Articles by Daniel Hartill
Maine jails working to help veterans
LEWISTON, Maine — Local courts have yet to host a veterans court, but local veterans hope to find their way into a specially created court anyway. Two local veterans have asked to be taken to a segregated area of the Kennebec County Jail in Augusta and appear before the state’s ...
Emergency dispatching changes taking effect in Androscoggin County
LEWISTON, Maine — Moments after the new year begins Tuesday, emergency phone calls from Sabattus and Durham will take a new route. Calls for help to police officers, firefighters or paramedics will go first to Androscoggin County’s dispatch center, as they have for more than a decade. Then, in most ...
Judge grants convicted stabber another new lawyer
AUBURN — Raikuez Melchoirre, who pleaded guilty to a June 2011 stabbing, was granted a new lawyer Friday. But it won’t happen again, Justice Robert W. Clifford warned during the hearing at Androscoggin County Superior Court. Clifford told Melchoirre, who is awaiting sentencing for elevated aggravated assault, that he’d better ...
Low-budget horror film to begin production in Hanover
LEWISTON, Maine — A low-budget movie production plans to haunt a 130-year-old farmhouse in Hanover, trucking lights, cameras and actors into the small town for a spooky, character-driven story. The film is titled “The Hanover House.” Filming is set to begin Thursday in Portland before moving Sunday to Hanover, where ...
VIDEO
Buckfield-based Diet Coke and Mentos guys publishing ‘The Viral Video Manifesto’
LEWISTON, Maine — Press “record” and be unforgettable. That’s how Fritz Grobe and Stephen Voltz began their first Diet Coke and Mentos sensation. Voltz told his brother about the simple, one-take video shot in a meadow in Buckfield. His brother watched it online and told someone else. It spread like ...
Lewiston woman drives car through front of Auburn laundry
AUBURN, Maine — An 83-year-old woman says she was parking her 2010 Honda Civic Tuesday when it leaped over a cement wheel stop and crashed into an Auburn laundry. “I was going very slow,” said Lucienne Samson of Lewiston. “I was going to stop. I took my foot off the ...
Lewiston woman accused of trying to start fires, leading police on back-to-back high-speed chases
LEWISTON, Maine — A 21-year-old Lewiston woman faces charges, including arson and assault, after twice trying to ignite her boyfriend’s possessions with Molotov cocktails and leading officers on two separate chases, ending in her arrest about 7:15 p.m. Tuesday night in Poland. Lewiston police were called to the area of ...
Lewiston man gets 16 years for shooting salesman in vacant building
AUBURN, Maine — Steve Anctil pleaded guilty in Androscoggin County Superior Court on Tuesday to robbing a 63-year-old Naples man he lured to a vacant Lewiston building. The victim was also shot. Anctil, 26, of Lewiston agreed to a 25-year sentence with nine years suspended. He’ll serve 16 years. “I ...
Musicians to re-create the sound of band from 50 years ago
AUBURN, Maine — Marching in summer heat wearing a gray and maroon wool suit was the easy part. The painful part of playing in the Montagnard Band arose at the first rehearsal, Duncan Webster said. Lots of other bands played standards such as “Stars and Stripes Forever,” by John Philip ...
2 men accused of burglarizing at least 50 cars in Lewiston-Auburn
LEWISTON, Maine — Police on Saturday arrested two 19-year-old Lewiston men — Dante Thompson and Corey Hunt — in a string of at least 50 car burglaries across Lewiston and Auburn. Police searches of the men’s homes Saturday morning uncovered laptop computers, iPads, phones, digital cameras, CDs, DVDs and a ...
Replica of controversial labor mural to be displayed at Democratic supper
LEWISTON, Maine — A large-scale replica of the Maine Department of Labor mural, which was removed from the state office by Gov. Paul LePage, will be viewed Saturday night at a candidates night and supper organized by Lewiston Democrats. However, Democrats insist the controversial mural is displayed for historical rather ...
