Nov. 5, 2013 Elections: Municipal and state referendums, ordinance changes, candidates
Voters go to the polls Nov. 5 to consider five statewide ballot questions, and various individual municipal warrant articles. Following are election previews and recent issue stories for Knox and Waldo counties, as well as a rundown of the bond issues voters across the state are being asked to decide.
View a list of polling places and town contacts here: Knox County, Waldo County
As polls close election night, results will be posted on PenBayPilot.com as they are reported for Knox and Waldo counties. Stay tuned.
What are we doing with our CFLs?*
BELFAST - Not long after the tranfer station here dropped its fee for fluorescent bulbs, manager Sandy Carey noticed a trend. The number of people returning bulbs was rising in a predictable word-of-mouth kind of way, but the number bulbs per person was high from the start.
“We’ve had quite a few people come in with bags full of bulbs,” she said. “They’ve been holding onto them because they don’t want to pay.”
Belfast previously charged… Read more
Belfast Police Beat
BELFAST — The Belfast Police Department reported the following activity Aug. 1 -12. An arrest or summons does not imply guilt.
Aug. 3
Amy A. Paine, 35, of Belfast, was summonsed for an inspection sticker violation.
Andrew Philbrick, 30, of East Orland, was arrested for operating under the influence on High Street, possession of a useable amount of marijuana, sale and use of drug paraphernalia and operating with an open alcohol container. Detective Bryan… Read more
Bill Packard: What's with all this greening of Camden?
Even though I live a couple of towns away from Camden I still follow what goes on because it is my home town and it’s fun to watch the struggles that people create when they take themselves way too seriously. Whenever some big subject comes up, a person or persons from away will strongly advocate for their view because “we” don’t know what could happen if the natives, locals, lesser humans don’t take immediate action.
I’ve listened to this for 40 years or more. Thank God everyone… Read more
All Green Lights
BELFAST - From the hills of San Francisco, the verdant landscape of northern Vermont, the concrete Coltrane district of Philadelphia; from these and other far-flung places, Toussaint St. Negritude has come to Maine — seeking refuge from the gridded, concrete jungle here in naturally-exquisite northern New England.
If you are a Belfast native, or have been around town in the past several months, you may have noticed Toussaint's presence around the city. He is easily one of the funkiest… Read more
Belfast's fifth annual Street Party filled with songs and smiles
BELFAST — The fifth annual Belfast Street Party drew hundreds to Main Street Monday night, Aug. 5. The event, which offered free admission and a wide array of activities and events – ranging from music to rides on a mechanical moose or polar bear – had something for everyone. Running from 5 – 11 p.m., Main Street from the traffic light to MacLeod Furniture was blocked off to provide ample room for all of the attractions.
The Street Party was sponsored by the City of Belfast, Camden… Read more
Coast Guard investigates Penobscot Bay yacht-rock crash
PENOBSCOT BAY — The 70-foot sailing yacht Archangel, a charter boat with a homeport of Newport, R.I., hit East Goose Rock in the early afternoon, Aug. 7, went aground, dismasted and rolled onto its side. On Aug. 8, few involved with its rescue and salvage were talking about the recovery, given its status as a marine casualty.
The… Read more
One-room Knox schoolhouse moves across town
KNOX - To look at it, the East Knox School — a one-room school house built in 1898 — hadn’t received much attention in recent years. The paint was peeling and stained, and the clapboards were ragged in places. An addition had been unceremoniously removed, as had the roof. On Monday, however, all eyes were on the historic building as it rolled through town aboard a hydraulic trailer.
The century-old school… Read more
Somewhere in between: Visions of Romania
June 28
According to the small television screen attached to the cabin ceiling, we are somewhere over Germany, but out the window I see only a thick carpet of clouds. The goodbyes in Belgium have left me physically and emotionally fatigued, but I am nevertheless happy to be with my fellow Scouts en route to Romania for the final installment in my grand European adventure.
Two Fox Hill neighbors say Camden's Bay View Street not appropriate for alcohol treatment center
CAMDEN – Local doctors and friends of Fox Hill Real Estate LLC told the Camden Planning Board Thursday evening they endorsed an alcohol and substance abuse rehabilitation center on Bay View Street, but one neighbor has hired a Portland law firm, along with a Camden lawyer, to fight the proposal.
“It is a flawed proposal for this area,” said Matthew Manahan, an attorney with Pierce Atwood. “It is not appropriate in the Bay View neighborhood.”… Read more
Camden crash injures teenage passenger
CAMDEN — A rear-end accident on Elm Street Wednesday afternoon totaled a car and injured a 13-year-old passenger.
