Election preview
Good day for some...
Plummer vs. Shuer for Senate 12; Hamper vs. Whitley for Senate 13; Mondville vs. Powers, House 101
...Not so good for others. Local field hockey teams fall; Raider football, soccer move on
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www.bridgton.com Vol. 143, No. 43
Serving Bridgton and the surrounding towns of Western Maine since 1870. 32 PAGES - 4 Sections
Bridgton, Maine
October 25, 2012
(USPS 065-020)
DOT eyes 5 mile stretch
Town investigates police party tip By Gail Geraghty Staff Writer FRYEBURG — The town is investigating an anonymous letter sent Monday along with two photographic images to the Bridgton News alleging that at least two uniformed police officers were present at a party where teenagers were drinking beer confiscated by the department over the summer. “There will be an investigation,” said Town Manager Sharon Jackson, after the News e-mailed over the poor-quality, grainy images, mailed as copies on white copy paper. The accompanying typewritten letter, signed “Fryeburg Concerned Residents,” describes one photo as showing a town employee’s wife “dancing” on the hood of the Fryeburg Police
Department’s pick-up truck. The color image, taken at night, shows a smiling woman squatting on the hood of a reddish pickup with “Fryeburg Police” lettering on the passenger door. She has one hand resting on the pick-up’s hood, while the other holds a blue can of beverage. The second photo, in black and white, shows the same woman flanked by the two officers, whose names were given in the letter but are not being released by the News. The letter alleges that the two officers “allowed and encouraged” the teenagers who attended the party to drink “all the beer they took for the summer for the party,” and that Fryeburg Police Chief Phil Weymouth had also given his blessing — “after he took
By Gail Geraghty Staff Writer Bridgton Selectman Bernie King, a former Bridgton police officer, wants to block the public from posting any comments on the police department’s enormously popular online Facebook page. If that can’t be done, he said at Tuesday’s meeting, the page ought to be shut down altogether. “We can be transparent” in communicating with the public, even if the page is “readonly, one-way, with no comments,” King said. “There is a city that did that.” King said he was referring to the city of Augusta. But Facebook users who search for “Augusta Maine” are taken to an unofficial page created under Facebook’s “Local Business or Place” category (that any user can create), offering information from Wikipedia and a 20page list of other Augustabased Facebook pages. The
page does not offer comments. Bridgton PD’s Facebook page was created under the “Company, Organization or Institution” category as an officially affiliated “Government Organization” page, which does allow comments. True crime-fighting tool Bridgton Police Officer Joshua Muise saw the potential for social media to strengthen the department’s ties to the community when he created the Facebook page three years ago. He said he wanted to be as liberal as possible in allowing residents to make comments about anything, including persons arrested for serious local crimes. Muise said he has had to permanently ban only around 200 residents to date, and the page now posts 3,274 “fans.” The less that comments have been censored, the more freely they’ve been given, he said;
PARTY TIP, Page A
Facebook: Tap potential or close?
FACEBOOK, Page A
By Gail Geraghty Staff Writer Thanks to some politicallyaggressive lobbying by the town of Bridgton, the Maine Department of Transportation has tentatively committed to a timetable for reconstructing an unsafe five-mile stretch of Route 302 West. A preliminary public hearing on the project will be held on Thursday, Dec. 13 from 6 to 8 p.m. in the downstairs meeting room of the Bridgton Municipal Complex. The project runs from the Stack Em Inn Road on Moose Pond’s western shore to just beyond the Fryeburg town line. A final hearing will be held in Fryeburg at a later date. Bridgton Town Manager Mitch Berkowitz said the project will likely be advertised in less than a year, by August 2013. The tentative schedule calls for initial minor clearing to begin by next October, 2013, with the major work continuing through the summer of 2014, until it is completed, he said. “My guess is that it is a mix of full rebuild as well as some depth of reclamation.” He has been in contact with MDOT District Supervisor Kyle Hall PREPARING TO EXHALE — Fryeburg Academy tuba player Tristan Hunter prepares to and has stressed the need for the state to schedule the major exhale while performing along Main Street during Saturday’s Homecoming parade. (Rivet Photo) DOT WORK, Page A
To recuse or not? Benefit is key
By Gail Geraghty Staff Writer When does being prudent and cautious about conflicts of interest cross over from the sublime to the ridiculous? The Bridgton Board of Selectmen has recently had two occasions to ponder that question. The first came at their Sept.
25 meeting, when the board decided, after receiving legal advice, that Chairman Paul Hoyt could participate in some, but not all, discussions and votes related to changes to the Salmon Point Campground lease agreement. Hoyt has leased a site at the town-owned campground for several years.
