A Year in Review: 2016

That’s it for 2016 (for better or worse). Have a good (safe!) New Year celebration, Franklin County. Here’s something to read while you’re waiting for the ball to drop …

In what has become an annual tradition, 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.

Most visited Feature stories of 2016

JANUARY – Hit-and-run crash kills 21-year-old woman

Year 2016 began with a tragedy, after Taylor Gaboury, 21, was struck and killed as she walked east along Wilton Road/Routes 2&4, near the intersection of Route 133/Livermore Falls Road in the early morning hours of Jan. 1. After finding that Gaboury was deceased, the vehicle’s operator, Tommy Clark, 26 of Industry, fled the scene.

Police found Clark not long after they arrived on scene in a parked car at a nearby motel and he was arrested once police were able to piece together what had happened. His blood alcohol level test was .129 percent, above the 0.08 percent at which point a person is considered driving under the influence.

Clark entered guilty pleas on June 6 to Class B felony aggravated criminal operating under the influence and to a Class C felony charge of leaving the scene of an accident involving serious bodily injury or death. He was sentenced in July to seven years with all but three years suspended. He also was sentenced to three years of probation, a 10-year driver’s license suspension, and a total of $2,620 in fines and restitution.

FEBRUARY – Mt. Blue student auditions for the voice

Our highest trafficked article in February was about a Mt. Blue High School student flying to Chicago to audition for a chance to appear on a nationally-televised singing competition show.

Darby Sabin, a Wilton resident and in her junior year at Mt. Blue High School, vied for a chance to appear on NBC’s The Voice in February. The show televises the blind auditions followed by the battle rounds, the knockouts, the live playoffs and finally, the live performance shows.

For Sabin, auditioning for a chance to appear on a competitive vocal show on TV began with American Idol.

“I’ve wanted to do this my whole life,” she said. A while back she tried applying for a spot on that show but never heard back. Then she applied for a chance to audition on The Voice and was accepted.

MARCH – Prisoner escapes, assaults officer, steals car, recaptured after crash

A prisoner being transported to the Franklin County jail allegedly escaped from a transport van, assaulted both the transport officer and a homeowner, stole a car and crashed it on Zions Hill Road in early March, drawing significant interest from our readers.

Cook is accused of escaping from custody while being transported to Franklin County Jail on March 1. At that time, Cook had pending probation violation issues out of the Auburn area and was arrested and held at the Androscoggin County Jail prior to transport.

Cook had reportedly requested that the transport van be stopped on Route 133 so he could go to the bathroom. The transport officer refused, telling Cook he had to wait until they arrived at Franklin County Jail.

The two other prisoners, a man and a woman, told FCSO investigators that they noticed that Cook had gotten his right handcuff off and was “messing with the door of the van” until it opened. Cook jumped out of the van at the intersection with the McCrillis Corner Road.

Cook then allegedly broke into a residence on Route 133, after the homeowner had locked her doors after hearing on a scanner that a prisoner was fighting with an officer near A-Tec Auto, a local business.  The homeowner told police that a man came running across her porch and though she told him she was calling the police, he “lunged at the front door three or four times until he was in the house with her.” Cook allegedly kicked another interior door down, police allege, seized the homeowner by her sweater and demanded the keys to her vehicle.

Another homeowner, who had been working in the garage, saw a man driving off in his 2004 Jeep Grand Cherokee.

Law enforcement pursued, eventually determining that the the Jeep had left the roadway and crashed at the intersection of the Dutch Gap Road and Zions Hill Road in Chesterville. Cook was arrested  at the scene.

Derek Cook, then 31 of Wilton, was indicted on six felony charges and five misdemeanors by the Franklin County Grand Jury in May.

APRIL – Farmington secures Batzell Bridges’ property

Town officials moved in April to have a property’s deteriorating structure secured after people were found to be living in the vacant house.

The dwelling at 103 Bridge Street had been of particular concern to town officials after its sole owner, Joel Batzell Bridges, 66, died on March 1. Since Batzell’s death, people were seen coming and going from his property. Windows were broken and more trash was strewn around the lot. Town officials said they tried to find someone who may be responsible for the property.

Steve Kaiser, the town’s code enforcement officer, noted after Batzell Bridges’ death, police and fire officials became very worried about the deteriorating condition of the structure especially if people were living in there. Originally town officials thought they would have to wait to secure the property until the matter made its way through the probate court process. But as people continued to occupy the structure, it was felt something had to be done.

