BALDWIN

Man dies from injuries after motorcycle hits fence

A Baldwin man has died after driving his motorcycle off a country road and crashing through a fence.

The Cumberland County Sheriff’s Department said Daniel Fifield Jr., 28, was riding on Pigeon Brook Road about 9:30 p.m. Tuesday when his off-road, dirt-style motorcycle left the road, crashed into a culvert and went through a fence.

Fifield died after being taken to Maine Medical Center in Portland.

BANGOR

Aroostook County man sentenced for drug use, sale

An Aroostook County man has been sentenced to seven and a half years in federal prison for ordering 3,800 oxycodone pills from pharmacies in Mexico, using some to support his 10 to 15 pill-per-day habit and reselling the remainder.

Michael Folsom of Presque Isle was also sentenced in federal court on Tuesday to three years of probation and ordered to undergo treatment for his addiction to opiates.

The 34-year-old Folsom pleaded guilty in October to conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute oxycodone. He has been jailed since his arrest last June.

He had faced up to 20 years in prison but prosecutors said in court that he has cooperated in the investigation and taken responsibility for his actions. The Bangor Daily News reported that Folsom apologized in court. 

Man held on sex charges involving 7-year-old boy

A Bangor man has been ordered held on $100,000 bail after pleading not guilty to sex charges involving a 7-year-old boy.

Terrence Pinkham is charged with five counts of gross sexual contact and two counts of sexual exploitation of a minor.

Police began an investigation after an electronic photo of a sexual assault involving a child was sent to Brewer police.

Brewer police Detective Sgt. Jay Munson said last month that Pinkham and a woman “created child porn,” but did not distribute images over the Internet.

The Bangor Daily News reported that the woman, Katie Dube of Glenburn, faces the same charges and is scheduled to be arraigned next month. She is being held on $50,000 bail. If convicted, both face as much as 30 years in prison. 

Mass. man faces charges in $50,000 overdue child support

A Massachusetts man is facing charges of failing to pay $50,000 in child support for a now teenage son living in Maine.

Dennis Allain of Worcester, Mass., made his first appearance in U.S. District Court in Bangor on Tuesday on a charge of failure to pay child support obligations.

The Bangor Daily News reported that Allain, 45, was released on $5,000 unsecured bond.

Federal authorities say Allain was ordered to pay child support to the mother of his son, who is now 16, following a 1997 paternity hearing in Bangor District Court. The boy and his mother, who never married Allain, live in Old Town.

According to the complaint, Allain has paid just $461. His last payment of $19 was made in March 1998.

PORTLAND

Maine summer camps have $332 million impact on state

A new report says Maine’s summer camps have an annual $332 million economic impact on the state.

The report released by Maine Summer Camps and The American Camp Association says Maine has 330 day and overnight camps that spend $48.5 million in payroll alone.

According to the report, the camps’ annual operational and capital spending, plus the spending of more than 45,000 out-of-state visitors they attract, totals more than $171 million.

The economic ripple effect accounts for hundreds more jobs and more than $160 million in additional sales.

BELGRADE

Residents approve tax break for planned natural gas line

Belgrade voters have approved tax breaks for a proposed natural gas pipeline through the community despite possibly illegal automated telephone calls urging them to vote against the breaks.

Residents on Tuesday voted 277-198 to approve tax breaks for the company that wants to build the pipeline from Richmond to Madison.

Selectwoman Penny Morrell told the Kennebec Journal the automated message was illegal because the female caller did not identify herself.

State law says a person may not “authorize, commission, conduct or administer a push poll by telephone or telephonic device unless, during each call, the caller identifies the person or organization sponsoring or authorizing the call.”

Kennebec Valley Gas Co. officials recently turned to Belgrade for an alternate route after Sidney voters rejected tax breaks for the project.

AUGUSTA

State has five applications to form charter schools

Maine Gov. Paul LePage says five applications to form charter schools have been submitted to a state review commission since May 1 when proposals were requested for the upcoming school year.

With the June 29 deadline approaching for proposals, nine letters of intent have been filed to form charter schools, which are public schools students can attend as an alternative to traditional public schools.

LePage, a strong proponent of those schools, says the Charter School Commission has already begun to review the applications that have been submitted. The commission has scheduled hearings for Friday and Monday on three of the applications.

The governor signed a bill into law last year making Maine the 41st state to allow public charter schools.

CONCORD, N.H.

Salinger’s son dismayed bill for father’s privacy vetoed

J.D. Salinger’s son said Wednesday he’s stunned that a bill aimed at protecting his late father’s privacy has been vetoed in New Hampshire, where the intensely private author of “The Catcher in the Rye” lived for decades before his death in 2010.

The bill would have specified that a person’s right to control the commercial use of his or her identity is inheritable, and remains in effect for 70 years past death. It was filed at the request of Matt Salinger, who spent the last two years working with lawmakers to get it through the House and Senate.

Salinger told The Associated Press that the bill was in keeping with New Hampshire’s “Live Free or Die” motto.

“My father moved there in the ’50s because it was beautiful but also because of a certain kind of respect for individual rights. He basically wanted to be left alone and do his work, and New Hampshire, he quickly sensed, respected that,” Salinger said.

Salinger said he hoped to extend that respect by preventing the inappropriate commercial exploitation of his father’s name and image. His father’s picture has ended up on everything from pencils to coffee mugs.

One T-shirt featured a photo taken by someone who ambushed the elderly Salinger as he collected his mail several years ago.

“A photographer literally jumped out of the bushes on top him … then took this picture as my father was recoiling,” he said. “My father looked terrified, looked angry, looked startled and looked a bit haunted. It’s a terrible photograph, but that wasn’t enough for this person who made these T-shirts. He then went in … and made his eyes bright red, and made his face yellow — just made him look more freakish and wild.”

In his veto, Lynch called the bill overly broad and said it could have a chilling effect on legitimate journalistic and expressive works .