BDN Downeast

10/11/2023

Eli Durand-McDonnell, 24, was arrested in July 2022 on a charge of disorderly conduct but a local prosecutor later dismissed the charge, saying that the case was a low priority for his office and that prosecutors need to “tread very carefully” when considering whether protected political speech crosses the line into a breach of the peace.

Eli Durand-McDonnell was arrested in July 2022 during protests over Leo’s efforts to have the U.S. Supreme Court overturn federal abortion protections.

10/11/2023

An Eastport city councilor who was in a motorcycle accident in August and was unable to meet the filing deadline to get his name on the local ballot for Tuesday's vote won re-election as a write-in candidate, defeating a challenger whose name was on the ballot.

“I’m still hurting, but I’m a lot better now,” David Morang said.

08/11/2023

Patrick Lyons, a lawyer who specializes in municipal government for a Bangor law firm, and Nancy Smith, the CEO of Grow Smart Maine, have been elected to two available seats on the Ellsworth City Council with 1,159 votes and 911 votes respectively. Local businessman John Linnehan, who has run for City Council each year for the past several years, came in third but came up short with 774 votes.

The top two vote-getters in the election, out of a field of six candidates, were Patrick Lyons and Nancy Smith.

01/11/2023

Ellsworth Maine PD officer Kelvin Mote, a U.S. Army Reservist who served in the same unit with Robert R. Card II, alerted Maine police about concerns he and other reservists had about Card's declining mental state, before Card shot and killed 18 people in Lewiston last week.

The texts are part of what was given to the sheriff’s office in September when reservists asked it to conduct a welfare check on Robert Card.

31/10/2023

Former Trenton resident Shelby Kleffman, who spent more than two years in federal prison after she was arrested in Maine by the FBI in 2021, was sentenced Monday in federal court in Massachusetts.

Shelby Kleffman’s criminal activity came to light in December of 2020 when a Milbridge couple broke into her home and stole two safes.

19/10/2023

Kathryn Susko, 73, has been charged with two counts of endangering the welfare of a child, according to the Washington County Sheriff’s Office. The charges were filed more than a year after Susko's teenage grandchild died in her home.

The grandchild, Michael-Lanna Susko, was 15 and a transgender teen who identified as a boy at the time he died.

07/10/2023

Ellsworth doesn’t have encampments that rival the size of those in larger Maine cities such as Bangor and Portland, but it has roughly a half dozen known wooded locations where one or more tents have been occupied this summer.

Ellsworth doesn’t have large encampments like Bangor and Portland, but tents in a half dozen wooded locations have been occupied this summer.

07/10/2023

The board of directors of Island Nursing Home came to the conclusion this week that it would not be feasible to reopen and provide residential care at the facility.

The former Island Nursing Home's plans to turn the property into a residential care facility have fallen through.

02/10/2023

In a deal struck with a district attorney, Gardner will have the charge dismissed and instead will plea to reckless conduct if he has no more legal violations for a year.

As part of a plea deal with a district attorney, Chris Gardner, 49, will not have to spend time in jail.

29/09/2023

The Maine First Project, run by former Republican state lawmaker Larry Lockman, calls the book “utter filth” in the flyers, saying Greg Bullock will “lead the fight to clean house in RSU 24 and restore excellence in education.”

The mailers, which criticize Sorrento student performance, prominently misspell the word "children" as "CHIDREN."

27/09/2023

After one man was arrested last week in the 2017 killing of a Whitneyville, Maine fisherman, 2 more were charged Wednesday with murder in the same case. Both men have drug trafficking convictions in Maine.

Wayne Foss, who was 48, was found dead Oct. 28, 2017, inside his mobile home after a fire was reported at his Whitneyville home.

25/09/2023

A former Ellsworth city councilor, an incumbent councilor, and a perennial candidate are among seven people whose names will be on the ballot on Nov. 7.

Two seats on the 7-seat council will be up for election on Tuesday, Nov. 7.

25/09/2023

Sorrento's board of selectmen, school board and fire department all have faced scrutiny and criticism in the past year, and there are contested elections for each entity at the town's Sept. 30 town meeting.

Every race is contested in Sorrento's local election later this month and voters will weigh on a proposed recall ordinance.

23/09/2023

Justin Matthews has been charged with murder, felony murder, robbery and arson, a spokesperson for Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey’s office said.

Justin Matthews was arrested Thursday and charged with killing Whitneyville resident Wayne Foss, who was found dead in his mobile home in 2017.

21/09/2023

With resident concerns rising about the impact of increasing tourism on their town, Bar Harbor is now considering -- after already having limited weekly vacation rentals and cruise ship visits -- whether to put a temporary halt on new tourist lodging development.

