PORTLAND

Heritage Policy Center chief leaving for job in Florida

Additional Photos

Sara Levite of Cumberland battles wind and sleet as she walks along the Eastern Prom Trail in Portland on Monday. Levite, who works in Portland, was out for some fresh air. Today will be drier with highs near 50. Tim Greenway/Staff Photographer

Tarren Bragdon plans to start a free-market think tank in Florida that will focus on government transparency and accountability as well as health reform.

Tarren Bragdon, CEO of the Maine Heritage Policy Center, has taken a job in Naples, Fla., the Portland-based conservative think tank announced Tuesday.

Bragdon will start a free-market think tank that will focus on government transparency and accountability as well as health reform, according to the group.

Bragdon, a former Republican state representative, led the Maine Heritage Policy Center for three and a half years. Late last year, he became a co-director of the transition team for Gov. Paul LePage and played a significant role in crafting the two-year state budget.

Bragdon will leave his job in Maine next month. Michael Duddy, the group’s board chairman, has opened a search to recruit a new CEO.

In a prepared statement, Dan Demeritt, LePage’s communications director, said, “Tarren Bragdon is a leading voice for free markets and personal liberty. Governor Le- Page appreciates Tarren’s principled advocacy as well as his counsel to the governor’s transition and early months in office. We all wish Tarren the very best and will be following his work in Florida.”

Civic center trustees plan strategy for keeping Pirates

A group of Cumberland County Civic Center trustees met privately Tuesday to discuss steps they can take to keep the Portland Pirates hockey team in Portland.

The board’s sports committee is focused on building public support for a ballot question in November that will ask the county’s voters to support a $28 million bond to renovate the civic center, said Neal Pratt, spokesman for the trustees.

County commissioners still have to vote on putting the bond question on the ballot, but Pratt said there appears to be consensus among most county officials that the civic center needs an overhaul.

The Pirates’ lease with the county expires in April 2012.

“We could be at risk of losing the Pirates is the renovation doesn’t go through,” Pratt said.

Bench press competition nets nearly $1,000 for project

The Cumberland County Jail’s “Behind Bars” bench press competition last weekend raised almost $1,000 for the Wounded Warrior Project.

The overall champion was Luke House of the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office, who pressed 385 pounds. Portland police Lt. Gary Hutcheson won the 200-to-219-pound weight class, pressing 340 pounds.

Saturday’s competition drew 19 participants. The Wounded Warrior Project provides programs for injured servicemen and servicewomen.

SACO

Saco, like Dayton, wants out of regional school unit

City councilors voted unanimously Monday to add language to a bill in the Legislature that would allow Saco to withdraw from Regional School Unit 23.

L.D. 803, sponsored by Rep. Wayne Parry, R-Arundel, would allow Dayton to withdraw from the district with voters’ approval.

The district also includes Saco and Old Orchard Beach. Saco city councilors are asking their state representative to work with Parry on adding language to the bill that would allow Saco to withdraw.

“The RSU was a good experiment but has not shown the kind of savings we were promised,” said Councilor Jeff Christenbury.

Gary Curtis, an RSU 23 board member representing Old Orchard Beach, said he is upset that Saco wants to withdraw for financial reasons.

The consolidation was approved by voters in 2008, and Curtis said the first year saved $400,000 across the district. He said each community is being asked to contribute more because of decreased state and federal revenue.

The Legislature’s Education and Cultural Affairs Committee is expected to hold a public hearing on the bill at 9 a.m. Friday in Augusta.

Candidate for mayor moves, must resign from council

The city councilor who is running for mayor resigned from the council Monday night.

Ward 4 Councilor Jeff Christenbury, 26, submitted his letter of resignation Monday morning. Christenbury, who recently bought a home outside Ward 4, said he had to resign because the city charter does not allow councilors to represent wards where they don’t live.

The move does not change his plan to run for mayor in November’s election, he said.

Councilors are expected to discuss the appointment of a councilor for Ward 4 during a workshop today. An appointment will be announced at the next council meeting.

BANGOR

Woman gets six months for setting up sham marriages

A 32-year-old Lewiston woman has been sentenced to six months in prison for setting up fraudulent marriages between Maine residents and immigrants who sought to become legal residents of the United States.

Torri Roy Patterson was sentenced Monday in U.S. District Court in Bangor.

The Bangor Daily News said Patterson was the first of several Mainers who are expected to be sentenced for their roles in setting up sham marriages. According to court documents, she married a Kenyan man in 2003 and later recruited others to participate in the scheme.

Judge John Woodcock said he reduced Patterson’s sentence because she cooperated with federal prosecutors and testified last month in Portland against the ringleader, Rashid Kakande of Woburn, Mass., who was convicted by a jury and is awaiting sentencing.

