A Year in Review: 2014

As Franklin County residents prepare to turn the page on their calendars, the Daily Bulldog takes a look back at some of the stories that drew the highest traffic over the past 12 months. Each story, ranging from important to trivial, heart-breaking to heart-warming, drew the most visits over a month-long period through either one or multiple appearances in Bulldog articles.

JANUARY – Icy roads test local crews, drivers’ patience

Those bemoaning the lack of snow this winter may want to think back to January, when a nasty combination of slushy conditions and a flash freeze locked many Franklin County town roads beneath inches of all-but-impenetrable ice.

With salt requiring approximately 20-degree weather with sunshine to have any impact, and sand blowing off the ice, road crews were reduced to using a set of special ice cutting blades, made out of hardened steel and studded with corrugated teeth, to score the ice in an effort to reduce its slipperiness.

The early-year road issues are partially responsible for a 13 percent overdraft in the Farmington Public Works Department budget, as reported by Town Manager Richard Davis at last week’s selectman meeting. That department has also had to deal with heavy rainfall this summer.

FEBRUARY – The New Sharon iron bridge comes down (eventually)

NEW SHARON – “They just don’t build them like they used to.”

That was the general opinion expressed by a crowd of residents watching the deconstruction of the town’s iconic iron bridge on Feb. 27. Positioned behind firefighters and sheriff’s department deputies, they stood in the cold with cameras in hand and families in tow, waiting for a big piece of the town’s history to come tumbling down.

However, after the whistles sounded and the sound of an explosion cracked through the downtown, the bridge was still stubbornly perched on its crumbling abutments, as it had for nearly a century.

At 165 feet, the Pennsylvania truss-style bridge has spanned the Sandy River for more than 94 years and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1999. The Route 2 bridge that runs beside it was built in 1959, and Maine Department of Transportation closed the older bridge in the late 1990s. On Jan. 29, MDOT awarded the demolition contract to CPM Constructors of Freeport.

The original plan called for the explosives to tip the bridge over, into Sandy River and away from the Route 2 bridge, so the iron structure could be dismantled and sold as scrap. However, after the detonation, the old iron bridge simply settled in place and set construction crew and MDOT members scrambling. A gigantic jackhammer attached to an excavator began pulverizing the downtown-side of the bridge abutment, but after several minutes of work the cold temperatures and lack of movement drove most of those in attendance indoors.

The bridge finally came down at 6 p.m.

MARCH – Fire guts West Farmington mobile home

Fires and car crashes typically draw the most traffic on the Bulldog, with a Morrison Hill Road blaze in West Farmington ending as March’s top story this year.

More than a dozen firefighters from Farmington and the mutual aid departments of Wilton, Temple and Jay responded to a trailer inhabited by Mary Hutchinson, 86, on March 27. Other towns initially called were sent back to their stations because a fire hydrant was located across the street and additional tankers weren’t needed.

The cause of the blaze was not immediately known by fire personnel at the scene. Deputy Fire Chief Clyde Ross said Mary Hutchinson was alone and was not cooking or watching TV when the fire broke out. Son Robin Hutchinson said he thought the cause was probably due to a faulty electrical system.

“I never did like that trailer,” he said. His mother lived there for 10 years or so. Her dog made it out safely and no one reported injury. Robin Hutchinson said he tried to go back into the mobile home to retrieve his mother’s purse, but was turned back because of flames and thick black smoke.

APRIL – Biggest drug bust in Franklin County nets cash, pills and guns

Calling it “probably the biggest drug bust in Franklin County,” Sheriff Scott Nichols stood before a table laden with stacks of cash totaling $144,008, hundreds of pills, two pounds of marijuana, guns and ammunition.

The Franklin County Sheriff’s Department, working with the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency and the State Police executed a search warrant at a home at 148 Avon Valley Road on April 22.

Daryl “Poochie” Searles, 56, was arrested at the home and initially charged with Class A aggravated trafficking of Schedule W drugs, namely oxycodone and hydrocodone and Class C unlawful trafficking in Schedule Z drugs, namely marijuana.

Confiscated at the home where Searles resided were stacks of cash totaling $144,008, 442 pills that included oxycodone and hydrocodone together equaling 9,252 milligrams. The pills, which police said were not prescribed to Searles, were allegedly selling at prices ranging from $10 to $60 a piece in this area. At those prices, Nichols said the pill stash seized could have potentially brought in $18,555.