Camden Police Officer Allen Weaver Jr. said that Gail Vincent, 72, of Warren, was driving a 2002 Subaru Outback when she had to stop for someone in front of her making a turn.
Vincent was traveling south on Elm Street (Route 1) in front of Party Fundamentals. Traveling behind her was Patty Freeman, 37, of Searsport, in a 1996 Toyota Corolla sedan.
Freeman… Read more
Baywatchers challenge Searsport company to curb pollution legacy
SEARSPORT - The beachcombers had come expecting to see signs of pollution, but the first one — a bright yellow object, the size and shape of a date — seemed to catch most of them off guard.
They formed a circle around it. The cameras came out. Someone asked the inevitable question.
Ron Huber, who organized the walk under the banner of Friends of Penobscot Bay… Read more
Voters reject RSU 20 budget for second time
Voters from the eight towns of Regional School Unit 20 rejected the district’s proposed school budget for the second time in a referendum on Tuesday.
Turnout at the polls was low across the district, and the margin of defeat in most towns was decisive. Beyond that, school district officials will have to guess as to what went wrong this time.
The $33.8 million budget would have raised the local share by an average of 12.4 percent over last year. Distirct officials have attributed… Read more
'Compromise' RSU 20 budget heads back to the polls
BELFAST – Voters in the eight towns of Regional School Unit 20 will take a second shot at the district's 2013-14 budget in a referendum Tuesday, July 30. The $33.8 million bottom line is lower than the figure rejected at a referendum in June, but would still carry a sizeable tax increase for some towns, and include staff cuts that have been contentious in past debates.
In short, it’s not a slam dunk for… Read more
Belfast rowers ice competition in Gloucester endurance race
GLOUCESTER, Mass. - Howard Blackburn set a high bar for endurance rowing. While fishing off the coast of Newfoundland in 1883, his dory became separated from from his schooner. Over the next five days, he rowed 60 miles across the North Atlantic until he reached land. Blackburn's crewmate Thomas Welch died in the boat, but what arguably makes the story memorable is the description of Blackburn letting his hands… Read more
RSU 20 budget meeting redux: public wants cuts this time
SEARSPORT - Regional School Unit 20 voters trimmed the district's draft 2013-14 budget by just over $360,000 at a public budget meeting at Searsport District High School, July 22.
Monday night's meeting was the second public review of the budget — a costlier version approved at a meeting in May was rejected at a referendum in June. The revisions made on Monday go before voters for final approval July 30.
Over the past two months, the budget debate has swung between opposing… Read more
Citizens renew RSU 20 withdrawal campaign
BELFAST – After a fraught loss at the polls in June, activists from six Waldo County municipalities are launching a second campaign to withdraw from Regional School Unit 20.
A bill in the Maine Legislature may also eliminate the clause that killed the last withdrawal bid.
Town officials in Belfast, Belmont and Northport received valid petitions… Read more
Don't be smoking in Camden
CAMDEN -- Unanimously, Camden's Select Board voted Monday evening to prohibit smoking within 20 feet of a town-owned building, park, beach, playground, picnic area, trail or athletic facility. This new policy applies to the Camden Public Library, amphitheatre and Harbor Park.
Smoking means "inhaling, exhaling, burning, carrying or having in one’s possession any lit cigarette, cigar, pipe, plant or other combustible substance in any manner or any form," the policy reads.
There is… Read more
Sudoku of parking: Belfast looks for solutions in small numbers
BELFAST - City officials this week reviewed a list of ideas aimed at boosting the number of parking spaces downtown. A multi-level garage was not one of them.
Instead the wide-ranging plan would reorient on-street parking on the blocks surrounding Main and High Streets, set aside zones within areas that are currently in flux, expand existing lots, and employ a host of other bite-sized adjustments in order to… Read more
Waldoboro bowling center eyes Belfast location
BELFAST - In the years before Belfast's celebrated downtown revival, a common refrain among longtime residents was that what the city really needed was a bowling alley.
Several years and one downtown revival later, the city may be about to get one.
Belfast officials recently got word that ALL PLaY Family Entertainment Center in Waldoboro has taken a… Read more
Preschools, and more preschools in Belfast
BELFAST – “Are we having a baby boom in Belfast that no one’s told us about,” Elizabeth Minor asked fellow Planning Board members Thursday in response to an agenda with requests from three preschools.
