Stories written by Aubuchon Connery
Commissioner Anne L. Head from Maine’s Department of Professional and Financial Regulation highlighted the June 30th deadline for fuel dealers who offer pre-paid contracts to register with the Department. The registration form and general information can be obtained from the Department’s website (www.maine.gov/pfr).
Intended to provide greater protections to consumers who use pre-paid home heating contracts, LD 1895, An Act To Protect Consumers by Strengthening the Laws Governing Prepaid Home Heating Oil Contracts, became Public Law, Chapter 574, on March 30, 2012.
The law responded to several recent examples of dealers taking money from Maine consumers, but then failing to supply the fuel, leaving the consumers without oil and unable to recover their money.
“The vast majority of fuel dealers in Maine are reputable and dependable,” Commissioner Head said. “To discourage cases in which dealers don’t meet their obligation, however, Maine law has been changed to require greater accountability. The Department is working cooperatively with dealers as we seek to provide more protection for consumers.”
The law requires a fuel dealer who offers prepaid contracts for home heating oil, kerosene or liquefied petroleum gas to Maine residents to register the dealer’s intent to offer such contracts with the Department by June 30th of each year. It also requires these dealers to file a report with the agency by October 31st each year to indicate the manner of compliance.
Additionally, the law requires that the annual report form include a notice that a false statement is punishable as a Class D crime. Under the laws provisions, the Commissioner is required to refer to the Attorney General any registered dealer who fails to provide the required report or who makes a false statement on the required report. The law provides that a violation of the requirements of Title 10, Section 1110 is a violation of the Maine Unfair Trade Practices Act.
Consumers wishing to check whether a fuel company registers by the June 30th deadline, or fuel dealers seeking additional information, can call the Department at (207) 624-8525.
June 12, 2013
Professional and Financial Regulation
PROSPECT — Maine State Police officials talked a suicidal man out of jumping off the Penobscot Narrows Bridge Sunday afternoon. The 43-year-old Hancock County resident, whom police did not name, climbed over the safety railing at about 12:45 p.m., according to Sgt. Pat Hood of the Maine State Police. Trooper Jon Leach, who was off-duty, saw the man on the other side of the safety rail. He stopped his vehicle and called for backup, and Hood and Trooper Desiree Wuthenow arrived to help. Together, the trio spent 20 minutes talking to the man, who told them that he wanted to die. “It was a combination of life events led him to the point that day,” Hood said Monday. “I think it was years of stuff basically coming to a head. The significance of Father’s Day probably didn’t help any, either.” The man told them he was a father, Hood said. (read more at Lewiston Sun Journal)
CARIBOU, Maine — The valedictorian of Caribou High School’s Class of 1995 is among eight Americans selected by NASA to begin training for future space missions that may one day take them to Mars. Dr. Jessica U. Meir, 35, joins three other women and four men as the newest members of the space agency’s astronaut corps at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, NASA announced Monday. A graduate of Brown University with advanced degrees from Scripps Institution of Oceanography in San Diego and the International Space University in Illkirch, France, Meir is an assistant professor of anesthesia at Harvard Medical School Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. Meir now has two months to wrap up her work at Harvard before reporting for her new job as a full-time United States astronaut, a goal which on Monday she said has been a lifelong pursuit. “I have been very interested in science from a young age,” Meir said by phone Monday evening. “I was mostly interested in biology and physiology and always interested in space flight, so I involved myself in as many space-related activities as I could.” (read more at Bangor Daily News)
Regional School Unit 18 suffered a huge loss in the form of Donna Doucette’s resignation from the school board. Donna, a tireless advocate for teachers and children, was one of the only members of that school board who dared question the path that RSU 18′s administration is taking toward a new educational vision and mass customized learning. It should concerns us all — both residents of Belgrade, China, Oakland, Rome and Sidney and communities across the state — that Donna has seen no other course than to resign after more than 20 years on the board. (read more at Kennebec Journal)
BELFAST — As the 130 or so cyclists pedaling with the athenahealth team crossed the finish line of the Trek Across Maine on Sunday afternoon in Belfast, they were met by sustained cheers, shouts, clanging cowbells and clapping. And not a few tears. Most of the group wore red ribbons tied around their arms in memory of David LeClair, a 23-year-old athenahealth employee from Watertown, Mass., who was killed Friday morning in a collision with a tractor-trailer about 10 miles into the trek. “There’s nowhere else we’d be today, that’s for sure,” athenahealth employee Sarah Milne of Rockport said at the finish line. She and many others from the company came to cheer on their co-workers and support them at the end of the emotional ride. “We’re close. When something happens to one of us, everyone feels it.” The tragedy cast a pall over the 29th annual three-day, 180-mile ride, according to some of the cyclists who had started at Sunday River Ski Resort in Newry and finished at Steamboat Landing Park in Belfast. Last year’s event raised $1.8 million for the American Lung Association of the Northeast, and organizers said they had a goal of raising $2 million this year. Riders had cycling safety on their minds for the duration of the ride, as well as LeClair’s short life and sudden death. (read more at Lewiston Sun Journal)
BOSTON — Jurors are expected to hear more grisly details about reputed mob boss James “Whitey” Bulger’s reign of terror in Boston when a former hit man testifies against his ex-boss in the closely watched racketeering and murder trial on Monday. Bulger faces a 32-count indictment that includes 19 murders he allegedly committed or ordered. The 83-year old, known as “Whitey” for the shock of blond hair he had even as a child, is accused of running Boston’s “Winter Hill Gang” for decades and threatening to kill small-time criminals unless they paid protection money. He has pleaded not guilty to all counts. The trial marks the final chapter in one of Boston’s longest-running crime dramas, bringing some closure to families of the 19 murder victims who are planning to come to the waterfront courthouse daily for the trial that is expected to last three to four months. In last week’s opening statements, prosecutors portrayed Bulger as a hands-on killer while Bulger’s lawyer described him as a mild-mannered criminal who had engaged in illegal gambling, loansharking and drug dealing but not murder. (read more at Bangor Daily News)
