Acadia Transportation Plan
(Lamoine) – Paid parking reservations, a new visitor center, and expanded bus service are among the ideas Acadia National Park is floating to help handle traffic in one of Maine’s hottest tourist destinations In recent years, the park has closed down the road leading up Cadillac Mountain because there are too many cars visiting. Superintendent Kevin Schneider tells Star 97.7 they’ve drafted a transportation plan to handle the heavy traffic. The park service has begun meeting with the public to get comment on the various ideas.
EEMS Principal
(Ellsworth) – The Ellsworth middle school will have a new principal. Superintendent of schools Dan Higgins says he’s promoting current school athletics director Erica Gabbianelli to the top spot, replacing Jim Newett who retires at the end of the school year. Gabbianelli began working for Ellsworth last fall and filled in while the elementary school principal was on medical leave.
Library Donation
(Bar Harbor) – The library serving Bar Harbor has kicked off a nearly $10-million dollar fund raising campaign to preserve and expand the building and establish an endowment to keep operating. The biggest contribution so far has come from hotel owner Tom Walsh’s company – a half million dollar donation. The Mt. Desert Islander reports former US Senator George Mitchell is chairing the fund raising drive.
Tunnel Mural
(Woolwich) – An under-road pedestrian tunnel in the mid-coast town of Woolwich had started to sport a mural on its walls, painted the town’s school students. Maine’s Department of Transportation has reportedly put a halt to the project. The Pen Bay Pilot reports the town maintains the tunnel, but the state apparently owns the property and sent word to the town after the mural project started that it had to stop. The state built the tunnel under Route 1 in the late 1990s. MDOT did not comment on the situation.
Deputy City Manager
(Ellsworth) A familiar face returns to Ellsworth City Hall this summer. Tammy Mote will be the Deputy City Manager effective July 1st assisting City Manager David Cole with day-to-day operations. Mote was the previous Deputy City Manager and Finance Director until January when she left to pursue a banking to “miss a beat” in her return to city hall and her city-hall-family is excited to have her back on the team.
Aroostook Drug Bust
(Presque Isle) – Drug agents seek three more people after arresting 9-others for drug trafficking in Aroostook County. An investigation that began last year involved surveillance, undercover drug purchases and interviews and led to the 9-arrests this week. The suspects are charged with trafficking in cocaine, heroin and fentanyl. Arrested for trafficking in methamphetamine are Lucas Winn of Presque Isle and Tyler Cyr of Caribou. Trafficking in fentanyl are Kurt Doody and Autumn Parady of Caribou. Facing heroin charges are Scott Pelletier of Limestone, Chris Tuttle and Nicholas Hall both of Presque Isle. George Tamberello and Brian Cyr both of Caribou are charged with trafficking in crack cocaine. Police are still looking for 3 more suspects: Amber Shaw and Josh Easler of Presque Isle, and Fernando Vazquez of Springfield Massachusetts.
Augusta Drug Bust
(Augusta) – A drug bust in Maine’s capital city has landed four people in jail. The Maine Drug Enforcement Agency reports to Star 97.7 that they searched a Page Street home in Augusta this week and found heroin and crack cocaine. 53-year-old Scott Holbrook and 25-year-old Desiree McKenna both of Augusta are charged with trafficking in scheduled drugs. A New York man and a teen girl from New York were also arrested.
Springer Death
(Ellsworth) The author of “The Great Fire of Ellsworth, 1933” has died. The Ellsworth Police Department confirms to Star 97-7 that a family friend found Darlene Springer in her home Monday after Springer failed to show up for work at H.W. Dunn and Sons’ Monument Shop on Water Street. Springer was Ellsworth’s Historian. She was 64-years-old.
Community Conversation
(Ellsworth) Heart of Ellsworth continues engaging area residents in local issues with their monthly Community Conversation. Executive director Cara Romano says the topic for May is “Ellsworth’s Amazing Waterfront – Then and Now” and features two guest speakers. The Community Conversation is at Flexit Cafe and Bakery on Main Street in Ellsworth this evening at 5:30.
Coffee w/ a Cop
(Ellsworth) The Ellsworth police department invites you to sit down with officers during Coffee with a Cop. The goal is to bring law enforcement and locals together in a social setting where citizens can ask questions, share concerns or just say hi. Coffee with a Cop is at Flexit Cafe and Bakery on Main Street this morning from 9 AM ’til 10:30.
Goat Sighting
(Dedham) Officials in the town of Dedham are asking motorists not to call police about the grazing goat along Route 1A – they already know. The goat’s name is Priscilla, she’s feral and she’s lived across the Bangor Road from the Town Office for a couple years. Town officials say Priscilla doesn’t usually cross the road and if you pull over she’ll go back up the ledge. A sign is posted but Dedham officials say people still continue to call the police to report the rogue goat.
Lunch Debt Donation
(Westbrook) An anonymous donor has paid off more than half of one Maine school district’s student lunch debts. Westbrook Superintendent Peter Lancia said he received a check from the anonymous donor Monday for $10,000, which would erase more than half of the $17,000 owed by families in the district for student lunches. Lancia tells the Portland Press Herald that the donor does not want to be identified and wanted to help families with unpaid accounts.
Stamp Out Hunger Follow-up
(Blue Hill) A food pantry in Blue Hill is praising members of surrounding communities for their donations to the US Postal Service’s Stamp Out Hunger campaign last month. On the Tree of Life Food Pantry’s Facebook page they report receiving more than 600-pounds of food from Brooklin, over 11-hundred pounds from Surry, over 500-pounds from Brooksville, and nice donations from some Blue Hill residents as the local post office did not participate this year.
Cyanide Sentence
(Portland) A federal judge in Maine has sentenced a man to 25 years in prison for mailing a fatal dose of cyanide to a suicidal Englishman. Sidney Kilmartin’s sentencing took place in U.S. District Court in Portland on Tuesday. He was charged with advertising and mailing a substance he said was cyanide to several suicidal people. It was really Epsom salt. But investigators say Kilmartin later sent the real thing to a man who threatened to report the fraud.
Sports
- Boston Red Sox 4 Tampa Bay Rays 2 (Mookie Betts hit a 3-run homer, Chris Sale got the win. Tonight, David Price starts against the Rays.
- NBA Western Conference Finals: Houston Rockets 95 Golden State Warriors 92 (Series tied 2-2)
- The Celtics host game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals tonight – series tied 2-2
High School Baseball
Ellsworth 11 Bucksport 0
George Stevens 10 Sumner 1
Woodland 12 Narraguagus 2
DI/Stonington 13 Schenck 5
John Bapst 3 Washington Academy 0
Softball
Bucksport 5 Ellsworth 0
Sumner 8 George Stevens 5
Narraguagus 7 Woodland 1
DI/Stonington 24 Schenck 23
