Students to find better security at many Maine schools

Projects too big to do after the Newtown shootings were done during the summer break.

By Noel K. Gallagher ngallagher@mainetoday.com
Staff Writer 

http://www.pressherald.com/news/students-to-find-better-security-at-many-schools_2013-08-26.html#

More security cameras. Double sets of locking doors. Classroom doors that lock from the inside. Entryways in which secretaries sit behind thick glass so they can see who is arriving before buzzing them inside.

These are some of the new security measures that students will find in Maine schools this fall, prompted in part by last December's massacre in Newtown, Conn.

"We feel it's money well spent," Lewiston Superintendent Bill Webster said of the $370,000 the district has used for security upgrades. The district got approval to spend the extra money out of construction funds.

"I feel pretty good about where we are," Webster said.

Many security changes were made in the immediate aftermath of the mass shooting in December at Sandy Hook Elementary School, where Adam Lanza killed 26 students and teachers. Larger projects, usually involving new construction in a school entryway, were delayed until the summer months when students were on break.

At least one more drastic measure that came about after Newtown, a bill that would have given schools in Maine the option of allowing teachers and other staff members to carry concealed handguns in school, failed in the legislative session.

Several schools have added security upgrades to plans already in place to renovate certain buildings, using construction funds.

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Percentage of students tested key to Maine's school grading system

By SUSAN McMILLAN Kennebec Journal

http://www.pressherald.com/news/percent-of-students-tested-key-to-grades_2013-08-26.html

AUGUSTA — When the state released report cards for schools in May, perhaps no one was more frustrated or disappointed than the leaders of schools with letter grades that made them look worse than their test scores and graduation rates say they are.

Twenty of the 122 high schools that received grades were docked a letter grade for falling short of the threshold of 95 percent participation on state standardized tests of math and reading in 2012.
Elementary and middle schools are subject to the same penalty, but all of them met the threshold. A few of the schools that were penalized were knocked from a B down to a C, but most ended up with a D or an F.

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Town seeks right strategy

Arundel’s Economic Development Committee continues to wade through marketing and branding study

By Alex Acquisto

Staff Writer 

http://post.mainelymediallc.com/news/2013-08-23/Front_Page/Town_seeks_right_strategy.html

ARUNDEL — Improved marketing of Arundel to nonresidents was the focus of a meeting of the Economic Development Committee Tuesday, Aug. 13.

The focal point of this particular phase centers on discussion of economic opportunities and implementation strategies and review of municipal tag lines.

For $25,000, Arundel commissioned the Chesapeake Group earlier this year to survey every facet of its natural, social and fiscal climate — a process estimated to take about five months.

The Economic Development Committee is trudging through phase 4 of 6 in the market and branding study facilitated by The Chesapeake Group.

The firm, founded in 1974 as an “independent economic analysis, impact development related project planning firm,” vows to meet the standards elucidated in Arundel’s request: “To support the community’s current effort to formulate a Comprehensive Economic Development Plan that will direct future land use policy and municipal investment decisions for the next 10 years.”

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ARUNDEL HERITAGE DAY SATURDAY - SEPTEMBER 14, 2013

ARUNDEL HERITAGE DAY

SATURDAY - SEPTEMBER 14, 2013

http://www.arundelhistoricalsociety.org/

The Arundel Historical Society is organizing and coordinating an event designed to bring Arundel’s residents together for a day of fun and information. Many of our neighbors will participate by displaying their collections and information about Arundel’s history and natural history, as well as a wealth of skills, talents, crafts, and products. In these terms, Arundel is a very rich town indeed!

We also are in need of volunteers to help set up before the event, act as a field crew during the event, and clean up afterwards. Even if you only have an hour or so to assist, your help would be most welcome! Please complete the form if you are interested in participating in or helping with the event. The event will be held at two locations: the North Chapel Common site [intersection of Limerick Road and Rt. 111] and at Kate’s Butter.