The 2.1 pounds of harvested marijuana police said they also found was valued at $4,000. Seven guns and a box of ammunition were also seized by police.

On Dec. 5, Searles pleaded guilty to one count of trafficking, Class A, one count of trafficking, Class B, and one count of trafficking, Class C. He also admitted to the criminal forfeiture, turning over the $144,000 to the state. The arranged plea includes a joint recommendation for a 10-year prison sentence, with all but up to four years suspended, followed by three years of probation. The four-year, unsuspended sentence would represent a cap, with Searles and the state’s representatives able to argue for more or less time.

MAY – Disguised tractor doesn’t fool police

A Waterville man was charged with theft by deception and forgery on May 5, after allegedly purchasing a Toro tractor with a fake check and attempting to disguise it as a John Deere.

Troy Eafrati, 31 of Waterville, faced misdemeanor charges issued by the Franklin County Sheriff’s Department. According to Sheriff Scott Nichols, Det. Ken Charles began investigating the alleged theft after a resident on the Starks Road in New Sharon complained that a check he had been issued for a riding mower was fraudulent.

The Starks Road resident had listed the machine on Craig’s List, with Eafrati allegedly making contact via text and phone. According to Nichols, an arrangement was made to pick up the machine on April 27, with Eafrati writing the seller a check and leaving with the mower.

“The seller discovered from his bank that the check was fraudulent,” Nichols said in a prepared statement. “The business listed on the check was false and the entire check had been manufactured on a computer.”

Charles’ investigation eventually led him to Waterville. There, he and Det. Stephen Charles went to Eafrati’s residence and interviewed him. Eafrati confessed, police say, with FCSD recovering the lawn mower.

The machine had been painted green and affixed with John Deere labels to alter its appearance.

JUNE – Franklin County high school seniors graduate

Technically, Mt. Blue’s graduation was the highest traffic story, but all of the county’s events drew students, classmates and proud parents to the Bulldog.

Mt. Blue graduated 165 seniors, as well as saying farewell to Principal Monique Poulin, who bid her final goodbye to the seniors after accepting the post as principal at Skowhegan High School after 15 years with the district.

“I can confidently say that the Farmington community and the Mt. Blue community have prepared me to be a thoughtful thinker, active learner and hard worker,” Mt. Blue class speaker Ivy Enoch said. “In 10 years, wherever I may be, I will point to the tiny town in western Maine and think of you all.”

MSAD 58 graduated 52 seniors and bid retiring Superintendent Brenda Stevens farewell, with Valedictorian Emma Houston giving a brief but poignant speech that told her fellow students to go forth and be “fearless.

Spruce Mountain High School graduated 91 seniors, honoring two sets of valedictorians and salutatorians. It was the first class  to graduate since the former Jay High School and Livermore Falls High School were combined last year.

JULY – Albert Smith passes away

While the Obituary page as a collective entity is among the most popular sections of the Daily Bulldog, it is rare that an individual obituary gets the most traffic. Albert Smith Sr., however, was one of those rare people that cuts across town lines and the spheres of public and private life.

The longest serving member of the Franklin County Sheriff’s Department upon his retirement in April 2013, Smith was the longtime transport officer for the detention center.

He was active in agricultural circles: a 50-year member of the Maine Harness Horsemen Association, the Farmington Harness Horsemen Association and the United States Trotting Association, as well as in community ones: the Farmington Elks Lodge, serving as the Wilton Youth League Baseball Coach and Director as well as the Mt. Blue All sports Boosters Club.

AUGUST – Ice Bucket Challenges

The biggest fundraising craze of the year hit Franklin County around August, with students, public servants and business employees dumping ice water over their heads to raise money to fight ALS.

The challenge began as a grassroots effort to raise funds and awareness for the ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), and proceeded to explode in popularity across the country. It consisted of people nominating friends to dump a bucket of ice water over their head. Those brave enough to do it donated towards finding a cure for ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease.

By mid-August, The ALS Association reported $15.6 million in donations had been received so far, as compared to $1.8 million during the same time period last year (July 29 to Aug. 18). At that point, the association credited the Ice Bucket Challenge for inspiring 307,598 new donors to support their work.

