Bill Trotter
Mount Desert Island
- 207.667.9395
- btrotter@bangordailynews.com
Cooke Aquaculture to pay $490,000 after illegal pesticides kill lobsters in Canada
A Canadian firm that is a subsidiary of the largest aquaculture operator in Maine pleaded guilty Friday in a Canadian courtroom to using illegal pesticides that killed hundreds of lobsters a little more than a mile from Maine’s border. Cooke Aquaculture, based in Blacks Harbour, New Brunswick, agreed Friday to ...
POLL QUESTION
Bar Harbor store owner recounts subduing gun-wielding robber
BAR HARBOR, Maine — The owner of the Town Hill Market is cut and bruised but otherwise unharmed after wrestling with and subduing a man he said entered the store with a gun and demanded money Wednesday morning. Richard Simis said two shots were fired from the would-be robber’s pistol ...
Philanthropist who gave millions to MDI groups dies
BAR HARBOR, Maine — A seasonal Mount Desert Island resident who gave millions of dollars to local institutions has passed away, according to officials. Kathryn Wasserman Davis was 106 years old when she died Tuesday at her home in Florida, according to reports. Davis gave College of the Atlantic a ...
VIDEO
Though Acadia National Park’s opening delayed by sequester, cyclists encouraged to visit while roads restricted
ACADIA NATIONAL PARK, Maine — The local business community is not thrilled about the federal budget-related delay in opening Acadia National Park’s seasonal facilities, but at least one group is expected to benefit by not having cars on the park’s paved roads, according to officials: road cyclists. Most of Acadia’s ...
Search for missing boater on MDI to resume Saturday
MOUNT DESERT, Maine — The search for a missing Tremont man believed to have been aboard a boat that capsized on Long Pond late Wednesday was called off for the night around 6:30 p.m. Friday. The search is scheduled to resume at 9 a.m. Saturday, although weather is expected to ...
VIDEO
Controversial bill allowing dragging for lobsters supported by Maine regulators
AUGUSTA, Maine — Though a similar proposal was roundly rejected in 2007, a bill that would allow lobsters caught in drag nets to be kept and sold in Maine is back before the Legislature. Like the last time around, there is strong opposition from Maine lobster fishermen against the bill. ...
Wardens find body in Long Pond on Mount Desert Island, search for Seal Cove man
MOUNT DESERT, Maine — Searchers recovered the body of a Massachusetts man and were looking for a Tremont resident after a boat carrying the pair capsized Thursday afternoon in Long Pond on Mount Desert Island. The body of Richard Weimer of Charlton, Mass., 66, was found Thursday, according to the ...
MDI fire chief witnessed Boston Marathon blasts
BAR HARBOR, Maine — Bar Harbor Fire Chief Matt Bartlett was near the Boston Marathon finish line with his 16-year-old stepdaughter when the bombs went off Monday. His wife, Lori, a Bar Harbor police and fire dispatcher running in her first Boston Marathon, was a few miles away when the ...
Acadia National Park rangers seek person who illegally cut trees
ACADIA NATIONAL PARK, Maine — Somebody took it upon themselves to clear some vegetation near a popular climbing spot on Champlain Mountain and park rangers are trying to find out who. Doing anything to change the landscape in Acadia National Park, without approval from park officials, violates federal law. According ...
Elver fishery boom generates memories of 1990s urchin bust
Elvers, the spaghetti-thin transparent juvenile American eels, may be the most sought-after commercial marine species in Maine right now, but they are not the first to rocket to prominence due to demand in the Far East. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, it was sea urchins. The round, spiny, ...
GOING COASTAL (blog)
Yet Another Observation On This Crazy Hermit Story
on April 12, 2013, at 10:44 p.m.
I, like many people in and out of Maine, have been struck by the story of the North Pond Hermit. If you don’t know who or what that is, there are at least a dozen news articles, columns, blog posts and even a song posted on the BDN website right now ...