The board granted Toki Oshima and Jes Anthonis a permit to convert part of the Edgecomb Road farmhouse that was once the home base for the Belfast Cohousing & Ecovillage development into a the… Read more
Rhode Island man killed, two injured in Thorndike crash
THORNDIKE - A July 4 car crash in Thorndike killed one person and seriously injured two others, according to Waldo County Sheriff's Office Chief Deputy Jeff Trafton.
Trafton said the single-car accident was reported at 7:22 p.m., Thursday.
The car, driven by Alvaro Soares, 27, of Unity was traveling southbound on Route 220 into Thorndike Village with two passengers, his sister Kelley Soares, 22, of Cranston, RI and her boyfriend Oscar Tizon Brito, 23, of Providence, RI, when it… Read more
Something new on Knox Ridge
KNOX - Drivers traveling on Route 220 during the past week may have noticed a ring of unusual steel structures and a lot of displaced dirt on a rise just south of Knox Ridge Baptist Church. But what is it?
After toying with the idea of a missle silo or a sculptural mash-up of Stonehenge and the Eiffel Tower, PenBay Pilot asked around and found the site is about to be home to a new communications tower.
On closer inspection, the cluster of metal cross-bracing turns out to include… Read more
Helicopter crash in Burnham injures two
BURNHAM - The pilot and passenger of a helicopter that crashed on July 3 suffered serious but non-life-threatening injuries, according to a release from the Waldo County Sheriff's Office.
The Waldo County Dispatch Center, reportedly, received a call at 6:39 p.m. Wednesday that a helicopter had crashed into a heavily wooded area in Burnham approximately a quarter mile from Winnecook Road.
According to the release, the pilot, a 58-year-old man from Bowdoinham reported experiencing… Read more
Divided board signs off on revised RSU 20 budget
BELFAST - In a split vote, the Regional School Unit 20 board of directors approved a revised 2013-14 budget that goes lighter on staff cuts than those that prompted a backlash in May, and easier on taxes than the staff-friendly version voters rejected in June.
The $33,823,542 bottom line approved on Tuesday night represents an increase of just over 1 percent from last year's budget. The district's eight towns, however, will see their local share go up an average of 12.4 percent, due… Read more
Brooks railroad group to buy Belfast train station
BELFAST - A series of deals struck this week has apparently cemented the future role of City Point Station as a shared hub for excursion train rides and a recreational rail trail.
Joe Feero, executive director of Brooks Preservation Society on Tuesday confirmed a purchase and sale agreement with Mack Page Sr. for the City Point Station property.
Brooks-based BPS has operated its excursion rail service out of City Point Station since May, and talk of a sale had been circulating… Read more
Searsport voters nix new fire station, and the land, too
SEARSPORT - Voters at a special town meeting Wednesday rejected a proposal to build a new North Searsport fire station. They also declined to keep the land on which the station would have been built.
Residents had been scheduled to vote on the new building at the annual town meeting in March, but the article was postponed after firefighters were called away mid-meeting to respond to a reported fire.
The new fire station, which was to be located on Mt. Ephraim Road, originally… Read more
Revised RSU 20 budget figure splits the difference
BELFAST - The Regional School Unit 20 finance committee on Wednesday approved revisions to the 2013-14 budget, settling on a bottom line midway between the board's original austere budget and a costlier version approved a public budget meeting in May, then… Read more
Incidentally oriental: an eye-catching boat in Belfast
BELFAST – A local blogger was on hand when Maynard Haslett launched his boat Shanty at the public landing in February. Later a few photos appeared online under the slightly befuddled headline "Junk in Maine Waters??"
Shanty's striking look — her cabin painted in bright yellow and vermilion,… Read more
Video: A quick tour of the Belfast Harbor Walk
BELFAST – After seeing the Belfast Harbor Walk through several years of planning, residents could be forgiven for thinking the project was nothing more than a Planning Office pipe dream.
But in the two months since workers pulled back the curtain on the project — literally, cutting down a screen of arbor vitae between Belfast Common and Steamboat Landing — a major section of the walkway has gone from concept to reality in short order.
Today the Harbor Walk cuts an uninterrupted… Read more
Belfast skateboarding debate no fun all around
BELFAST – Motorcyclists cruising down sidewalks, jackasses joyriding the grade on wheeled office chairs, motorists picking roadkill out of their tire treads, and law-abiding lads toting laundry baskets on longboards.
These were a few of the images put forward in a debate Tuesday night by the City Council over what rules and penalties should apply to skateboarding downtown.
City Manager Joe… Read more