Published in the Current
Cape Elizabeth town councilors are encouraging people to paint on “The Rock” on Route 77 during daylight hours, and to be respectful of neighboring residents at all times.
Dennis and Ann Flavin, whose driveway is directly opposite the rock, have complained to the town about nighttime noise, including yelling and squealing tires, as well as littering, harassment and trespassing by people involved in painting the rock. They have threatened to sue the town if something is not done.
The town’s proposed remedy includes having the police ask all people observed painting the rock to “move along,” and informally encouraging students to paint on the rock during the day, and without making noise or leaving litter behind.
Several councilors worried about the public’s response if, for example, police officers arrested people caught painting the rock, which lies in the state right-of-way for Route 77, and is technically overseen by the state Department of Transportation.
There is a town ordinance making it illegal for people to “mark or write on” public places in town. Police Chief Neil Williams said he was reluctant to supervise any legalized painting of the rock, but is concerned about the Flavins’ “peace of mind,” as well as preventing them from being harassed or being unable to sleep at night due to noise.
Williams said there are already laws in place to deal with littering, noise complaints, harassment and trespassing. Each of those, he said, would require police to warn violators before issuing a summons. If a violator refused to comply with the law after a warning, or returned at
some later time or date, Williams said, then a summons could be issued.
Councilor Henry Berry, a former prosecutor, agreed with Williams’s interpretation of the law.
Several councilors, as well as Town Manager Mike McGovern, noted the lack of precedent for taking legal action against people observed painting. “No one has ever been summonsed for painting the rock,” he said.
Councilor Berry asked if the town had jurisdiction over state property within the town limits. Williams said the police do issue summonses on state property, but not for violations of town ordinances.
All of the councilors, except the absent Penny Carson, expressed sympathy for the Flavins’ situation, and said they would not tolerate the behavior the Flavins were complaining about.
“The harassing, the noise, the litter, the trespassing is not condoned,” said Councilor Carol Fritz.
She questioned whether the council should expressly allow painting of this particular rock, and whether that permission would be extended to other rocks in town that are also painted.
Councilor Anne Swift-Kayatta said the Flavins’situation is bad. “No one should have to put up with that sort of disturbing of the peace,” she said. But, she said, she had heard support from town citizens who wanted the painting of the rock to continue, without the noise.
Superintendent Tom Forcella made a plea on behalf of the students.
“Obviously the students really like that tradition,” he said. “The control is the issue.” He said he wanted some sort of compromise to be arranged, “so they can still keep the tradition and still keep the peace.”
Ann Flavin said the rock is a relatively new tradition. “We didn’t have a rock until 1965,” she said, when Route 77 was widened. She said the rock was public, and that the ordinance prohibits graffiti.
“Let kids go up to the Statehouse and graffiti the Statehouse,” she said.
Her husband said he didn’t want to get more people in trouble, but was concerned about the noise.
“There was a few nights I only got two hours’sleep,” he said, proposing an alternative: “Wouldn’t it be more feasible and sensible to move the rock?”
Ann Flavin proposed a wall be constructed near the high school and new community center. “What better place to relocate a wall for (people) to write on?” she asked.
Fritz replied that such a wall could have difficulty meeting the zoning rules for the town center.
The content of the messages painted on the rock was also a subject for discussion.
Town public works employees are called out “a little less than once a year” to paint over obscene or inappropriate messages painted on the rock, McGovern said. The police department does the same about once a year as well, Williams said.
The state DOT has been out “once or twice” in the past five years to paint over messages.
Resident Kevin Sweeney, who is also on the School Board but said he was speaking as a private citizen, contrasted the painting on the rock with his experience of graffiti in New York City. The messages on the rock, he said, were unlike the “tagging” New Yorkers consider graffiti.
Sweeney said some of the people who paint the rock behave in a way that is “clearly repugnant.” But after Sept. 12, when the American flag was painted there, the painters had cleaned up after themselves.
He said the rock has been painted less frequently in recent months, starting with the flag on Sept. 12, the addition of the names of local active-duty members of the armed forces in late December, and a total repainting around Memorial Day.
Sweeney also said the rock creates a place for teen-agers to go. “I think our people need a place to express themselves,” he said.
Anthony Zinani, a recent CEHS graduate, said the rock is not painted with “graffiti,” but is instead a place for small-town accomplishments to be announced to the town and celebrated with the community.
“Is it that bad to paint a memorial to Toni Williams?” he asked. “It’s not graffiti. It’s a memorial. I think it’s part of the Cape Elizabeth community.”