Contractors file suit against Lamoine over gravel rules
LAMOINE, Maine — Four contractors are suing the town of Lamoine over new gravel extraction rules recently approved by voters that they describe as “onerous.” The plaintiffs — John W. Goodwin, Timothy H. Gott, Patrick Jordan and Paul McQuinn — all run contracting companies that own property in Lamoine, according ...
Eel hearings to be held in Augusta
AUGUSTA, Maine — Three Maine hearings on interstate management measures for the American eel have been consolidated into one. The hearings had been scheduled by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission to take place this month in Ellsworth, Machias and Yarmouth. Now, the hearings have been consolidated into one that ...
VIDEO AND POLL
Passamaquoddys: Catch quota better way to protect elvers than fishing license limit
CALAIS, Maine — Imposing a catch limit is a better way of protecting the state’s elver population than limiting the number of licenses that may be issued to fishermen, Clayton Cleaves, chief of the Passamaquoddy Tribe at Pleasant Point said Sunday at a press conference outside the Wabanaki Culture Center. ...
Passamaquoddys issue far more elver licenses than allowed by law
ELLSWORTH, Maine — A year after catching state officials off guard by issuing 236 elver fishing licenses in the middle of elver season, the Passamaquoddy Tribe has issued more than twice that amount for 2013. And in so doing, the tribe has exceeded the limit set by state law, according ...
Elver fishermen form advocacy organization
ELLSWORTH, Maine — With their newly lucrative industry coming under closer scrutiny from fishing regulators, elver fishermen have decided it is time to join together to make their concerns known in Augusta and out of state. To that end, a group of about 50 met this week at the local ...
New Winter Harbor town office to be completed by end of May
WINTER HARBOR, Maine — By sometime this summer, local officials expect to have a new home for the town office, fire department and police station. The $1.6 million building under construction on School Street is expected to be completed by the end of May, Town Manager Cathy Carruthers said Thursday. ...
Drunken driving sweep nets five drivers in Hancock County
ELLSWORTH, Maine — Five people in the Ellsworth area are facing charges after the Hancock County Sheriff’s Department recently stepped up efforts to catch intoxicated drivers. All five were stopped and arrested in separate incidents on Saturday, March 23. Three of them were arrested after tests revealed they were driving ...
New lobster processor in Gouldsboro to hire 160, start this summer
GOULDSBORO, Maine — Once again, there are signs that the former Stinson Seafood sardine cannery in the village of Prospect Harbor is coming back to life. Two years ago, it was Live Lobster that was trying to reincarnate the sprawling 100,000-square-foot cannery as a lobster processing plant. This year, it ...
Swan’s Island man gets 30 days for stealing weapons
ELLSWORTH, Maine — One of two men accused of stealing various weapons in a Swan’s Island burglary has been convicted of the crime. Christopher Lemoine, 28, of Swan’s Island pleaded guilty earlier this month in Hancock County Superior Court to one count of burglary and two counts of theft. A ...
LePage tells legislative leaders he’s moving out of State House because of ‘censorship’
Maine Sports Hall of Fame member, DJ Dana Wilson convicted of child pornography possession
Community members rally in memory of Nichole Cable; events, fundraisers planned
The scramble to fill the 2nd District seat if Mike Michaud runs for governor
Rep. Diane Russell’s fool’s errand
How the omnibus energy bill will benefit Maine
Governor Veto
Goodwin steps down as Brewer High School boys basketball coach
Live Updates: UMaine baseball vs. Binghamton in America East championship
UMaine trails Binghamton 8-2 in suspended game at America East baseball tourney
Decorated Howland war hero Samuel Deeds finalist for NASCAR honor
Brewer softball players brighten games with orange sunglasses
Maine School of Science and Mathematics alumni drawn to give back to magnet school
‘All That’ actress Amanda Bynes arrested after allegedly tossing bong out apartment window on 36th floor
New York City rumble showcases Maine’s lobster roll dominance
Get all dressed up for the season’s salad days
Guest Review: Class of ’88 Barley Wine (Deschutes/Rogue/North Coast)