The board said Hoyt was welcome to weigh in on changes that did not directly involve a financial, or “pecuniary” interest from which he could benefit, such as their decision to add six more sites to the campground. However, when it came to the issue of raising lease fees by 10%, both Hoyt and his fellow
board members readily agreed there was a conflict of interest, and he should not be involved as a board member in either the discussion or the vote. Town Manager Mitch Berkowitz, in a query to Maine Municipal Association Senior Staff Attorney Rebecca Warren RECUSE, Page A
Two parcels could become town forest
House 98 The District: Bridgton, Harrison, Sweden, Stow and Lovell. The Candidates: With incumbent G. Paul Waterhouse retiring, the candidates for House District 98 are Republican Roxanna “Roxy” Hagerman and Democrat Lisa Villa. Their Positions: The News asked the candidates the following questions (answers arranged alphabetically): Q. Gridlock is a problem, so how do you propose to overcome partisan politics? Hagerman: I don’t believe there is any gridlock in Augusta under Republican leadership. This last legislature under Republican leadership and along with Governor LePage have started to get Maine back on track with regulatory reform, health insurance reform, tax reform and reforming agencies like the Turnpike and Maine State Housing, which the Democrats have corruptly managed for decades. I want to continue the good work of area legislators like Rick Sykes, Paul Waterhouse, Rich Cebra and Ralph Sarty. The Democrats running for office in our area want to stop the common sense reforms that are benefiting the people of the Lake Region and all of Maine. Villa: Gridlock is a problem at the state and federal levels. It’s time to send representatives to Augusta who will work across party lines in the best interest of Maine people, not political parties. I have served on non-partisan committees throughout my career. Together, we balanced budgets, prioritized projects for the Maine Department of Transportation, passed a county charter and improved transparency and efficiency in government. We have to do this an the state level. I will support any idea — left, right or center — that moves Maine forward. Q. What characteristics would you bring to the position that would make you an effective politician? Hagerman: I am self-reliant and understand what it means to live within one’s means without government handouts. I have a strong work ethic learned as a youngster by working the potato fields of Aroostook County. In this race for Maine House, special interests know I’m not their gal because I’m running to represent you, not them. Villa: My ability to collaborate and cooperate. I have eight HOUSE 98, Page A
SIXTY CENTS
Roxanna “Roxy” Hagerman Republican • Age: 59 • Resident of Bridgton; daughter, Ali McEwen, lives in Virginia with her husband Marc and baby Calvin; daughter, India Bell, attends Plymouth State University as a junior. • Education: Presque Isle High School; in the fall of 1971, instead of heading off to college, I toured Europe which was a fantastic educational experience; John Delaria Pyrametric School of Design; Hillsdale College Course on the U.S. Constitution. • Business: Owned and operated own business in Bridgton for 30 years; while married to J.R. Mains, I witnessed firsthand how job-killing regulations, the high cost of worker’s compensation, insurance and through-the-roof cost of three phase power shut down this ROXY, Page A
Lisa Villa Democrat • Age: 47 • Resident of Harrison; children, Brandon age 28, and Taylor, 15. • Education: High School; Residential Real Estate Law; Emergency Medical Technician (EMT); Maine Concealed Weapons Permit Certification; American Red Cross CPR/AED Instructor. • Professional: Six years of service in municipal and county government; Town of Harrison Selectman, vice chairman; Cumberland County Finance Committee, chairman; Cumberland County Development Block Grant Municipal Oversight Committee, vice chairman; Cumberland County Charter Commissioner, co-chairman; member of the Lakes Region Development Council and LISA, Page A
By Dawn De Busk Staff Writer CASCO — There are two initial hurdles that must be cleared before creating a community forest in any town. One is generating among the citizenship an enthusiasm and willingness to assist in a longterm project. The second is acquiring the acreage to set aside a wooded area as public land that would allow access for recreational and traditional activities. Also, the public property would provide a financial benefit since timber would be harvested with the guidance of a forester. Another advantage of a community forest is the ability to control and preserve water sources. The Town of Casco already has hopped, skipped and almost jumped over those those hurdles. Casco owns two parcels: a 70-acre site off Route 302 and between Lakewood Road and Ring Landing, and another locat-
ed on State Park Road between Point Sebago Resort and Sebago State Park, according to Eric Dibner, Chairman of the Casco Open Space Commission. The commission “has been working on a forest management plan for the two pieces of town property. The plan has been finished by the forester, and we are meeting with the (Casco) Recreation Committee to decide how these large parcels could be used for community forests,” Dibner said. On Tuesday, several members of the open space commission attended a presentation hosted by Sustainable Forest Futures. SFF Director of Forestry Julie Renaud Evans spoke about New England’s history of the townmanaged parks and woods. Then, she provided examples from the past decade of what towns in Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine had been
FOREST, Page A
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