Resident Frank Strout said he has seen the rock painted for 30 years, and even goes out of his way to drive by it, especially when he knows a team has won a big game or championship. “I’d like to see it continue,” he said.
Former high school teacher and coach Don Richards said the tradition is an important one, especially to sports teams. “We’d get back (from a game) at 3 a.m. and they’d be ready to paint the rock,” he said.
“It was their way of saying to the community, ‘Look, we did this,’” he said.
Richards said he thought it could be made more palatable. “I think a lot of kids paint the rock during the night because they don’t know that it would be OK to paint during the day,” he said.
And now, that may be the case.
Dennis Flavin said it would be OK with him if the rock was painted quietly. His wife took a harder line, saying to councilors, “You made up the law against graffiti. I’m offended by the rock. I’m offended by the people that go out there and do it.”
Other Cape residents living near other graffiti-painted rocks sympathized with the Flavins’ situation, and one even said she regularly found used paint cans and paintbrushes near the rock close to her home. Some residents said they had not had any problems with the people who painted the rocks near their houses, while the woman who found the litter effectively agreed with the Flavins.
She suggested the town build a wall near the high school where students could paint notices of their achievements, and said she tried not to look at the rocks as she drove by, because she didn’t like them.
Residents did not want to give their names for fear they would be harassed by kids who enjoy painting the rocks. The Flavins said the noise and harassment have gotten worse since they complained to the town.
Forcella and Sweeney said they would pass the word informally through the school administration and student councils, and encourage students to be respectful of the property and of the Flavins when painting the rock.
Thursday, July 18, 2002
In search of the perfect read
Published in the Current
Clint Willis lived in different worlds as a kid, moving between his home in southern Louisiana and the settings of the books he read.
“I was a real bookworm growing up,” he said.
Now, living in Cape Elizabeth and working in Portland, he brings his experience as a voracious reader to the writing business. “I’ve always been as much of a reader as a writer,” Willis said.
He started as a journalist in New York City after college and covered financial markets for Money Magazine and other major publications for a decade or so, before deciding to start a family with his wife, Jennifer.
With two boys, they moved to Cape Elizabeth. “It just seemed like it would be a great place to raise a family,” Willis said. He started freelancing for magazines after the move, but found an approach different from the traditional solo freelancer.
He had experience working in what he called “team journalism,” with researchers, editors and reporters collaborating on stories. “I sort of applied that model in my work,” he said, hiring aspiring journalists right out of college and teaching them to be reporters while they helped him with his assignments.
The business, aptly named The Writing Company, also undertook contract jobs for business newsletters and other corporate publications.
Now the company, which Willis sees more as a teacher-student relationship, has alumni freelancing for business and technology publications and attending business school. One even wrote a novel.
Most of the work was financial journalism in the beginning, for clients like Forbes, Worth and Money, but his interests drew him to outdoors magazines like Outside and Men’s Journal.
“I’ve always been interested in mountain climbing,” Willis said.
In 1997, he published the first of what would become a long series of adventure-inspired anthologies. The book, called “Epic,” was a collection of harrowing mountaineering experiences. It kicked off a series called “Adrenaline Books,” now with over 30 books, mostly anthologies. Over 500,000 copies of the books are in print.
He and his staff, most notably Cape Elizabeth native Nat May and Nate Hardcastle, put the anthologies together, choosing from a wide range of stories and authors, assembling them to be riveting reads.
“A lot of the books that I’ve done have come out of stuff that I’m interested in,” Willis said. The series reflects his wide-ranging interests and curiosity, covering polar exploration, firefighting, Mafia insiders, the writings of the Dalai Lama and collections of writing about Jesus, meditation and gangs, among others.
The art of the anthology is what gets Willis truly fired up. He doesn’t want his anthologies to be catch-all books comprehensively covering a subject from all angles and including writing by all known experts, destined to sit on shelves for occasional reference.
Instead, Willis tries to make them enjoyable reading. “No one’s really realized the potential of anthologies,” he said. “An anthology could be just a great read.”
He doesn’t even try to make his collections representative or complete.
Instead, he chooses pieces that are strongly written and stand on their own merits as stories.
Sometimes he finds the one great piece created by a mediocre writer, or resurrects stories long forgotten. Other times he grabs a magazine article and puts it into a book, taking it from a periodical to a permanently published format.
“I’m just going to find the best reading experience,” Willis said. “There’s a lot of stuff out there that people don’t read anymore.”
