YORK

Gunshots from home end with resident’s suicide

Police say a shooting Tuesday night in a home in the area of Broadway and Iris Avenue was a suicide.

A man had been seen by neighbors yelling in a rage outside his home, police said. He was then seen going back inside.

Neighbors then reported that they heard a gunshot. Police arrived at 5:50 p.m. and removed an elderly man from the home and evacuated nearby homes.

The elderly man told police that the younger man in the house was his son and had been making suicidal threats during the day. Attempts by police to reach the man by phone were unsuccessful.

At 9:20 p.m., a gunshot was fired inside the home. Police entered the home at 11:45 p.m. and discovered that the man had killed himself.

TOPSHAM

Air Station annex fire determined to be arson

The state Fire Marshal’s Office has determined that a fire that destroyed a vacant apartment building was arson.

The fire gutted the four-unit apartment house on Liberty Circle on the Brunswick Naval Air Station annex Tuesday night. No one had lived in the house for several years and there was no power in the building, said Stephen McCausland, spokesman for the state Department of Public Safety.

Fire marshals and Navy personnel are inspecting dozens of other unoccupied houses nearby to determine whether any fires have been set in those structures.

Anyone with information about the fire is asked to call Topsham police at 725-4337 or the fire marshal’s arson hotline at (888) 870-6162.

PORTLAND

Children taken to hospital after school bus, car collide

Four children were taken by ambulance to Maine Medical Center on Wednesday after their school bus collided with a car on Forest Avenue.

Police Lt. Mike Jones said the bus, which was being used by the Cumberland County YMCA, was returning to the YMCA on Forest Avenue from the Otter Pond day camp in Standish with about 20 children on board.

Jones said a car swerved in front of the bus near Forest Avenue and Marginal Way as the driver tried to change lanes, forcing the bus driver to come to an abrupt stop.

The bus suffered minor front end damage. Several children — ages 5 to 8 — sustained bumps and bruises and were taken to the hospital as a precaution, Jones said.

Two camp counselors were also on the bus when the crash occurred, shortly after 5 p.m.

Testimony continues in ex-prosecutor’s porn case

Testimony continued Wednesday in the child pornography trial of former Assistant Attorney General James M. Cameron.

The bench trial opened Monday and is expected to continue at least until Friday in U.S. District Court.

Cameron is charged with 10 counts of sending child pornography, four counts of receiving it and one count of possessing it. Cameron waived his right to a jury; his case will be decided by Judge John Woodcock Jr.

Cameron, 48, was Maine’s top drug prosecutor in 2007 when state and federal officials began investigating his Internet activities.

Each count of sending and receiving child pornography is punishable by a minimum of five years and a maximum of 20 years in prison. Possession is punishable by as much as 10 years in prison.

Police, library’s teen center to host after-hours party

Portland police and the teen center at the Portland Public Library are teaming up to host an after-hours event aimed at giving teenagers a safe and fun place to spend the night.

Officer Raymond Ruby said the library, which normally closes at 7 p.m., will remain open until 9 tonight.

More than 20 teenagers have signed up to use the library’s computers, watch a movie, play video or board games, and participate in an open microphone area. Food and refreshments will be provided. 

Former New York mayor Giuliani endorses Scontras

Dean Scontras, the Republican candidate in Maine’s 1st Congressional District, announced Wednesday that his campaign has been endorsed by former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani.

The announcement came after Scontras met with Guiliani on Wednesday in New York City. The men discussed issues including how to address the federal budget deficit.

Scontras is running against U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree, a Democrat.

FALMOUTH

Engine fire destroys boat docked at Yacht Club

Fire destroyed a boat docked at the Portland Yacht Club on Wednesday afternoon.

Fire Chief Howard Rice said the fire apparently started in the engine area of a 15-foot Boston Whaler that is owned by the Yacht Club.

Deputy Fire Chief Jay Hallett, who also manages the Handy Boat marina, saw the fire, jumped into his boat, and motored a short distance across the water from Handy Boat to the yacht club.

Hallett used a fire extinguisher to keep the fire from spreading.

Falmouth firefighters put the fire out. The Boston Whaler is valued at about $15,000.

WISCASSET

Marijuana cultivation probe leads to drug, theft charges

An investigation focusing on marijuana cultivation led to the arrest this week of a Wiscasset man.

Lincoln County Sheriff Todd Brackett said his department, Wiscasset police, the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency and the Maine Warden Service searched at 459 Lowelltown Road on Tuesday.

Officers found a $10,000 camera that had been stolen from the sheriff’s department, dried marijuana, drug paraphernalia and 35 mature marijuana plants. The marijuana has a street value of over $60,000.

Stanley Connors, 47, was charged with cultivating marijuana and theft by unauthorized taking.

HARPSWELL

Mistake activated signal that caused search for boat

A fishing and pleasure boat that was the subject of a Coast Guard search was found safe early Wednesday morning.

The search began after the Coast Guard received an electronic distress signal from the Zig Zag Four, based on Bailey Island, around 8 p.m. Tuesday. It turned out that the crew had inadvertently activated the distress call while doing maintenance, said Paul Conner, a Coast Guard search and rescue controller.

The crew had been working on the EPIRB — the emergency positioning-indicating radio beacon — which activates automatically when removed, Conner said.

The crew was fishing when it was found around 4 a.m. around Cashes Ledge. The Coast Guard had been unable to contact the crew, so a jet and a boat were sent to search for the vessel.

DEER ISLE

Teen saves brothers from fire that destroys home

A teenager rescued her three younger brothers from a fire that destroyed their home in Deer Isle Village.

Firefighters say the fire started in a bedroom at the back of the house Monday afternoon at the home of Cheryl and Chip Cochrane.

Firefighters told the Bangor Daily News that the girl scooped up the boys, got them out and called 911. No one was injured.

The fire was still under investigation. Firefighters said it appeared that a power spike might have blown out a television set and set a small cardboard house on fire.

UNITY

Board member’s death preceded car accident

A woman who was a member of the town’s Select Board died Tuesday while driving her car, police said.

Margret “Maggie” Wilcox, 80, is believed to have died before her Volkswagen Beetle veered off Route 202/9 and across the Field of Dreams park, said Lt. Jason Trundy of the Waldo County Sheriff’s Office.

“There were no signs of trauma, so it just appears she passed of natural causes,” Trundy said Wednesday.

The incident was reported as a car accident at 10:46 a.m. Wilcox’s car appeared to have drifted across the opposite lane of the road and gone several hundred feet across the park, coming to rest against trees near a wooded area, Trundy said. Police found no skid marks in the road.

A man who was mowing the grass at the park discovered the car and called authorities.

The other two members of Unity’s Select Board, Ron Rudolph and James P. Kenney, are scheduled to meet Sept. 7 and will probably decide then whether to appoint someone to fill Wilcox’s seat.

Wilcox had been a selectwoman since 2006 and previously worked as an elections clerk. As a selectwoman, she often expressed her opinion and enjoyed telling stories.

Wilcox also was well known throughout the area as a piano teacher.

 

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