Teens helping teens
Homecoming heroics
Fryeburg Academy students donate wooden cutting boards to Laura Foundation
Persistence pays off for Laker girls’ soccer, football teams as they capture important wins
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Serving Bridgton and the surrounding towns of Western Maine since 1870. Vol. 145, No. 40
28 PAGES - 4 Sections
Bridgton, Maine
October 2, 2014
Hunger stories come out of hiding By Dawn De Busk Staff Writer CASCO — The person who worries about being hungry, who doesn’t always have enough food or enough money to pay for food during the entire month — that person could be your neighbor. It was a neighbor, a resident of Sweden, who stood before the microphone at a recent fundraiser for area food pantries and spoke about something many people would be ashamed to admit. Teri Johnson spoke about her experiences as one of Maine’s “working poor.” Those people who are employed, but struggling to pay for four weeks of food along with monthly bills. These households often go without food for awhile or worry about how to afford the next meal. “We are not food secure. We are over the income for food stamps. We are working our butts off, and we are still food poor,” she said. “Food is a necessity. Food is expensive,” Johnson began, adding, “Food is the need to cure hunger insecurity.” According to statistics from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Economic Research Service, 14.9 percent of households in Maine are considered food insecure. That equates to 200,000 people. Maine STORIES, Page A
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SEVENTY-FIVE CENTS
Man in ‘cuffs’ escapes custody
A BUSINESS CHALLENGE was held to see which business could donate the most weight in food to area pantries during the Stuff the Truck Fundraiser sponsored by Hannaford. Chalmers Insurance Group claimed the winning spot. Holding food items on the side of the trailer are (back row, left to right) Hannaford Assistant Store Manager Wayne Ward, Produce Associate Jess Jones, Nutritionist Dona Forke, and Chalmers employees Grace Keef and Kristine Karlsson. In the front row are: Hannaford Associate Relations Manager Rob Menezes, Customer Service Leader Cullen Shaw and Chalmers staff Rosemary Leonard and Sally Sundborg. (De Busk Photo)
Halt to hunger
Community responds to the challenge with food, funds By Dawn De Busk Staff Writer NAPLES — It began as ideas written on pieces of paper and spoken aloud during planning meetings almost six months ago. Those concepts panned out as the events and food drives held throughout the Lake Region as part of Hunger Action Month during the month of September. Those local fundraisers brought in thousands of dollars and more than 1,000 pounds of food for area pantries. In fact, this month’s Rise Up and Walk for Hunger event, which was sponsored by the Bridgton Alliance Church, raised $2,776 for seven local pantries.Nancy Grigg played a huge part in that fundraiser. Meanwhile, when a challenge was put
forward to area businesses to see which one could donate the most food by weight, Chalmers Insurance Group of Bridgton stepped up to the plate as a team. The efforts of Chalmers’ employees added more than 600 pounds of food to pantries around the region. The staff at Chalmers pointed fingers in the direction of Buffy Blankenship, saying she had been inspirational in the company’s involvement with the business challenge food drive. The Stuff the Truck event was held on Friday; and on Saturday, an Oxford-based Girl Scout Troop divvied up the food items under the guidance of leader Denise Laport. On Tuesday morning as the month came to a close, the organizers of Hunger Action HUNGER, Page A
New trail planned for park
By Gail Geraghty Staff Writer An Eagle Scout is laying out a new 800-foot-long trail that will connect Stevens Brook Elementary School with the new Maine Lake Science Center. Lakes Environmental Association Executive Director Peter Lowell shared that news as he received
permission recently from Bridgton Selectmen to cross 300 feet of town-owned land in Pondicherry Park in creating the new trail. An education room will be part of the new science center, he said, so it’s important to have a trail with easy access leading directly to the school. The public will also be able to use the trail to visit a park infor-
By Dawn De Busk Staff Writer CASCO — The Pleasant Lake dam has been leaking, and that became more noticeable this summer. While the dam, which was built in the 1970s, poses no threat to property downstream of it, a plan to survey the structure by next summer is in the making, according to Town Manager Dave Morton. Already, the Town of Casco did “engage a professional engineer that specializes in small dams,” he said. “The engineer said there was no immediate safety danger. But, (the engineer recommended that) we need to make repairs as soon as possible,” Morton said. The first plan of action is simply to remove the tree roots that are adding to the problem, he said. It was discovered this summer that some of the cracks in the dam were letting a significant volume of water through. While the quantity of water escaping was not a problem, there was a concern
