As 2016 comes to a close, we bring you some of the top news stories York County from the year.

In May, then Old Orchard Beach Fire Chief Ricky Plummer was charged with arson in relation to an April 15 fire that spread over more than 40 acres of marsh grass and woods west of East Grand avenue in Old Orchard Beach at an estimated rate of 200-500 feet per minute.
Surveillance footage from a nearby hotel showed Plummer and his work vehicle near the area of the fire’s origin shortly before the fire was reported April 15.
Plummer said in an interview with a Maine Forest Ranger he had walked out into the woods and marsh area on April 15 to get some “peace” and smoke a cigarette he had taken from his wife. Plummer reportedly said he threw used matches on the ground, and then threw the cigarette in the area of chest-high cattails. Plummer said he walked out of the marsh and woods area, unaware that a fire had started.

In September, Saco city councilors repealed a referendum that would have asked voters in November whether to allow the city to spend up to $21.5 million toward a building a new school at the existing Young School site and renovations at Gov. John Fairfield school.
The current Young School is a modular building constructed in 2004 as a short-term replacement when the previous school was torn down due to mold infestation.
The issue of whether to renovate or replace the school was debated at length over the past year.
The council decided to repeal the referendum question as the Maine Department of Education was, for the first time in six years, opening a new application cycle for state funding for major school construction projects.

In Arundel, an effort to withdrawal from Regional School Unit 21 was voted down in June when residents rejected 767-255 a referendum question that would have authorized a withdrawal committee to spend up to $45,000 to prepare a proposed agreement to withdraw from the RSU and come up with an estimated cost of doing so.
RSU 21 oversees education in Arundel, Kennebunk and Kennebunkport. A group of residents filed a petition to withdraw from the RSU shortly after the school unit voted to end school choice for middle school students for Thornton Academy Middle School after next year.
This was the second effort in town to withdrawal from the RSU. In 2014, residents voted by a narrow margin to stay in the RSU.

In October, Victor DiGregorio of Sanford pleaded guilty at York County Superior Court and was convicted of six counts of unsworn falsification, admitting he falsified contributions to boost his eligibility for Maine Clean Election Act funds in connection with his failed 2015 bid for the Legislature. He ran as an unenrolled candidate to fill a vacant term, and trailed the pack in a three-way race; Republican Matthew Harrington emerged as the winner.
DiGregorio was sentenced to 10 days incarceration, to be served in an alternative sentencing program and is expected to serve seven days of community service.
The conviction forced DiGregorio to give up his seat on the Sanford City Council, which was to expire Dec. 31, as the Sanford city charter states those convicted of crimes with the potential of a sentence of more than six month are no longer qualified to be a councilor. DiGregorio ran for another term for the city council on Nov. 8 but lost.

In Waterboro, a petition drive has prompted a vote in 2017 to determine whether to keep the annual town meeting. Whatever voters decide, there will still be a town meeting June 18, and if voters choose referendum-style budget voting, it will begin June 2018.
Over the past few years, the average attendance at the annual June Town Meeting has been 40 to 50 people. This year’s annual Town Meeting on June 18 saw 51 people cast votes. According to the 2010 census, the town has about 8,000 residents.

In February, former Biddeford landlord James Pak was sentenced to two life sentences for murdering his 19-year-old tenant, Derrick Thompson and Thompson’s 18-year-old girlfriend, Aliva Welch. Pak was also sentenced to serve a consecutive 30-year prison term for the attempted murder of another tenant, Susan Johnson, Thompson’s mother.
Pak, who was renting an apartment at his Sokokis Road home to Thompson, Johnson and Johnson’s 6-year-old son, Brayden, barged into the apartment in late 2012, where Welch was visiting. He said, “I’m going to shoot you all,” and shot Johnson, Thompson and then Welch. Brayden remained in his room, listening to each person scream before being shot.
The shooting followed an argument over the tenants’ rental agreement, as well as parking and snow removal at the property. Just minutes before Pak shot the victims, a police officer responded to a call about the argument, but left after telling Pak and his tenants the dispute had to be worked out through the civil process.

MSAD 6 Superintendent Frank Sherburne resigned in May amidst controversy.
The MSAD 6 Board of Directors determined that the district’s nepotism policy was violated when Sherburne’s son, Zachariah, was hired as an education technician at Buxton Central Elementary without bringing it to the full school board for approval after the interview process was completed.