RCMP In St. Stephen Need Community Support With ATV Problem

The RCMP in St. Stephen is asking for the public's support in addressing the issue of All-Terrain Vehicles "ATV" use in their community. Both police and civic officials have been receiving numerous complaints recently from area residents.

The complaints range from ATV's being driven on the town's streets, often in a risky manner, to reports of damage done when these machines are driven on private property without the owner's permission.

Cpl. Greg MacAvoy, Team Leader of the St. Stephen Municipal Detachment RCMP says that almost in all cases the offending ATV's are gone by the time they are able to arrive at the scene of the complaint, and in those instances when the police do find an ATV committing a violation, the ATV often flees into an area inaccessible to their patrol cars.

MacAvoy said the identity of the driver or of the machines involved, such as the registration plate number, can allow the police to pursue charges for infractions under the All-Terrain Vehicles Act, or assist property owners in making claims for damage done to their property.

The RCMP are hoping to make use of some long-range digital photography equipment to help them, but they are also encouraging area residents to work in partnership with them to deal with growing ATV problem.

Residents can report incidents to the RCMP in St. Stephen or St. George, or even NB Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477).Your identity will remain anonymous.

- Tom McLaughlin, WQDY-WALZ News Director

Washington County High Schools Receive Gates Grant Support

Several high schools in Washington County are among 34 around the state selected to receive grants from the Mitchell Research Institute. The grants are funded through its Great Maine Schools Project, supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Also announced was the formation of a High School Learning Network that will provide resources and professional development to all Maine high schools.

DECLA is DownEast Community Learning Alliance/Washington County is a collaboration of five high schools locally. Shead High School in Eastport, Jonesport-Beals High School, Machias High School, Lubec High School, and Narraguagus High School in Harrington.

DECLA will receive annual funding of $50,000 along with coaching and technical support over a five-year period, for a total committment valued at over $400,000.

The project will also benefit East Grand High School in Danforth. East Grand is a K-12 school of 200-plus students, with approximately 75 students in the high school grades.

- Tom McLaughlin, WQDY-WALZ News Director

Missing Boaters Found On Foggy Night

The US Coast Guard, along with the Maine Marine Patrol(MMP) searched Wednesday night for three missing boaters. Dense fog hampered their efforts.

It started when Coast Guard Station Eastport received a call from the Maine Marine Patrol at 9:30 p.m. stating that Steve Padilla, his 9-year old daughter and Elaine Boutin had failed to return from periwinkle fishing in Whiting Bay.

According to the Coast Guard, the three had set out at 8:00 a.m. and were expected to return at 3:00 p.m. Coast Guard Station Eastport immediately launched their 27-foot Safe boat but due to dense fog, the small boat crew had to return to the station. They then trailered their 21-foot small boat to Edmunds Landing where they met up with the MMP. A Coast Guard HH-60 Jayhawk rescue helicopter from Cape Cod was also requested, but due to the dense fog, they were unable to take off.

At about 12:45 a.m. Thursday, the MMP located the three boaters who, due to engine problems, had drifted near Birch Island in Whiting Bay. The boaters had no means of communication onboard. All three were reported in good health.

The Coast Guard strongly urges all boaters to ensure that their boat is properly outfitted prior to heading out on the water with a VHF radio. The Coast Guard advises boaters not to rely on cell-phones as their primary source of communications.

Filing a float plan is highly suggested. The Float Plan should consist of who is going, where you are going, what time you'll ber back, and a brief description of what everyone is wearing. These items allow the boater a greater chance of survival and increases the Coast Guard's chance of locating them.

- Tom McLaughlin, WQDY-WALZ News Director

Four To Hospital After Log-Truck vs. Car On Route 9

Maine State Police continue to investigate an accident early Wednesday evening that sent a total of four people to area hospitals.

State Trooper Aaron Hanscom told Classic Hits the crash involved a loaded log truck and a passenger car. The truck, from Sherman, Maine was headed west carrying tree-length logs. A four-door Mercury was travelling eastbound.

By late Wednesday night, police were still unsure what caused the accident. Hanscom said they'll be looking at speed as a possible factor in addition to all of the commercial vehicle aspects of that truck. Trooper Tim McCadden of the State Police Commercial Truck Enforcement was also on the scene investigating.

Hanscom said the three people in the Mercury and the driver of the truck were taken to different hospitals with non-life threatening injuries, but injuries nontheless. No names or conditions were available late last night.

DownEast EMS sent a couple of rigs out of Calais, the Wesley Volunteer Fire Department responded with the Jaws, and the Washington County Sheriff's Department also assisted at the scene.

The accident remains under investigation by Maine State Police.

- Tom McLaughlin, WQDY-WALZ News Director

NB Man Gets Jail For Evading Police, Rangers

RCMP say a Nash Creek, New Brunswick man received 45 days in jail, one year's probation, and $500.00 in fines for his part in a series of incidents in October 2002.

