WOOLWICH

Brunswick man drowns in local swimming hole

A 37-year-old Brunswick man died Sunday night at Mid Coast Hospital after being pulled to shore from the Nequasset swimming hole.

A statement from the Sagadahoc County Sheriff’s Department described the death of James M. Knowlen as an apparent accidental drowning.

Sandra Knowlen, 66, had tried to get her son out of the water while he was in distress, the statement said. After her son went under, she sought help from a bystander, who found the submerged victim and dragged him 30 feet to shore.

Emergency responders performed CPR and took Knowlen to the hospital, where he was declared dead at 8:40 p.m.

The sheriff’s office is investigating but, according to the statement, has no reason to suspect any crime.

PORTLAND

Motions to dismiss lawsuits against dam owners denied

A federal magistrate is recommending that two lawsuits against dam owners on Maine’s Kennebec and Androscoggin rivers be allowed to move forward.

The Friends of Merrymeeting Bay and Environment Maine environmental groups filed four complaints last winter seeking to have the owners and operators of seven dams take action to protect dwindling populations of endangered Atlantic salmon.

U.S. Magistrate Judge John Rich last week recommended that motions by Miller Hydro Group and Topsham Hydro Partners — seeking to have the lawsuits dismissed — be denied. Federal Judge George Singal will make the final determination.

Atlantic salmon were declared endangered in the two rivers in 2009. The two groups want dam owners to take measures to protect the fish from being killed by the dams’ spinning turbines.

WESTBROOK

Educator from Eliot named Westbrook High’s principal

A middle school principal in New Hampshire has been hired as the new principal of Westbrook High School.

Thomas O’Malley, 59, replaces Marc Gousse, who was named superintendent of Westbrook schools in June.

Gousse said O’Malley started working in the high school last week, although the School Committee has yet to approve his contract. His proposed salary is $96,741. The board is scheduled to vote on it at a meeting on Aug. 10.

Gousse said the district received 15 to 20 applications for the position.

For the past eight years, O’Malley has been principal of Cooperative Middle School in Exeter, N.H. Previously, he was the principal of Sanford Junior High School, and has been an assistant principal at schools in New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine.

O’Malley, an Eliot native, holds a bachelor’s degree and master’s degree in educational administration from the University of Southern Maine, as well as a certificate of advanced graduate study in educational administration from the University of New Hampshire.

He lives in Eliot with his wife, Kathryn. They have six grown children and two grandchildren.

AUGUSTA

Lawmaker proposes bill modeled on Caylee’s Law

A Maine lawmaker is proposing a bill that would punish anyone who fails to report the death or disappearance of a child to law enforcement authorities.

Sen. Michael Thibodeau said Monday his proposal is modeled after Caylee’s Law, a bill recently submitted in Florida’s legislature in response to the case of Casey Anthony, who did not her report her 2-year-old daughter’s disappearance for a month. Anthony was arrested after telling police a series of lies, but was acquitted of murder on July 5.

Thibodeau, a Republican from Winterport, said the goal of his legislation, to be submitted in January, is to make sure there’s timely reporting in cases of murder or accidental death involving children. Under current Maine law, failure to report a child missing or dead is not a crime.

ORONO

UMS trustees approve plan for $5.2 million planetarium

University of Maine System trustees have approved a proposal to build a new planetarium and observatory at the Orono campus.

Trustees met Monday in Bangor.

University officials say a new observatory and planetarium will enhance the school’s physics and astronomy programs and allow for sophisticated research by astrophysics graduate students.

The university’s current observatory was built in 1900 and has little value for even basic astronomy research. The planetarium dates to 1954.

The $5.2 million project will be paid for with $4.2 million in gifts and $1 million in institutional funds.

BANGOR

Counterfeit bills reported at yards sales, downtown

Bangor police say somebody’s been passing counterfeit bills at yard sales.

Police say they got five calls Sunday about bogus $20 and $50 bills. Four people said they got scammed at yard sales, and a fifth person said he was passed a fake $50 bill when he made change for a man who approached him downtown.

Investigators say the cases appear to be connected.

MATINICUS

Woman in serious condition after plane crashed in ocean

A Waterville woman remained in serious condition at a Lewiston Hospital on Monday, a day after the small plane in which she was a passenger lost power and crashed into the ocean off Matinicus Island.

Karen C. Ford, 53, associate director of admissions and financial aid at Colby College, was one of four people in the Cessna 206 that went down about 4:30 p.m. Sunday. Two other passengers — Eva Murray, 47, of Matinicus and Abagail Read, 56, of Appleton — were taken to the hospital and the pilot was treated and released.

The Knox County Sheriff’s Office is investigating the crash, along with the Coast Guard, the Maine Marine Patrol, Maine State Police, the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board.

In a statement, Knox County Chief Deputy Tim Carroll said the aircraft apparently took off from the island’s dirt airstrip, climbed about 200 feet, then developed engine trouble and lost power, crashing a few hundred yards offshore.

Aided by the injured pilot, Robert Hoffman, 69, of Rangeley, the three passengers were able to get out of the sinking plane and cling to it until people on Matinicus assisted them.

LIMESTONE

Florida rider tops 311 mph on conventional motorcycle

A Florida man has topped 300 mph on a conventional motorcycle.

Bill Warner of Wimauma hit a speed of 311.945 mph Sunday at the Loring Timing Association’s land speed races at the former Loring Air Force Base in Limestone.

The association’s Tim Kelly said Warner’s run aboard a turbocharged 1299cc Suzuki is the fastest speed obtained on a conventional motorcycle. Faster speeds have been recorded for so-called streamliner motorcycles, in which drivers ride inside an enclosed missile-looking device on wheels.

Warner, 42, said his motorcycle “is built for speed and that’s what it did.” He held the previous speed record of 278.6 mph, set last October in Texas.

BRUNSWICK

Woolwich teenager arrested in stabbing of another teen

One teenager is in the hospital and another is in jail following a stabbing in Brunswick.

Brunswick police say they were called about 1 a.m. Monday to a Primrose Lane address, where they found 19-year-old Randall Rytky lying in the road with stab wounds to his torso. He was taken to Maine Medical Center.

Police told WMTW-TV they arrested 18-year-old Chuck Schooley of Woolwich. He is charged with elevated aggravated assault and is being held on $10,000 bail.

KITTERY

Shipyard worker gets shock while working in pump well

An employee at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard received an electric shock while working in a pump well.

Deborah White, a spokeswoman for the shipyard, described the shock as minor. She said the employee was walking, but taken to a nearby medical facility as a precaution.

A pump well is where pumps used to de-water the dry dock are kept, said White.

She said there’s an ongoing investigation into the incident. She had no further information about the employee.

 

SOUTH PORTLAND

Robbery suspect arrested Tuesday after brief standoff

South Portland police aided by a regional SWAT team arrested a Scarborough man Monday who had been sought in connection with the robbery of a gas-station clerk at knife point.

Police arrested Joshua Nisbet, 34, at 191 Highland Ave. in South Portland at 6 p.m. following a brief standoff, police said. The person who lived at that address obeyed police and left, but Nisbet refused to come out initially, police said.

Members of the Southern Maine Regional SWAT Team deployed and Nisbet eventually surrendered. He is being held on $100,000 bail at the Cumberland County Jail on charges of robbing the Mobil station on Main Street Friday night.