CASCO

Shooting victim’s family sets up trust fund for sons

The family of two boys whose father was killed in an accidental shooting last weekend has set up a trust fund for the children.

Richard “Jake” Jacobson, 47, of Casco died after a .22-caliber rifle accidentally fired while in the hands of a young boy, hitting Jacobson in the back, police said.

A fund to help Jacobson’s children has been established. People who want to help can send donations to: Griffin and Grant Jacobson Trust Fund, care of Bank of America, 772 Roosevelt Trail, Windham 04062.

AUGUSTA

Doctor fined, reprimanded in consent agreement

A doctor from Saco has been fined and reprimanded for prescribing medications to himself and his then-fiancee.

Dr. Michael J. Festino accepted a $1,000 fine and was reprimanded in a consent agreement signed with the state Board of Licensure in Medicine on Tuesday. Festino must also complete a board-approved course within a year.

Festino notified the board that he was being sued by his former fiancee based on medical care he provided when they were a couple, according to a statement from the board. Festino also admitted to failing to keep medical records for her and self-prescribing for 10 years.

MCLU recognizes campaign to end solitary confinement

Three people have been recognized by the Maine Civil Liberties Union for their campaign to end solitary confinement in Maine.

Recipients are the Rev. Stan Moody of Manchester, Dr. Janis Petzel of Hallowell and Emily Posner, formerly of Montville,

The 2010 Roger Baldwin Award will be presented during the MCLU’s annual meeting, which is free and open to the public and will begin at 7 tonight at the Wells Conference Center at the University of Maine.

“Our Baldwin Award honorees worked tirelessly to secure protections for one of our most vulnerable populations – prisoners,” MCLU Executive Director Shenna Bellows said in a statement.

Moody, a pastor in Manchester, was a chaplain at the Maine State Prison for two years and testified before legislators about conditions in Maine’s solitary confinement units.

Petzel, in her role as president of the Maine Association of Psychiatric Physicians, testified to legislators about the psychological effects of solitary confinement on prisoners.

Posner is a student at Loyola University New Orleans College of Law who initiated the legislation to reform solitary confinement in Maine. Her work resulted from her correspondence, begun in 2008, with Herman Wallace, who spent 38 years in solitary confinement at Angola State Penitentiary in Louisiana.

PORTLAND

Inmate won’t keep stereo, CD player at state prison

An inmate who is serving 75 years for murder and kidnapping won’t have a stereo and CD player at the Maine State Prison.

Byron Raynes appealed to the state’s Supreme Court after his stereo, cassette deck, CD player and electric razor were taken from him.

Such items have been prohibited since 2004. Raynes was allowed to keep them because he bought them before the new rules were in place.

On Thursday, the court upheld the seizure of those items as a punishment against Raynes after he was twice caught with pornographic material in his cell. Raynes was sentenced in 1990 for killing Margaret Shaw, 34, of Gardiner and kidnapping her children.

Police investigate similar taxi cab robberies in city

Police are investigating two taxi cab robberies early Thursday that appear to have been committed by the same person.

Police said an ABC cab picked up a fare in North Deering about 3 a.m. and drove to Alder Street. As the driver was making change, the passenger hit the driver in the face and ran off with a small amount of cash.

Less than two hours later, a man was picked up by an ASAP taxi in the East End and taken to Pearl and Oxford streets. When the driver went to make change, the robber hit him in the head and grabbed a small amount of cash, police said.

The robber in both cases was described as a black man, 5-foot-10 to 6 feet, about 195 pounds with hair in dreadlocks. Anyone with information is asked to call Portland police at 874-8533.

Former newspaper building being used for fire training

The former home of The Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram is being used by the Portland Fire Department for training.

Deputy Fire Chief Robert Wassick said the seven-story building at 390 Congress St. gives firefighters an opportunity to train in a high-rise building.

They can practice hauling hose lines up stairs, staging ladders, and spraying water from upper-story windows.