If approved, Bar Harbor's ban would target a legacy industry in a way that no other major Maine town has tried.

20/09/2023

The Bar Harbor Town Council voted 6-0 to eliminate the committee, citing concerns that the committee's business interests had drifted apart from residents' desire to reduce local cruise ship traffic.

The move came as part of Bar Harbor's efforts to balance the needs of tourists and residents challenged by the housing crisis and crowding.

19/09/2023

As part of his 32-year overall sentence, Paul DeForest, 67, will serve 5 years in prison for asking a fellow inmate to burn down the house of a potential witness in the murder case.

Paul DeForest would be 99 years old if he lived through the sentence he got for killing his girlfriend in her home.

19/09/2023

A road closure following a fatal motorcycle accident on Sunday on Sunset Road in Stonington stranded motorists for hours, but it's not the only hurdle that motorists on Deer Isle have faced this summer.

Local officials have expressed concern for years about the causeway and suspension bridge connecting the islands to the mainland.

05/09/2023

in 2021, as pandemic-weary tourists sought to spend more time outdoors, the number of visits to Schoodic soared to just over 340,000. Last year, it had 323,000 visits.

This year, it could top 354,000 — double what it was just nine years ago.

This year visitors to the Schoodic Peninsula section of Acadia National Park could top 354,000 -- double what it was just nine years ago.

31/08/2023

Chris Gardner is chairman of the elected Washington County Commission and a reserve patrol officer with Eastport Police Department.

An elected Washington County commissioner was summoned over the weekend on a charge of drunken driving, according to his defense attorney.

31/08/2023

Dale O'Brien, 52, allegedly bragged to a local hardware store clerk that he could shoot a "" and get away with it.

30/08/2023

Kingfish officials have said they will wait until the legal challenges are resolved before they start work on the $110 million project.

24/08/2023

Details about the allegations have not been released, but the RSU 25 superintendent says it is only the second time in 15 years that the school district has hired an independent investigator to look into misconduct claims.

Superintendent James Boothby said this is only the second time in his 15 years that RSU 25 has hired an outside investigator to look into misconduct claims.

22/08/2023

There will be exceptions for shorefront property owners, including commercial camps or weekly rentals that include the use of boats as part of their business. The use of boats or other floating structures as overnight dwellings, either for private or commercial use, will be specifically prohibited.

The City Council voted 4-2 Monday night in preliminary support of implementing rules that would prevent people from mooring boats or floats in local lakes and leaving them there for extended periods of time.

20/08/2023

Family and friends of Tylar Michaud, 18, who graduated from Sumner Memorial High School this past spring, told stories about Michaud mildly pushing boundaries, but always doing it in a way that made people laugh.

Nearly a month after Tylar Michaud, 18, went missing at sea while hauling lobster traps — the community gathered for a celebration of his life.

20/08/2023

Before the pandemic, annual tourists totals for Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park above 3 million were considered high.

Now, for the third year in a row, Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park are on pace to come close to or exceed 4 million visits. The sidewalks and parking lots of the scenic coastal village have been jam packed, many if not most tourist businesses have been understaffed and workers and residents alike are feeling frazzled and fed up.

Tourists flocking to Bar Harbor have caused congested roads and lodging shortages, while putting strain on businesses struggling with staff.

18/08/2023

At times during the prolonged episode, Witham brandished a blue pistol at the woman and girl and at one point while they all were in a car he held the gun up under the woman’s chin and threatened to pull the trigger, police said.

The girl “was in the backseat crying begging Jeffery not to shoot,” police wrote in the affidavit.

Jeffrey Witham was accused of punching a woman in the face and attempting to strangle her until she passed out in front of her daughter.

15/08/2023

The Maine Department of Environmental Protection notified AIM, the mill’s owner, that the landfill is in violation of its operating permit. The state agency also said that AIM must develop a plan to permanently close the landfill and provide to the state a schedule for completing the work.

The Maine Department of Environmental Protection notified the mill’s owner that the Bucksport landfill is in violation of its operating permit.

15/08/2023

After going 0-29 on candidates for the open town manager position, Bar Harbor is bringing back a former top administrator to temporarily fill the job in a part-time role.

The move to rehire Cornell Knight on an interim basis comes after three finalists for the job withdrew their applications.

15/08/2023

Tatum McLean, 51, was indicted Friday on charges of forgery, unsworn falsification and theft by misapplication of property, according to the Hancock County district attorney’s office. The unsworn falsification charge is a misdemeanor but the forgery and theft charges are each Class C felonies.

The unsworn falsification charge is a misdemeanor but the forgery and theft charges are each Class C felonies.