OLD ORCHARD BEACH

Police interviewing those who saw man on last day

State police detectives continue to interview people who saw Roger White in the 24 hours before his death in Old Orchard Beach.

“We are in the process of continuing the interview phase of the investigation, talking to anyone and everyone that had any contact with the man in the last day of his life,” said police spokesman Steve McCausland.

White, 49, was found behind The Whaler, a bar on Staples Street, on Saturday morning. The results of an autopsy performed Sunday were not “finalized for release,” McCausland said.

White’s sister has said that she was told by police that her brother was stabbed to death. White’s friends say he was well-liked and did not have enemies.

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BOOTHBAY HARBOR

Authorities identify body as that of local fisherman

The fisherman whose body was found floating off Boothbay Harbor on Sunday has been identified.

The Maine Marine Patrol told the Lincoln County News that the fisherman was 77-year-old Earl Brewer of Boothbay Harbor.

Around 1 p.m., the Coast Guard said that a local fishing vessel captain notified authorities that Brewer’s lobster boat, the Sea Foam, was adrift without anyone on board just south of Spruce Point in Linekin Bay. 

A search was conducted by two Coast Guard Rescue boats and a Jayhawk rescue helicopter. Brewer’s body was retrieved one mile south of Squirrel Island.

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In Brewer’s death notice, which was released Monday by the Simmons, Harrington and Hall Funeral Home, a time of visitation with his family will be held from 1 to 4 p.m. Thursday at the funeral home, 975 Wiscasset Road, Boothbay.

In May, a sea committal with a boat parade will be held. The date and times have not been announced.

HOWLAND

Chief deputy hurts head when cruiser hits moose

The chief deputy of the Penobscot County Sheriff’s Department needed treatment at a hospital after his cruiser struck a moose in Howland over the weekend.

The department said Chief Deputy Troy Morton’s vehicle struck the animal at a slow speed shortly after midnight Sunday.

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Morton struck his head during the crash and was taken to Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor. He was released later Sunday and is expected to make a full recovery.

The Bangor Daily News reported that the impact broke the cruiser’s windshield and tore off a side mirror. The moose wandered away from the scene of the crash and deputies did not search for it.

BANGOR

Nugent’s show will go on despite councilors’ concern

A Ted Nugent concert in Bangor will go on as scheduled this summer despite the objections of two city councilors who expressed concern about comments the rocker made at a National Rifle Association meeting.

Nugent, rallying support for presumptive Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, said of the Obama administration: “We need to ride into that battlefield and chop their heads off in November.” He also said he would be “dead or in jail by this time next year” if Obama is re-elected.

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Councilor Charlie Longo said a man who would make such “threatening comments” doesn’t belong in Bangor.

Councilor Joseph Baldacci said Nugent’s “threatening verbal conduct” is not constitutionally protected.

The Bangor Daily News reported that concert promoter Alex Gray said the Secret Service determined Nugent’s comments were protected free speech.

AUGUSTA

Committee will consider long-term bonds today

A year after lawmakers decided not to consider bond issues, they’re looking again at a list of long-term borrowing proposals topping $400 million.

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The bonds are on the Appropriations Committee’s agenda today as it digs into fiscal matters that must be attended to before the Legislature returns from a monthlong recess May 15 to wind up the 2012 session.

While the total in bond bills held over from last year exceeds $421 million, a number of the proposals are repetitive so that figure is unrealistically high.

The House chairman of Appropriations, Republican Rep. Patrick Flood of Winthrop, said the committee will first hear from state fiscal experts about the level of debt service from bonds.

Democrats have been outspoken in favor of a bond package that would create jobs.

Groups joining forces against gay-marriage

The Christian Civic League of Maine and the National Organization for Marriage said they’ve combined forces to defeat the same-sex marriage referendum proposal on next November’s ballot.

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The chairman of Protect Marriage Maine, the Rev. Bob Emrich, said it will organize groups of different faiths as well as people with no faith traditions at all in opposition to the ballot initiative. Maine voters defeated a gay-marriage proposal that was on the 2009 ballot.

Christian Civic League Executive Director Carroll Conley said his group was not a major player in the 2009 campaign, but he believes it can play a major role in the campaign this year.

Paperwork creating Protect Marriage Maine was filed Friday.

Pro-gay marriage activists from 16 organizations have formed the Maine Freedom to Marry Coalition.

ROCKPORT, Mass.

Offshore search for toddler will resume on Wednesday

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About two dozen state police divers and a sonar vessel will resume the offshore search Wednesday for a 2-year-old girl missing from a Rockport beach.

State police spokesman David Procopio said Monday that the search will incorporate a dive training exercise.

He said a side-scan sonar search planned for today was postponed because of forecast high winds and seas.

Caleigh Anne Harrison was reported missing from Long Beach about noon on Thursday. Her mother told investigators she turned away from Caleigh and her 4-year-old sister for a couple of minutes to retrieve a ball, and Caleigh was gone when she returned.

Rockport and state police continue to investigate the girl’s disappearance and said they haven’t ruled out any possible causes.

Crews last searched the water Saturday before a nor’easter brought rough seas and rain.

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PORTSMOUTH, N.H.

Man told friend of plan to die in police standoff

Court documents say the man who shot five police officers outside his Greenland, N.H., home phoned a friend to say he shot them.

Based on police affidavits released Friday, the Portsmouth Herald reported that Cullen Mutrie told the friend he did not intend to leave alive after shooting the officers who showed up at his home April 12 as part of a drug investigation.

Greenland Police Chief Michael Maloney was killed, and four members of the Attorney General’s Drug Task Force were injured.

Mutrie spoke with police briefly after the shootings, then for hours police surrounded the house without making contact.

Mutrie later killed a female companion – 26-year-old Berwick, Maine, resident Brittany Tibbetts – and himself.
 


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