Oxycontin News Blog

The state’s response to the recent storm was coordinated from the operations center of the Maine Emergency Management Agency. Among the Public Safety personnel taking part were Commissioner Anne Jordan, Maine State Police Lts. Pat Fleming and Tom Kelly, Major Tim Doyle, EMS Director Jay Bradshaw and Deputy Fire Marshal Joe Thomas.

At the height of the storm Monday afternoon, 62 Maine State Police troopers were stationed at the Alfred and South Portland barracks in case they were needed for evacuations and additional assistance in Southern Maine. The Maine State Police mobile command post was sent to South Portland, where officials distributed emergency supplies. The vehicle is equipped with communications and mapping equipment.

In York County, Game Wardens used trucks, airboats, regular boats and ATVS to rescue 33 people. The most dramatic rescue involved a partially submerged vehicle on the Hubbard Road in Berwick. The vehicle was wedged against a guardrail, and water was flowing over the hood of the car. Game Wardens Bruce Loring and Jeremy Judd launched an airboat and found an unresponsive woman, 20, curled up inside. Game Wardens passed her a lifejacket and she crawled onto the airboat. As wardens tried to get the airboat back to shore, the current pinned the boat against the vehicle. Rescue personnel on shore threw a rope to rescuers in the airboat and it was pulled free.

Another rescue involved a family stranded between closed sections of the Little River Road in Berwick. Game Warden John Lonergan maneuvered his warden truck to the stranded vehicle, where he and rescue personnel loaded the family through their vehicle windows onto the pickup bed, and drove the people to safety.

A rash of serious fires have been investigated by the state Fire Marshal’s Office. Smoking is the likely cause of a mobile home fire in Kenduskeag that killed a woman. She likely fell asleep on the living room couch with a cigarette.

Heat lamps caused fires that damaged a home in Lyman and destroyed a farm in Albion. In both cases, the lamps were being used to keep animals warm and the lamps fell to the floor and ignited nearby items.

Investigators charged a Eustis woman with arson after her mobile home burned. Donna Reid, 44, was found at her nearby parents' home and later arrested. That fire started along a kitchen wall.

Agents also assisted the Sagadahoc Sheriff's Department with the arrest of a 46-year-old West Bath man. Seized from Scott Funston’s home were 80 marijuana plants, a machine gun and two Uzis. The Federal Bureau of ATF was called in to review the case.

A suspected overdose got MDEA’s attention in Houlton wherein a 29-year-old woman recovered after being hospitalized. Both she and her boyfriend were later charged with possession or trafficking in Oxycodone.

A day after the massacre at Virginia Tech, a bomb threat was called into the University of Maine at Orono. Troopers assisted UMaine police with the campus search. During the search of the Class of 1944 building, two bomb dogs alerted investigators to a locker. The Maine State Police bomb team was called, but the only thing located was a clarinet inside a clarinet case. Dog handlers said residue from a cleaning solution on the instrument may have triggered the dogs' interest. University officials have offered a $5,000 reward for the arrest and conviction of the person who called in the threat.

Two men from the Maine State Police ranks ran in the Boston Marathon — Sgt. Erik Baker and Trooper Shane Northrup.

Maine State Police say two young men from Sebago were killed Thursday night, April 19, in a one-vehicle crash on Route 107 in Sebago. Troopers said Nicholas Olsen, 23, and passenger, Gregory Grant, 25, died after Olsen's Ford Explorer that was headed toward Bridgton veered into the right shoulder and overturned, coming to rest on its roof. Troopers are continuing to investigate. Speed does not appear to be a factor.

The confirmation hearing for Lt. Fleming, who has been nominated as the next chief of the Maine State Police, will be Monday, April 23, before the Legislature’s Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee.

VillageSoup/Waldo County Citizen Editor Beth Staples can be reached at 207-338-0484 or by e-mail at bstaples@villagesoup.com.

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