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Serving Bridgton and the surrounding towns of Western Maine since 1870. Vol. 146, No. 40
28 PAGES - 4 Sections
Bridgton, Maine
October 1, 2015
(USPS 065-020)
Weather . . . . . . . . . . . 5D
www.bridgton.com
SEVENTY-FIVE CENTS
Still on the run
Police searching for woman
By Gail Geraghty Staff Writer NAPLES — A woman who fled into the woods Sept. 23, after ramming a Bridgton police cruiser that was chasing her through Naples, is still at large a week later. Bridgton Police Chief Richard Stillman said Tuesday that Melissa Penpraese, 45, of Windham, faces charges of eluding arrest and assault with a deadly weapon in the case, but “We mainly want to confirm that she’s okay, and we’ll deal with the charges after that.” Stillman said Penpraese’s license was suspended, and there was evidence that alcohol was involved. Stillman said the Maine Game Warden’s Service launched a preliminary search on the ground and via airplane the morning after Penpraese ran into the woods near Peabody Pond around 9:30 p.m. “Obviously, our concern at that point was that she had gotten so lost that she couldn’t find her way out,” Stillman said. Bridgton Police Officer Todd
Smolinsky chased Penpraese to Accomac Road, one of a series of camp roads serving the pond, after stopping her for speeding on Route 302 near the Naples line at 9:20 p.m. Penpraese, who had initially been travelling toward Bridgton at nearly 20 miles over the speed limit, was unable to produce a license, and the second time Smolinsky returned to his cruiser to write her up, she took off. Smolinsky gave pursuit with sirens and lights flashing, keeping Penpraese in sight at all times. “She continued to evade him, but she wasn’t flying,” Stillman said. Penpraese circled back toward Naples, turning off the highway onto Lambs Mill Road. She allegedly threw a beverage out the window and passed another vehicle in an unsafe manner during the eightminute chase, according to the police log. Penpraese sped along Kings Hill Road to Weeman Road before turning on Accomac Road, where the silver Ford Focus she was driving began fishtailing on the dirt, Stillman said.
Penpraese came to a stop at around 98 Accomac Road, and then backed up fast into the cruiser, bending its black metal push bar and causing around $1,500 in damage, Stillman said. Smolinsky ordered her out of the car, but she took off ahead and turned down another dirt road, where she stopped and took off into the woods. Smolinsky located the car and searched the immediate area before calling in a canine unit from the Cumberland County Sheriffs Department. Deputy Al Winslow spent a couple of hours searching the woods with his dog, to no avail. Stillman, who had been called into the scene at that point, said it was later learned that Penpraese fled to the house of someone she knew in the area, where she stayed for some period of time. “At some point she had someone come by and pick her up and get her out of there,” he said. Since then, her whereabouts have been unknown. Stillman said police believe she may have been staying with her grandmother in Windham before the chase.
First Depot Street, now Main Street targeted for ‘streetscape’
SPIRITED HALFTIME SHOWING — Lake Region cheerleader Kasey Wentworth points to the crowd during halftime of the Homecoming football game Friday as Elizabeth Girard (right) steadies the mount. (Rivet Photo)
By Gail Geraghty Staff Writer Now that Depot Street has been made over, Bridgton officials are turning their attention to Main Street, and are looking to hire a firm to help design a streetscape makeover. Landscape architects have been solicited to submit a bid to lead the town’s design process, which will be a “very
public process” that will give businesses, residents and anyone who uses the downtown several opportunities to give their opinion on what improvements they’d like to see made, said Anne Krieg, Director of Planning, Economic and Community Development. Mandatory site walks have been scheduled for prospective bidders on Oct. 7 and 15,
when Krieg and other town officials will lead a tour of Main Street. The project area extends from the Monument on Main Hill to Pondicherry Park. Funding will come from $30,000 in the Route 302 TIFF along with $30,000 in this year’s capital budget, she said. “We plan to meet with every property owner” in the project area and hold several
public meetings, in a process similar to that which took place prior to the final design for the streetscape for Depot Street, Krieg said. At least three meetings will be held. The project will include a full streetscape redesign, including new sidewalks, tree planters, street lights, site furnishings, curb line modifications and ADA-compliant STREETSCAPE, Page 3A
proper sign?” Cebra asked. The answer was iffy. “Our Sign Ordinance was written a while ago. They (flag signs) aren’t covered,” Naples Town Manager Ephrem Paraschak said. He preceded that statement by saying he and Code Enforcement Officer (CEO) Renee Carter had a discussion about banners being used as signs. The conclusion was that such banners are not covered in the Sign Ordinance, he said. The Sign Ordinance does address mobile signs, which are those put up during the
businesses’ open hours. Sometimes, businesses that use feather signs remove them when closing. Mobile signs were not talked about during the meeting. However, it was mentioned that the subject of signs tends to bring forth opinions and emotion. “Signs are, and have been, I know, a heated topic,” Selectman Kevin Rogers said. “It is not that long of an ordinance to read,” he said. He had found the Sign Ordinance on the town website, and was looking at the document on his computer screen.
