WEST BATH

Nobleboro couple suffer injuries in motorcycle crash

A Nobleboro couple were thrown from their motorcycle and transported to hospitals after they came close to hitting a vehicle that was turning in to an ice cream stand Sunday night.

The motorcycle’s operator, Gerald Gifford, and his wife, Gayle Gifford, were traveling north on State Road when he slowed down to avoid hitting a car that was making a right turn.

Cpl. Ian Alexander of the Sagadahoc County Sheriff’s Office said the couple’s 1997 Harley-Davidson motorcycle turned sideways when Gifford applied his brakes, throwing him and his wife onto the ground. Both of them were wearing helmets. The motorcycle did not strike the turning car.

Gerald Gifford, who was unconscious when police arrived just after 5 p.m., was transported to Maine Medical Center in Portland. Alexander said Gifford was released Sunday night. His wife was being treated at Mid Coast Hospital in Brunswick with what appeared to be non-life threatening injuries.

Alexander said the cause of the accident, which remains under investigation, does not appear to be speed related. He said the cause was probably “driver inattention.”

AUGUSTA

Maine State Museum hosts program on Civil War leader

The Maine State Museum in Augusta is hosting a program about Civil War general and Leeds native Oliver Otis Howard.

Author Gordon Weil will speak at the event. He wrote “The Good Man: The Civil War’s `Christian General’ and His Fight for Racial Equality” about Howard in 2013.

Howard led the Freedmen’s Bureau after the war. He directed the bureau’s task of integrating freed slaves into society in the South. He also founded Howard University in Washington and served as its president from 1869 to 1874.

The free event is scheduled for April 30 at 6:30 p.m. at the museum.

CHINA

School official recovering after falling from ladder

A school administrator broke his ribs and suffered head trauma when he tumbled from a ladder at his China home, school officials said.

Peter Thiboutot, assistant superintendent for Alternative Organizational Structure 92, which includes Waterville, Winslow and Vassalboro schools, is recovering in a Portland hospital.

“He fell off a ladder,” Superintendent Eric Haley said. “Actually, he was kicked off by a limb he was cutting.”

Haley said he drove Saturday to Maine Medical Center in Portland to visit Thiboutot, who was resting there after the 15-foot fall Friday.

“My instructions to him were to lay low and heal up,” Haley said.

Thiboutot is known throughout AOS 92 for his compassion toward the students and teaching staff, Haley said.

On Saturday, Thiboutot was in a lot of pain but in good spirits and on the path to recovery, Haley said. He described the injuries as serious but not life-threatening.

– From staff and news services