Jun 17 2013 | Posted in
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One nice side benefit of my job as a humorist is that I occasionally get to perform at spiffy upscale resorts like Ocean Reef Club in Key Largo, Fla. It’s no secret that a few days of Florida sunshine around mud season can do wonders for any winter weary Mainer (and it doesn’t hurt that there’s a paycheck involved). The audience at my most recent Ocean Reef appearance mostly comprised people “from away,” a fairly high percentage of whom either maintain a summer home in Maine or have at least visited a time or two. Following the performance I experienced an odd but not entirely uncommon phenomenon. Having just spent an hour or so listening to my Maine stories, audience members began cuing up [sic] to tell me their Maine stories. (read more at Wiscasset Newspaper)
FARMINGDALE — A fire burned down a barn, caused extensive damage to a home and possibly killed several animals including newborn piglets Wednesday afternoon. No one was home at the time. Two people who spotted the fire while driving by were able to save a sow and one piglet from the barn, but it’s likely that other animals died. The flames took more than an hour to extinguish. A state fire marshal is investigating the cause of the fire and a small explosion that occurred in the house. Tiffany Dawbin, of Hallowell, reported the fire at about 4:20 p.m. She said she saw the barn burning while passing the house on her way to pick up her children at her in-laws’ house. A man who was driving by also stopped and began hosing down the barn. “He grabbed the hose and starting spraying the barn down, enough so that we could open the door and coax the mama pig out,” Dawbin said. “And the baby pigs were running around, and we just had enough time to get one of them.” (read more at Morning Sentinel)
What’s free and full of perks? An Evening of E.B. White at the Maine State Library on June 21, 2013 – that’s what!
The Friends of the Maine State Library are pleased to sponsor an event featuring Martha White, granddaughter of author E.B. White. While the event is free to the public, Friends of the Maine State Library can also enjoy a private reception with Ms. White and receive a 10% discount on the purchase of the new book E. B. White on Dogs.
In E. B. White on Dogs, his granddaughter and manager of his literary estate, Martha White, has compiled the best and funniest of his essays, poems, letters, and sketches depicting over a dozen of White’s various canine companions. Featured here are favorite essays such as “Two Letters, Both Open,” where White takes on the Internal Revenue Service, and also “Bedfellows,” with its “fraudulent reports” from White’s ignoble old dachshund, Fred. (“I just saw an eagle go by. It was carrying a baby.”)
The private reception for Friends of the Maine State Library will begin at 5:30 pm at the Maine State Library. Individuals who have not joined the Friends in advance may do so at the door. For $15, librarians, senior citizens, and students may join the Friends, while individual contributors can join for $25.
Beginning at 6:00 pm, Martha White will engage attendees in a lively and enlightening discussion of E.B. White and his love of dogs. The book talk is free for anyone interested in attending, and a book signing will follow. Books will be available to purchase at the event, and Friends of the Maine State Library may purchase the book at a 10% discount.
For more information regarding the event please contact the Maine State Library at 207-287-5600. To join the Friends of the Maine State Library, visit www.mainestatelibraryfriends.org or contact Cheryl Ramsay at 207-287-5620.
Martha White, granddaughter of E. B. White and manager of White Literary LLC, edited the updated Letters of E. B. White (HarperCollins, 2006), as well as In the Words of E. B. White: Quotations from America’s Most Companionable of Writers (Cornell University Press, 2011). As a contributing writer and editor to Yankee Magazine’s Old Farmer’s Almanac, White wrote two weekly syndicated columns and was the author of Traditional Home Remedies (Time-Life, 1997). Her essays have appeared in the NewYork Times, Christian Science Monitor, Boston Globe, Country Journal, Down East, Early American Life, Family Circle, Garden Design, and many other publications.
Friends of the Maine State Library support the program goals and objectives as defined by the Maine State Library. In doing so, The Friends will help to increase the use of the Library through public awareness and programming; advocate for consistent and meaningful State funding of the Library; and to provide private funding opportunities that advance the library’s goals and objectives. While supporting the Maine State Library, The Friends seek to specifically enhance access to quality library services for all Maine residents by supporting state-wide library initiatives.
June 11, 2013
Maine State Library
STANDISH — On just the second pitch of the game Wednesday, the momentum was seized. The Gray-New Gloucester softball team got a jump in its Western B championship game when Alex Thompson drilled a lead-off triple to start the game. But things quickly swung the other way. Greely senior pitcher Danielle Cimino struck out the next two batters and got a pop out to escape the threat. “I had to manage the inning,” said Cimino. “I had to be mentally tough. I couldn’t let it get to me. I had to stay calm and within myself.” Though the Patriots would later get the lead first, Gray-NG quickly watched the upper hand slip away again. Greely took the lead in the bottom of the third and more missed opportunities for the Patriots proved costly as the Rangers claimed the 2-1 victory. “I told them to keep their heads up,” said Gray-NG coach Amanda Harmon. “They should be proud. It’s an accomplishment to get to this game. It definitely wasn’t the way we wanted it to end. We played hard to get here and fought for every game.” (read more at Lewiston Sun Journal)
Commissioner Anne L. Head from Maine’s Department of Professional and Financial Regulation highlighted the June 30th deadline for fuel dealers who offer pre-paid contracts to register with the Department. The registration form and general information can be obtained from the Department’s website (www.maine.gov/pfr).
