PORTLAND

Wabanaki floats to top of names for new ferry

A ferry that’s set to join the Casco Bay Lines fleet next year will be named the Wabanaki.

The Casco Bay Lines Board of Directors selected the name from six finalists. Wabanaki is an Indian word that refers to the “dawn land” or the “people of the dawn,” an ancestral land that includes New England and eastern Canada.

Funded through federal stimulus spending, the Wabanaki is being built by Blount Marine of Warren, R.I. It will replace the Island Romance that will be retired after the new boat arrives next spring.

The ferry service connects the Casco Bay islands with Portland. Schoolchildren at four island schools participated in the naming.

 

Three community leaders take on domestic violence

Police Chief James Craig, Superintendent Jim Morse and former Attorney General Steve Rowe will speak Thursday at an event targeting men and the steps they can take to prevent domestic violence.

The press conference, to be held at Lincoln Park in front of the Cumberland County Courthouse, is scheduled to start at noon. It is sponsored by Boys to Men, a social change organization that supports the development of boys and the people who raise them.

The speakers will address the recent rash of domestic homicides in Maine and emphasize that the use or threat of physical violence to control another person is never an option.

 

Director of AIDS Alliance leaving for elections post

The executive director of the Maine AIDS Alliance will soon leave his post.

The Portland-based organization, founded in 1988, announced on its website Tuesday that Andrew Bossie, the organization’s executive director since 2007, will resign effective July 1 to become Maine Citizens for Clean Elections’ first executive director.

The alliance’s board of directors will take over the day-to-day operations of the organization. Directors say they will focus their attention on raising funds for a two-year study to evaluate HIV/AIDS services in Maine.

They will also spend time developing a comprehensive plan for handling the disease in the future. There was no mention made as to whether the AIDS Alliance plans to replace Bossie.

Under Bossie, the organization raised funds for planning the Maine AIDS Walk and for LIFE, a weekend of events held in collaboration with Southern Maine Pride.

 

Third trip yields first medal for transplant recipient

Greg Gelinas of Portland is bringing home the bronze after placing third last week in the 400-meter freestyle at the World Transplant Games in Goteborg, Sweden.

At 52, this was Gelinas’ third trip to the World Transplant Games to compete in swimming for Team USA. The medal was the first won by Gelinas at the games.

At age 18, Gelinas was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. Since then he has had two kidney transplants and a pancreas transplant.

When his first kidney transplant failed, his best friend, Ken Sawtelle, donated a kidney to Gelinas.

The World Transplant Games are an opportunity for people who have had successful organ transplants to compete at an Olympic-like and increase public awareness of the success that can come from organ donations. This year, the games were held from June 17-24.

SOUTH PORTLAND

Jetport officials to discuss noise, growth, other issues

The public is invited to a presentation at City Hall tonight by three key staffers from the Portland International Jetport.

Jetport director Paul Bradbury, security manager Jennifer Dunfee and operations manager Brad Wallace are scheduled to appear in council chambers at City Hall from 6:30 to 8 p.m.

Councilor Alan Livingston said the jetport employees will give a presentation and will answer questions from the public about noise abatement, airport growth, current projects and other issues.

 

SMCC to offer degree for prospective engineers

Southern Maine Community College will offer a new associate degree in pre-engineering this fall at its main campus in South Portland and at its new SMCC Midcoast Campus in Brunswick.

The program is part of a collaboration with the University of Maine that allows students to continue on and receive bachelor’s and master’s degrees in engineering.

Students interested in pursuing a career in engineering should have a strong background in math and science, be good problem solvers, critical thinkers and effective communicators. For more information, go to: www.smccme.edu.

In addition to engineering, SMCC is offering a range of classes this fall at its new Midcoast Campus, at the former Brunswick Naval Air Station, now Brunswick Landing.

LIVERMORE FALLS

Woman pistol-whipped by two masked intruders

Police searched on Tuesday for two suspects who reportedly entered a Livermore Falls home and pistol-whipped a middle-age woman.

The victim told police two males wearing ski masks walked into her home at the Pine Ridge Loop mobile home park just before 9:30 a.m. Monday.

Police say the woman suffered a cut on her head and was taken by ambulance to Franklin Memorial Hospital in Farmington where she was treated and released.

Sgt. Steve Allen tells the Sun Journal newspaper the victim did not appear to be acquainted with her attackers. A sleeping child was unharmed.

