GORHAM
Woman dies when truck rolls over onto minivan
A Dayton woman died Thursday when a dump truck rolled over onto the minivan she was driving on the Ossipee Trail near Wood Road.
Authorities said the eastbound truck swerved to avoid a pickup truck that had slowed to enter the Grondin gravel pit near Brandy Brook Hill. The driver lost control and hit the westbound minivan, and the truck rolled onto the driver’s side of the minivan, police said.
Killed in the crash was Marjorie Mullett, 68, of Dayton. Her passenger, Gail Lavoie, 58, of Brownfield, and the dump truck driver, Ronald Pratt, 59, of Gray, were taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, police said.
The crash occurred about 9:05 a.m. Police closed Ossipee Trail (Route 112/25) while they investigated.
FREEPORT
Osprey chicks doing well after falling from nest
Three osprey chicks that were knocked out of their nest at a park during a severe thunderstorm last week are being cared for by their parents and appear to be doing well.
Wolfe’s Neck State Park manager Andrew Hutchinson said Wednesday that the 5-week-old chicks were knocked 50 feet to the ground by the storm on July 5.
He told the Sun Journal that one chick was found the next day. The others were not found until Sunday.
Park staff built a platform on top of the tree and an arborist secured it. The chicks were placed on the platform.
Park staffer Pete Elkins said birds sometimes reject chicks handled by humans. But on Wednesday, the parent ospreys were rebuilding their nest on the platform and feeding their chicks.
BRUNSWICK
Southport man arrested, held on burglary charge
A Southport man was charged with burglary and resisting arrest after an officer responding to a burglar alarm grabbed him outside the Five County Credit Union on Bath Road just after midnight Thursday.
Officer Matthew Swan was responding to an alarm at the door to the automatic teller machine at 171 Bath Road and saw two men at the back of the building, said Deputy Chief Marc Hagan. Swan called to them and they ran. Swan caught one but the other escaped.
A police dog from Windham tried to track the second man but was unsuccessful.
Police charged Joshua McCarthy, 27, with burglary, criminal mischief, refusing to submit to arrest and theft, Hagan said. He was taken to the Cumberland County Jail and held on $25,000 bail pending a Sept. 17 court date.
JACKMAN
Speed and alcohol blamed for accident that killed two
Police say speed and alcohol are believed to be factors in a crash that killed two people in northwestern Maine.
Somerset County Sheriff’s Lt. Carl Gottardi said the crash happened Wednesday evening near Jackman on a connector road between Route 15 and Route 201.
Officials said the driver, Jessica Worster, 21, of Jackman, was killed along with a passenger, Brook Giroux, 17, of Moose River. Two other passengers were hospitalized: Andrew Carrier, 18, of Jackman and Kyle Hoyt, 22, of Moose River.
The crash remains under investigation.
KENNEBUNKPORT
Bush, Obama to honor ‘Point of Light’ winner
Former President George H.W. Bush can take heart that his idea of a “thousand points of light” is still going strong.
Bush will go to Washington to join President Obama on Monday as he honors the 5,000th daily “Point of Light” award winner.
Bush referred to his vision for people helping one another as a “thousand points of light” during his inaugural address in 1989. His administration began naming a daily “Point of Light.”
The Points of Light Foundation was created in response to Bush’s call to volunteerism as an independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit organization to encourage the spirit of service.
FALMOUTH
Maine Audubon awarded grant for aquatic habitat
Maine Audubon has been awarded a $75,000 grant from the Elmina B. Sewall Foundation in Freeport for its work to maintain and restore aquatic habitat in the state.
The grant, part of Maine Audubon’s annual $3 million budget, will help support projects related to aquatic conservation, including organizing volunteers to complete surveys of brook trout ponds in northern Maine to determine conservation management practices.
The work, in partnership with the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, was started last year, said Barbara Charry, wildlife biologist with Maine Audubon at Gilsland Farms in Falmouth. Of more than 470 ponds identified, 190 were surveyed and native brook trout were identified in 83, she said.
A second project involves an effort between Audubon and the Trust for Public Land to map areas that may serve as habitat for animals to cross roads or other areas somehow disturbed by human use or movement.
A program of “Stream-Smart” workshops for municipal employees, private landowners and building professionals will also be funded to teach repair and construction techniques for road crossings and culverts that are safe for drivers and maintain habitat connections for wildlife, Charry said.
BELFAST
Couple arrested in Belfast charged with selling heroin
Maine State Police say a couple has been arrested in Belfast on charges of selling heroin.
Police said Asgard Tarik Gilbert, 39, and Anna Congdon, 24, were arrested Wednesday night after agents from the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency, state troopers and Belfast police searched the hotel room where they were staying.
Police said they seized 100 bags of heroin, 36 oxycodone pills as well as digital scales and $1,000 in cash.
Gilbert was being held on $10,000 bail and Congdon was held on $250 bail.
Police said more arrests are expected.
AUGUSTA
Bill makes more veterans eligible for free licenses
More disabled Maine veterans will soon be eligible for free hunting and fishing licenses under a new state law.
Republican Gov. Paul LePage signed a bill this week to provide free hunting, trapping and fishing licenses for Maine veterans with a 50 percent disabled rating.
Previously, only veterans with a disability rating of 100 percent and some with 70 percent were able to get free licenses.
The bill is sponsored by Rep. Corey Wilson, R-Augusta. He told the Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Committee that many veterans who are eligible for free licenses are unable to take advantage of them because their injuries are too debilitating.
The bill goes into effect in 90 days. The state estimates it will result in a loss of about $25,000 in fee revenue this year.
BANGOR
Waterville man sentenced for role in drug conspiracy
A Waterville man was sentenced Wednesday to 37 months in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release, for his role in a conspiracy that brought drugs to central Maine from New York City.
Rodney Lacroix, 24, pleaded guilty on Dec. 4 in U.S. District Court, where Wednesday’s sentencing hearing was held before Chief Judge John A. Woodcock. Lacroix has been in custody since pleading guilty.
In all, 20 people were charged in connection with cocaine and oxycodone trafficking.
The conspiracy lasted from Jan. 1 to March 17, 2012.
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