Editorial: Eyebrows in the sky

Published in the Current

SCARBOROUGH (Oct 6, 2005): The proposal that Scarborough taxpayers may be asked to cough up $54 million for a new intermediate school and a renovated middle school – on top of the $27 million already borrowed for the high school renovation and expansion – will no doubt raise eyebrows in town. Read about the idea on Page 1.

The $27 million high school is already the most expensive local-funding-only school project in the state’s history. Before the paint is even dry on that – and while there still remain questions about the building’s durability – the town’s school department wants to surpass it with a $35 million brand-new intermediate school and a $19 million renovation to the middle school.

After that, there’s the prospect that the town’s elementary schools could need expansion or replacement, according to Superintendent Bill Michaud. All three now hold some classes in modular additions.

It’s enough to make some seniors – many of whom have pledged support for more school building in exchange for a $1.2 million center to call their own – choke a bit on that promise.

While Board of Education Chairman David Beneman expects people will love the idea – he said it would be “exceedingly popular” – other board members are wary. Dianne Messer has an idea that might trim $19 million off the tab, but that would still leave what would still become the most expensive town-only school project in state history. Board member Christopher Brownsey accurately predicts the idea to spend that much money will be “a hard sell.”

And the school administration and its construction partners are not making that sell any easier. After the school board and the Town Council refused to pay for an independent review of the high school construction, the town’s code enforcement department required it.

And the study found some structural problems independent engineers fear might shorten the useful life of the high school building. They recommended the town, with project architect Harriman Associates and general contractor Pizzagalli Construction, purchase a long-term insurance policy to pay for any repairs that might be needed as a result of the structural deficiencies.

Now Harriman, already enlisted to plan for the upcoming $54 million in new building, and Pizzagalli are defending their work, saying there is no need for an insurance policy.

It’s great that they are so confident in their work, and they’re absolutely right. The town has no need for an insurance policy. The companies should agree to cover the costs of any repairs or other work required as a result of these possible shortcomings.

These are good companies, staffed by skilled, dedicated professionals. Their word, and a legally binding lifetime warranty (regarding just the problems identified by the outside engineers), should be enough. If they’re right, and the building is fine, they have nothing to lose. If they’re wrong, it’s their fault, and they should fix it.

If the companies are not sure their work is up to snuff, then they can decide how to pay for an insurance policy to cover the problems they have created. They have another option, of course: to go back in, rip out the problem areas – and work covering many of them – and replace it all up to proper standards, at their own cost.

The school department needs to stand firm, ensuring that Harriman and Pizzagalli provide exactly what the building agreement asked for, including adherence to all relevant building codes.

If voters are to have confidence that they will get $54 million worth of school building out of the new proposal, they need to be absolutely certain that they are already getting $27 million worth out of the construction they are already paying for.

Continuing next week
Our publication of Scarborough’s most recent property values, following the town-wide revaluation this summer, will continue next week. Roughly half of the list is in this week’s issue of the Current, on pages 13 through 20. They are sorted by street and house number. Please check back next week to get the rest of the data.

Jeff Inglis, editor

Cianchette pulls out of governor's race

Published in the Current

SOUTH PORTLAND (Oct 3, 2005): Peter Cianchette has pulled out of the race for governor, barely two months after announcing he would make another run for the Blaine House.

A South Portland Republican who lost to John Baldacci in 2002 and was one of two Republicans vying to challenge Baldacci in 2006, Cianchette announced Monday he would no longer be seeking the Republican nod.

In a statement, Cianchette said he had concluded he wanted to be near his children for "some of the most important years of their young lives."

The announcement came as a "complete surprise" to Rep. Harold Clough, R-Scarborough, who said he found out about it the same way many people did, in an e-mail Monday afternoon.

Clough said he expected more potential candidates to come forward now that Cianchette was out of the race, saying some people would have stayed out and supported Cianchette. Clough would not name names.

Rep. Darlene Curley, R-Scarborough, had been mulling a run for the Blaine House but decided earlier this fall not to run. She could not be immediately reached for comment, but attended Cianchette's campaign launch Sept. 13 at a rally at Bug Light Park in South Portland.

