JONESPORT

Coast Guard rescues three after fishing boat capsizes

Three men clinging to the bottom of a capsized boat were rescued by the Coast Guard off Jonesport on Friday afternoon.

Coast Guard Petty Officer Jason Smith said the Coast Guard received a report at 4:30 p.m. that a small fiberglass fishing vessel had overturned off Pig Island Gut.

A Coast Guard rescue vessel out of Jonesport located the three men an hour later.

Smith said there were strong seas reported in the area but the cause of the capsizing is not yet known.

The three men, whose names were not available, were taken by a local ambulance service for medical treatment.

PORTLAND

Portland resident arrested in robbery of CVS pharmacy

A Portland man was arrested in connection with the robbery of the CVS pharmacy at 449 Forest Ave. after Portland police spotted him on the street following Friday afternoon’s crime.

Portland Police Sgt. Dean Goodale said the man, who did not show a weapon, demanded prescription drugs at the pharmacy at 2:50 p.m. He left with several bottles of medication.

Police officers who responded to the call stopped Paul Ramsey, 57, on Dartmouth Street at the intersection of Baxter Boulevard. He fit the suspect’s description, police said.

After police reviewed video surveillance footage of the incident at the pharmacy, Ramsey was arrested and charged with robbery.

The medication was recovered, police said.

ROCHESTER, N.H.

Documents: Ex-bus driver filmed assaults on boys

Court documents allege that a former New Hampshire school bus driver charged with sexually assaulting two boys filmed his assaults using cameras hidden in pens and a pair of sunglasses.

John Allen Wright of Milton was charged in September with possession of child sexual abuse images on his computer. The 45-year-old Wright worked as a bus driver of special needs children in southern New Hampshire and Maine.

Wright was later charged with gross sexual assault and indecent exposure involving two young boys from Kittery, Maine, and Dover, N.H.

Foster’s Daily Democrat reported that recently unsealed court documents say police seized a pair of spy-camera sunglasses and a number of pens containing hidden cameras from Wright’s home during a search in September.

LEBANON

Police probe home invasion in which man sought drugs

Police are on the lookout for a man who forced his way into a home and demanded drugs.

The York County Sheriff’s Department said a woman reported that a man wearing a white knit stocking mask barged into her home in Lebanon and displayed a gun around 2:30 p.m. Friday.

Investigators said the woman told the man she didn’t have any drugs and managed to flee when the robber was distracted.

The suspect is described as a white man in his 20s who was wearing blue jeans and a jean jacket.

WALDOBORO

Parties choose candidates to compete for Senate seat

Republicans and Democrats have picked their candidates to face off in a special election to fill a vacant seat in the Maine Senate.

Republican Rep. Dana Dow of Waldoboro will run against Somerville Democrat Chris Johnson in the Feb. 14 election.

The District 20 seat was left open when Republican David Trahan stepped down to become executive director of the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine.

Dow is now a representative who held the District 20 Senate seat for two terms before Trahan was elected in 2008. Johnson unsuccessfully ran against Trahan in the 2010 election.

BATH

Police: Bath man used social media websites to lure girls

Police have charged a 21-year-old man with sexual abuse of a minor and allege that he used social media Internet sites to lure underage girls.

The Sagadahoc County Sheriff’s Department said Andrew Mank of Bath was charged last week in a case involving a 14-year-old girl.

Detectives told The Times Record that additional charges are pending involving two more girls in Harpswell.

Detective Sgt. John Burne said the case is an example of a suspect using Facebook and other social media sites to contact and initiate relationships with underage girls.

BRUNSWICK

High school poets can get free tips from state laureate

Maine’s poet laureate will offer free workshops to give high school students tips on their poetry writing.

The Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance and the Maine Arts Commission are presenting the workshops in conjunction with a nationwide poetry recitation competition, Poetry Out Loud.

Poet Laureate Wesley McNair said the workshops will show students how to “uncover and express your poem’s inner life.”

The workshops are being held Jan. 19 in Biddeford, Jan. 26 in Ellsworth and Jan. 31 in Lewiston.

Interested students can get more information at mainearts.maine.gov/pol2010.aspx.

— From staff and news services