LEBANON

Man held on assault charge in early morning bar beating

A man is being held on felony assault charges after allegedly beating a man unconscious at bar in Lebanon early Friday morning.

York County Sheriff’s deputies responded to Trains Tavern at 1 a.m. and found the victim unconscious. Witnesses gave them a description of the man who beat him and the car he was driving.

Deputy Travis Jones saw the car 90 minutes later and arrested Gilbert Perez, 27, of Moody, according to a release from the sheriff’s office.

The victim was taken to Goodall Hospital in Sanford and then to Maine Medical Center in Portland because of the extent of his injuries, the release said.

Perez is being held on $10,000 bail in the York County Jail pending a court appearance.

WATERVILLE

Missing tot’s grandmother, uncle given polygraph tests

A website devoted to a toddler who vanished six weeks ago says the girl’s uncle and maternal grandmother have taken polygraph tests as part of the police investigation.

Police are investigating the disappearance of Ayla Reynolds, who was reported missing from her father’s Waterville home on Dec. 17.

The website www.aylareynolds.com said Ayla’s uncle took and passed a polygraph on Thursday and that her grandmother took a test Friday but couldn’t complete it because her prescription medication interfered.

Maine State Police spokesman Steve McCausland said investigators are not commenting on details such as polygraph tests.

Ayla’s father, Justin DiPietro, told police his daughter wasn’t in her bed when he checked on her the morning of Dec. 17. Ayla’s mother, Trista Reynolds, lives in Portland.

PORTLAND

Federal court asks state court to clarify torts claim act

A federal appeals court is asking Maine’s supreme court to answer questions about a Maine law that restricts the personal liability of government employees in lawsuits.

The 1st Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston on Thursday asked the Maine Supreme Judicial Court to sort out ambiguities in the Maine Torts Claim Act. One part of the law says the maximum liability for a government employee is $10,000, but another provision sets a $400,000 cap on a damage award.

A federal jury in 2010 awarded Michael Fortin $125,000 for injuries he suffered during a scuffle with police in 2007. The judge reduced the award to $10,000.

Fortin’s appeal argued the $10,000 cap doesn’t apply because the officer was covered by an insurance policy that triggered the higher limit.

LINCOLN

6-year-old girl hit by bus gives her version of accident

The 6-year-old Lincoln girl who was hit by a school bus last week has recovered enough to give her account of the accident to police.

Chief William Lawrence says a detective talked to Sophia Nelson at a the hospital on Wednesday.

The girl told the investigator she remembers walking in front of the bus on Jan. 18 and getting hit by the vehicle’s right front bumper. The bus apparently then passed over her.

Sophia suffered a broken femur, four compression fractures in her skull and one in her neck.

The bus driver has been placed on administrative leave but has not been charged. The chief tells the Bangor Daily News charges, even for negligence, are unlikely.

The driver had a good record and was distressed by the accident.

COLUMBIA FALLS

Passamaquoddies in deal to build commercial wind farm

Maine’s Passamaquoddy Indian tribe wants to build a commercial wind farm in eastern Maine.

The Bangor Daily News reported the tribe has reached an agreement with Idaho-based Exergy Development Group to build a $120 million project in a remote area of dirt roads, blueberry barrens and cranberry bogs north of Columbia Falls.

Former lawmaker John Richardson, who’s has been hired as an adviser, said the tribe expects to purchase the land and finalize plans by the end of the year. He said the project would have between 18 and 50 turbines, depending on the results of an ongoing environmental study.

Passamaquoddy Chief Joseph Socobasin of the Indian Township reservation said the project should result in 50 to 100 construction jobs and 15 to 20 permanent jobs once it’s built.

LEWISTON

Former FedEx worker gets eight years in theft of shotgun

A former FedEx worker has been sentenced to nearly eight years in federal prison for stealing a shotgun from the delivery company’s Lewiston distribution center and selling it.

Raymond Adams of Lewiston was sent to prison for seven years and 10 months and given three years of probation after he was convicted on charges of being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Prosecutors say Adams, 43, worked at the distribution center in September 2009 when he saw a package marked “firearm.” The gun had been shipped from Texas and was addressed to a Maine gunsmith. Authorities say Adams took the package home and sold it for $150.

The Sun Journal reports the man who bought it wrote Adams a check with the serial number in the memo line.

ROCKLAND

Fisherman given 30 days for failure to pay income tax

A commercial fisherman from Maine is going to jail for 30 days for failing to pay his state income taxes for five years.

Daniel Gargan Jr., 43, of Rockland was sentenced this week in Knox County Superior Court after pleading guilty to not paying his taxes.

Prosecutors say Gargan didn’t pay taxes between 2005 and 2009 on annual income between $80,000 and 110,000.

Gargan was also ordered to pay $61,000 in restitution to the state.

HAMPDEN

Visiting Vermont man killed in car crash near destination

A Vermont man visiting family in Maine has died in a car crash just miles from his destination.

Police say Douglas Dapice, 70, of South Burlington, Vt. was driving north on Interstate 95 in Hampden just after 4 p.m. Thursday when he apparently fell asleep at the wheel.

Police say he awoke after traveling over the rumble strip, overcompensated, sending the car into a skid and into the median, where it struck a large rock, went airborne and hit a tree.

He was taken to Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor, where he died.

His wife, Lynne, 69, was hospitalized with injuries not considered life threatening.

Police tell the Bangor Daily News both were wearing seat belts. They were heading to Brewer.

AUGUSTA

Bark-peeling workshop finds no emerald ash borers

Maine Forest Service insect experts say a “bark-peeling” workshop aimed at finding evidence of tree-killing bugs found no evidence of the insects.

Using a method reminiscent of an old-fashioned husking bee, entomologists held two bark-peeling workshops that concluded this week. They looked for evidence of the emerald ash borer, an invasive insect threatening Maine’s forests.

The results were just what entomologists were hoping for: no sign of the borers.

The emerald ash borer has killed millions of ash trees across the nation and threatens all of those in Maine, from backyard shade trees to stands of white, green and black ash in the forests.

Maine state entomologist Dave Struble says ash borers are is established just outside the borders of New England and are knocking at Maine’s door.

— From staff and news services