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.”

Rummage sale raises $6,925 for Katrina relief

Published in the Current

SCARBOROUGH (Sep 29, 2005): The "Rummage for Relief II" yard sale raised $6,925 for the American Red Cross efforts for Hurricane Katrina relief Saturday, earning $3,925 in cash and donations. A local business that prefers to remain anonymous is matching $3,000 of the amount raised.

Organizer Carrie Callahan, on whose lawn the sale took place, said her garage was full of donated items for sale on Thursday, and Friday morning brought more carloads and truckloads of items.

The main sale was held Saturday, but on Sunday "it still looked like a full tag sale," because there was so much stuff, Callahan said.

She said some people took advantage of the opportunity to pass on more generosity. One woman came from elsewhere in Maine, arriving late Saturday. She bought eight boxes of books several bicycles, to give to children in her hometown, Callahan said.

Many of the leftover items were donated to local charities, including homeless shelters and a shelter for single mothers. The remaining donated items – mostly furniture – will be given to the Salvation Army, Callahan said.

Kids with cap gun cause scare

Published in the Current

SOUTH PORTLAND (Sep 29, 2005): A trio of young South Portland boys caused a scare at the Brown Elementary School Friday, waving a realistic-looking cap gun from a balcony of a home across the street from the school.

School officials took the threat seriously and called police, who responded with three officers, who realized the gun was not real, according to Officer James Fahey.

The gun was confiscated, and the boys’ parents were called to the scene, where adults and children were sternly spoken to by officers. No criminal charges were filed, Fahey said.