Cebra asked if the Naples Ordinance Review Committee could be tasked with the job of looking at the Sign Ordinance. Rogers said the voters had already approved the hiring of an ordinance consultant. “The lead-in question is: Do we need a person to organize our ordinances? (Should we hire) the person we allotted the money in our budget for,” Rogers said. Paraschak emphasized that “the goal is to consolidate the ordinances, but don’t change the intent.” As requested by the board,
Paraschak said he will draft the request for bid proposals (RFBP). A vote was not required for Paraschak to put the RFBP on his to do list. “When these things are clarified, we will have a piece of paper explaining — this is what you can do; this is what you cannot do,” he said. Chairman Bob Caron II said that was a good idea. “If anything, it will make it easier for people to read — the Naples taxpayers, the CEO, developers,” he said. This process will help to tighten up the ordinances, he said.
Does sign ordinance address ‘Open’ flags? By Dawn De Busk Staff Writer NAPLES — Do flags that let people know a business is open constitute as signs? What was referred to as “sail signs” was a topic for discussion brought up by Naples Selectman Rich Cebra during a recent board meeting. As the conversation took it course, the selectmen agreed that it was time to hire an ordinance consultant to make the town’s ordinances more user-friendly. After all, money has already been appropriated in
IRS liens holds up land sale
this fiscal year’s budget to hire a firm for just that purpose. As it stands, flag-type banners that advertise a business are not specifically addressed, while the size and placement of fixed signs is mentioned in the town’s Sign Ordinance. An example of sail signs would be those used by Dunkin’ Donuts and the Umbrella Factory Outlet. Other local businesses, especially along Route 302, use them, too. This type of sign is called a banner, a feather flag, or a street flag by the companies that sell them, “The sail signs: Is that a
By Dawn De Busk Staff Writer CASCO — For the past three weeks, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has indirectly brought the purchase of land approved by Casco voters to a snail’s pace. The transfer of ownership of a one-acre lot has been held up by liens attached to the deed. The Town of Casco is in the process of purchasing the parcel from James and Mary Jabbusch. “There were some snafus with the title of the property,” Casco Town Manager Dave Morton said. “The values of the liens are in the excess of the value Lakes Environmental Association’s Colin Holme and Seth Merriam from Great of the property. There are a Northern Docks remove the Highland buoy in Novemeber of 2014. lot of little liens but there is (Photo by Steve Collins) LIENS, Page 3A
High tech buoys help in lake fight By Amanda Pratt LEA Researcher Highland Lake is a prime example of the type of pristine, clear lakes Maine is renowned for. The Lakes Environmental Association (LEA) wants it, and other lakes in the area, to stay that way. To this end, they have done a remarkable job in the last three years expanding water testing programs and keeping up on the latest technology in water moni-
toring. The best example of this is the Highland Lake buoy, which automatically collects a slew of information on the lake every 15 minutes and sends this data by cell phone signal to LEA’s offices on Main Street in Bridgton. This new device is part of a project called GLEON, which stands for the Global Lake Ecology and Observation Network. Highland Lake is now part of an international BUOYS, Page 2A
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