PORTLAND

‘Alive at Five’ concert series to start annual run Thursday

The annual “Alive at Five” free outdoor concert series in Monument Square will begin Thursday.

The show will feature Portland indie rock band Phantom Buffalo and folk-pop performer Erin Davidson, who performs under the moniker dilly dilly. The series will run weekly through Aug. 9.

All shows will be held Thursdays in Monument Square, from 5 to 7:30 p.m. The rest of the schedule includes: July 19: Spencer Albee (pop rock), Zach Jones (R&B), Lady Zen (soul); July 26: McCarthys (alt country) and Amy Allen (singer-songwriter); Aug. 2: March Forth (New Orleans marching band), Anna and the Diggs (Americana), Veayo Twins (MAMM Slam High School band winners); Aug. 9: The Mallett Brothers (country rock) and CuLLu (reggae).

The series is sponsored by television station WPME/WPXT, radio stations WBLM, WCYY, WJBQ, and WHOM, plus the Portland Phoenix, Black Bear Energy and Sebago Brewing Co.

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For more information, go to portlandmaine.com or call 772-6828.

Deering graduate saves life of woman off Florida beach

A Deering High School graduate is being credited with rescuing a woman near Pensacola Beach, Fla., on Sunday.

Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. Gabriel Somma, a helicopter pilot instructor at Naval Air Station Whiting Field in Milton, about 20 miles away, was off duty when he saw a woman 50 yards from shore struggling against the current, according to a statement from the Coast Guard.

Somma swam out to Murphy and brought her back to the beach, the release said.

“A combination of my Coast Guard and water survival training really helped me today,” Somma said in the release. “As I was approaching her in the water, I thought about my water survival training and my instinct took over, and I was able to save that woman’s life.”

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He said the experience made him appreciate the work of the Coast Guard’s rescue swimmers.

Somma graduated from Deering High School in 1993. He was recently promoted to lieutenant commander.

AUGUSTA

Three inmates still at large after escaping from 2 jails

Maine law enforcement officials are looking for three inmates who walked away from two different prisons.

Skowhegan and Madison police are looking for Dylan Perkins, 20, who escaped from the Somerset County Jail. He was scheduled to be released on July 27.

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A jail official said Perkins, a minimum security inmate, was unloading a truck with other inmates when he scaled a fence and ran into the woods around 1 p.m. on Monday.

Police and a dog team also were searching in Glenburn for two men who escaped from the Charleston Correctional Facility on Sunday night. An official said Randall Moulton, 20, of Bangor and Phillip Gardiner, 25, of Belfast were in prison for burglary and other charges. Moulton was to be released later this year and Gardiner in 2014.

State’s top veterinarian says pet vaccination rates too low

Maine’s top veterinarian said the state’s pet vaccination rates are far too low.

There are about 285,000 dogs in Maine, about 160,000 of which are licensed. Licensing a dog requires that the animal be current on the rabies vaccine. State veterinarian Don Hoenig estimated that only about half of dogs and cats receive the rabies vaccine.

Hoenig said he’d like it to be in the 75 to 80 percent range.

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An even lower percentage get other needed vaccines.

Doug Hutchins owns Southern Maine Veterinary Care in Lyman and is president of the Maine Veterinary Medical Association. He told the Bangor Daily News that pet owners worry about the cost of vaccines and possible side effects. He said pet owners also do not understand just how crucial vaccines are.

FREEPORT

Two bulldogs that bit teen, woman will be put down

Two bulldogs that attacked a 65-year-old Freeport woman and sent her to the hospital with bites to her ear and shoulder are scheduled to be euthanized.

Animal welfare officials said it was the second unprovoked attack on a human in weeks.

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Both dogs were quarantined at the Costal Humane Society following the attack last Thursday.

On June 17, the two dogs also bit a teenage boy in an incident that did not require emergency medical transport.

Karen Stimpson, executive director of Coastal Humane Society, told The Times Record that both dogs were up to date on shots and did not pose a danger of transmitting rabies.

Stimpson said after a 10-day quarantine, town officials determined that the dogs will be put down.

NEW GLOUCESTER

Burglary suspect says he was checking for gas leak

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Police said an Auburn man accused of burglary told a homeowner he was checking her house for a gas leak when he climbed through a window and then went out the front door.

Christopher Welch, 31, was arrested Friday. Police told the Sun Journal that a New Gloucester woman watched from outside her home as a man entered through a window and then came out the front door. When she asked him what he was doing, Welch allegedly told her he was checking for a gas leak and then drove off in a Webber Energy service van.

Police stopped the van soon after and arrested Welch. Authorities said he broke into the home in search of prescription medications.

 

 

 


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