At that event, Cianchette formally launched his campaign with his wife, Carolyn, and children, Evan and Maria, by his side.

At the September event, he thanked his family for their support in his campaign efforts. In Monday's statement, he thanked his family for backing his decision to drop out of the race.

"My wife and children are my strongest supporters," Cianchette said in an interview.

He said he thought they might have wanted him to stay in the race. He also said they would have understood if his campaign duties – or those of being governor were he to win – kept him from attending their activities or other family events.

"I didn't want to miss those things," he said. He said other people had asked if he or a family member was sick, or if his poll numbers were down, and denied that either was the case.

Cianchette said it was time on the campaign trail that showed him "this is not the right time for me."

"Public service and the demands that come with a public life" need to fit well with other aspects of a person's life, he said. He did not feel his personal priorities would have received enough attention, were he to continue to run.

Trucker pleads not guilty

Published in the Current

SCARBOROUGH (Sep 29, 2005): The truck driver who caused the July 29 accident that killed a Scarborough woman pleaded not guilty Monday to nine misdemeanor charges stemming from the crash.

Scott Hewitt of Caribou faces charges in Kennebec County Superior Court of operating after suspension, possession of a suspended driver’s license, operating without authority, operating after being placed out of service, two counts of falsifying truck logs, operating without a medical certificate, operating while in possession of a radar detector and operating while in possession of a controlled substance.

Hewitt has not been charged with anything that holds him responsible for the death of Tina Turcotte, 40, whose car was crushed when Hewitt’s tractor-trailer failed to slow down behind her on I-95 in Hallowell. Turcotte and a truck ahead of her were slowing for a traffic backup ahead of them.

Kennebec County District Attorney Evert Fowle said the evidence did not allow him to charge Hewitt with manslaughter.

Michael Vaillancourt, the attorney for Turcotte’s husband, Scott Turcotte, said last week he was dissapointed Hewitt was not charged with manslaughter. And Turcotte’s mother and stepfather, Pat and Bob LaNigra, said last week they blame state lawmakers for not making better laws and police officers for failing to enforce existing laws. The LaNigras said if those two groups had done their jobs, Turcotte would still be alive.

Hewitt’s driving record contains more than 60 convictions and more than 20 suspensions of his license.

Hewitt finished a sentence on unrelated charges in Cumberland County Jail Wednesday, and was transferred to Kennebec County Jail, where he was being held on $100,000 cash bail or a $500,000 property bond.

A hearing in which Hewitt will request those amounts be lowered was slated for Wednesday morning, but has been put off until Oct. 7, according to a Kennebec County Superior court clerk.

Hewitt was originally going to be held on $100,000 cash bail. A judge changed Hewitt's bail requirements to allow him to post a $500,000 property bond as an alternative.

The new possibility of posting a property bond has alarmed state Sen. William Diamond, D-Windham, the senate majority leader and a former Maine secretary of state.

In a statement Monday, Diamond said he feared the bond would make it easier for Hewitt to post bail and get back on the road. Diamond noted that shortly after the fatal crash in July, Hewitt was again arrested on a charge of driving after suspension.

Croquet tourney held on Higgins Beach

Published in the Current

SCARBOROUGH (Sep 29, 2005): A group of visitors and local summer people held the first of what they hope will be an annual croquet tournament on Higgins Beach in mid-September.

The event was organized by longtime Higgins Beach summer resident Wally Patch, who was inspired by an old image of people playing croquet on the beach, and hopes to involve more Higgins Beach people in the future.

Last year he was browsing a Higgins Beach Web site when he saw a picture of "two old ladies playing croquet."

Patch, who has been coming to Higgins Beach for 50 years and Crescent Beach before that, has built his own croquet court at his home in the Laurentian Mountains north of Montreal, and decided to give it a shot on Higgins Beach.

He found a spot, right in front of The Breakers Inn, where there is a little bit of rock outcrop on the sea side of a patch of sand, where the tide leaves a smooth area rather than the usual ripples.

The low-tide sand made “a beautiful court except for seashells and small impediments here and there,” according to Emery Branscombe of Toronto, who plays competitively four times a week at home, on professionally maintained courts.

