Scarborough schools seek more spending

Scarborough councilors on Wednesday were scheduled to conduct a final vote on the town's $65.1 million municipal and school budget proposal. But if there's one thing they learned one week out, it's that they're not spending enough.

About 50 citizens were present when the gavel pounded to open a public hearing April 27.  Of the 19 who rose to speak, all but one said Scarborough needs to spend more on schools and in donations to local nonprofits.

A number of speakers said the town should spend not only more money on schools, but also a greater percentage of its overall budget, as well. One even suggested some town services should be cut in order to grow the school budget.

"I'm getting a little tired of every time there's a snow storm, feeling like I've got to look both ways three times so I don't get run over by a plow truck coming by my house," said Will Leadley, who has three children enrolled in Scarborough schools.

"I think we could do with a few less things throughout the town in a few places," he said, "especially if that means restoring funding to education, which is, by far, in my mind, the single most important thing that we do."

The initial school budget presented by interim Superintendent JoAnne Sizemore represented a 0.6 percent increase over the 2010-2011, $35.1 million spending plan. Following a series of public meetings, at which parents such as Leadley spoke out, the school board voted to ask for another $545,000. The municipal finance committee then pared that back by $225,000.

The resulting year-to-year increase to school spending of $567,594 (up 1.62 percent) would not be enough to save as many as 23.67 full-time equivalent jobs, scheduled for the chopping block to account for cost increases, primarily in salaries and benefits.

A number of citizens, including Debra Fuchs-Ertman, pointed out that Scarborough spends the least per pupil ($8,468) of any school in the area, and of nearly any in the state.

Like Leadley, Fuchs-Ertman said the schools are more important than other functions, such as the newly rebuilt Haigis Parkway intersection.

"People do not move here for a nice intersection," she said, "they move here for the schools. We could increase the mil rate and still be very competitive with other towns."

According to Town Manager Tom Hall, if councilors pass the budget as proposed, the portion that would have to be raised in property taxes, based on revenue and assessment projections, would ring in at $46.3 million. That would mean a property tax rate of $12.97 per $1,000 of assessed valuation.

Put another way, on a home valued at $300,000 – which Hall called "about average" for Scarborough – the homeowner would pay an additional $102 in property tax.

Some, like Christine Kukka, said they'd happily fork over the extra money.

Gone from the proposed budget are all donations to nonprofit organizations. Scarborough Land Conservation Trust President Jack Anderson said its $5,000 request represents 12 percent of his organization's operating budget. Deborah DiDominicus, deputy director of the Southern Maine Agency on Aging, said programs such as Meals on Wheels are at risk without Scarborough's donation, which is used as part of the matching funds needed to "leverage" state and federal grants.

Those cuts seemed in incense Kukka.

"I always thought one of the key functions of government was to help those in need," she said, pointing to the million-dollar bathhouse being built at Higgins Beach. "Aren't we better than this? Is this the community we want to be? How can we neglect the children and the most needy in our community?"

Scarborough nabs counterfeiting couple

Emily Carter 

For The Dairy Corner, on Route 1 in Scarborough, getting stuck with funny money has become an annual occurrence. 

Last week, it happened for the third time in as many years, when an Old Orchard Beach man passed two fake $20 bills though the counter window of the popular ice cream shop.

The counterfeiters, who were caught quickly by police, also allegedly passed the fake bills at two other Scarborough locations and possibly one in Windham. According to Scarborough Detective Sgt. Rick Rouse, the only thing at all novel about the transaction is that, for once, the counterfeiter was someone from Maine.

“It usually begins about this time of year,” he said, on Monday. “You normally think that it comes with the tourist crowd, but that’s not always necessarily the case.

“It goes on throughout the season,” said Rouse. “A lot of times a business will be going through their cash and find something [with] no clue who passed it to them.”

That’s exactly what happened at the Dairy Corner, owned for the last 11 of its 32 years by Robin Provencher. On Thusday, April 28, she discovered the fake bills in her receipts from the previous day.

“It was fairly obvious, if you know what you’re looking for,” she said, Friday morning, not long after being told Scarborough police had cracked the case. “If you compared it to a regular $20, they did kind of a sloppy job, so some white showed along the top edge of one of them. The other was better. It fooled my counterfeit pen.”

According to Rouse, some of the bills passed by Brenton Blais, 32, Old Orchard Beach, were lower denomination bills bleached out and then printed over, probably on a home computer, with the image of a $20.  It fooled Provencher’s pen – which lays down an certain colored line only if a given bill is made of same linen/cotton blend as genuine currency. Paper money isn’t really paper at all.  In fact, it’s a closer cousin to the shirt on your back than the page in your notebook.