According to an RCMP press release, 28-year old Ronald LaPointe received a 45 day jail term for attempting to escape D.N.R.E. rangers while being investigated for night hunting. Lapointe rammed his truck into the rangers' truck causing over $1600.00 damage to the rangers' vehicle, and then attempted to flee the area.

Belledune RCMP assisted and conducted an independent investigation into the incident. Lapointe was later charged with one count of failing to stop for police, possession of stolen property, and hunting at night. He entered a guilty plea before Judge Pierre Arsenault in Dalhousie Provincial Court June 10.

Lapointe also entered a guilty plea to possession of stolen cedar logs valued at over $400.00. He received a $300.00 fine for this incident that occurred October 8, 2002 near Nash Creek.

- Tom McLaughlin, WQDY-WALZ News Director

Domtar Ranks High On Canadian List of Best Corporate Citizens

Domtar Inc. announced Wednesday that it has been named one of Canada's 50 best crporate citizens, according to a study published in the current issue of Corporate Knights magazine. Ranking 7th overall, Domtar placed the highest of paper and forest products manufacturers on the list.

Corporate Knights, launched in 2002, is a quarterly business magazine devoted to highlighting corporate social responsibility in Canada. Distributed free with the Globe and Mail, Corporate Knights has over 150,000 readers.

Domtar is the third largest producer of uncoated free sheet paper in North America. The company employees 12,000 across North America. 550 are employed locally at their Woodland Mill in Baileyville, Maine.

- Tom McLaughlin, WQDY-WALZ News Director

Say Goodbye To Infamous Danforth Stump Next Week

The "stump in the road" that became the rallying cry for eastern Maine residents calling for improvements to US Route 1 between Topsfield and Danforth will move into the history books next week, according to Maine Department of Transportation officials.

Bruce Mattson, head of the MDOT's Ellsworth Office says there is some question about whether the object in question is really a tree stump, or perhaps an old utility pole whose top was cut off years ago. But, he says, there's no question that videotape of the stump pushing up through the roadway pavement was a key feature in efforts by local residents to have MDOT move improvements to that section of Route 1 higher on the Department's priority list.

The real news for drivers using the twenty-mile section of Route 1 between Topsfield and Danforth is that four improvement projects with a value of $3.7 million, will be completed this fall.

Mattson said "the contractor will be removing the stump at about 10 next Tuesday morning."

- Tom McLaughlin, WQDY-WALZ News Director

Canada May Start Fishing In Disputed Area Again Soon

Ottawa is poised to O-K an earlier start to the lobster season in an area of the Bay of Fundy claimed by both Canada and the U.S.

Federal Fisheries Minister Robert Thibault says there are no drawbacks to a request from fishermen in Grand Manan, New Brunswick who want to be on the water by the end of this month. He says they wouldn't be joining an existing U.S. fishery and wouldn't face the possible problem of competing for trap space.

The disputed area is just south of Machias Seal Island, which is 15 kilometres from both Grand Manan Island and the Maine coastline.

- Broadcast News Ltd.

Active Time Of Year For Moose On Highways And Accidents

Maine officials are warning motorists to use extra caution on the highways. A Quincy, Massachusetts man was killed Friday night when his car hit a moose on Interstate 95 north of Lincoln. A State Police spokesman said Terrance Antworth, 38, died when the moose crashed through his windshield and into him. This is the first moose fatality of the season.

Meanwhile, RCMP in Woodstock, New Brunswick reported two of seven accidents reported in their district over the weekend involved moose-car collisions, but luckily no fatalities to report.

- Tom McLaughlin, WQDY-WALZ News Director

Farm Tractor VS Tractor-Trailer Crash Traps Teen In Woodstock

A Juniper, New Brunswick teen was treated and released following an accident Monday afternoon involving a farm tractor and a tractor-trailer.

RCMP Florenceville responded to a report of a 15-year old male trapped under an overturned farm tractor on Route 107 near Juniper. Police said the boy was operating the farm tractor on Route 107 and was attempting to leave the highway when the farm tractor collided with the trailer of a tractor-trailer that was attempting to pass the farm tractor.

According to an RCMP press release, the Jaws of Life were used to rescue the boy who was then taken to Northern Carleton Hospital by ambulance where he was treated and released. The driver of the tractor-trailer, a 44-year old man from Cambridge Bay, NB., was not injured in the crash.

The Florenceville Detachment of the RCMP is still investigating.

- Tom McLaughlin, WQDY-WALZ News Director

Downeast Lakes Land Trust Reps Come To Baileyville Council Meeting

There was a much awaited public information session on a proposed conservation easement plan that seeks to set aside over 300,000 acres of land in northeastern Washington County. The Baileyville Town Council had expressed concern because of the 8000 or so acres in their town included in the easement property.

A few months ago, representatives of the land trust told councilors what they were planning, but left town officials hungry for more information. Councilors were put off with the announcement from land trust officials that "they would make a public announcement on June 6."