AUGUSTA

Man indicted in killing of acquaintance in Readfield

A grand jury has indicted a 32-year-old man on charges that he killed the man who took him into his home in Readfield.

On Monday, a Kennebec County grand jury indicted David Silva Jr. on a charge of murder in the Feb. 8 shooting death of Robert Orr, 53, at Orr’s home.

After Orr was shot, Silva allegedly stole items from the house and then set it on fire. Investigators say Silva was trying to cover up evidence of the shooting.

Silva was arrested two days later in Carver, Mass.

If convicted of murder, Silva could be sentenced to 25 years to life in prison.

The Kennebec Journal said Silva is being held without bail.

State chooses new operator of Aroostook Lines rail

The Maine Department of Transportation has chosen a new operator for 233 miles of state-owned rail line in northern Maine that was owned by the Montreal, Maine and Atlantic Railway.

The department announced Tuesday that a selection committee has unanimously selected Eastern Maine Railroad from among five applicants as the operator of what is now known as the Aroostook Lines. Eastern Maine Railroad operates a rail line in Maine that runs between Vanceboro and Brownville Junction.

The 233 miles of track stretches from Millinocket to Madawaska with branch lines to Caribou, Presque Isle, Easton, Houlton and Limestone.

The state bought the track and trackage rights for $20.1 million in January after the Montreal, Maine and Atlantic Railway said it was abandoning the lines because it was losing millions of dollars on them.

RAYMOND

Teenager who was caught huffing later found in woods

Cumberland County sheriff’s deputies found a teenager who was reported missing early Tuesday morning after he was caught inhaling dust cleaner.

The 17-year-old boy was caught huffing around 1 a.m. by the staff for Spurwink Services, said Capt. Donald Goulet. His name was not released.

The staff reported his disappearance after searching for about half an hour.

Deputies John Cross and Tony Hovey searched the woods around the home on Samuel Road and found the teenager in a fetal position, leaning against a tree, Goulet said.

The deputies carried him out of the woods and Deputy Andrew Feeney took the teen in his cruiser to an ambulance, Goulet said.

The teenager was taken to Maine Medical Center in Portland.

WESTBROOK

Grant will enable officers to patrol snowmobile trails

Police will crack down on all-terrain vehicle riders who use snowmobile trails in the city.

Westbrook police received a $4,500 grant from the state’s Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife to pay officers overtime to patrol the trails during the spring and summer.

Capt. Tom Roth said the state-sanctioned trails are off limits for ATVs, which tear up the land.

The primary purpose of the special patrols will be for officers to issue summonses to ATV riders. Roth said police also will look out for minors drinking, drug cultivation and illegal dumping along the trails.

Gala Saturday to raise funds for teen center in Westbrook

The Mission Possible Teen Center plans to hold its annual gala Saturday at Seasons Grille on Riverside Street in Portland.

The event, from 6:30 to 10:30 p.m., will include dinner, a raffle, a silent auction and music by Motor Booty Affair.

Businesses including Sappi Fine Paper and Pike Industries are sponsoring the event, which is a fundraiser for the teen center in Westbrook. Tickets cost $40 per person. Call 854-2800.

GORHAM/YARMOUTH

School administrators head to China as part of exchange

The superintendent of Gorham schools and Yarmouth High School’s principal will leave this week for China.

Gorham Superintendent Ted Sharp and Yarmouth Principal Ted Hall said the purpose of their two-week trip is to continue building relationships between their schools and ones in Beijing.

Sharp and Hall will travel with a group of American educators, led by the China Exchange Initiative of Newton, Mass. That program and the trip are being funded by the Freeman Foundation.

The Gorham and Yarmouth school districts each hosted an administrator from a Chinese school in December.

Sharp and Hall said they hope students and teachers from their schools eventually will visit the Chinese schools and Chinese students and teachers will come to Maine.

BIDDEFORD

Arts real estate developer to explain live-work spaces

Artspace, a leading nonprofit real estate developer for the arts, will give a presentation next week.

The presentation will offer examples of live-and-work housing developments that could be emulated in Biddeford. It will be followed by a question-and-answer session with Artspace representatives. The event will begin at 6:30 p.m. April 13 at City Theater.

On April 14, Artspace representatives will join members of Engine, — the Biddeford nonprofit that is sponsoring the event — developers and city officials to tour the city’s mill district starting at 10:30 a.m. at Riverdam Mill.

Founded in 1979, Artspace owns and operates 27 projects in 19 cities and 13 states. Of those properties, 21 are live-and-work projects for artists. The others are non-residential, providing space for artists and cultural organizations.

For more information, visit www.feedtheengine.org or www.artspace.org.

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