MAY – More than 50 fire fighters battle large woods fire in Starks, cause unknown

Drought conditions challenged firefighters this year, with several high-profile brush and wood fires. In early May virtually every available fire fighter from greater Franklin County responded to a large fire that broke out in a heavily wooded area near the Industry/Starks town line.

A motorist traveling on Mile Hill Road in New Sharon spotted large plumes of white smoke coming from the general area of New Sharon, Industry, or Starks and called to report it at about 10:30 a.m.

Fire fighters drove around to locate the smoke and found it to be located at 2065 Industry Road in Industry near the Starks town line.  The fire was described as very large in size and an all-county tone was given. Responding units brought water and  tools to battle the blaze in an area not far off Industry Road.

Wind gusts of between 10 and 20 mph drove the fire to spread faster with reports that flames had reached up into the trees.  Homeowners on Industry Road stood at the end of their driveways watching the fire engines pass by. Tankers filled their reserves at the head of Clearwater Lake at Allen’s Mills.

JUNE – New Sharon man killed in Wilton shooting incident

A shooting incident on the Weld Road was the highest trafficked article in June. According to police, at approximately 12:45 a.m. on June 1, an individual called 9-1-1 to report a shooting. Michael Reis, 23 of New Sharon, was transported by friends to Franklin Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Police later said that it appeared that a group of people went to the Weld Road residence and got into a confrontation with Timothy Danforth, 25, and his father, who lived at the residence.

Danforth has been indicted on one count of murder. Preliminary discussions about scheduling indicate the trial may take place in September 2017.

Assistant District Attorney Robert Ellis has stated in court that Reis had been shot three times at close range and that the shooting had arisen out of an altercation about a debt owed over a small amount of marijuana. Danforth’s attorney, Sarah Glynn, has said that his involvement went toward the “protection of his home and the protection of his father” and that Danforth had been cooperative with law enforcement.

JULY -Powerful thunderstorm damages Strong home

George Carter had never seen anything like that before.

It was about 3 p.m. on Monday. The sun was shining and Carter was out mowing his lawn in Strong. From his Pillsbury Road view he could see Sugarloaf Mountain.

“I thought, boy, it’s getting black over there,” he remembers. Then it started to rain and rain really hard. A fierce wind kicked up in all directions. He ran inside his house and waited with the rest of the family.

“It was like being in a car wash. You know, you’re sitting there and the water is coming at you from all directions but you know you’re safe in that little cocoon,” Carter, who is retired, said.

Except that safe feeling of being in the car cocoon was missing when the Carter’s metal roof started to peel off in sheets. Then a torrent of water flooded into their living room. His granddaughter screamed, his disabled wife, Sharon, sitting near the living room window and was not able to get out of her wheelchair without assistance, cried as she looked out.

It lasted 10 maybe 15 long minutes. Then it was over.

“She went through here real quick. Like a freight train,” George Carter said.

In assessing the damage, the Carters discovered that an estimated 50 big trees out the back of their barn had gone down. About 10 metal strips of roofing had been ripped off their house. Electricity, knocked out, returned about 24 hours later on Tuesday afternoon. The Carters managed overnight with a portable generator because of Sharon Carter’s disability needs and, as George Carter noted, “we live in Maine.”

AUGUST – 34th annual Blueberry Festival parade celebrates sports

Big crowds turned out for the 34th annual Wilton Blueberry Festival parade this year.

With temperatures striving to hit 90 degrees again, many parade spectators sought shade on the east side of Main Street to watch the festival’s parade billed as the longest in the state. The more than 100 entries marching this year included sports team mascots from across the state.

Children ran out to high-five, pose for a picture and hug Slugger of the Portland SeaDogs, Crusher of the Portland Red Claws, Whinney of the Harness Racing Association. Although not a sports mascot, Baxter, the cat of Maine State Library, proved a very popular attraction for hugs.

The sports theme was evident in many of the colorful floats which carried area teams, schools, and outdoor recreational activities such as fishing.

SEPTEMBER – Attendance down at the 176th annual Farmington Fair

Although the Farmington Fair ran well this year, attendance overall was down “by quite a lot,” fair officials reported.

Attendance was lower than in past years on opening day, Sunday, Sept. 18 and on Monday, Sept. 19, “by quite a lot and we haven’t been able make that up,” during the remainder of the week, said Neal Yeaton, Franklin County Agricultural Society’s secretary.

