At the Forge Blacksmithing demonstrations highlight Fall Festival at historic Narramissic Page 1B
Inside sports
Inside News
Fantastic football finishes fall just short; roundup of Laker, Raider action last week
Calendar . . . . . . . . . . 4B Classifieds . . . . . . . . . 4D Country Living . . . 1B-6B Directory . . . . . . . . . . 6C
Page IC
Obituaries . . . . . . 2D-3D Opinions . . . . 1D-2D, 5D Police/Court . . . . . 4A-5A Sports . . . . . . . . . 1C-8C Student News . . . . . . . . Games . . . . . . . . . . . . 5C
Serving Bridgton and the surrounding towns of Western Maine since 1870. Vol. 146, No. 38
28 PAGES - 4 Sections
Bridgton, Maine
September 17, 2015
(USPS 065-020)
Weather . . . . . . . . . . . 5D
www.bridgton.com
SEVENTY-FIVE CENTS
No vote on bottled gas proposal By Gail Geraghty Staff Writer A Tuesday public hearing by the Bridgton Planning Board wasn’t followed by a vote, but it gave residents of Raspberry Lane every opportunity to voice their strong opposition to plans by Bridgton Bottled Gas to place a 30,000-gallon propane tank at the corner of their road and Route 302. Most of the points made in the two-hour
hearing had been made before. What they boil down to is this: the end of a dead-end street serving a 12-lot subdivision is a very bad place to put a big propane tank. There’d be no way to escape if a gas leak or fire occurred, they say, and the town doesn’t have the resources to cope with such an emergency. What makes the plan by Bridgton Bottled Gas owner Todd Perreault especially a bad
one, however, is that the state is requiring delivery trucks to access the property not from Route 302, but from Raspberry Lane. Traffic accidents and road damage then get added to fire and gas leak dangers, the residents said. Residents also cried foul over what resident Rita Tyszka called “a blatant disregard for procedure” in the recent construction of a new commercial entrance to the property
on Raspberry Lane, prior to any action by the board on the tank installation plan. “Allowing this new opening to remain alters the existing conditions of his site and should be considered a very serious code violation at this critical time in the process that the rest of us are respecting,” she wrote in a September 4 e-mail to Planning Board Secretary Georgiann Fleck. “I would TANK, Page 8A
Police investigate local teen’s death
By Gail Geraghty Staff Writer Friends of 18-year-old Cassidy Patten of Harrison were in absolute shock when they heard she had died Sunday of a possible heroin overdose. She had been dropped off that morning at the Emergency Room at Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston, where she later died. “I prayed it was a sick joke,” said close friend Cassidy Patten Connor Heaward on Patten’s Facebook page. “Maybe a bad dream I don’t remember waking from.” Patten had just graduated in June from Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School, and friends on her page remembered her as both sweet and smart. “I would never have thought such an amazing, young, promising girl could be taken from this world with such ease,” said OVERDOSE, Page 5A
Town Hall on endangered list
Bridgton: Bike capital for day
By Gail Geraghty Staff Writer Bridgton basked in the glow of a job well done Tuesday when the last of the BikeMaine riders took off for the next leg of their 350-mile journey, after staying overnight Monday on the Bridgton Community Center grounds. The 350 riders and 50 support staff from the BikeMaine Coalition had high praise for Bridgton’s downtown and its people, who worked tirelessly Monday to ensure all details of the campover came
off without a hitch. Key to the event’s success was the active involvement by Bridgton municipal staff, many of whom spent the day away from the office wearing BikeMaine volunteer t-shirts as they unloaded the big food truck for Monday night’s meal. Community Center Executive Director Carmen Lone, who was also in the thick of things, wanted special thanks to go to Joel Hapgood of the Campfire Grille, who pulled off the yeoman’s effort of feeding
Visit to orchard still a big deal
By Dawn De Busk Staff Writer SWEDEN — Nancy Wood of Harrison would not miss a chance to “just get out and about” and enjoy this year’s Maine Apple Sunday. “I grew up in the middle of an apple orchard,” Wood said. Her grandfather started a farm in Connecticut; and her father earned a living as an apple farmer in Ashland, Mass. The orchard no longer exists, except in the stories that Wood tells. “My father would drive into Boston to Faneuil Hall to sell the apples. That was before Faneuil Hall became a tourist place. It was a big deal back then — to ride in the truck APPLE SUNDAY, Page 2A
PEDALING INTO TOWN — Cyclists taking part in BikeMaine 2015 rode into Bridgton starting just after noon on Monday. 350 cyclists camped overnight here. a full dinner to 400 hungry active souls. Helping to serve the meal and clean up were members from the Bridgton Lions and Rotary Clubs and the Bridgton Economic Development Corporation. Leading the charge from the beginning was Anne Krieg, Director of Planning, Economic and Community Development, who lobbied hard a year ago for BikeMaine to select Bridgton
for one of its overnight stays. Backing her up as Assistant Coordinator was Recreation Director Gary Colello, also a constant presence Monday, helping wherever he could. Not to be outdone was the ever-smiling presence of Town Manager Bob Peabody, who could be seen at one point laughing and chatting with Selectman Chairman Bernie King, another active CYCLISTS, Page 3A
By Gail Geraghty Staff Writer The Bridgton Town Hall on North High Street has been selected by Maine Preservation as one of 10 of Maine’s Most Endangered Historic Places of 2015. The Executive Committee of the Board of Trustees approved the listing at its last meeting, and the announcement was made Tuesday on WCSHTV’s 207 news program. “As a property of great historic significance and an excellent example of how a historic building can be adapted to new uses to meet the changing needs of a community, we hope and intend that this listing will be an aid to the building’s preservation, as it has to buildings previously listed,” said Greg Paxton, Maine Preservation Executive Director. The other nine listings
named by Maine Preservation are the Vaughan Woods stone bridges in Hallowell, Stimson Memorial Hall in Gray, Old Surry Schoolhouse in Surry, Oak Grove Chapel in Vassalboro, Weston Homestead in Madison, Crooker House in Norway, Jonathan Eddy House in Bangor, Keen Hall in Freedom, and the J. M. Rice Block in Houlton. In a letter to Town Manager Bob Peabody, Paxton said Maine Preservation is available to help the town in its efforts to preserve the local landmark. Town Hall once served as the gymnasium and phys ed space for the former Bridgton High School, and still serves as the town’s official polling and Town Meeting place. In addition, it serves as the town’s primary center for TOWN HALL, Page 8A
By Dawn De Busk Staff Writer NAPLES — The owner of the building that houses the Umbrella Factory Supermarket and Subway fast food restaurant said there is a need for more retail space in Naples. On a regular basis, Kevin Gagnon receives phone calls people who own existing businesses and are looking into the possibility of relocating to the Town of Naples.
Other people inquire about starting a business. But, there is no rentable space at the Naples Shopping Center. In the near future, there will be an alternative for entrepreneurs desiring to open a business in Naples. On Tuesday, Gagnon closed on a real estate deal with the family that owns the property just west of the Aubuchon Hardware store. About two hours after the SPACE, Page 8A
Planners okay retail building
The Bridgton News Established 1870
P.O. Box 244, 118 Main St. Bridgton, ME 04009 207-647-2851 Fax: 207-647-5001 bnews@roadrunner.com