BAR HARBOR

Rev. Gower, co-founder of College of the Atlantic, dies

The Rev. James Gower, a co-founder of the College of the Atlantic in Maine, has died at age 90.

The college said Gower died early Monday at an assisted-living residence in Bar Harbor.

The peace activist joined businessman Les Brewer, a former football teammate at Bar Harbor High School, to found the college in 1969. The college, which has an environmental focus, has only one major, human ecology. The first classes were held in 1972.

Bill Slavick, a peace activist who ran for the U.S. Senate in 2006, said Gower was active in Pax Christi, the Roman Catholic peace movement.

As a priest, Gower served in Waterville, where he was well-known, at the University of Maine, where he was chaplain, and at other locations.

LIVERMORE FALLS

Child has surgery, mom hurt after attacked by family dog

A 1-year-old boy was hospitalized with severe facial injuries and his mother was recovering from injuries after they were attacked by the family’s dog in Livermore Falls.

The Sun Journal of Lewiston reported that the town’s animal control officer ordered the dog, a pit bull-wolf hybrid mix, quarantined in a room at the family’s home on Friday. But on Saturday, the dog grabbed the child by the head and mauled the boy, said police Lt. Thomas Gould. When his parents rushed to his aid, the boy’s mother was attacked.

The child was rushed to Franklin Memorial Hospital in Farmington, where he had surgery Sunday for facial injuries. The boy’s mother was treated for injuries to her arm. The dog was euthanized.

ENFIELD

Police: Man hit by truck was walking in breakdown lane

Police are investigating the death of a man who was hit by a pickup truck on a state highway while walking to a store.

State police said Aaron Laws, 34, of Passadumkeag was walking with friends on Route 2 in Enfield about 4:30 p.m. Sunday when he was hit by a truck driven by Arthur LePlant, 58, of Howland.

Trooper Larry Anderson told the Bangor Daily News that Laws was taken to Penobscot Valley Hospital in Lincoln, where he was pronounced dead.

Anderson said Laws was walking in the breakdown lane, but it was dark and he was wearing dark clothing. No charges have been filed.

 

Maine health groups praised for electronic records effort

Efforts in Maine to establish a statewide, Web-based patient health information exchange have won federal recognition in Washington, D.C.

HealthInfoNet.org, a secure website that links 27 of Maine’s 39 hospitals and 294 physician practices across the state, won a Meaningful Use Acceleration Award on Wednesday from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

The award recognized HealthInfoNet, based in Portland, and Bangor Beacon Community, affiliated with Eastern Maine Healthcare Systems, for their federally funded efforts to promote effective use of electronic health records.

HealthInfoNet is an independent, nonprofit that’s using health information technology to improve health care quality and safety.

Similar programs in Ohio and Kentucky were recognized, said HealthInfoNet spokeswoman Amy Landry.

Federal officials also lauded Maine health care providers because 42 percent of them have met federal goals encouraging the transition to electronic health records — the highest percentage of all 50 states, Landry said.