Nicholas Sambides Jr.
Katahdin Bureau
- 207.794.8215
- nsambides@bangordailynews.com
East Millinocket leaders delay vote on Schenck roof repair project
EAST MILLINOCKET, Maine — The Board of Selectmen will meet at 3 p.m. Tuesday to consider the repair of Schenck High School’s roof as part of a project with a cost that might increase to $2.1 million, officials said. Selectmen met for about 40 minutes at the town office on ...
Medway leaders delay budget process until state leaders complete theirs
MEDWAY, Maine — Uncertainty about what the state Legislature will do with Gov. Paul LePage’s proposed state budget has prompted town leaders to delay their own budget work indefinitely, town Administrative Assistant Kathy Lee said Thursday. “How do you put together a budget without knowing what your revenues are going ...
![East Millinocket School Committee members Angel Danforth [left] and Chairman Dan Byron listen to Millinocket School Committee members during a meeting at Stearns High School on Wednesday, May 15, 2013.](http://bdnpull.bangorpublishing.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/10048401_H10521083-250x250.jpg)
‘We need to consolidate’: Stearns student scolds Katahdin school boards
MILLINOCKET, Maine — Tanner McLaughlin had heard enough. A Stearns High School sophomore, the student representative on the Millinocket school board, scolded his fellow board members and the East Millinocket school board during a meeting on Wednesday night for failing to aggressively pursue consolidating the towns’ two school systems. “I ...
Stearns student scolds school boards
A Stearns High School sophomore tells members of the East Millinocket and Millinocket school committees that they need to work faster to consolidate school systems.
East Millinocket mulls selling old school to developer to turn into apartments for tourists
EAST MILLINOCKET, Maine — A Realtor and former Department of Health and Human Services worker who lives in Augusta wants to buy the former Opal Myrick School from the town for $1 to turn it into a 15-apartment vacationers complex for tourists, she said Wednesday. Under Debbie Dawson’s proposal, she ...
Van carrying woman, two children collides with truck after driver distracted by her dogs
CHESTER, Maine — Two dogs jumping into a driver’s lap caused a collision with a tractor-trailer truck on Route 116 that sent three people to Penobscot Valley Hospital on Tuesday, state police said. The accident caused a backup of traffic from Route 116, which is also known as River Road ...
Lowell firefighters get new truck from New York
LOWELL, Maine — Town firefighters hope to have their newest truck in service in about three weeks after having traveled to upstate New York to pick it up over the weekend, Fire Chief Rick Smart said Monday. The town bought the used 1992 Beck Ottawa pumper truck for $35,000 from ...
Lowell gets new firetruck
The Lowell Fire Department received a new firetruck on Saturday and hopes to get it in operation within a few days.
Former Lincoln superintendent to get $140,000 severance package
LINCOLN, Maine — Former RSU 67 Superintendent Denise Hamlin, who resigned last month, will continue to draw her salary before receiving a $140,000 payment on June 30, according to the severance agreement signed by Hamlin and school leaders. According to documents provided to the Bangor Daily News through a Freedom ...
Plymouth superintendent to succeed Hamlin in Lincoln-area schools
LINCOLN, Maine — An educator with more than 40 years experience and who has held 15 interim superintendent positions will temporarily replace Denise Hamlin as RSU 67’s top educator. The RSU 67 board of directors voted 6-0 on Wednesday to appoint Raymond Freve of Plymouth as interim superintendent to replace ...
Lincoln fire chief resigns, denies conflict of interest
LINCOLN, Maine — Fire Chief Phil Dawson abruptly resigned on Wednesday because of what he described as concerns about his health and a dispute with a town official over a possible conflict of interest. “I am tired of the bull,” the 57-year-old Dawson said Wednesday. “This isn’t worth the battle ...
Lee Academy headmaster to retire
LEE, Maine — A pioneer in recruiting Asian students to attend Maine schools, Lee Academy Headmaster Bruce Lindberg is retiring effective June 30 because he is exhausted, he said Wednesday. In a Skype conversation from The Philippines on Wednesday, the 62-year-old said he was homesick and feeling ground up by ...
Mattawamkeag fire chief, deputy chief placed on unpaid leave for alleged misuse of funds
MATTAWAMKEAG, Maine — Town leaders are seeking the resignation of Fire Chief Robert Powers after he and his wife, Deputy Chief Lynne Powers, were suspended without pay for an alleged misuse of funds that state police are investigating, the Board of Selectmen’s chairman said Tuesday. The Board of Selectmen emerged ...
Lincoln fire chief on administrative leave pending investigation, says town manager
LINCOLN, Maine — Fire Chief Phil Dawson has been placed on administrative leave with pay pending the outcome of a personnel investigation, Town Manager William Lawrence said Tuesday. Lawrence declined to comment on why Dawson was on leave or for how long the leave would continue. Dawson has an unlisted ...
Brewer man hospitalized after police pursuit from Milford to Alton
ALTON, Maine — A police pursuit that started after a witness reported a man stumbling badly just before he got into his car in Milford ended when the car crashed into trees off Route 43 early Saturday, police said Sunday. Jason Cook, 32, of Brewer, was in fair condition at ...
Frenchville man suffers internal injuries in motorcycle accident
FRENCHVILLE, Maine — A 59-year-old Frenchville man was in stable condition at a Bangor hospital on Sunday after suffering internal injuries in a motor vehicle accident on Route 1 on Saturday, state police said Sunday. Timothy Ouellette was driving his 2004 Harley-Davidson south on Route 1 behind a 2012 Ford ...
Several towns battling brush fire in Bucksport
BUCKSPORT, Maine — Firefighters from at least four Hancock County towns were battling a brush fire that was burning a five-acre area off Sawyer Road on Saturday, officials said. Besides Bucksport, Orland Assistant Fire Chief Julia Clark counted her department and the Castine, Orrington, Penobscot and possibly Ellsworth fire departments ...
Boy, 12, charged with setting 2nd downtown Lewiston fire
LEWISTON, Maine — A 12-year-old boy was charged Saturday with setting a fire late Friday that destroyed three apartment buildings, leaving 105 people homeless and doing an estimated $1 million in damage, state police said. The boy was charged with four counts of arson. He is in custody at the ...
Orono apartment complex quiet after rowdy week, police say
ORONO, Maine — Like most University of Maine students, James Verlee has finals this week and doesn’t need to cram for them, he says. The 20-year-old international affairs major said he’s maintained enough academic discipline, studying several hours a day during the semester, so that all he really needs to ...
“F” grade aside, East Millinocket selectman says pursue merger with Millinocket schools
EAST MILLINOCKET, Maine — State education officials might have temporarily given a Millinocket high school an F, but Selectman Mark Scally still plans to pursue tuitioning town students there, he said Thursday. “I put the idea out there, and let’s see how it sits with people,” Scally said after an ...
Jeffrey Nugent says his brother Ted Nugent is wrong on background checks
Ignore LePage politics, get to root of DHHS funding needs
Basketball season never ends for Worcesters of Washburn, a family of 1,000-point scorers
UMaine narrows candidate list, hopes to name men’s hockey coach next week
Not even chemotherapy could quell Maine woman’s longing to be in the kitchen
Keyboardist Ray Manzarek of The Doors dies at age 74
From a mountaintop…of sorts
Penobscot Theatre Company ends season with whirlwind production of ‘Around the World in 80 Days’