Maine news, sports, weather from Portland Press Herald / Maine Sunday Telegram, Portland, Maine

August 15, 2012

Dispatches

From staff and news services

BAR HARBOR

Cruise line taking delivery of local lobsters on Friday

Maine officials have convinced the Holland America cruise line to buy locally caught lobsters for its cruise ships when they visit Bar Harbor several times this season.

The first delivery, from the Trenton Bridge Lobster Pound, will be made when the Maasdam visits Friday.

WNSX-FM said the collaborative efforts of a Bar Harbor councilor, state senator, lobster pound owner and Cruise Maine is independent of efforts of Rep. Chellie Pingree, who’s also urging the cruise ships, which bring tens of thousands of visitors to Portland, to serve locally caught lobsters.

The Democrat announced Monday that she had sent a letter to the owners of 15 cruise ship lines that visit the state suggesting that they buy Maine lobster.

Pingree is married to S. Donald Sussman, majority share owner of The Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram.

PORTLAND

Five public schools offering all students free breakfasts

Five public schools in Portland will start offering free breakfasts to all of their students in September.

The change is taking place at the schools with the highest percentages of students who qualify for free or reduced meals. The schools are: Riverton Elementary School (81 percent), East End Community School, (79 percent), Presumpscot Elementary School (75 percent), Reiche Community School (72 percent)  and Lincoln Middle School (53 percent).

Breakfast will be served in the classroom during the first 10 minutes of the school day.
Reiche will also offer free lunch to all students.

The meal costs are subsidized by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Families still need to fill out eligibility applications. Applications will be included in students’ opening-day packets and must be returned by Sept. 26.

Another change this year is the elimination of the 40-cent co-pay across all schools. Students who previously paid the 40 cents will now get free meals.

BANGOR

Police seek person in video shown leaving burning car

Police sought Tuesday to identify a person seen on a surveillance video running from a burning car where three bodies were later recovered, while the state Medical Examiner’s Office began autopsies on the bodies.

Video showed someone leaving the fire on foot, Bangor police Sgt. Paul Edwards confirmed.

“At this point, we’d like to know who was in the video and we’re working to identify that person,” he said.

Firefighters made the grisly discovery of the bodies early Monday after dousing the flames in the parking lot of a business in Bangor.

On Tuesday, the blackened car, its windows blown out and its tires flat, remained where it was found. It won’t be moved until the autopsies are completed, and it’s unclear how long that will take, Edwards said.

Transient pleads not guilty in fatal stabbing of man

A transient who is accused of fatally stabbing another man during a fight in May has pleaded not guilty to manslaughter.

Jason Alan Trickett, 41, was ordered held on $50,000 bail at his arraignment Monday at the Penobscot Judicial Center. He has been held, unable to make bail, since his arrest in June.

Trickett is accused of stabbing Andy Smith, 38, in the street outside a friend’s apartment. Smith died later at the hospital.

He told investigators that they had been drinking and using drugs.

A witness to the fight told the Bangor Daily News that Smith was stabbed following an altercation in a street with a woman. The witness said the woman called for her friends, who went after Smith.

If convicted, Trickett faces up to 30 years in prison.

(Continued on page 2)

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