YORK COUNTY — It’s true that sometimes one must look back to be able to completely understand things that lie ahead in the future.
With that in mind, here’s a review of some of the news events appearing on the pages of the Journal Tribune newspaper in 2018:
January
Fire destroyed a mobile home on Gallant Drive in Saco on Jan. 2.
Longtime Biddeford Public Works Director Guy Casavant retired on Jan. 2.
York County Manager Greg Zinser was awarded a new five-year contract by York County Commissioners on Jan. 10.
Expansion plans were announced Jan. 19 for the Little Ossipee Lake Campground in Waterboro. A total of 55 new RV sites were added.
Heavy snow severely damaged a portion of the old Trull Hospital on May Street in Biddeford on Jan. 26.
Marcel Blouin, the longtime Sanford Parks and Recreation Director retired on Jan. 31.
February
On Feb. 7, Southern Maine Health Care named Nathan Howell, a health care executive with national experience and ties to Maine, as the organization’s new chief executive officer succeeding the retiring CEO Ed McGeachey.
A 37-year old Waterboro woman was charged with driving on a suspended license and failing to maintain control of her vehicle after her car crashed into a school bus carrying 34 children in Buxton on Feb. 8.
The city of Saco became one of the latest municipalities to file a lawsuit suing pharmaceutical companies that manufacture and distribute opioids on Feb. 8.
The new Central Park Skating Rink in Sanford opened on Feb. 13.
The Old Orchard Beach Community Food Pantry launched a new initiative to help feed those who are housebound on Feb. 16.
U.S. Coast Guard investigators were at the scene of a collision at sea off the coast of Kennebunk on Feb. 22 that resulted in the sinking of a 80-foot tugboat.
March
A nor’easter rolled up the coast on March 2 leaving behind flooding in Kennebunk, Biddeford and Camp Ellis.
On March 6, the Biddeford City Council drove further down the road in the approval process of a proposed parking garage to spur the city’s economic engine when they approved authorization of a design plan and location for the structure.
Firefighters from several communities in northern York Country and from neighboring departments in New Hampshire fought a blaze at Province Lake Golf Club on March 8. The clubhouse, pro shop and restaurant were leveled by the fire.
Lewiston knocked off the Biddeford boys’ ice hockey team to claims its third straight Class A title, 2-1, on March 10 in Lewiston.
Police charged a 40-year-old Berwick woman with allegedly using drugs in the public restroom of a convenience store in Sanford on March 21.
On March 24, Ocean State Job Lot held a grand opening for the company’s newest Maine store on Route 111 in Biddeford.
April
More than 34 people were displaced and an elderly man died on April 2 when fire ripped through a three-story apartment building on Hill Street in Biddeford.
On April 4, lightning struck a utility pole and possibly caused a fire that temporarily displaced four households on Cumberland Avenue in Saco.
Numerous residents spoke against a proposal to rezone a portion of the University of New England campus along the Saco River to allow for an amphitheater at a Biddeford Planning Board public hearing on April 4.
Two-term independent State Rep. Martin Grohman of Biddeford announced April 10 that he would challenge incumbent Democrat Chellie Pingree for the 1st Maine U.S. Congressional District seat in the fall election.
On April 14, Maine Technology Institute awarded Biddeford company DeepWater Buoyancy a new grant from the Maine Technology Asset Fund 2.0 program.
The Saco School Board was asked by members of the Saco City Council to determine if any cuts could be made to the proposed 2019 fiscal year school budget on April 24.
May
Maine Forest Service and local firefighters were working to contain a wildfire that had spread to 314 acres near the Kennebunk-Sanford town line on May 4.
An altercation between two individuals inside the Family Dollar Store in Old Orchard Beach on May 5 resulted in two people being taken to the hospital suffering from stab wounds.
A resident of a home at 36 Morrison Road in Springvale that burned to the ground on May 12 credited passersby who saw the blaze and pounded on the door for saving his life and the lives of his five family members.
Biddeford City Councilors approved a budget that will raise the tax rate for property owners by about 2 percent.
Members of the Saco Police Department were notified on May 26 of a missing resident and the man was found alive following an extensive search.
The addition of a second downtown Wi-Fi HotSpot that will extend free internet along Main Street in downtown Biddeford was announced on May 28.
June
Carol Sharrow, 51, of Sanford, was arrested at her home and taken to York County Jail in Alfred after her car struck and killed Douglas Parkhurst, 68, of West Newfield, during a youth baseball game at Goodall Park in Sanford on June 1.
On June 6, a total of 14 people were displaced following a fire at a three-story apartment building on Bowdoin Court in Sanford.
July
A badly decomposed whale carcass washed up in Old Orchard Beach on July 22. The whale carcass was on the beach near Reggio Avenue. The carcass was torn, with intestines exposed, and had a strong odor.
Former Kennebunk High School health teacher Jill Lamontagne was found not guilty by a jury in Alfred on 14 counts of sexual assault on July 26.
August
An Old Orchard Beach resident wanted on five warrants was found hiding in a home in Waterboro on Aug. 2 and a man allegedly helping her was found on the home’s roof.
On Aug. 7, a judge denied convicted murderer Derek Poulin’s request for a reduced sentence. At the age of 23, Poulin murdered his 61-year-old grandmother, Patricia Noel, by beating her with a golf club and stabbing her about 70 times in her Old Orchard Beach home. Poulin then set fire to the house where he and his father also lived.
