CARRABASSETT VALLEY

Rescued snowboarders may learn cost of straying

You stray, you pay.

That’s the word from Sugarloaf ski resort officials, who plan to charge nine snowboarders for the cost of their rescues from the back side of the mountain in separate incidents last weekend.

Sugarloaf spokesman Ethan Austin told the Sun Journal of Lewiston that the riders left the ski area’s boundaries, and the resort intends to make an example of them. The snowboarders may also lose pass privileges for putting rescuers in danger.

Five snowboarders went out of bounds Friday and were rescued that night. Another four became lost Sunday and were rescued Monday.

The cost of the rescues is being tabulated by Carrabassett Valley Police, one of five agencies involved in the rescues.
 

PORTLAND

State’s high court overturns sexual assault convictions

Maine’s highest court has overturned a Bangor man’s sexual assault convictions after ruling that the search of his apartment that led to his arrest violated his Fourth Amendment rights.

The Supreme Judicial Court Thursday vacated the convictions against Jack Bailey II and sent the case back to Superior Court for further proceedings.

Bangor police searched Bailey’s computer and apartment in 2008 during a child pornography investigation. As a result of the search,

Bailey was charged with a total of 13 counts of gross sexual assault, sexual exploitation of a minor and unlawful sexual contact, involving two girls under 14.

Bailey was convicted and sentenced to 20 years in prison. Justices agreed that the evidence should be thrown out because police conducted the search under false pretenses.

Tickets go on sale today for two shows by Bill Cosby

Tickets go on sale today for two Oct. 16 shows in Portland by comedy legend Bill Cosby.

The shows are at 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. at Merrill Auditorium, 20 Myrtle St., and tickets range in price from $36 to $71. Tickets are available by calling 842-0800 or online at www.porttix.com.

Cosby, 72, has been an actor, comedian and author for more than 45 years and is probably best-known for his family TV sitcom “The Cosby Show” which ran on NBC from 1984 to 1992.

Lack of key equipment delays closing of arterial

The scheduled closure today of the inbound lanes of Franklin Arterial from Congress Street to Middle Street has been postponed.

A press release from the city said a delay in the arrival of equipment for planned work on the police station led the city to put off the closure until sometime next week.

New-look Alice in Chains to play Portland on April 15

Alternative rockers Alice in Chains have scheduled an April 15 show at the Cumberland County Civic Center.

Tickets for the 8 p.m. show go on sale at 10 a.m. Saturday at the civic center box office, online at www.theciviccenter.com, or by calling 775-3458. Tickets are $45, general admission.

The band, formed in Seattle in the late 1980s, rose to national prominence in the early 1990s, and has sold more than 17 million albums.

The band is touring in support of “Black Gives Way to Blue,” the group’s first new studio album in more than a decade. The new album and tour feature the band’s new lead singer, William DuVall, who replaces Layne Staley, who died in 2002.

Eddie Gorham appreciation scheduled in Portland today

Former Maine AFL-CIO President Edward Gorham will be honored at a dinner today.

Hundreds of union members and activists are expected to attend the Eddie Gorham Appreciation Dinner at the Maine Irish Heritage Center.

Gorham has been active in the labor movement for four decades. He was elected Maine AFL-CIO president in 1999 and stepped down at the end of last year.

YARMOUTH

Cole Haan to lead Nike ban of exotic skins for products

Nike subsidiary Cole Haan has agreed to eliminate exotic skins such as lizard, snake and alligator from its product lines.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals said Thursday that Cole Haan is the first maker of high-end accessories and shoes to ban exotic skins. Cole Haan, which is based in New York and Yarmouth, defines exotic as including alligator, crocodile, lizard, snake and ostrich.

Nike spokesman Nate Tobecksen says products using those materials will be eliminated across the entire Nike line after the summer retail season.

PETA has successfully lobbied Nike and Cole Haan in the past. Cole Haan announced in 2008 that it would stop using fur in its product lines.

AUBURN

Distracted driver crashes van into Walmart store

A Poland man walked away with minor injuries after losing control of a minivan, which crashed into a Walmart and came to a rest upside down.

Brendon Joseph Whittaker, 21, said he was distracted while trying to retrieve something from the floor of the Toyota Sienna while entering a rotary. The van crashed through a metal fence, flipped and smacked into the building.

Sgt. James Robicheau said the building has been hit before. He says exterior gas lines were moved previously because other vehicles have crashed into the building in the same spot.

FARMINGTON

New Sharon woman, 65, leaves court, loses case

A 65-year-old woman accused of using a stun gun on a Maine state trooper investigating animal abuse claims wasn’t around to hear jurors announce a guilty verdict.

Acting as her own legal counsel, Carol Murphy of New Sharon disrupted her trial several times before walking out of the courtroom Thursday, but not before berating the judge and calling the proceeding a “kangaroo court.”

The Sun Journal of Lewiston said jurors found Murphy guilty of assaulting a law enforcement officer, refusing to submit to arrest, illegally using an electronic weapon and cruelty to animals. The state veterinarian testified in Franklin County Superior Court that Murphy had 45 animals on her property. She was convicted in 2005 of animal cruelty.

HALLOWELL

Portland lawyer, advocate to head Efficiency Maine

A Portland attorney and longtime advocate for energy efficiency has been named to head a Maine organization that promotes energy efficiency and helps residents and businesses reduce energy costs.

Michael Stoddard becomes executive director of Efficiency Maine Trust on March 22.

The trust was created last year by a law that consolidated state energy-related programs. The trust administers funds to provide incentives for energy efficiency measures, as well as alternative energy technologies such as solar water heaters.

BANGOR

Man who recruited illegals facing prison, deportation

A federal judge has sentenced a 48-year-old man to two years and nine months in prison for finding work for illegal immigrants at a sea-cucumber processing plant and his wife’s restaurant in eastern Maine.

Juan Centeno Perez pleaded guilty in November to charges of visa fraud, transporting and harboring illegal immigrants and conspiracy to hire illegal immigrants at the processing plant in Lubec and the restaurant in Hancock.

He was sentenced Thursday in U.S. District Court in Bangor.

The Bangor Daily News reported that Centeno Perez came to the U.S. illegally in the late 1980s and is expected to be deported to his native Mexico after completing his prison sentence.

Eastern Maine Medicalsays layoffs include nurses

Eastern Maine Medical Center is laying off nearly 50 employees, including 23 nurses.

Hospital spokeswoman Jill McDonald says the workers were notified Wednesday that their positions were being eliminated. Most layoffs will take effect March 19.

The layoffs follow the medical center’s January decision to offer early retirement to a number of employees with the goal of reducing the work force by 100 positions.

The hospital employs about 3,700 people.
 

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