Clint Willis lived in different worlds as a kid, moving between his home in southern Louisiana and the settings of the books he read.
“I was a real bookworm growing up,” he said.
Now, living in Cape Elizabeth and working in Portland, he brings his experience as a voracious reader to the writing business. “I’ve always been as much of a reader as a writer,” Willis said.
He started as a journalist in New York City after college and covered financial markets for Money Magazine and other major publications for a decade or so, before deciding to start a family with his wife, Jennifer.
With two boys, they moved to Cape Elizabeth. “It just seemed like it would be a great place to raise a family,” Willis said. He started freelancing for magazines after the move, but found an approach different from the traditional solo freelancer.
He had experience working in what he called “team journalism,” with researchers, editors and reporters collaborating on stories. “I sort of applied that model in my work,” he said, hiring aspiring journalists right out of college and teaching them to be reporters while they helped him with his assignments.
The business, aptly named The Writing Company, also undertook contract jobs for business newsletters and other corporate publications.
Now the company, which Willis sees more as a teacher-student relationship, has alumni freelancing for business and technology publications and attending business school. One even wrote a novel.
Most of the work was financial journalism in the beginning, for clients like Forbes, Worth and Money, but his interests drew him to outdoors magazines like Outside and Men’s Journal.
“I’ve always been interested in mountain climbing,” Willis said.
In 1997, he published the first of what would become a long series of adventure-inspired anthologies. The book, called “Epic,” was a collection of harrowing mountaineering experiences. It kicked off a series called “Adrenaline Books,” now with over 30 books, mostly anthologies. Over 500,000 copies of the books are in print.
He and his staff, most notably Cape Elizabeth native Nat May and Nate Hardcastle, put the anthologies together, choosing from a wide range of stories and authors, assembling them to be riveting reads.
“A lot of the books that I’ve done have come out of stuff that I’m interested in,” Willis said. The series reflects his wide-ranging interests and curiosity, covering polar exploration, firefighting, Mafia insiders, the writings of the Dalai Lama and collections of writing about Jesus, meditation and gangs, among others.
The art of the anthology is what gets Willis truly fired up. He doesn’t want his anthologies to be catch-all books comprehensively covering a subject from all angles and including writing by all known experts, destined to sit on shelves for occasional reference.
Instead, Willis tries to make them enjoyable reading. “No one’s really realized the potential of anthologies,” he said. “An anthology could be just a great read.”
He doesn’t even try to make his collections representative or complete.
Instead, he chooses pieces that are strongly written and stand on their own merits as stories.
Sometimes he finds the one great piece created by a mediocre writer, or resurrects stories long forgotten. Other times he grabs a magazine article and puts it into a book, taking it from a periodical to a permanently published format.
“I’m just going to find the best reading experience,” Willis said. “There’s a lot of stuff out there that people don’t read anymore.”
Bette’s still serving it up after 53 years
Published in the Current
Bette’s Lunch and Breakfast hides along the edge of Route 1 in Scarborough, right next to the fire station. It’s behind a tree and doesn’t have a very obvious sign, but Betty Pennell doesn’t mind.
Entering the diner can be an act of faith, if the “Open” sign isn’t in the front window. The place can be quiet enough on a weekday lunch hour to cause doubt about whether the griddle is on inside.
But more than likely, Betty’s inside wielding a spatula, cooking up burgers. In the mornings, it’s mostly ham and eggs, though she also makes pancakes. It’s the same place she has been for nearly 53 years.
The place has an old-time family feel. The prices on the board haven’t changed for years: A hamburger is listed at 40 cents.
There’s not even a cash register – just a drawer next to the griddle, and Betty’s mind keeps track of the bill.
Prices are relative. One man, a regular, had been coming there since his youth. Now an adult, he paid two dollars for two hamburgers and a soda. This reporter, sitting next to him, paid the same amount for a single burger and a soda. But the second time I went in, I paid only one dollar for two burgers.
The building itself once sat in South Portland but was moved to make way for shipyards in World War II. The owner then, a man who owned three restaurants in the area, moved the building to Scarborough, “and here it sits,” Pennell said.
When the fire station next door wanted to expand, Pennell refused to sell. As a result, she said, she doesn’t get much business from the firefighters, though
she does see policemen now and again. Her reluctance to change is still evident.
The original wallpaper is still on the walls, though a bit darker now, with decades of griddle smoke. “I’m going to paint it sometime, if I ever get around to it,” Pennell said.
