Stories by Anthony Brino

9 years ago

First measurable snow of season misses record

CARIBOU, Maine — The first snowfall of any significance in Aroostook County arrived overnight Tuesday morning as the second-latest measurable snowfall on record in Caribou, according to the National Weather Service.
Much of Down East and northern Maine woke up the Tuesday before Thanksgiving to a dusting of snow and continuing flurries, and the northern half of the state could end up with 3 inches or more, according to the National Weather Service in Caribou.

9 years ago

Library to save hazmat licensees a lengthy trip

Along with a range of citizen services, the Mark & Emily Turner Memorial Library will be offering itself as a processing site for commercial truck drivers renewing their federal authorization for carrying hazardous material.

9 years ago

Fort Fairfield will see some roads salted without sand

The town of Fort Fairfield is going to do an experiment reducing the use of sand in some of its winter road treatment, with the hopes of testing a concept and saving money in the long-term.
With average annual snowfall of more than 8 feet, winter road maintenance is a major government service in northern Maine. Fort Fairfield’s Public Works Department spends $400,000 every year on snow removal — more than $100 per resident per year — on the 86 road miles the town is responsible for.

9 years ago

Dropped cigarette caused Mapleton crash, police say

A women driving through Mapleton last Monday afternoon crashed into an unoccupied pickup and hit a home’s front porch after she dropped a cigarette on herself, according to the Maine State Police.

9 years ago

Remembering the sugar beet

 

     This time 50 years ago, the Maine Sugar Industries plant in Easton was getting ready to start churning out its first batches of sugar made from beets grown in Aroostook County.

9 years ago

Robbery riled Maine in ’71

Why would a young man rob a bank in the town he grew up in and think he could get away with it?

On Nov. 12, 1971 — 45 years ago this Saturday — then-24-year-old Mars Hill native Bernard Patterson did just that.

Dressed with a blue wig and armed with a toy gun, he robbed the Northern National Bank of $177,000, more than $1 million in today’s dollars, and set off an international manhunt.

9 years ago

TAMC, nurses union agree on new contract

Unionized nurses working at Aroostook County’s largest hospital have agreed to a new three-year contract, after working without a deal for months and staging a strike in July.

9 years ago

Oxbow deorganization proceeds

Residents of the town of Oxbow Plantation took their final vote last Tuesday in favor of disbanding local government. If all goes according to plan, they will be living in Oxbow North Township next summer.
By a vote of 37 to 2, Oxbow residents gave the go-ahead for a town deorganization plan that’s been more than two years in the making and was approved by the Legislature last March.

9 years ago

Presque Isle elects Green, Freeman, Stewart

A majority of Presque Isle voters joined much of the rest of The County and country in helping elect Republican Donald Trump as the next president, while at the same time keeping and voting out incumbents from both major parties in different local and state positions.