Last week an 81-year-old Farmington woman, Grace Burton, died after being attacked by an intruder in her apartment.

AUBURN

World Trade Center beams to serve as 9/11 memorials

Two Maine fire departments will get portions of steel beams from the World Trade Center in New York to serve as memorials to those who lost their lives in the 2001 terrorist attacks.

On Thursday morning, Auburn Firefighter Julian Beale plans to pick up two sections of twisted steel in New York, one for the Auburn Fire Department and one for the Farmingdale Fire Department.

In Auburn, a 12-foot section will be used to create a permanent monument in front of the Central Fire Station to the people who died on Sept. 11, 2001.

The piece going to Farmingdale is only 4 feet long, so it will most likely be displayed inside the station.

The steel is expected to arrive in Auburn late Thursday afternoon.

BUXTON

Community center rejection upheld by vote recount

A recount has confirmed that Buxton voters turned down a plan that would have allowed the town to use a vacant school building as a community center.

The ballot asked voters whether the town should enter into a one-year lease agreement with SAD 6. If it had been approved, Buxton would have been allowed, for $1 a year, to use the vacant Hanson School as a community center.

The original vote failed by 10 votes – 546 to 536. In the recount, it narrowed to a 9-vote gap – 549 to 540.

The proposal was viewed as an effort by the Buxton-Hollis Historical Society to prevent the 81-year-old former elementary school from being torn down.

WASHINGTON

Prescrpition restrictions appear doomed in Maine

The Supreme Court has thrown out an appeals court ruling upholding Maine’s restrictions on the sale of doctors’ drug prescribing habits, following last week’s high court ruling striking down a similar law in Vermont.

The federal appeals court in Boston upheld data-mining restrictions in Maine and New Hampshire, while the New York-based appeals court struck down the Vermont law.

The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 last week that the Vermont law unfairly restricts data-mining and pharmaceutical companies from using the information detailing doctors’ prescribing records, though without patient names.

Today’s order directs the Boston-based court to take a new look at the Maine law in light of the Supreme Court ruling.

GORHAM

Technology grant to fund low-cost wind turbine

A Gorham energy company was one of four in the state awarded money from the Maine Technology Institute.

Pika Energy received nearly $275,000 to develop a low-cost wind turbine system for families and businesses interested in producing renewable electricity. Pika matched the award with $343,000.

Maine Technology Institute announced today it awarded over $761,000 to the four Maine companies.

The other businesses were Wizbe Innovations in Manchester, Cerealus Holdings in Waterville and RainStorm Inc. in Orono.

Wizbe received $64,000 to develop for the U.S. Army a parachute fabric with an electronic system to adjust its permeability. Cerealus will use its $262,000 to help paper mills substitute ash filler for pulp fiber to reduce costs. RainStorm’s $161,000 award will go toward course catalogs and online registration for adult education programs.

Maine Technology Institute was created by the Legislature in 1999 to stimulate research and development in technology. The nonprofit organization is publicly financed.

YARMOUTH

Group developing trails to meet with neighbors

A Yarmouth group that wants to build a network of hiking and biking trails along a six-mile stretch of a CMP transmission corridor plans its first meeting with residents whose property backs up to the corridor.

The Yarmouth Bicycle and Pedestrian Committee will hold the meeting at 6 tonight in the Fels-Grove Farm Preserve parking lot. The information session is for neighbors living between Drinkwater Point Road and Prince’s Point Road, which is along the first section of the trail to be marked and cleared. More meetings are planned with neighbors along the proposed trail.

The group is looking to clear brush and establish trails all along the corridor. Dogs will be allowed either on leash or under voice control, but ATVs and horses will not be allowed.

BANGOR

Police brutality settlement nets victim $725,000

A Deer Isle man will get $725,000 as part of a police brutality settlement that was reached as the case was set to go to trial in federal court.

Ronald Eaton had sued several Hancock County and Ellsworth officials after he was arrested in 2006.

Eaton argued police had no reason to arrest him when an off-duty sheriff’s deputy accosted him and broke his right shoulder in a restaurant parking lot. He also accused several corrections officers of violating his rights when he was taken to Hancock County Jail.

In 2007 a judge dismissed criminal charges against Eaton that followed the 2006 incident.

The Bangor Daily News says the settlement, reached Monday, will be paid by insurance companies.