She doesn’t seem to be in much of a hurry, though, and it’s no surprise for a woman nearing 80 years of age who gets up at 4 a.m. each day to serve breakfast to her customers, who are often workers at Scarborough Downs.
Before she bought the diner, she worked for King Cole in a nearby potato chip factory. “They made good chips,” she said. She doesn’t serve chips—or French fries—with her burgers, though.
She’s feisty, and many of the customers, including Butch Bearsley, a customer since he was a kid, tell stories about Pennell’s spunk, including her sometimes loose interpretations of food orders. “You get what she wants you to get,” Bearsley said with a smile. Somehow, it seems, she always knows what customers want.
Bearsley brings his own kids to the diner now, and said they prefer Bette’s over McDonald’s or Burger King. Though the fast-food joints across the road may have cut into her customer base, Pennell said she doesn’t mind. “I’m not going to say anything against them,” she said, “but I’m not like that.”
The community recognized that years ago, but is beginning to forget.
“I remember you could never get a place to sit in here,” Bearsley said.
Now, even on Sundays, there are some empty tables, Pennell said.
Most of her clientele are long-term customers, but, she said, she sees plenty of summer visitors. If nobody’s around, she sits and watches the traffic on Route 1.
Betty may be losing a step or two as she ages, and some friends have encouraged her to stop. But she just shook her head when the subject came up. “There aren’t too many places like this left,” she said.
Bette’s Lunch and Breakfast hides along the edge of Route 1 in Scarborough, right next to the fire station. It’s behind a tree and doesn’t have a very obvious sign, but Betty Pennell doesn’t mind.
Entering the diner can be an act of faith, if the “Open” sign isn’t in the front window. The place can be quiet enough on a weekday lunch hour to cause doubt about whether the griddle is on inside.
But more than likely, Betty’s inside wielding a spatula, cooking up burgers. In the mornings, it’s mostly ham and eggs, though she also makes pancakes. It’s the same place she has been for nearly 53 years.
The place has an old-time family feel. The prices on the board haven’t changed for years: A hamburger is listed at 40 cents.
There’s not even a cash register – just a drawer next to the griddle, and Betty’s mind keeps track of the bill.
Prices are relative. One man, a regular, had been coming there since his youth. Now an adult, he paid two dollars for two hamburgers and a soda. This reporter, sitting next to him, paid the same amount for a single burger and a soda. But the second time I went in, I paid only one dollar for two burgers.
The building itself once sat in South Portland but was moved to make way for shipyards in World War II. The owner then, a man who owned three restaurants in the area, moved the building to Scarborough, “and here it sits,” Pennell said.
When the fire station next door wanted to expand, Pennell refused to sell. As a result, she said, she doesn’t get much business from the firefighters, though
she does see policemen now and again. Her reluctance to change is still evident.
The original wallpaper is still on the walls, though a bit darker now, with decades of griddle smoke. “I’m going to paint it sometime, if I ever get around to it,” Pennell said.
She doesn’t seem to be in much of a hurry, though, and it’s no surprise for a woman nearing 80 years of age who gets up at 4 a.m. each day to serve breakfast to her customers, who are often workers at Scarborough Downs.
Before she bought the diner, she worked for King Cole in a nearby potato chip factory. “They made good chips,” she said. She doesn’t serve chips—or French fries—with her burgers, though.
She’s feisty, and many of the customers, including Butch Bearsley, a customer since he was a kid, tell stories about Pennell’s spunk, including her sometimes loose interpretations of food orders. “You get what she wants you to get,” Bearsley said with a smile. Somehow, it seems, she always knows what customers want.
Bearsley brings his own kids to the diner now, and said they prefer Bette’s over McDonald’s or Burger King. Though the fast-food joints across the road may have cut into her customer base, Pennell said she doesn’t mind. “I’m not going to say anything against them,” she said, “but I’m not like that.”
The community recognized that years ago, but is beginning to forget.
“I remember you could never get a place to sit in here,” Bearsley said.
Now, even on Sundays, there are some empty tables, Pennell said.
Most of her clientele are long-term customers, but, she said, she sees plenty of summer visitors. If nobody’s around, she sits and watches the traffic on Route 1.
Betty may be losing a step or two as she ages, and some friends have encouraged her to stop. But she just shook her head when the subject came up. “There aren’t too many places like this left,” she said.
Thursday, July 11, 2002
Home health aide to be charged in theft
Published in the Current
A female home health care nurse is expected to be charged with theft for stealing jewelry and a blank check from an elderly Cape Elizabeth woman in her care.
