PORTLAND

Man gets 20 years in prison for role in crack cocaine ring

A Jamaican man has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for his role in a crack cocaine distribution ring in southern Maine.

Rashidi Campbell, 32, was sentenced Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Portland. He was convicted last December.

Prosecutors say that from early 2010 until May 2011, Campbell was part of an organization that distributed crack cocaine from several apartments in the Portland area. Witnesses reported that the operation’s customer base was largely people receiving public benefits, and that sales were significantly higher on days when public benefits were distributed.

Officials say Campbell will be deported after he serves his sentence.

YARMOUTH

Meeting to provide update on Royal River restoration

The town will hold a meeting on Oct. 29 to provide an update on efforts to restore the Royal River as a free-flowing fisheries route to Casco Bay and beyond.

The meeting will be held at 7 p.m. at the Log Cabin, 196 Main St.

Speakers will include Karen Wilson and Theo Willis, researchers at the University of Southern Maine who are affiliated with Maine’s Sustainability Solutions Initiative.

The next phase of river restoration will be funded by more than $90,000 in grants raised by Town Planner Vanessa Farr and the nonprofit Maine Rivers organization, according to Landis Hudson, executive director of Maine Rivers.

Hudson said the money will be used to analyze sediment, erosion and contaminants in the upper section of the river and model what the river would look like if the dam at East Elm Street were removed.

WATERVILLE

Hunters urged to watch for evidence of missing toddler

With the start of hunting season, some people hope hunters walking through Maine woods will find signs of missing toddler Ayla Reynolds.

The little girl was reported missing from her father’s house in December 2011. Police believe she’s dead.

But followers of a website devoted to finding answers about her disappearance, including some who hope she’s alive, say hunters could help.

John Pomerleau, administrator of the United for Ayla website, said he and others will distribute posters about Ayla at locations including gun clubs, hunter licensing offices, game weigh-in stations and breakfast diners.

FAIRFIELD

Just-fired worker arrested after shot fired in bathroom

Hours after he was fired from a temporary mill job, a man was arrested at a convenience store on charges that he shot a hole in the bathroom wall with a shotgun.

Jason Davis, 28, of Portland, is charged with criminal mischief, reckless conduct with a firearm and carrying a concealed weapon, said Police Chief John Emory.

Emory said that earlier that night, Davis was fired from a temporary job at the Sappi paper mill for leaving the job for more than an hour without permission. According to Emory, a supervisor dropped Davis off at the Circle K store so that he could find a ride home.

Davis was in the bathroom at 1:13 a.m. Tuesday when officers Matthew Wilcox and Paul St. Amand arrived at the store, responding to a report that a man carrying a gun was in the bathroom, Emory said.

The officers evacuated the store, then heard a shot as they approached the bathroom, Emory said. “The officers slowly opened the door and heard a person rustling around in a bathroom stall,” Emory said.

Davis complied with orders to put his hands in the air, leave the bathroom stall and lie on the floor, after which he was handcuffed and searched, Emory said. Davis had a shotgun tucked into his pants and six shotgun shells, said Emory. There was a large hole in the bathroom wall.

Emory said he doesn’t know where Davis got the gun, but that police are looking into a possible connection between Davis and a series of vehicles that were broken into at Sappi around the same time.

AUGUSTA

Governor’s website offers video criticizing energy law

Gov. Paul LePage has a new video about Maine’s energy future, and renewable energy in particular.

The three-minute video, “Energy: Maine’s Economic Barrier,” appeared Tuesday on the Office of the Governor website. It finds fault with Maine’s Renewable Portfolio Standard, the state law that sets minimums for power generated from renewable energy sources.

LePage points to reports that conclude millions of dollars are wasted, jobs are on the line and electric bills could rise due to government mandates such as the Renewable Portfolio Standard.

State’s southern coast maintaining peak color

Fall’s colors are holding on along the southern Maine coast and around Augusta, according to the Maine Forest Service and state park rangers.

The season’s final foliage report, released Wednesday afternoon by the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry, said peak colors remain around Augusta, including the China and Belgrade Lakes regions, and along the coast from Camden south. Leaf drop is moderate, with fewer than half of the trees bare of leaves in those regions, the report said.

Foliage in the rest of the state is reported to be past peak, with leaf drop moderate or high. 

State honors landowners who share their outdoors

Nine property owners are being honored for keeping their land open to public access for outdoor recreation.

The state Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife held its annual Landowner of the Year awards ceremony Tuesday night at the Augusta Civic Center.

Among the winners are small woodlot owners, the Penobscot Indian Nation, Plum Creek Timberlands and Heartwood Forestland of T4 R8.

The Land User Group of the Year is Molunkus Valley Snow Drifters of Sherman. 

Washington trip to address expiration of 2008 Farm Bill

Maine agricultural officials are going to Washington, D.C., to work with the state’s congressional delegation and federal officials regarding the expiration of the 2008 Farm Bill.

Commissioner Walter Whitcomb says the Farm Bill expired Sept. 30, putting Maine’s dairy producers at risk. He says other programs beneficial to Maine’s potato farmers, blueberry growers and child nutrition education efforts have also been put in limbo.

Whitcomb says dairy farmers are particularly vulnerable because the Farm Bill had a federal milk pricing program that gave protection to Maine farmers. Maine has 306 dairy farms.

 

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