PORTLAND
Gathering supports ability to openly carry firearms
Additional Photos
The second annual Right to Carry Barbecue aimed to be a low-key affair — and it apparently succeeded.
The gathering at Back Cove on Sunday was organized by the Maine Open Carry Association, a group that promotes the right to carry holstered firearms in public.
“We’re just here to meet like-minded people and have some fun,” said Shane Belanger, a co-founder of the group.
Belanger organized last year’s event, which drew some 125 participants as well as a group of about 30 who rallied nearby for gun control.
On Sunday, about 20 people met up for the event while a couple people played with a Frisbee nearby and others walked along the path. The attendees — some of whom came from the midcoast and York County — stood around with holstered guns, chatting as they waited for someone to bring the grill.
Belanger, a University of Southern Maine student, said the group wants to show that it’s not just criminals who carry firearms. He said law-abiding people do as well, but others may just not realize it.
Run the Beach to Beacon without leaving treadmill
If you missed the TD Bank Beach to Beacon race on Aug. 6, you can still run the route thanks to a new DVD that puts runners on the course while training on a treadmill.
Boston-based Outside Interactive (www.outsideinteractive.com) launched the DVD at the race in Cape Elizabeth .
Runners can put it into a DVD player or computer and get a runner’s-view perspective of the Beach to Beacon course from a treadmill.
The video can be set at a preset pace, or it can be programmed so it automatically changes speed when the runner speeds up or slows down.
Other videos feature the Boston Marathon and the Falmouth (Mass.) Road Race, as well as runs through Central Park and along Boston’s Charles River.
BATH
Hourlong police standoff ends quietly with arrest
A Bath man faces charges of criminal threatening and violation of bail conditions following an hour-long standoff with police.
Police received a report of two people threatened with a weapon around 11 p.m. Saturday.
The incident took place in a dirt lot off Spring Street during a drug deal involving marijuana, police said.
Police, with assistance from the Sagadahoc County Sheriff’s Department, went to a High Street home to arrest 23-year-old John Byrd Jr.
After Byrd refused to come out of the home, police surrounded it because the crime involved firearms, according to police. Byrd surrendered without incident after an hour.
Police obtained and executed a search warrant of the home Sunday morning. Investigators seized weapons, a small amount of marijuana and drug paraphernalia.
Byrd is being held at Two Bridges Regional Jail.
Police said the investigation is ongoing and that additional charges and arrests may occur.
PRESQUE ISLE
Turbine to give boost to wind power program
Two years ago, Northern Maine Community College launched a wind power technology program that was the first of its kind in New England. The college secured a teacher, students and classroom space. The only thing missing was a windmill — until now.
Officials at the Presque Isle college announced Friday that a 10-kilowatt residential wind turbine has been installed on campus to serve as the latest tool for students in the program, which teaches them to operate, maintain and repair wind turbine generators.
Students in the program will have access to the turbine when classes resume.
The $55,000 turbine, which will be fully operational this fall, was acquired using private funds donated to the college earlier this year by Presque Isle native Mary Smith.
AUGUSTA
Today is the deadline for any-deer applicants
Maine game officials say the deadline looms for online applications for the any-deer permit lottery.
The Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife says applications are due by 11:59 p.m. today. It’s free to apply for the any-deer permit lottery, which will be held on Sept. 9.
Applicants can go to www.mefishwildlife.com and select Any Deer Permit on the top of the home page.
The deadline for paper applications has passed.
LYNCHTOWN TOWNSHIP
Pilot survives crash in Oxford County lake
The Maine warden service says a pilot is OK after his plane crashed into Aziscohos Lake and flipped over.
Spokeswoman Edie Smith of the Maine Warden Service told the Sun Journal of Lewiston that state police are investigating the northern Oxford County incident, which happened Saturday night. No further details were immediately available.
ORONO
UM duo teams up on guide for female football fans
A University of Maine duo has teamed up on a book to help female football fans understand college football.
Professor Sandy Caron and former Black Bear football player Mike Hodgson are authors of “Tackling Football: A Woman’s Guide to Understanding the College Game.” They call it an easy read designed to make college football more enjoyable for the female fan.
The book features a colorful layout and easy-to-read diagrams,
University of Maine football Coach Jack Cosgrove calls the book “a much needed and long overdue look at college football for those who think they know, but don’t.”
Caron is a professor of family relations and human sexuality who’s also on the UMaine Athletic Advisory Board. Hodgson, a former tight end and place kicker, retired after a 30-year college coaching career.
– From staff and news services
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