The theft, reported on June 17, involved the patient’s wedding ring and other jewelry, stolen from an area in the home that is not regularly visited by the patient, whose mobility is restricted.
The wedding ring and the check have been recovered, according to Detective Paul Fenton.
The suspect, whose name is not being released yet, was also working in another Cape residence. She was the second nurse in that residence, as her predecessor had been fired for stealing as well. The family in that home had hidden all valuables and did not report any thefts by the suspect in the wedding ring theft.
The home health agency is cooperating with the investigation, Fenton said.
He had three suspects and has narrowed his list down to two with the help of a polygraph test. The remaining two suspects have not yet taken a polygraph test, Fenton said.
Fenton suggested that people take special care in screening any workers who may be in their homes, including contractors, home health aides and cleaning people. He recommended hiding valuables in a safe place, and checking all hiding places regularly.
He even mentioned “testing” in-home workers by leaving small amounts of money in semi-hidden places, or places in which it might have been forgotten. By checking those places, residents may be able to learn whether their in-home workers are honest or not, Fenton said.
Employers or third-party services may be available to perform background checks, but Fenton cautioned that those will only turn up people who have been caught in the past, and can’t predict who might commit crimes for the first time.
A female home health care nurse is expected to be charged with theft for stealing jewelry and a blank check from an elderly Cape Elizabeth woman in her care.
The theft, reported on June 17, involved the patient’s wedding ring and other jewelry, stolen from an area in the home that is not regularly visited by the patient, whose mobility is restricted.
The wedding ring and the check have been recovered, according to Detective Paul Fenton.
The suspect, whose name is not being released yet, was also working in another Cape residence. She was the second nurse in that residence, as her predecessor had been fired for stealing as well. The family in that home had hidden all valuables and did not report any thefts by the suspect in the wedding ring theft.
The home health agency is cooperating with the investigation, Fenton said.
He had three suspects and has narrowed his list down to two with the help of a polygraph test. The remaining two suspects have not yet taken a polygraph test, Fenton said.
Fenton suggested that people take special care in screening any workers who may be in their homes, including contractors, home health aides and cleaning people. He recommended hiding valuables in a safe place, and checking all hiding places regularly.
He even mentioned “testing” in-home workers by leaving small amounts of money in semi-hidden places, or places in which it might have been forgotten. By checking those places, residents may be able to learn whether their in-home workers are honest or not, Fenton said.
Employers or third-party services may be available to perform background checks, but Fenton cautioned that those will only turn up people who have been caught in the past, and can’t predict who might commit crimes for the first time.
Slow down in Prouts Neck
Published in the Current
It’s summertime, which means slow down on Prouts Neck. The police are watching.
Sgt. Michael Barker of the Scarborough Police Department is there year-round, and is assisted by several members of the department during the summer, protecting residents of Prouts Neck from speeders and other miscreants.
Under a 1993 arrangement with the town, the Prouts Neck Association (PNA) pays all of the costs associated with the officers, including their salaries, uniforms and equipment, as well as patrol car maintenance and insurance expenses.
The money is either paid directly by PNA to the provider of the services, or, under certain circumstances, PNA reimburses the town.
It is a long-standing arrangement going back as many as 40 years.
“As far as I know, the association has always paid for it,” said Lee Sprague, president of the Prouts Neck Association.
Barker himself has been the neck’s officer for 14 of his 34 years as a policeman.
“They want somebody in their neighborhood all the time,” Barker said.
During the summer, the association pays for some additional help, and five officers and reserve officers help out, some doing as little as one shift a week.
The work is, Barker said, “the same thing you do anywhere else in town.” But most of the work is speed monitoring. Putting a police car on the road in Prouts Neck can help, even when the radar unit is off.
“We have a very strict speed limit law,” Sprague said. The association suggests that residents use bicycles to get around the neck, and many residents do, especially children.
“They have a wonderful degree of freedom up here that you don’t have in a lot of other communities,” Sprague said.
That freedom comes at a cost, one the association is willing to pay.
“Some people don’t understand that Prouts Neck is footing the bill for this,” said Police Chief Robert Moulton.
The exact cost to the Prouts Neck Association is unclear. Sprague said the total cost of the police presence and its cruiser are all included in a larger budget line item for maintenance.
Barker’s salary is negotiated between the association and Barker, and is paid by the association. A first-year sergeant in the Scarborough Police Department earns $701 per week.