Brenton Blais

“The pen will indicate it’s a real bill, because it is a real bill,” Rouse says of the bleaching trick. “It just doesn’t tell you that it’s supposed to be a $1 and not a $20.”

According to Rouse, at least one of Blais’ bills was printed on regular paper.  That’s what first caught Provencher’s attention, because “it just didn’t feel right.”

As luck would have it, Blais drew the new girl on the counter.  Emily Carter, 18, was just two weeks into her first job handling cash and admits she let the fake bills get by her.

“They were only in my hand for, like, 2-3 seconds,” she said, flashing a broad smile. “But I bet I could tell the difference now. It’s been a real learning experience.”

Still Carter became the star witness – remembering what the culprit was wearing and what he drove – not because she caught the graft, but because Blais has creeped her out.

"He was really weird," she said. "He kept talking to me, just chit-chat, trying to distract me, I guess. He kept going on about the tip jar, saying, ‘Oh, yeah, I remember back in the day, working for tips,’ but then he didn't leave any money in the jar."

Scarborough police were with Provencher late Thursday morning, steeling themselves to review of an entire day’s worth of security-camera footage – which can feature as many as 500 customers on a busy day – when Carter arrived to start her shift.

“When she came in she said right away, I know who did it,” marvels Provencher. “I was like, ‘What? You remember this?’ But she definitely got a vibe off of him.”

Once police knew where on the tape to look, it didn’t take long to peg Blais as a familiar face.

“We’ve had him for other charges going back to 2006, including drugs,” said Rouse. “And there’s a [pending] case which involves a stolen check that was previous to this [counterfeiting charge]. That kind of gave us the idea he was up to something.”

It didn’t hurt that Blais can be seen on the security footage leaning in the counter window, an act that prominently displayed the tattoo on his left arm.

Blais is alleged to have also spent his counterfeit cash at Walmart. Following a complaint called in by Dunkin’ Donuts Friday morning, Scarborough police stopped a vehicle  “a short distance away.”  Inside were Blais and Jennifer Wormell, 31, also of Old Orchard Beach.

Found inside was a $2 plastic baseball cap Dairy Corner uses as sundae cups, which Blais can be seen on tape buying with one of his fake bills.

“The helmet was in the glove box and fell out when the officer was searching through it,” said Rouse.

Blais and Wormell were each charged with aggravated forgery – a Class B felony punishable by up to 10 years in prision and/or a $20,000 fine.  Blais also has been charged with theft, which would normally be classed as misdemeanor, given the value of items “purchased.”  However, because of his prior record, Blais could have this charge rendered a Class C felony, earning him the possibility of an additional five years and/or $5,000.

There also remains the possibility of additional federal charges levied by Secret Service, which investigates counterfeit claims.

“They came out and took a look at the case,” said Rouse.  “We have no idea what they’ll do with it.”

According to Rouse, Blais was out on bail by Monday and faces a late-June arraignment hearing. Scarborough police believe Blais and Wormall made the bills themselves, and may have passed them in Windham, as well as at the three Scarborough locations.  A second, as-yet-unidentified woman, seen at the Walmart with Wormall, also may be involved, Rouse said.

For Carter, the experience is one she’ll remember, although she might have hoped for more.

"I was a little disappointed," she said, laughing, while waiting on customers. "I was expecting to go in [to the police department] and have people file past. But they just came here [to Dairy Corner] and showed me pictures."

"I told her, it's not like on TV," said Provencher, sharing in the laugh.

However, it's not really a joking matter.  Provencher has ordered a bill-scanning machine, and, until it arrives, has retrained her employees to hold bills to the light, to look for the telltale security strip woven into the fabric of more recent press runs.

"It's upsetting to think that someone would do that to a small business, but I guess they really don’t care" said Provencher, knowing she’s lost forever the $40 Blais tricked her out of.

"Forty dollars is a lot of money when you consider than an ice cream cone costs $2,” she says. “If it happened more often, it would definitely impact then business."

Dill, Maietta square off in campaign’s only debate

Cynthia Dill, left, and Louie Maietta

A frantic, five-and-a-half week campaign does not leave a lot of time to schedule side-by-side appearances. In fact, only one debate has taken place so far in the special election for State Senate District 7, and no other joint meetings are scheduled between the candidates – Democrat Cynthia Dill, and Republican Louie Maietta.

The lone debate was held Thursday, April 28, at the Piper Shores Lifecare Retirement Community, in Scarborough, with questions posed by home residents.