Displays and activities will be available in a variety of categories [as listed on the form], which will hopefully appeal to all. If you have something to offer, please join us. Whether you are a newer resident or were born in Arundel …whether you are 5, 50, or 90 …whether you set up a display, volunteer as a helper, or simply attend …Arundel Heritage Day is a community event you won’t want to miss!

Thank you in advance for your participation and support.

Click here to download the participant form.  Do it today!

What the ‘johns’ of Maine don’t know

Posted Aug. 21, 2013, at 12:29 p.m.

Everyone knows sex sells. Sometimes it sells products. Sometimes, as the Mark Strong and Alexis Wright case in Kennebunk makes clear, it’s just the sex that’s being sold. So far, 59 people have pleaded guilty or no contest to paying Wright for her services as a prostitute.

But in other cases, people aren’t buying sex from a willing person who gets to keep the money.
Sex trafficking exists because of demand. People — mostly women and children — are forced into the commercial sex trade against their will because traffickers or pimps can profit from it.

Police will continue to fight the crime of sex trafficking. Maine government will continue to pass laws to address the problem as it evolves. Social service agencies will develop better ways to identify and help victims. These efforts are good and right.

But what about those who buy sex? “Johns” might not be aware that they aren’t just committing a misdemeanor crime but, instead, propping up what could be a larger sex trafficking ring. At the very least, they are contributing to a culture that makes sex trafficking possible.

Where there’s a demand, there’s a product. Unfortunately, the product is often a human being who has been coerced or threatened into selling sex.

The national Polaris Project recently released its annual ratings of state human trafficking laws. While Maine has improved, it still remains in the bottom half of states in terms of its legal efforts to combat the crime.

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Former Kennebunk high hockey coach acquitted of being a john in Zumba prostitution case

http://bangordailynews.com/2013/08/20/news/portland/former-kennebunk-high-hockey-coach-acquitted-of-being-a-john-in-zumba-prostitution-case/?ref=polbeat

By Jennifer Feals, York County Coast Star
Posted Aug. 20, 2013, at 2 p.m.
Last modified Aug. 20, 2013, at 2:30 p.m.

ALFRED, Maine — Former Kennebunk High School hockey coach Donald Hill has been acquitted on a charge of engaging the services of prostitute Alexis Wright.
Justice Roland Cole ruled shortly after 1 p.m. Tuesday that because of a lack of evidence Hill’s trial would not continue. The decision came after Cole decided against allowing the state to enter into evidence the business ledger and key that Wright used to record data from her prostitution business.

Hill, 53, of Old Orchard Beach has said he thought he was in a relationship with Wright. In court on Monday, his attorney told the jury they would not see images or video or hear audio recordings or hear from witnesses that Hill paid Wright for sex. Hill, who pleaded not guilty, would have faced a $1,000 fine if he had been convicted.

On Monday, Wright, 30, of Wells and Wright’s business partner, Mark Strong, 57, of Thomaston were called to the stand. Wright identified Hill in the courtroom Monday, but faced no additional questions from prosecutors or Hill’s attorney Gary Prolman.

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Trolley lines now feature trail access

By Alex Acquisto

Staff Writer

http://post.mainelymediallc.com/news/2013-08-09/Community/Trolley_lines_now_feature_trail_access.html

KENNEBUNKPORT — Beginning in late July, the Seashore Trolley Museum now features access to four Kennebunkport Conservation Trust trails and one ridge on Smith Preserve.

Previously, the only access to Smith Preserve was through the singular trailhead on Guinea Road. This expansion in regulation is one of several the museum has implemented in the hopes of attracting new crowds, said Executive Director Sally Bates.

The 1.4-mile trolley tracks extend to the turnaround at Talbott Park. Hikers can disembark at Talbott Park and walk one mile along the track’s right-of-way before converging with the trust’s Trolley Trail.

“We’re opening ourselves up to people who might not want to visit the museum only in the traditional sense,” Bates said.