that the water current was allowing gravel to travel into the cracks, which could further deteriorate the dam. On Tuesday, both the Casco and Otisfield boards of selectmen met with members of the Pleasant Lake-Parker Pond Lake Association to devise a plan moving forward. A newly-formed subcommittee will continue to meet over the winter to figure out the steps required and come up with some hard numbers for Town Meeting in June, Morton said. “Both towns will go to Town Meeting” to ask voters for approve a budget for a survey before steps to repair the dam can be taken, he said. “We need a survey of the dam, the water depth, the structure below the water, and the area behind it so an engineer can make recommendations,” Morton said. Getting the surveys done is considered the “soft costs to develop a plan,” he said. “We are going to encounter upwards of $10,000 to $12,000,” which would cor-
mation display at the science center. The conservation agreement that LEA negotiated in turning the park land over to the town allows for a maximum of three miles of trail, and currently 2.6 miles of trail exist. The 300 feet of new trail within the park property represents a 14% expansion of the trail sys-
tem, said Lowell. The new trail will branch off from the Willett Brook Trail. Eventually, LEA will likely be requesting another trail expansion so that the science center can be reached by another route within the park. The association will assume responsibility for maintaining that section of the trail. TRAIL, Page A
Leaky dam needs surveying
State Police asked for the public’s help yesterday in locating an Otisfield man, who fled Tuesday afternoon from a state trooper’s car while in handcuffs. At press time Wednesday, police continued a search for escapee Maxx Noble, 27. Hes is described as six feet tall, weighing 180 pounds and has multiple tattoos on his face, neck and arms. State Troopers Adam Fillebrown and Jason Wing went to a residence on Ahonen Road in Otisfield looking for Noble, who was facing several felony SOUGHT — Police charges stemming from an were still searching investigation by the Maine Wednesday at press time Drug Enforcement Agency for escapee Maxx Noble. and State Police. Troopers located Noble and took him into custody. He was handcuffed and placed in Trooper Wing’s cruiser. While the two State Troopers were inside a residence, Noble was able to unbuckle his seatbelt, unlock the cruiser door and fled into nearby woods, still in handcuffs and wearing only socks on his feet. Over the next four hours, State Troopers, aided by tracking dogs, the Oxford County Sheriff’s Office and Oxford Police, searched a wide area near the Harrison town line without success. Deputies and Troopers also were stationed around the neighborhood, alerting neighbors and motorists. Noble was last seen wearing a blue jacket, a hooded sweatshirt with grey sweatpants and white socks. His sneakers had been removed following his arrest. As a result of the incident, Noble will face a number of new charges including escape and theft. ESCAPEE, Page A
Rite Aid robbery suspect indicted
By Gail Geraghty Staff Writer A Gardiner man is facing up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for allegedly robbing the Bridgton Rite Aid a year ago. Robert Richard, 26, of Gardiner was indicted Sept. 23 by a federal grand jury in Portland for the crime, which occurred on Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 28, 2013. Richard, who was charged with Interference KEY EVIDENCE — This with Commerce by Robbery, surveillance photo, taken made his first appearance in Nov. 28, 2013, shows the federal court last Thursday. suspect in the robbery of A detention hearing was held the Bridgton Rite Aid. Tuesday, with a trial date to A 26-year-old Gardiner man has been indicted for be set later. A surveillance photo the crime. taken inside the pharmacy may have been a key piece of evidence in the case, which was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Bridgton Police Department, with assistance from the Augusta and Gardiner Police Departments and the Kennebec County Sheriff’s Office. The image shows a lone man entering the store around 2:15 p.m. wearing sunglasses and a dark-colored hooded sweatshirt. Police say he handed the pharmacist a note demanding Oxycodone, then fled with an undisclosed amount of the painkiller in a sedan driven by a second suspect. No weapon was displayed during the robbery. Maine Department of Public Safety Spokesman Steve McCausland said there have been 17 pharmacy robberies in 2014, which is more than the 13 such robberies in 2013 but far lower than the record-setting 56 pharmacy robberies in 2012. “The cost of heroin went down,” said McCausland, in explaining the drop in pharmacy robberies. He said addicts are far less likely to take the risk of robbing a pharmacy when they can get heroin on the street. ROBBERY, Page A
Pizza box scam
AS WAS DISCOVERED this summer, more water has been escaping through cracks in the Pleasant Lake dam than going over the spillway, according to Town Manager Dave Morton. The boards of selectmen from Otisfield and Casco met on Tuesday to discuss a plan to repair the dam by next summer. (De Busk Photo) relate into about $5,000 to $6,000 for each town, he said. Neither town has money in their budget for mainte-
nance of the structure. “Money is always a problem for municipalities. But, both boards understood the need for action,” he said.
The Bridgton Police Department is seeking the public’s help with a phone scam. The department is interested in talking with anyone who may have been contacted by a company attempting to sell ads to be placed on pizza boxes. If you have received such a call, please contact officer Mac McCormick at 647-8814, ext. 203.
The Bridgton News Established 1870
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