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

August 1, 2012

Local & State Dispatches

SCARBOROUGH

Emergency personnel treat 20 at Downs’ hip-hop festival

Rescue workers treated about 20 people for exhaustion, dehydration and intoxication Tuesday night at the “Under the Influence of Music” concert at Scarborough Downs, featuring Wiz Khalifa.

Police said they made a few arrests and some people were told to leave, but four hours into the show there had been no major incidents and the concert was largely trouble-free.

The number of people who needed medical attention overwhelmed the rescue personnel initially stationed at the concert, which drew about 6,000 fans. Officials called in additional rescue workers and activated a task force that supplied ambulances from neighboring communities, said Fire Chief Michael Thurlow.

Seven people were taken to the hospital for additional treatment, he said, though none appeared to have serious conditions.

The show was the first in the “Music at the Track” series at Scarborough Downs. Khalifa was to be joined by rappers Chevy Woods, Mac Miller, Kendrick Lamar and Chiddy Bang.

NAPLES

Weather service confirms funnel cloud over Sebago

The National Weather Service has confirmed that a funnel cloud formed over Sebago Lake last weekend.

A meteorologist with the weather service based in Gray says photographs taken by James Sinko, a student at Lyndon State College in Vermont, showed a funnel cloud forming Sunday off the beach at Sebago Lake State Park in Naples.

Sinko says the funnel cloud lasted about eight minutes.

Nancy Jean, a regular visitor to the lake, also took pictures of the funnel cloud.

She says she’s never seen anything like it before at the lake.

If the funnel cloud had made landfall, it likely would have been classified as a tornado.

BIDDEFORD

Council approves purchase of waste-to-energy plant

The City Council voted 8-1 Tuesday night to buy and close the Maine Energy Recovery Co. trash-to-energy incinerator by next year.

The council gave initial approval to the plan July 17. Councilor Melissa Bednarowski opposed the purchase.

The votes came after sixth months of negotiations between city officials and Casella Waste Systems, the Vermont-based parent company of MERC.

The city will buy the plant – long a source of odor complaints – for $6.65 million over the next 20 years.

The plant will stop operating within six months of the purchase, which is expected to be complete by November. The facility will be dismantled six months later, leaving only the smokestack, to hold cellphone towers.

Revenue from the cellphone towers and a tax-increment financing district at Biddeford Crossing will cover most of the purchase cost. The rest will be paid with small tax increases, beginning with an additional 1.8 cents on the property tax rate in 2012-13.

Mayor Alan Casavant said Tuesday’s vote was a historic moment for the city and will help the economic redevelopment of the downtown and mill district.

TOPSHAM

Woman charged in robberies at Rite Aid and Hannaford

Police have arrested a woman they say is responsible for a pair of pharmacy robberies in town last month.

Police say Sarah Wilson, 29, with a last known address in Richmond, was arrested last week and charged with two counts of robbery in connection with July 18 robberies at the Rite Aid and Hannaford pharmacies.

Police say the suspect entered the drugstores within minutes of each other and passed the pharmacists a note demanding prescription painkillers.

The note made reference to another person with a gun. No weapon was displayed and police did not recover a weapon or see a weapon displayed on surveillance footage.

(Continued on page 2)

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