Reports of an explosion led York County Sheriff’s Office deputies to a South Road home on Aug. 7. A day later, they charged the homeowner with maintaining a methamphetamine lab.
A report of a possible drug overdose led to the arrest of 10 people and the seizure of methamphetamine labs in Hollis on Aug. 10.
A Massachusetts man involved in a fatal crash on the Maine Turnpike near Wells on Aug. 21 was driving without a license, police said. Gabino Ortiz, 54, of Brockton, Massachusetts, was driving a Honda Odyssey northbound on the Maine turnpike near the Wells-Ogunquit town line when his car struck the guard rail and crashed into the trees off the breakdown lane. His passenger, 19-year-old Uriel Vasquez, also from Brockton, died at the scene.
Two Biddeford men were indicted by a federal grand jury on Aug. 27 for an alleged hate crime in Biddeford that took place in April.
September
On Sept. 4, the Saco City Council unanimously approved an ordinance requiring dogs be on leash at all times on areas of the beach where piping plovers or least terns are present or have previously nested from April 1 through Sept. 30.
A Biddeford School Committee member was indicted on multiple charges of assault on Sept. 8. Dennis Anglea, 58, was indicted on felony charges for aggravated assault and attempted gross sexual assault. He is also charged with a misdemeanor for domestic violence assault.
A former University of New England student was found guilty by a jury of criminal restraint and domestic violence assault on Sept. 20.
The Dyer Library in Saco was closed Sept. 25 after an alleged break-in at the building on Sept. 24.
The University of New England introduced a new Professional Science master’s degree program in Ocean Food Systems on Sept. 29.
On Sept. 30, a Dayton man was arrested for driving under the influence after he led police on a chase through the woods late in the evening before being tracked down by a police dog.
October
Police say a traffic stop on Oct. 5 in Lebanon led to the discovery of an array of drugs, an arrest and the prospect of more suspects being taken into custody.
Medical marijuana growers in the process of setting up their businesses asked the Sanford City Council to reconsider enacting the portion of a proposed moratorium that would ban new medical marijuana growing facilities for 180 days on Oct. 9.
Three tenants of a condemned Sanford apartment building reached a settlement with the owner and the property manager on Oct. 13.
Jim LaBelle, a former vice-president of marketing at a seafood company, became the next executive director of the Biddeford+Saco Chamber of Commerce+Industry on Oct. 15.
Firefighters responded to a fatal fire at 20 Hillview Ave. in Saco on Oct. 20. Saco Fire Chief John Duross said that one person died at the scene.
A complaint filed in York County Superior in Alfred on Oct. 25 seeks to stop Biddeford’s plan to charge for parking in city-owned lots in the downtown, which began in early December.
November
A jury returned a guilty verdict against a Sanford man charged with six counts of unlawful sexual contact and one count of visual sexual aggression against a child in connection with incidents in 2009, when the victim was 11 on Nov. 2.
On Nov. 3, the Mousam Way Land Trust has endorsed the concept of a community ecology center at the new McKeon Environmental Reserve on Blanchard Road, said Land Trust President Gordon “Bud” Johnston.
Police in Kennebunk determined that a local man who allegedly threatened to return to his former workplace and shoot people, did not have access to firearms. Benjamin A. Mildner, 31, was arrested on Nov. 4 and charged with terrorizing, a Class D misdemeanor.
Nancy Hammond of Lyman was elected as York County’s next Register of Deeds, handily beating her opponent, Michael Provencher of Waterboro during the Nov. 6 election for the open seat.
Incumbent York County Sheriff William L. King Jr. was returned to office on Nov. 6, beating his Republican opponent Roger Hicks by more than 13,000 votes.
The legacy of a young Saco boy who made headlines around the world in the months before his untimely death last year will live on in a bench at a beloved Portland playground that was dedicated on Nov. 15.
December
The Wreaths Across America convoy passed through Saco and Kennebunk on Dec. 3 on it’s way to Arlington Cemetery, and community members turned out in force to show their support as it passed through.
Thornton Academy in Saco has been recognized as an Apple Distinguished School for 2018 to 2021 for the second consecutive time on Dec. 7.
A Sanford Police detective and her two children weren’t able to go home as their Waterboro home was devastated by a fire Dec. 6. In an outpouring of support from the community, especially from her police colleagues from near and far, thousands of dollars have been raised to help her and her family. A new rental home was secured, and clothes and other items for her and her children were donated.
Kandee Collind asked a judge to withdraw her guilty plea to murdering her ex -husband and if she is subsequently convicted at trial, she could face decades in prison and prosecutors could ask for a life sentence. Collind, 48, formerly known as Kandee Weyland, of Acton, pleaded guilty in August to stabbing her ex-husband, Scott Weyland, to death in his driveway in February 2017 after she learned he had been awarded custody of their two young children.
Maine State Police say a pedestrian was struck and killed in the early morning hours of Dec. 15 on the Maine Turnpike in Saco.
A York County judge has upheld an October ruling that Regional School Unit 21 is required to pay for Arundel students who choose to attend Thornton Academy Middle School in Saco on Dec. 20.
— Executive Editor Ed Pierce can be reached at 282-1535 or by email at editor@journaltribune.com
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