The group waited until low tide, raked seaweed and marked out a regulation court to play nine-wicket croquet under U.S. Croquet Association rules.

The course had a slight incline toward the ocean, which made play more exciting than usual, and on Sept. 14, the middle day of the competition, fog rolled in, obscuring much of the course.

Patch, who is 80, said croquet is a good game for seniors, because it is good exercise and makes players use their brains to plan shots. He took up the sport after arthritis made playing golf too painful.

He said he might talk to the Higgins Beach Association about making a croquet court next to the group's clubhouse.

Dandies founder retired, but not from circus

Published in the Current

SCARBOROUGH (Sep 29, 2005): Although former gym teacher Jon Cahill retired last year after 34 years in Scarborough schools, he has continued his involvement with the Gym Dandies Children's Circus and plans to be with the group in New York City in November for Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

“It’s not the end of my career with the Gym Dandies, but it’s a real culminating event for me,” said Cahill, who started the group in 1981 as an after-school juggling club.

A dancer had visited Wentworth Intermediate School as a guest artist and taught him to juggle, which he began incorporating into his gym classes.

It has grown in the years since, and now includes more than 200 kids from third grade through senior year at Scarborough High School, who juggle, walk on large rolling balls and ride unicycles with seats as high as six feet off the ground.

Dozens of parents help in practice and during shows, helping keep lines of performers straight and close together, and assisting kids who fall off their unicycles to get back up and rejoin the show.

Cahill said few people have seen anything like the Dandies' performance.

“There are going to be 2.5 million people there that are going to be flabbergasted” when they see the Dandies in the parade, Cahill said after Monday’s before-school rehearsal in the Wentworth parking lot.

The parade will involve 56 kids riding “giraffes,” the six-foot unicycles, in rows and performing various moving formations along the 2.5-mile parade route.

“Once they’re up, they’re going to stay up for an hour and 15 minutes,” Cahill said.

“I can’t imagine it being harder than the monsoon we rode through,” said Scarborough High School junior Matt Sirocki, who was in the two previous major appearances of the group, in the 2000 and 2004 National Independence Day Parades in Washington, D.C. In 2004, rain poured down on the Dandies as they rode in the parade.

He said it’s uncomfortable to ride a unicycle for longer than 30 minutes, but said that goes away with the excitement of putting on the show.

The group is still trying to raise money for the trip, and received a $1,000 donation from the Saco and Biddeford Savings Institution Monday. The Scarborough Board of Education gave $5,000 toward the trip, which is estimated to cost $35,000, and the Maine Community Foundation recently donated $5,000 to support the entire program, some of which will be used for the trip, Cahill said.

The group is also raising money for a return trip to the National Independence Day Parade on July 4, 2006.

Some larger potential donors decided not to give the group money because Macy’s parade rules bar groups from wearing logos for organizations or businesses other than themselves, Cahill said.

“I wouldn’t do that anyway,” he said.

The group spent about $8,000 – “over budget” – on uniforms for the parade, which required them to have gear for warm weather, cold weather and rain. The uniform helmets, knee and elbow pads used last year in D.C. are still in good shape and will be reused, Cahill said.

He said the parade, “a once in a lifetime event,” will draw many of the Dandies’ families, including relations from around the country, to New York for the Thanksgiving holiday. Others here in town and elsewhere will be watching to catch a glimpse of the group on television, though Cahill said he has not received any guarantee of airtime.

He said it is appropriate the parade is happening this year, the Dandies’ 25th, in which there are three seniors who have been in the group since third grade – longer than any of the other Dandies.

Those seniors, Cassaundra Kapinos, Sarah Morin and Dana Bennett, will feature prominently in the parade, with Bennett and junior Brandon Baines leading the group while juggling clubs atop their unicycles, Cahill said.

Junior Kaycee Stevens, a world-class unicycle competitor who has parlayed his skills from the Dandies into medals in international competitions, said this parade is bigger than the ones in Washington, D.C., because there is more television coverage and it is better known among the public.

Cahill said he will keep going with the group, building on this event and heading for more. “I don’t intend to stop in the near future,” he said, noting that despite his retirement, “I still get to work with kids.”