Another year has come to an end in Franklin County. Here’s hoping that everyone has had a fun (and safe!) New Year.
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.
January – Barclaycard announces closure of Wilton call center
Barclaycard announced on Jan. 8 that its center would close in March, impacting 227 employees. Barclaycard opened at the Wilton location in 2008, leasing space in the former G.H. Bass shoe facility on the Weld Road. Serving as a customer service center for the company’s co-branded credit cards – until July 2018, L.L. Bean was one of Barclays’ many partners – the local center previously employed up to 500 people. The call center was the beneficiary of a $5 million renovation project that was completed in 2015, improving and adding new work areas and expanding its workforce from 350 to roughly 500.
The center has since been repurposed as a home for LEAP Inc., following September’s explosion at that nonprofit’s building on the Farmington Falls Road.
February – High winds down communication tower on Sugarloaf
High winds dropped a tower on top of Sugarloaf in late February, forcing first responders in the northern part of the county to temporarily rely on alternate means of communications until another antenna could be installed. No one was hurt in the collapse, as the tower and accompanying building was unmanned and Sugarloaf’s summit was closed at the time.
March – Farmington voters oppose NECEC project
Few issues in Franklin County in 2019 drew more attention than the proposed New England Clean Energy Connect transmission line. One manifestation of that debate was a series of town meeting votes aimed at rescinding previously-issued declarations of support for the project by selectboards; Farmington’s was held in late March. Despite support from Governor Janet Mills, who attended the meeting, residents voted 262 to 102 to have selectmen rescind their support and instead take a position in opposition to the project.
Since March, the NECEC project has gone through state approval processes; planners hope to begin construction this year. Those in opposition to the project have been gathering signatures in an effort to hold a statewide referendum on the project.
April – Jay man sentenced to 38 years for murder
James “Ted” Sweeney, a Jay man convicted of murdering another Jay resident, Wendy Douglass, with a softball bat on Feb. 1, was sentenced to 38 years in prison on April 10.
Sweeney and Douglass had been in a roughly 10-year relationship that had ended at some point in mid- to late-July 2017, although Sweeney had been permitted to continue living at Douglass’ residence at 5 Jewell Street in Jay. The final year-plus of the relationship had been marked by jealousy and suspicion on the part of Sweeney toward Douglass. That jealousy – unfounded according to all witness testimony – had become “obsessive and extreme,” as Justice William Stokes put it in his verdict, that the defendant had apparently installed a game camera to spy on the home’s comings and goings, wore disguises and borrowed vehicles to follow Douglass and would talk of little else to some family members.
While Stokes agreed with Sweeney’s attorneys that Sweeney had serious mental health issues leading up to the murder of Douglass, he found that the Jay man had not lacked substantial capacity to appreciate the wrongfulness of his conduct when he struck Wendy Douglass in the head and face with a bat in the early morning hours of July 11, 2017.
May – The Zen of Lilies
Bill Moloney has been growing day lilies for the last 30 years in Farmington. And growing is putting it mildly. He spent years breeding different varieties of the flower – teaching himself how to manually pollinate, track and store the Hemerocallis.
He does everything by hand: the rototilling, weeding, planting and mowing, as well as the rock, drift wood and plant collecting, and all the upkeep on his home. The work gives him a focus he said, and represents a piece of him that he will someday pass to his children or grandchildren. Nothing that Moloney makes or grows is sold for a profit. Occasionally he’ll trade things with friends, but he prefers to just give them away.
Just like the pieces of pottery found on the banks of the Sandy River, or the hundreds of unique rocks that Moloney has collected over time, the zen moments have found their shelf in his life too, and along with them the lessons that have shaped Moloney’s days.
“We verify our stories by what we see and what we believe we see, but we need to be more aware. We need to be less controlled by our stories and the narrowness of them. I know this, but I don’t know how to employ it,” he said. “If you’re not a bird watcher, you won’t see the bluebirds.”
June – Fire at Edgewood sends residents to Mt. Blue High School
More than 40 residents of Edgewood Rehabilitation & Living Center were transported to Mt. Blue High School on June 16, after a fire spread through the attic of the building. The midday fire drew more than 70 firefighters as well as a number of other first responders to 228 Fairbanks Road. Edgewood employees and first responders worked to evacuate the building of residents, who were then transported to MBHS by Regional School Unit 9 buses.
Chief Terry Bell later said that the fire was believe to have originated in a ceiling light/fan unit. The building’s sprinkler system activated, preventing the fire from spreading quickly.
Food and medical supplies were stockpiled at MBHS for the residents, who then went home with their families or to other local living centers.
July – Three injured after car crashes, burns in Farmington
Car crashes consistently draw high traffic on the Daily Bulldog. This one, on July 23 on the Morrison Hill Road in Farmington, resulted in the destruction of a 2003 Subaru and injuries to three, 17-year-olds. Police say the vehicle went around a corner on the Morrison Hill Road at a high rate of speed and lost control, striking a boulder on the left side of the road and going into the ditch. It then rolled back across the road to the right side, ending up on its roof.
August – Mardi Gras parade rolls down Main Street for Blueberry Festival
Another consistently high traffic story, the annual Blueberry Festival Parade rolled through downtown Wilton with a Mardi Gras theme in early August. Blueberry Festival, held during the first weekend of August, features days of activities and events, including the popular parade, billed as the state’s longest.
