SOUTH PORTLAND

Man, 36, dies in fiery crash after driving in wrong lane

A Newry man was killed early Monday in a fiery single-car crash on the Maine Turnpike, state police said.

Jacob Bartholomew, 36, lost control of his car on the turnpike in South Portland at about 12:30 a.m. The car left the road, slammed into a tree and caught fire, according to Stephen McCausland, spokesman for the Maine Department of Public Safety.

Around midnight, police received reports of a car going the wrong way in the southbound lane in Biddeford. Troopers believe that Batholomew used a median crossover between Biddeford and Scarborough to get into the northbound lane, and crashed a short time later.

MANCHESTER

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Skeletal remains ‘tentatively identified’ as Virginia man’s

Maine State Police believe the skeletal remains found by hunters in Manchester on Saturday were that of an unidentified Virginia man.

In a news release Sunday night, state police spokesman Stephen McCausland said the remains were “tentatively identified” after a Virginia driver’s license was found with the body. He said foul play isn’t suspected in the case.

The remains were found about 200 yards off Puddledock Road around 8 a.m. Saturday, and they were so degraded that police estimated that they had likely been there for more than a year.

McCausland said police are now trying to track down relatives in Virginia before retracing the man’s footsteps to determine why he was in Maine.

EASTON

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Police find vehicle they say struck horse-drawn buggy

Late Monday night, Maine State Police said they located a motorized vehicle that struck a horse-drawn buggy in the Aroostook County town of Easton earlier in the day.

State police spokesman Stephen McCausland offered no details, and said more information would be released Tuesday.

The driver fled the scene in the car, which police described as a newer black Volkswagen. The horse-drawn buggy, driven by a 16-year-old boy, was traveling south on U.S. Route 1A when it was struck by the car, also traveling south, at about 3 p.m., McCausland said.

The buggy was pushed off the road onto a lawn. The boy was thrown from the buggy but not injured. The horse also was not harmed, but the buggy was destroyed.

There is an Amish community in Easton, according to the Maine Office of Tourism website. The Amish typically drive horse-drawn buggies.

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PORTLAND

Mars Hill man’s lawsuit against wind farm dismissed

The Maine Supreme Judicial Court has dismissed a lawsuit against a wind energy company over its northern Maine wind farm.

The supreme court last week upheld the decision by a lower court judge to dismiss the lawsuit filed by Michael Gosselin of Mars Hill against Boston-based First Wind.

Gosselin said the noise from First Wind’s turbines in Mars Hill is so unbearable that he built a noise-proof bunker in his garage.

He wanted a buyout of his property so he could move away.

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First Wind settled similar disputes with 18 other landowners last year, but Gosselin was excluded because of the distance he lived from the turbines.

Gosselin told the Maine Public Broadcasting Network he’s disappointed with the ruling.

“I’m going to have to continue sleeping in the garage until we can move out of the area, I guess,” he said.

First Wind spokesman John Lamontagne said the company is pleased with Thursday’s ruling.

OLD TOWN

School board post is dream come true for 19-year-old

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The newest member of the school board in Old Town is just two years removed from the schools for which he’ll be setting policy.

Lee Jackson, 19, is a sophomore at the University of Maine, but he’s been thinking about running for the school board since he was in middle school. He ran for one of two open seats on the nine-member board, was elected last week and will be sworn in Dec. 5.

Jackson told the Bangor Daily News that his life changed for the better when his family moved to Old Town when he was in fourth grade, and instead of the racial discrimination he experienced earlier, he was welcomed by the school, teachers and students. He says he is organizing a panel of parents and recent graduates to get feedback about how to improve the school system.

BANGOR

Three shows will tape at opera house

A Maine-based late-night talk show is going to the historic Bangor Opera House in celebration of the Penobscot Theatre Company’s 40th season.

“The Nite Show with Danny Cashman” is taping three shows starting at 6 p.m. Wednesday at the opera house. Guests include Noel Paul Stookey of Peter, Paul and Mary fame, comedian George Hamm and the Rustic Overtones musical group. The cast of the stage company’s “Cinderella” will also put on a performance.

The show is usually taped before live audiences at a smaller theater in Brewer.

The show airs Saturday nights on stations in Bangor, Portland and Presque Isle.


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