Said Lisa Lassey, associate director for the Kennebunkport Conservation Trust, “As neighbors we have always known that the Trolley Trail abuts the property. We have had ideas that, at some point, we would like people to access trails from the other side since they’re so close to the tracks.”

Now that access is full-steam ahead, Lassey reported that the trust is happy to work with Seashore.

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Arundel board discusses fireworks

By Jennifer Galipeau

yccs@seacoastonline.com

August 15, 2013 2:00 AM

http://www.seacoastonline.com/articles/20130815-NEWS-308150341

 

ARUNDEl — The Board of Selectmen spent much of the evening discussing firework restrictions with concerned residents at Monday's meeting.

After several disturbances, some residents are questioning the town's regulations on fireworks and asking for some restrictions. This is the second year that fireworks have been allowed in Arundel and some residents said they are not so sure it is such a good idea.

Fireworks were approved statewide in November of 2011 and the use of fireworks became effective in January of 2012. Town Manager Todd Shea said that Arundel had not developed its own regulations, instead voting to follow the state of Maine's regulations in June of 2012.

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Ex-Kennebunk prostitute to fight having to testify in alleged client's trial

By Scott Dolan sdolan@mainetoday.com
Staff Writer 

http://www.pressherald.com/news/ex-prostitute-to-fight-having-to-testify_2013-08-13.html

ALFRED — Less than three months after being sentenced to jail, the former Zumba instructor at the center of a Kennebunk prostitution scandal that captured international attention will appear in court again Thursday, this time to fight having to testify at the trial of one of her alleged clients.

Alexis Wright is expected to be back in court Thursday to testify in the trial of her alleged client Donald Hill. 

Alexis Wright, now serving her third month of a 10-month sentence in the York County Jail, has been subpoenaed by prosecutors to testify at the trial of Donald Hill, the former Kennebunk High School hockey coach who is charged with engaging Wright for prostitution in 2011.

Hill, who has pleaded not guilty to the single misdemeanor count, is the first of 68 people charged with paying Wright for sex to bring the matter to trial. At least 58 of those 68 have already pleaded guilty or pleaded no contest.

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Selectmen to weigh in on resort development

By Jennifer Galipeau

yccs@seacoastonline.com

August 08, 2013 2:00 AM

http://www.seacoastonline.com/articles/20130808-NEWS-308080347

ARUNDEL — The Planning Board has for a second time approved a new seasonal development in town, and the Board of Selectmen will weigh in on the poject on Aug. 12.

The Arundel Seasonal Cottage Resort was first approved back in 2009, but due to athe declining economy the project was put on hold. With an improvement in real estate and the economy, plans for the seasonal resort are back on the table.

The 259-unit resort would occupy approximately 195 acres of land on Route 1...

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RSU 21 and changing enrollment figures

August 08, 2013 2:00 AM

http://www.seacoastonline.com/articles/20130808-OPINION-308080342

To the Editor:

In 2002 the total enrollment for SAD 71 (the Kennebunks), was 2,643; this was a system with FIVE schools and a combined capacity for 2,900 students. The high school had an enrollment of 880 students and competed in sports in the Class A division..

In 2009 we merged with Arundel, and their approximate 600 students, to form RSU 21. Arundel had utilized three schools to accommodate their children, a K thru 5th grade facility of their own, and separate schools at Thornton Academy for their middle and high school students.

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Kennebunk school renovation projects may be scaled back

By Jennifer Feals

jfeals@seacoastonline.com

August 01, 2013 2:00 AM

http://www.seacoastonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130801/NEWS/308010361/-1/NEWSMAP

KENNEBUNK — The RSU 21 Facilities Committee is looking to scale back on plans to renovate Kennebunk High School, Mildred L. Day School and Kennebunkport Consolidated School.

During a July 29 meeting, the committee looked at the current estimate of $76 million to renovate the three schools and sent each plan back to their building committees, asking the groups to cut 10 percent from the cost of each project.

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