Barker has 25 years of service in the Scarborough Police Department as a regular officer, and would be eligible to make much more than that if he were still full time with the department.
While a new police car can cost $22,000 and $4,000 per year to maintain, Moulton said, the association piggybacks onto the police department’s periodic trade-in arrangements. The association picks the department’s best trade-in car, and gives the department Barker’s old car. The difference in value is made up in cash, Moulton said.
As for maintenance, the Prouts Neck patrol car is believed to have less wear-and-tear because it travels at lower speeds and covers shorter distances than the regular police patrol vehicles.
Moulton said there are certain items only police departments are allowed to buy, such as certain vehicle lights or uniforms. The department buys those for Barker and is reimbursed by the association. Most items, he said, are purchased directly by the association.
The Town of Scarborough does pay for departmental and state-required training for Barker, but those are services provided to all reserve officers, Moulton said.
Because he is paid by PNA, Barker is not usually considered available to respond to events outside Prouts Neck, Moulton said, but added that if his services were needed at a particularly serious incident, Barker would be called upon.
“He basically does what any other patrol officer would do in any other part of town,” Moulton said.
“What it really is is community policing,” Moulton said. “They wanted more extensive patrol coverage than the police department could provide.”
“A lot of the roads we have in Prouts Neck are private,” Sprague said. “We like to know that our roads are protected.”
It’s summertime, which means slow down on Prouts Neck. The police are watching.
Sgt. Michael Barker of the Scarborough Police Department is there year-round, and is assisted by several members of the department during the summer, protecting residents of Prouts Neck from speeders and other miscreants.
Under a 1993 arrangement with the town, the Prouts Neck Association (PNA) pays all of the costs associated with the officers, including their salaries, uniforms and equipment, as well as patrol car maintenance and insurance expenses.
The money is either paid directly by PNA to the provider of the services, or, under certain circumstances, PNA reimburses the town.
It is a long-standing arrangement going back as many as 40 years.
“As far as I know, the association has always paid for it,” said Lee Sprague, president of the Prouts Neck Association.
Barker himself has been the neck’s officer for 14 of his 34 years as a policeman.
“They want somebody in their neighborhood all the time,” Barker said.
During the summer, the association pays for some additional help, and five officers and reserve officers help out, some doing as little as one shift a week.
The work is, Barker said, “the same thing you do anywhere else in town.” But most of the work is speed monitoring. Putting a police car on the road in Prouts Neck can help, even when the radar unit is off.
“We have a very strict speed limit law,” Sprague said. The association suggests that residents use bicycles to get around the neck, and many residents do, especially children.
“They have a wonderful degree of freedom up here that you don’t have in a lot of other communities,” Sprague said.
That freedom comes at a cost, one the association is willing to pay.
“Some people don’t understand that Prouts Neck is footing the bill for this,” said Police Chief Robert Moulton.
The exact cost to the Prouts Neck Association is unclear. Sprague said the total cost of the police presence and its cruiser are all included in a larger budget line item for maintenance.
Barker’s salary is negotiated between the association and Barker, and is paid by the association. A first-year sergeant in the Scarborough Police Department earns $701 per week.
Barker has 25 years of service in the Scarborough Police Department as a regular officer, and would be eligible to make much more than that if he were still full time with the department.
While a new police car can cost $22,000 and $4,000 per year to maintain, Moulton said, the association piggybacks onto the police department’s periodic trade-in arrangements. The association picks the department’s best trade-in car, and gives the department Barker’s old car. The difference in value is made up in cash, Moulton said.
As for maintenance, the Prouts Neck patrol car is believed to have less wear-and-tear because it travels at lower speeds and covers shorter distances than the regular police patrol vehicles.
Moulton said there are certain items only police departments are allowed to buy, such as certain vehicle lights or uniforms. The department buys those for Barker and is reimbursed by the association. Most items, he said, are purchased directly by the association.
The Town of Scarborough does pay for departmental and state-required training for Barker, but those are services provided to all reserve officers, Moulton said.
Because he is paid by PNA, Barker is not usually considered available to respond to events outside Prouts Neck, Moulton said, but added that if his services were needed at a particularly serious incident, Barker would be called upon.
“He basically does what any other patrol officer would do in any other part of town,” Moulton said.
“What it really is is community policing,” Moulton said. “They wanted more extensive patrol coverage than the police department could provide.”
“A lot of the roads we have in Prouts Neck are private,” Sprague said. “We like to know that our roads are protected.”
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