Maietta began his introduction by mention his previous experience in the 121^st Legislature, from 2002 to 2004.  “I know how things operate up there [in Augusta],” he said.

“I’m looking forward to going back,” he said, noting that he’d only retired to help his three daughters launch a banquet business. Likening that experience to how his father started eight sons in the construction business, Maietta linked the two by mentioning his “top priority” – creating jobs for young people in Maine.

“Parents are losing their children to out-of-state jobs,” said Maietta. “I can’t imagine that. I couldn’t imagine not seeing my grandchildren every day. We need to make jobs happen in this state.”

Maietta also pointed to the person whose job he hopes to win, Larry Bliss, who resigned the District 7 seat to take a job in California.

“He’s a state senator and he couldn’t get a job he’s qualified for in this state,” observed Maietta. “That says everything, right there.”

The solution, said Maietta, is to “loosen up and streamline” regulations, “so businesses will want to come here.”

“We need to keep our environment as good as it is in the state of Maine,” said Maietta. “But as far as the permitting process, the DEP, EPA, DOT people, they all need to streamline this. We want to see things done in six to eight months, not two years.”

Maietta also railed against Dirigo Choice, the state-run insurance plan, saying that health insurance should be sold across state lines as easily and readily as car insurance.  And, while Dill, a state representative, had yet to arrive – she ran late due to legislative business and apologized upon her arrival – Maietta was not shy about taking a shot at her in absentia.

“My opponent, she favors a 10-cent gas hike,” he said.  “I gassed up just before I came here. It was $4.94 a gallon.  That’s out of control, but she wants 10 cents more to put toward sales tax for the state.”

“I’m totally against that,” said Maietta.  “If anything we should be working as legislators to lower gas prices.”

Finally, Maietta closed by distancing himself from Gov. Paul LePage. 

“I don’t want to make this a Gov. LePage thing, but I am respected for being able to work with Democrats just as well as Republicans,” he said.

When it came her turn, Dill began by outlining her education (a 1990 law degree from Northeastern University) and career (a civil rights attorney in her own practice since 1994). That was something Maietta, who holds an associates degree in fire science from Southern Maine Technical College, and who spends his time managing to South Portland buildings he owns, neglected to do.

“I am a Democrat and very proud of it,” said Dill. 

“I have been an advocate for the elderly and multiple people in our society,” she added, mentioning an Advocate of the Year award she was given last year by the Disabilities Rights Center. “I believe strongly that our government is something that we need to cherish and that government can play an important role in protecting people’s rights, investing in infrastructure and public institutions that we need as a society, and in regulating corporations and other business that sometimes don’t have our best interests at heart.”

And, where Maietta and seemed to shy away from mentioning the governor, Dill, as a sitting, three-term member of the state House of Representatives, seemed eager to drop the title, if not the name.

“This session, I have done a lot of standing up to what I consider to be unreasonable policies and bills that have been introduced by the governor,” she said.  “What I’d like to get back to is the work I was doing last session, which is expanding broadband and getting the Internet to rural parts of Maine, so that businesses in Aroostook County and Washington County can sell their products, because as their economy rises, we, in the southern part of the state, will do better.”

Dill said that as soon as the day after the special election, the winner will be asked to cast “very important votes,” and that she was prepared to do so “in a way that reflects the values of this community.”

“For example,” she said, “we will be asked to vote on whether was want to expand the prevalence of guns in our society. I believe that we should place reasonable regulations on guns and I don’t support some of the measures coming forward to give everybody a gun and to not require a permit for concealed weapons.

“There are also bills that would deny illegal immigrants and the elderly health care benefits, to roll back a woman’s constitutional rights, and to relax child-labor laws.” Dill claimed. “Those are not issues that I support.

“Trust me, I do support a lot of things,” said Dill. “It’s just that, in this legislative environment, there are a lot of, what I consider to be, bad ideas, and we need someone who’s strong who’s going to stand up and take a stand.”

Following introductions, the candidates were each given two minutes to respond to questions posed by the audience.  The first came from a “life-long Republican,” who wants the state to “come out of the gutter, financially.”

After the woman railed on the local economy, and unions, and public spending, and Maine’s poor showing when compared to her native Connecticut, Dill stepped up to the microphone.

“Thank you,” she said.  “I think there was a question in there, somewhere.

“I do have balance in my background,” said Dill, noting that her father was a Republican, too. “The last three legislative sessions, I voted to reduce spending, and to not support a broad-based tax.”

Dill claimed that, during her tenure in the last Legislature “state spending has been cut to where it was a decade ago.”

“This session, however, under a Republican administration, state spending is going from $5.8 billion to $6.2 billion,” she added.