SEPTEMBER – Farming family in New Sharon takes top prize

With Franklin County’s agricultural heritage, it should probably be no surprise that Silver Valley Farm of New Sharon’s selection as the 2014 New England Green Pastures Dairy Farm award winner drew heavy traffic in September.

The Davis Family took the prize for the state of Maine at the annual Eastern States Exposition, or The Big E. The award “is given every year to an exceptional dairy farm from each of the New England states,” according to the fair’s press release.

The Davis family has been farming the 300 acres since the 1940s when Jim Davis’ grandfather bought the parcel off Route 2. Now, the fifth generation of the Davis family has joined the workforce to help manage organic dairy farm’s 60 milkers, 75 replacement heifers and grow crops of corn and hay.

Five or six farms are nominated each year for the award from each of the New England states. Jim Davis’s parents won the award in 1974. Two or three years ago he and his wife Carol’s farm was nominated but didn’t win the prestigious award.

Once a farm is nominated, the judges, who were the top winners of the award from their state during the last five years, visit each and conduct a thorough inspection before deciding on which farm is the best of the best.

OCTOBER – Fairpoint workers go on strike

Those driving down Main Street for the past three months will likely have seen at least a couple Fairpoint Communications employees outside of the company office and garage, leaning against signs or chatting with passersby.

Approximately 2,000 employees of FairPoint, a telecommunications company based out of North Carolina, went on strike Thursday, Oct. 16 at midnight. The unions representing the workers have accused FairPoint of ignoring their proposals and illegally imposing conditions. The company maintains that the two sides have reached an impasse, which led to them implementing their proposals on Aug. 28, and is willing to respond to a counter-proposal that “meaningfully addresses the core issues of these negotiations,” according to a company statement released shortly after the strike began.

The unions’ collectively-bargained contract expired on Aug. 2.

The unions have argued that the company wants pensions to stop, workers to start contributing to health insurance and wants to cut healthcare benefits at retirement. FairPoint also wants to be able to hire outside contractors at will, supporters say, impacting worker job security.

The company has argued that it is trying to bring health care and pension benefits in line with what it believes is “mainstream” for regional employees, and transition union employees to the same benefit plans offered to non-union employees.

The company’s changes, which were implemented on Aug. 28, require that employees contribute for healthcare benefits, allows for the hiring of contractors and eliminates retiree healthcare benefits for current employees.

The strike has continued unabated through the remainder of 2014.

NOVEMBER – Moose threatened by tick epizootic

Throughout year one of a five-year study into one of Maine’s most iconic animals, Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife collared 60 moose in Wildlife Management District 8, located in western Maine.

The process is a complex one. Helicopters fly low against tree-studded western Maine foothills, in a district that stretches 2,000 square miles to encompass Jackman, Eustis, Moosehead Lake and Route 201. The crew finds a moose and fires their net cannon – which is exactly what it sounds like – to immobilize the animal. After that, two crew members known as “muggers” leap out of the helicopter and sprint over to the struggling animal.

They hobble its legs and place a blindfold over its eyes, calming the animal without using sedatives that present a host of other problems. Other methods are used as well, such as capturing moose in the water with a boat, but the helicopter is quick; one crew has logged 20 captures in a single day.

Once restrained, samples are taken from the moose, its ears are tagged and its neck is rigged with a padded, German-engineered collar. The collars come equipped with a GPS tracking unit that is approximately the size of a pint-box of milk and cost the department $600 apiece. The instrument tracks the moose across the state and, most importantly, alerts the department if the animal dies.

When a moose does die, the collar actually emails the Moose Project Leader, wildlife biologist Lee Kantar. Located south of Bangor, Kantar uses a vehicle, snowmachines and snowshoes to track down the animal and performs a necropsy – basically an autopsy for a moose. The animal is skinned, organs are harvested for transport to the Animal Health Lab, located on the University of Maine campus in Orono, and samples are collected. Kantar can break down a moose in roughly an hour.

The moose project is designed to track moose mortality rates, particularly cows and calves, so the entire process: collaring, tracking and the necropsy, is obviously crucial. But there’s a problem: Kantar has gotten way too many emails.