That public announcement did come June 6, but in Augusta. According to the news release, Maine Governor John Baldacci and Passamaquoddy Governor Robert Newell (Indian Township) joined with the New England Forestry Foundation and the Downeast Lakes Land Trust to announce the start of a $35 million capital campaign to acquire a 312,000-acre conservation easement and 27,000-acre community forest around Grand Lake Stream from Wagner Forest Management. Supporters say "the project will preserve traditional public access for recreation and maintain a working forest in eastern washington County."

Expecting a crowd, the council meeting was moved from the cramped council chambers to the spacious, but acoustically-challenged Woodland Elementary School Gym. The meeting was also videotaped for later broadcast on Baileyville's public access cable TV channel 10.

Elizabeth Swain of the Massachusetts-based New England Forestry Foundation told the audience Monday night "The Downeast Lakes Forestry Partnership is actually a fundraising campaign to purchase a 27,000-acre community forest that will be managed by Downeast Lakes Land Trust and that is an area of the Farm Cove peninsula that also to buy and take away ... to extinguish the development rights on 312,000-acres of Wagner Forest Land. Wagner will continue to own it, continue to manage it, continue to cut wood on it, but they won't be able to sell any of it for development."

Swain explained, "the Downeast Lakes Land Trust was formed in 2001, largely by local guides who were starting to see the threat of their livelihood disappearing."

Swain said the group had met with selectmen and town councils of the organized towns in the project area during the winter. "We completed an appraisal, reached an agreement on the purchase price which is $39 an acre for the easement ... we signed a purchase and sales contract with the land owner, Wagner Forest Management, land manager for the land owner Typhoon LLC, and we've begun fundraising."

Despite skepticism by some in the audience, Debby Feck, General Manager of Domtar's Woodland Mill went on the record last week as being in favor of the project. The company had been taking a non-committal wait and see attitude for the past couple of months ever since that first Baileyville Town Council meeting.

Town Councilor and former state rep John Morrison said he still had "severe reservations about what's happening here ... not just in the town of Baileyville, but for such a big chunk of Washington County. I hear what you're saying and it sounds good and you're making all kinds of good promises, but I'm still a doubter."

A look at the conservation easement area puts a protective necklace around Grand Lake Stream, part of Princeton and Indian Township Reservation.

But the 8000-acres in Baileyville concerns town officials. Council chair Doug Jones commented, "if the gas pipeline [from Nova Scotia to Massachusetts] puts that 30-mile spur in ... that's about 10 miles in Baileyville and about 20 miles in Princeton ... that spur means quite a bit of taxes for both towns and it's the same way for the power line."

Jones asked, "did the guides up there that got into this think anything about the tax money that they could generate by camps along Farm Cove ... there's no town that's wealthy enough to get rid of their tax property."

A representative of the land trust resonded that the Farm Cove acquisition "was in Township 5 ND and Township 6 ND and is outside Grand Lake Stream Plantation."

Jones responded, "that's probably what I was thinking all the time, that it didn't affect the people of Grand Lake ... it's good to do that ... you're not affecting your own tax base."

The Downeast Lakes Forestry Partnership says it is committed to raise $35 million by December 31, 2004.

- Tom McLaughlin, WQDY-WALZ News Director

Lord In, MLA's Huntjens And Allaby Re-Elected, But Tucker Out In Elections

It was a nail-biter of an election in New Brunswick, where Premier Bernard Lord has seen his massive majority whittled down to just one seat.

The Tories won 28 seats last night - down from 46 going into the election. The Liberals won 26 and the New Democrats one.

But Lord doesn't have things locked up just yet. Recounts are likely in five ridings where the Tories won by less than 100 votes - one of them was just a 19-vote margin.

Incumbent Western Charlotte Progressive Conservative MLA Tony Huntjens won re-election Monday, beating challengers Liberal Madeleine Drummie and NDP candidate Andrew Graham.

Incumbent Fundy Isles MLA Liberal Eric Allaby beat Progressive Conseravtive challenger Burton Sonny Flynn.

And in the riding of Charlotte, Liberal challenger Rick Doucet has beaten Progressive Conservative Incumbent Sharon Tucker as well as NDP candidate Patti Hooper.

- Tom McLaughlin, WQDY-WALZ News Director

Ontario Couple Die In New Brunswick Canoeing Accident

RCMP say an Ontario couple died Saturday in a canoeing accident on Nepisiguit River near Route 180 in northern New Brunswick.

According to an RCMP press release, police determined that the two victims were descending the river when their canoe hit a tree on the river bank, throwing them into the river. They were carried away by the strong current and were later pulled from the water by friends.

Police said the couple identified as Johnny Boucher, 31, and his wife, Bonnie Kerr, 28, of Barrie, Ontario, had been under water for about an hour when their bodies were recovered by those present during the incident.

- Tom McLaughlin, WQDY-WALZ News Director