September – Explosion kills Farmington firefighter, injures others
The year’s biggest story was also its most tragic. The Sept. 16 explosion at the LEAP Inc. building on the Farmington Falls Road killed Capt. Michael Bell and injured several other firefighters that were responding to a report of a gas smell inside the building. Also injured was LEAP maintenance supervisor Larry Lord, a Jay resident who has been called a hero by local officials for his role in evacuating the building of his fellow employees prior to the explosion.
The blast resulted in an outpouring of support from within and beyond the community to support the firefighters, Lord and roughly 30 residents displaced from their homes by the blast. All six firefighters injured in the explosion were later released from the hospital; Lord continues to receive treatment at Mass General in Boston.
According to information previously released by the State Fire Marshal’s Office, a leak in a buried fuel line enabled propane to leak into the two-story building. A large, external tank had been filled with nearly 400 gallons on Sept. 13, but was reportedly empty when it was checked by LEAP employees on Sept. 16. Investigators have not indicated what caused the leak in the line or what sparked the explosion.
October – Eustis man killed in hunting accident
A Eustis man was killed in October after he unintentionally shot himself in the leg while bird hunting on a remote logging road. It was the first hunting incident of the year, according to the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife.
MDIFW spokesperson Matt Latti said that the Franklin County Regional Communications Center took a call from Mark Henderson, 57 of Eustis, at 5:56 p.m. Tuesday evening. Henderson told dispatchers that he had unintentionally shot himself in the lower left leg while bird hunting on a remote logging road near the northwest shore of Flagstaff Lake in Flagstaff Township.
Game wardens, Maine State Police, U.S. Border Patrol and NorthStar EMS all responded to the area and began searching logging roads for Henderson.
At 7:06 p.m., Warden Kyle Hladik located Henderson near his truck. The warden began administering CPR to Henderson and loaded him into his truck. A state trooper drove the warden’s truck to meet an ambulance at the Big Eddy Road as Hladik and another trooper continued CPR. Emergency medical personnel administered care to Henderson for approximately 40 minutes before he died due to his injuries, Latti said.
There are nearly 215,000 licensed hunters in Maine, Latti noted. Over the last 10 years, Maine has averaged six hunting incidents per year, with three fatal incidents over that 10-year period.
November – Local man recovering after heart transplant surgery
Tom Sawyer, a longtime banker and Chesterville resident, underwent a successful heart transplant procedure at Massachusetts General Hospital in November.
Sawyer is a well-known member of the community, having spent 42 years as an employee of Franklin Savings Bank and participated in a number of different fundraising events. Those activities came to a halt on Aug. 11, after Sawyer suffered a heart attack at his residence.
According to Camillia Yeaton, a family friend, Sawyer has been hospitalized since that incident, his first heart attack. He was taken to Franklin Memorial Hospital, then Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston. Then, on Aug. 16, Sawyer suffered a second heart attack. He was transferred to Mass General for heart surgery, at which point two mechanical pumps were placed in his chest. Sawyer began working to regain his strength and prepare for the possibility of a heart transplant.
Sawyer was placed on the heart transport list on Nov. 11. On Nov. 16, according to Yeaton, he went through the 9.5 hour-long surgery that concluded with Sawyer getting a new heart.
“Tom has made a miraculous recovery but he has a long road ahead,” Yeaton said.
December – Chester Greenwood Day brings the holidays to the Farmington downtown
Jugglers, Grinches and suffragists marched through the downtown Saturday in honor of 43rd annual Chester Greenwood Day, kicking off a full day of events.
The day is a celebration of Greenwood, a 19th century Farmington native and inventor who is credited with inventing the earmuff. The State of Maine declared Dec. 21 to be Chester Greenwood Day in 1977. In Farmington, organizers would later hold the parade and other events on the first Saturday of the month; that day falls closer to Greenwood’s birthday of Dec. 4, and also allows attendees a better chance at warm weather.
That gambit was only partially successful this year; while the sun was up it was quite cool in the downtown Saturday. The cold temperatures did nothing to deter a large crowd from cheering on their favorite floats, all themed as a favorite storybook. This led to the Hungry Caterpillar, the Little Old Lady and her Shoe and, like, five Grinches sauntering through the light dusting of snow that fell last night.
A new addition this year, created through a team-up by members of the Farmington Historical Society and the Farmington Grange, featured people marching in 19th Century costume. Meeting since August to sew skirts, blouses, hats and banners, the marchers were marking both Isabel Greenwood’s work as a suffragist as well as the 100th anniversary of the women’s suffrage movement, which will take place next year.
The parade is organized by the Franklin County Chamber of Commerce.
Top opinion stories (by traffic)
1. Al Diamon – “The dealers behind the deal” – link here
2. Al Diamon – “Mills strikes out” – link here
3. Ryan Whitt, MD – “In support of vaccination and LD 798” – link here
Top art stories (by traffic)
1. UMF student publishes second book – link here
2. The Nutcracker Ballet comes to Farmington – link here
3. Words on Words: Campfires along the Allagash & other Maine Rivers – link here
Top happenings stories (by traffic)
1. Wilton Fish & Game Association offers basic hand gun training course – link here
2. Evidence of an Amesokanti village found in Farmington Falls – link here
3. Hank Lunn to present ‘German Prisoners of War in Maine’ on April 28 – link here
Top business stories (by traffic)
1. Nurse earns certification in emergency nursing – link here
2. Power Plant open in Wilton – link here
3. Wilson Stream Family Dentistry announces new ownership – link here