To date, the Adult Cow & Calf Survival Project has recorded 34 deaths: 22 calves and 12 adults. Most die in the spring: February, March and April. In New Hampshire, which has undertaken a similar survey, biologists call April the Month of Death.

The primary culprit is the winter tick, Dermacentor albipictus, which has been blamed for killing moose across the lower 48 states. The ticks have a one-year life cycle, unlike the two-year cycle of deer and dog ticks. Upon hatching, larval swarms seek out brush and await the passage of a moose, a process known as “questing.” Once on the animal, they feed upon its blood throughout the winter. Come spring, they drop off onto the ground to lay eggs and die.

In Maine, Kantar said, IFW has tracked tick counts since 2006. Last year, 2013, is the highest on record. It’s reached a point where Kantar referred to the issue as a “winter tick epizootic,” defined as a “temporarily prevalent and widespread” disease within an animal population.

The first year of the study has recorded a calf mortality rate of 73 percent, Kantar said, and an adult mortality rate of 33 percent. New Hampshire is recording similar numbers.

“If this happened every year,” Kantar said, presenting study findings to the Western Maine Audubon on the University of Maine at Farmington campus, “we’d have no moose.”

What Maine can do is adjust the number of moose permits that go into the lottery each year. This year, Kantar said, IFW reduced the number of permits by nearly 1,000 cow permits, down to 3,095. According to the IFW, that’s the lowest number since 2009.

Kantar described the first year of the study as “an ugly start,” but noted that Maine still maintains a sizable moose population. Counting has gotten more sophisticated, as wildlife biologists track moose herds via helicopter and maps that bisect the state into survey zones.

The mortality tracking project will continue for the next four years.

DECEMBER – Wilton man arrested, accused of causing the death of his grandmother

FARMINGTON – The Wilton man charged with murdering his grandmother on Saturday will be held without bail and undergo a mental health evaluation, a judge ordered in Franklin County Superior Court earlier this month.

Dana Craney, 22, is accused of bludgeoning to death Joanne Goudreau, 67, with a hammer while she slept. Her body was found by police partially concealed under wood and trash bags in back of the mobile home they shared at 1130 Weld Road. Goudreau had been reported missing by her daughter Katherine Lord.

According to the police affidavit, Lord told investigators that she called her mother and son at 3:32 p.m. Saturday afternoon and spoke with Craney. He reportedly told her that he had gotten in an argument with Goudreau and that she had left the home and on her way out, yelled “everything is yours.” Nearly 30 minutes later Lord called again and this time Craney reportedly told her Goudreau had struck him in the face during the fight.

Lord called police to report her mother missing a little after 4 p.m. Franklin County Sheriff’s Department responded with two dog-tracking teams. Lt. David Rackliffe said he located a set of tracks leading away from the mobile home and he followed them to a small depression in the backyard and discovered a body under a piece of plywood and bags of trash.

Craney was taken into custody by Wilton Sgt. Chad Abbott. During an interview with State Police Detective Randall Keaten, Craney allegedly said that he and his grandmother had a “verbal altercation” over leaving a pot on the stove, and that she had stuck him in the face and then she left the home. Craney reportedly said the blood on his coat sleeves may be his grandmother’s.

Later in the interview, Craney reportedly admitted to investigators he had “bludgeoned his grandmother in the head six or seven times while she slept in her bed.”  According to the affidavit, Craney said his grandmother had been physically and sexually assaulting him “his entire life” and that “he had enough of the abuse and needed to end it.”

Keaten said, “Craney admitted after beating her with a hammer, he dragged her body out behind the trailer and hid her in a depression placing a piece of plywood on top of her and some bags of trash.”

The state’s Medical Examiner’s Office performed an autopsy on Goudreau and determined the cause of her death was skull fracture due to blunt force trauma of the head and ruled the death a homicide.

A Harnish hearing, used to determine if a person who is charged with murder should be held without bail, is scheduled for 1 p.m. Jan. 30.

Wilton Police Chief Heidi Wilcox confirmed today that Dana Craney’s father is a man also named Dana Craney. The alleged murder of Goudreau comes 24 years–to the day–after the body of Leon Michaud, 73 of Auburn, was discovered in a culvert by a pair of woodsmen on Dec. 20, 1990. Craney’s father, Dana Craney, then-31 of Lewiston, was convicted in 1994 of killing the elderly auctioneer.