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

November 25, 2012

Maine/New England Dispatches

NAPLES

Single-car crash kills teen, injures younger brother

The Cumberland County Sheriff's Office said a single-car crash in Naples killed a 17-year-old Massachusetts boy and injured his 15-year-old brother.

It happened around 11 p.m. Friday. Sheriff's officials say the car failed to negotiate a curve on Harrison Road and struck a tree at a high rate of speed.

Officials say the driver, Joshua Bonnell of Haverhill, Mass., was pronounced dead at the scene. He wasn't wearing a seatbelt. His younger brother, Austin, was partially ejected from the vehicle but had to be extricated. He suffered two broken legs and a concussion.

The crash remains under investigation.

Sheriff's officials said a preliminary investigation has found that speed, but not alcohol, was a factor in the crash.

BELFAST

Minor earthquake recorded but goes mainly undetected

A minor earthquake has been reported near the coastal city of Belfast.

Boston University's Weston Observatory said Friday night's quake, which had a magnitude of 2.1, was centered about 10 miles east of Belfast in Waldo County.

Maine Emergency Management Agency duty officer Bill DeLong said the quake, which was recorded about 11 p.m., was not strong enough to cause damage and could not be detected by people, unless they were very close to it.

DeLong said his agency received no reports from police or the public about the quake.

MADISON

Family's cats perish in fire that ruined mobile home

Authorities say a fire originating in a back bedroom destroyed most of a mobile home in the central Maine town of Madison, but the family living there was not harmed.

Madison Fire Chief Roger Lightbody told the Morning Sentinel of Waterville that the bedroom was destroyed in Friday night's fire and the rest of the interior has extensive smoke damage.

Lightbody said three children and two adults were inside, although no one was injured. The family lost three or four cats.

AUGUSTA

Muzzleloader deer hunt set to begin; firearms hunt ends

Maine's firearms deer hunting season has come to a close.

The four-week season, which began Oct. 26, ended Saturday.

A total of 34,160 any-deer permits were issued this year, up from 26,390 permits in 2011.

Muzzleloader season begins on Monday and ends Dec. 1 statewide, with a second one-week season running Dec. 3-8 in a limited number of hunting districts.

BREWER

Computer glitches halted some gun sales, FBI says

Glitches in the government's computers prevented some Black Friday gun sales in Maine.

The FBI told the Bangor Daily News that there were problems with its National Instant Criminal Background Check System, or NICS. High call volumes caused intermittent outages in the system.

Bangor-area gun dealers said those interruptions stopped gun sales. Rick Lozier of Van Raymond Outfitters in Brewer said the outages cost him at least half a dozen customers by the time Friday's business day was only half over.

The FBI's computerized system tells gun sellers whether a buyer is barred by federal law from possessing firearms. People who want to purchase guns must fill out and sign FBI paperwork first.

KILLINGTON, Vt.

Cow power to run gondola at Killington ski resort

Vermont's Killington ski resort and Green Mountain Power are highlighting a project that is using cow manure to power the resort's K-1 Express Gondola.

There were cows at the resort all day Saturday as part of the celebration of the resort's participating in GMP's Cow Power program.

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