“When I hear that we are broke, I’d just like to remind people that we have a Constitutional requirement here in Maine to balance the budget, every year,” said Dill.  “The question is not, do we have the money? We do have the money. The question is, how do we spend it? And I’d suggest the fear-mongering that’s going on, blaming the poor, and blaming the disabled for why we are in the state we’re in, is just nonsense.

“We had a recession in 2008 because, in large part, by wealthy investors on Wall Street who took some significant risk that led to a lot of serious problems,” said Dill.  “Those are problems I plan to address, but I do not plan to make the teachers in our community, and the elderly, pay for those mistakes.”

That litany gave Maietta an opening to get off what may have been the best line of the event: “Well,” he said, as he stood to take his turn. “I’m sure there’s an answer in there also.

“The Republicans have been in control since January, after a 30-plus-year-long stint of not being in control,” said Maietta.  “When you look at what’s come out so far, if you look at the governor’s LD 1 [the regulatory reform bill], that includes anything and everything they can throw in there. 

“Now, it’s time to whoa things up,” he said,” clarifying for audience members after the debate that the first version of any bill, in his opinion, always leaves room to negotiate a middle ground.

Asked how he’d create jobs, Maietta said, “It’s in the mom-and-pop shops.”

“It’s not all in technology,” he said. “We need to diversify, because right now, we don’t have any stability.”

After both candidates touted the importance of education in creating jobs, Dill said she has submitted a green-energy bill to convert vacant factories into homes for large banks of computer servers, powered by the rivers-born energy that once ran the textile mills. 

“That,” she said, “will create a lot of good jobs.”    

Cape Elizabeth going down the rabbit hole?

There’s one rule about catching rabbits – you don’t talk about catching rabbits.

On Monday, Cape Elizabeth Town Manager Michael McGovern, citing the state’s reluctance to release information, played mum about the status of ongoing efforts to corral New England cottontail rabbits at Fort Williams Park, which became a necessity after the endangered species was found at the park.

“I don’t usually like to be evasive,” said McGovern, “but they specifically asked that we not release any information on the catch program.”

McGovern has verified that he has a May 10 meeting with the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife (IF&W), which is working to remove the rabbits, but has refused to say what issues will be on the table.

One sticking point in negotiations is an IF&W demand that the town set aside eight acres of habitat for every acre of land disturbed in the park. The plan is for the rabbits to be moved and bred in captivity. Their progeny would then be brought back to land set aside in Cape Elizabeth. The town is now trying to identify where that land might be, and how much land is needed.

At a recent meeting of the Fort Williams Advisory Commission, Chairman Bill Nickerson said about 50,000 square feet of land was cleared, although IF&W “claims it was 2.5 acres.” That would equate to a demand of 20 acres.

“We are still working with the town,” said Judy Camuso, a regional biologist with the IF&W. “We need to come up with a management plan. Our goal is to make sure we don’t have any net loss of habitat. Otherwise they are going to have no way to grow their population.”

Camuso said the silence surrounding the search for the rabbits is meant to protect the animals, which have been reduced to a population of around 300 individuals.

“As with many endangered species, there’s a black market for them,” she said. “I don’t want to tell people too much about how we are moving the rabbits, or when, or that sort of thing, until we are done.”

The need to catch the rabbits arose last fall, when volunteer members of a committee created to build an arboretum at the park cleared an area of invasive pants – bittersweet and Japanese knotweed – that were necessary as cover for the New England cottontail, which has been on Maine's list of threatened and endangered species since 2007. 

Once the progeny of the rabbits are returned, said Maureen O’Meara, the town planner, one possible rabbit homeland is the 71-acre Winnick Woods, which already has a management plan that includes setting aside 15 acres for New England cottontails. 

“That 15 acres is immediately adjacent to 10 acres that is owned by the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service,” O’Meara said. “Those two acres together become a meaningful amount of land that can support the cottontail in a reasonable habitat.”

Whether or not Winnick Wood will be volunteered is unknown. Another area, known as Gull Crest, also has been mentioned as a possible habitat. Wherever the rabbits land, there will be restrictions on public use of the land, McGovern has said.  There also could be ongoing costs to local taxpayers, as maintenance of the required undergrowth is not what a naturally maturing forest does of its own volition.

Camuso has acknowledged that local taxpayers may play on ongoing role, beyond the $4,800 already committed.

“Cape Elizabeth should consider themselves privileged to be stewards of such a rare animal,” she said.

And how is that stewardship going so far? 

“They have caught one bunny so far,” said a volunteer on a town committee, late last week, “but it got away.”