people said lack of a vehicle can be a barrier to employment to them, the survey also found. RTP is maintaining that it cannot afford to continue its pilot program that has provided service from Portland to Naples over the past year unless the Lake Region towns along the route chip in. Besides Bridgton, the towns of Naples, Casco, Raymond and Windham are also being asked to contribute $10,000 each. The bus would run four times a day, leaving from the Bridgton Community BUS, Page 3A
Lake Region bus route support strong in Bridgton
More welcome to town signage? By Dawn De Busk Staff Writer NAPLES — There are several roads that cross the Naples boundary line, where vehicles travel into “the heart of the Lakes Region.” Some of those main thoroughfares like Route 302 and Route 11 have signs that were supplied by the Maine Department of Transportation (MDOT.) Naples Town Manager Ephrem Paraschak has been working with Muddy River Signs to produce some signs with the town’s logo, which has a pine tree growing near a body of water and a pair of waterfowl flying over the scene. The logo also includes the year that Naples was incorporated as a town. “We will be working on templates for the sign that fell down,” he said. “Are there any other town lines where the board wants to put signs up?” Paraschak asked the Naples Board of Selectmen during a May 4 meeting. He estimated the cost for each sign would be between $500 and $600. Chairman John Adams said, “We don’t really need
A SIGN MARKS the town boundary between Casco and Naples along Route 11. The Town of Naples is pricing signs for major and minor roads. (De Busk Photo) them if you have ones from a sign in a remote area in the state.” Denmark. He thought it was Selectman Bob Caron II likely to be vandalized. But, said he like the signs from the sign remained intact and MDOT. untouched. Those signs, such as the The selectman did not one alongside Route 302 comment on whether that near the Lake Region High was a concern. There was School, and reflective green mention of the costs of signs that might duplicate signs and white signs. As a group, the three already erected by the state selectmen present at the transportation department. Selectman Rick Paraschak meeting instructed the town manager to go ahead and was the person who suggestprice signs, giving prices ed that signs might be sized for larger signs on more fre- proportionally to how much quently travelled roads and traffic passes by. Each road has a certain smaller signs on minor roads. Minor roads, such as number of vehicles that drive Harrison Road and Route on it, he said. 114, might get vandalized, Roosevelt Trail is obviParaschak said. He coun- ously an area where a town tered his concern, saying sign would get higher visibilthat when he was Denmark ity. Route 11 is another heavTown Manager, they put up ily traveled road, he said.
PLENTY OF ROOM IN THE FRONT ROW — Turnout was very light for Tuesday’s SAD 61 district budget meeting held in the Lake Region H.S. gym. Only 47 people took part in the budget voting process. Now, the budget goes to a May 26 ballot validation.
A quiet night, SAD 61 budget passes first test
By Wayne E. Rivet Staff Writer On a night when 47 voters passed a total school budget package of $29,831,066 within 35 minutes, the loudest voice in the high school gym belonged to Phil Shane of Casco. Wearing the hat of a SAD 61 school board member, Shane expressed his concerns regarding the proposed purchase of 3.79 (plus or minus) acres abutting the Songo Locks School property for $70,000 and he strongly pushed for the reopening of Crooked River School for elementary education. Wearing the hat of taxpayer, Shane believes the property is overpriced and SAD 61 should wait to see what an upcoming engineering study suggests to know how to address parking and traffic issues at Songo Locks, as well as possible future facility expansion. Checking town assessments and similar sales, Shane felt the asking price
LISTENING AND CHECKING FIGURES — Few taxpayers were on hand Tuesday to review the proposed $29 million SAD 61 budget.
should be more in the range of $24,000, not $70,000. Because the school is landlocked, School Board Chairman Janice Barter, of Naples, said SAD 61 is somewhat “over a barrel” as far
as its options to find more land to address some pressing safety problems. Fewer options drives up prices, she added. “It’s not an unfair price,” BUDGET, Page 14A
Post sends LR schools into ‘lock-in’ mode
At approximately 6:45 a.m. Tuesday morning, Lake Region High School Principal Ted Finn was notified of a Facebook posting that created possible safety concern. “Due to the nature of the posting, we have gone into a lock-in practice,” Finn posted on the school district’s website and in an e-mail. “This means until we are
sure all are safe, we will have the students go to their classes, but stay within the building.” No one was allowed to enter the buildings unless the individual was “known” to employees monitoring entry points. School officials extended the lock-in to Lake Region Middle School due to the close proximity to the high
school. “Thank you for your patience. I want to assure you all of our students and staff are safe,” wrote Alan R. Smith, SAD 61 Superintendent of Schools. The Cumberland County Sheriff’s Department was called and, upon their investigation, the “lock-in” was lifted after about 45 minutes.
By Gail Geraghty Staff Writer Candice Tucker, the Gorham woman who killed her teenage son and boyfriend after crashing her car in Bridgton, was sentenced to four years in prison Monday in Cumberland County Unified Court. Tucker, 35, pleaded guilty to two counts of manslaughter. Charges of aggravated OUI, that were made after the Oct. 19, 2014 accident on Route 302, were dropped in exchange for her guilty plea. After Tucker, her son Branden Denis, 16, and her boyfriend Eric Morey, 35, spent the day visiting friends and relatives in Bridgton,
Tucker was behind the wheel of her 1994 Honda when she lost control in a high-speed crash near the Burnham Road. An accident reconstructionist estimated that Tucker was driving at 85 miles per hour when she lost control and crashed into trees. At her sentencing, Tucker made a tearful apology, admitting she
had consumed alcohol and prescription drugs before getting behind the wheel, according to published reports. But relatives of the deceased maintained that Tucker had not reformed her behavior, despite undergoing outpatient therapy and residential substance abuse treatment. She has been in jail since her arrest on Dec. 9, 2014.
Woman to serve four years for manslaughter
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