VIDEO
Auburn native to play classical music makeover of ‘Call Me Maybe’ on ‘Today Show’
LEWISTON, Maine — Colin Britt’s classical music makeover of pop hit “Call Me Maybe” is headed to the “Today Show.” The Auburn native and about 60 other Yale University musicians — composing a full orchestra and choir — plan to perform on the national TV show Friday morning. Meanwhile, their ...
Face Time: Entertainer, arborist, engineer and proud father David Tardy
LEWISTON, Maine — David Tardy plays guitar in a band, spends sunny days as an arborist on Chebeague Island and helped design a famous rocket car. It’s a mix that might qualify him as Maine’s Buckaroo Banzai. Yet, his resume is broadening still. On the set of Buckfield native Michael ...
Beer veteran to open specialty brewery in Durham
DURHAM — A veteran brewer of several popular Maine beers — including the first three Baxter beers — plans to open a small niche brewery on Route 125 in Durham. On Wednesday, the Durham Planning Board awarded a conditional permit to brewer Michael LaCharite and his company, Katahdin Beers. The ...
POLL QUESTION
Boy Scouts policy on gays moves 9-year-old to quit
MINOT, Maine — Christopher Tiner’s Cub Scout badges and belt buckles still have a place of honor in his living room. But it was honor — and a bit of the 9-year-old’s boredom with Scouting — that led him to quit. “I didn’t like it that they were kicking people ...
Filmmaker seeks hundreds of extras for coronation scene at vacant Lewiston church
LEWISTON, Maine — Almost three years after St. Patrick’s Church closed its doors, the vacant downtown building will host a coronation. The makers of “Richard 3″ — a movie comedy of Shakespeare’s scheming, humpbacked King Richard III — aims to pack hundreds of extras into the former Catholic church for ...
Lewiston YWCA’s rebirth continues
LEWISTON, Maine — Two years after its rescue from the brink of closure, the 134-year-old YWCA of Central Maine is thriving. Donations and grants arrive. Bills are paid. And most importantly, more people are using the East Avenue facility than they have in years, board Chairwoman Lee Young said. “It’s ...
Sabbattus woman receives medal from UK prime minister for service during WWII
SABATTUS, Maine — Marie Martin Giguere never bothered with fear, even when bombs landed on her home. “I didn’t have time to be scared,” she said. She was 15 in 1939, when World War II began. As long as bombs didn’t hurt her family — and they didn’t — Marie ...
Salesman sells size satisfaction along with shoes
AUBURN, Maine — Call it the schmutz test. Take off a shoe. Pull out the insert and look at its tip. “Look for the schmutz,” Harvey White said, slipping off his own shoe and sliding out the inlay. He pointed to a line of sock lint that had collected on ...
Parvo virus spreading among Lewiston dogs
LEWISTON, Maine — Local veterinarians are watching a sudden rise in cases of canine parvo, a potentially deadly dog virus. In recent months, at least 15 dogs have been treated at the Animal Emergency Clinic of Mid-Maine, said Dr. Robert Clark, a member of the Lewiston clinic’s board. Typically, the ...
Police find remains believed to be Nichole Cable, 15, in Old Town woods
Orono man charged with murder in death of Glenburn teen
LePage hopes to eliminate income tax by end of second term
Family remembers Nichole “CoCo” Cable, warns of social media dangers
Nichole Cable: In our minds, hearts
Obama’s boyfriend line
Ignore LePage politics, get to root of DHHS funding needs
UMaine narrows candidate list, hopes to name men’s hockey coach next week
Eastport teen notches first ‘Bandolero’ racing victory
Houlton makes plans for new hockey boards at Millar Civic Center
Former Dexter, Nokomis coach Pratt takes Mount View football post
UMaine’s Fransoso overcomes injuries, turns passion for baseball into stellar career
Fun, informative or just plain strange: 8 museums in Maine worth a road trip
Keyboardist Ray Manzarek of The Doors dies at age 74
Microsoft unveils new Xbox One game console
Bangor veteran of World War II exemplifies the way life should be