Rain on Sunday morning may have kept attendees away on the first day, he said. The weather was unseasonably warm through the week with highs reaching 80 degrees on some of the days.

The Drag Your Neighbor event moved to Wednesday night from Monday because track conditions were too wet after the rain, proved very successful with lots of spectators.

“That went over really well,” Yeaton said. It was the third year the drag races have been held with fair officials possibly moving it permanently to Wednesday nights because of the great midweek turn out.

This year’s displays at the Exhibition Hall were the rave by those attending, as was the the cattle area maintenance.

“People seemed pleased with what we had to offer,” Yeaton said. “We had a very good week.”

Among the blue ribbons at the Farmington Fair for excellence in growing fruits and vegetables was the display from the students’ garden at Cape Cod Hill School in New Sharon. The “Save Our Seeds” garden, under the direction of Crystal Oliver, a Mt. Blue RSD employee and Janet Plouffe, a retired art teacher and master gardener, won a first place ribbon for its display of vegetables in the school category.

OCTOBER – Those hungry for more of El Toro’s cuisine can now find the Mexican hot spot nestled into the Eastside Mall of Farmington. After a busy summer of trucking around the western Maine area, the crew of El Toro will be hunkering down for the winter in their new, fully equipped kitchen, offering take-out and delivery to their recently established fan club.

“It’s hard to tell how the public perceives us,” co-founder Anne Holloway said. “We’re really in it all the time, running around, getting tomatoes from the farm for salsa, or making sure things are working right. It’s hard to see it from the outside.”

Holloway stood in the takeout window of their newest home–a tiny, wood-paneled hole in the wall outlined in chili pepper Christmas lights. The space is already overflowing with customers, despite it being only an hour after opening morning. The phone rings and it’s a big order- but nothing the husband/wife duo can’t handle.

Behind the wood-paneling is the shiny new kitchen, where El Toro is finally stretching out. Owner and self-declared “Master of Creations” Garnet Keim is slicing and dicing away, tortillas flying from grill to takeout boxes.

With some funds to get started and a long-awaited dream of running a food truck, Keim began working on recipes and testing them out with friends and family. Items on the menu are all inspired by Keim and Holloway’s global gastronomical adventures; things like the Belize salsa–a habanero and carrot mixture adapted from “The Coconut Ladies” of Belize.

It took three years for the couple to get everything ready, from gutting and refurbishing a truck to establishing connections with local farms to source their ingredients. After their truck opening in May and long lines all summer, the business naturally fell into a more permanent location.

“The whole thing has just been this really great evolution,” Holloway said.

NOVEMBER – Election results for Franklin County

A presidential election, five hotly-contested referendum questions and a host of statewide offices led to a well-trafficked election article this year. Franklin County residents narrowly topped their 2012 voting totals, electing Donald Trump as president and reelecting Rep. Bruce Poliquin, keeping in line with the statewide results.

Franklin County residents sided with the statewide results on legalizing marijuana, voting against a background check law for guns, upping the minimum wage and a $100 million transportation bond. Franklin County voted against the education tax and ranked choice voting, although both of those issues prevailed across the entire state.

It remains unclear how this issues will be handled by the state government in the coming year.

DECEMBER – New Vineyard doctor dies in Foster Hill Road crash

A car crash on Foster Hill Road in December claimed the life of a New Vineyard man, after his vehicle left the roadway and collided with several trees. The driver was Cameron Bopp, 67, a New Vineyard resident and longtime physician.

According to Sheriff Scott Nichols, first responders arrived at the scene soon after receiving a call at 8:28 a.m. on Dec. 20 about a single vehicle crash on Route 145, also known as the Foster Hill Road, north of the Baker Hill Road intersection. Franklin County Sheriff’s Office personnel responded and discovered a grey 2004 VW station wagon off the road.

Investigators believe the vehicle was northbound on Foster Hill Road/Route 145 and traveling downhill at an apparent high rate of speed when it drifted to the right side of the road and collided with several large trees. This caused the vehicle to rip apart, Nichols said, ejecting the driver, Bopp, who was the only occupant of the vehicle. The driver is believed to have been killed instantly in the crash.

Bopp, returned to his practice at HealthReach Community Health Centers in Kingfield and Madison last spring after working with Doctors Without Borders, an international organization that offers urgent care to victims of war and disaster.