Most of the building’s interior is being gutted, which makes it ideal for training, Wassick said. The training, being done at night, will continue through October.

The Press Herald and Telegram are now located at One City Center.

Workers’ comp recipient can’t get benefits for crash

Maine’s supreme court says a workers’ compensation beneficiary isn’t eligible for additional benefits for a car crash that happened en route to a mediation meeting.

Kurt Feiereisen, a NewPage employee, was injured on the job in 1987, 1997 and again in 2007, and he was going to a mediation hearing on those injuries when he was involved in a crash.

In a 4-2 ruling, the Maine Supreme Judicial Court found that NewPage cannot be responsible for the injuries en route to the hearing in Lewiston.

Justice Ellen Gorman wrote that injuries occurring during travel to mediation or litigation aren’t under the workers’ compensation system.

Two dissenting justices said Feiereisen should be eligible for payments because his travel to the meeting was mandatory.

WALDOBORO

Public asked to help find missing local fisherman

Police are calling on the public for help in finding a commercial fisherman from Waldoboro who has been missing for nearly a month.

Peter Collins was last seen leaving his mother’s home in Waldoboro early on Sept. 19, said Police Chief Bill Labombarde.

Collins told his mother he would return the next day.

Collins has medical problems and does not have his medication, Labombarde said.

Collins, 47, has been known to travel between Waldoboro and the New Bedford, Mass., area, where he works for fishing companies.

He drives a forest green 1999 GMC Denali sport utility vehicle bearing Maine license plate 549 ABL. Anyone with information concerning his disappearance is asked to contact Waldoboro police at 832-4500.

CAPE ELIZABETH

Volunteer workday marks start of planting project

Volunteers will prepare the site of the first planting of the Arboretum at Fort Williams Park on Saturday.

The volunteer workday marks the official start of the project, which ultimately envisions 15 planting sites around the 90-acre park.

The morning will begin with a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 9 a.m. Volunteers will then work on a site along the Cliff Walk that is overgrown with exotic invasive plants.

Volunteers are asked to bring gloves, pruning saws and loppers. Organizers say this phase of the project is not suitable for children.

More information about the project is at www.arboretumatfortwilliams.org.

AUBURN

Sex charges filed against man in Mechanic Falls case

Police in Mechanic Falls have brought more than a half-dozen sex charges against a man who worked for more than 10 years with children on the town’s Recreation Committee.

John “Jack” Callahan, who was arrested last week, is being held in the Androscoggin County Jail on $25,000 bail.

Charges include two counts each of gross sexual assault, sexual exploitation of a minor and sexual abuse of a minor, as well as single counts of unlawful sexual touching, unlawful sexual contact and possession of child porn.

Town Manager John Hawley told the Sun Journal that Callahan, 54, passed a background check.

FARMINGTON

New Sharon man convicted of sexual assaults on boy

A jury found a New Sharon man guilty Wednesday of multiple sexual assaults on a young boy for more than a decade.

After a two-day trial in Franklin County Superior Court, Paul Tracy was found guilty of 11 counts each of gross sexual assault and unlawful sexual contact.

The crimes occurred from 1997 to 2007, and are linked to incidents of sexual contact between Tracy, now 45, and the victim, who was under the age of 18.

Justice Michaela Murphy said she expects Tracy to be sentenced in November. She ordered him held without bail while awaiting sentencing.

BOSTON

Commerce secretary says catch limits may be raised

Commerce Secretary Gary Locke says he’s open to raising the catch limits on certain fish species that fishermen say they need.

Locke had expressed uncertainty about whether the nation’s fishery laws gave him the power to raise the catch limits on various species.
In a letter to Massachusetts U.S. Rep. Barney Frank on Thursday, Locke said he’s now prepared to issue an emergency regulation to revise catch limits “whenever there is both sufficient economic and sound scientific data available to meet these requirements.”

Fishermen have argued the limits on some protected species have been wrongly set so low, it will prematurely shut down fishing and devastate the industry.