TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2007

By Editor

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REPEALING SCHOOL DISTRICT CONSOLIDATION

Ellen Levesque has never circulated a petition before but she will start Wednesday after she registers one at the town office to repeal the state's new school consolidation law.

Levesque, a member of the Jay Budget Committee, has four petitions and plans to get signatures from Jay and Livermore Falls residents on separate petitions to help the statewide grassroots effort to repeal the law enacted earlier this year.

The state is requiring many school systems to consolidate with neighboring systems in an attempt to save $36 million in the state budget. A plan for new regional school units is due to the state by Dec. 1.

Levesque saw a story in a local paper and contacted Alan Morse of Phillips, who has been setting up on Broadway in Farmington to collect signatures.

She made arrangements to get some petitions herself, though initially she only wanted to sign one, and expected petitioners to be at the polls in Jay on Election Day but no one with that specific petition was there, she said.

Other residents she talked to were also interested in signing the petition.

Petitioners are hoping they'll get a lot more than the 55,000 or so needed signatures to show how strongly people feel about this, Levesque said.

"I feel the taxpayers in the state, we are all being forced to accept this at a very fast pace," she said. "Just in our area alone people in the town of Jay are going to have to pay more taxes as well as people in Livermore and Livermore Falls. ... I think consolidation of classes and services is a good idea and would work without having to combine systems and it would be fairer to the kids." (Perry, Sun Journal 11/13/07)

LEWISTON PUBLIC HEALTH ISSUES

Hospital and city officials hope to get elected officials' blessing for a group to tackle public health issues.

City officials from Lewiston and Auburn, local nonprofits and both St. Mary's Regional Medical Center and Central Maine Medical Center are proposing that the city councils in both cities create a public health committee. The committee would help the groups combine efforts in dealing with public health issues - from lead poisoning to possible pandemic outbreaks.

"I think it's a surprise to most people that Lewiston and Auburn, the No. 2 and No. 4 biggest cities in the state, do not have public health offices," said deputy City Administrator Phil Nadeau.

Hospitals handle some of those functions, such as setting up flu shot clinics. Nonprofit and other groups lead planning efforts for more difficult issues - such as planning for pandemic outbreaks or health education.

"But nobody brings it all together," Nadeau said.

The issue came up in April 2006, after an Edward Little student was diagnosed with tuberculosis. That spurred a round of testing of 150 students and faculty before the population was given a clean bill of health by state health officials.

"It went pretty well, but it underscores that fact that there is no infrastructure in place to deal with these kinds of issues," Nadeau said. (Taylor, Sun Journal, 11/13/07)

CRIBBAGE RULES

Cribbage players are confused.

Lawmakers are confused.

And Maine State Police say rules governing games of chance are anything but easy to explain.

Two weeks ago, a state inspector shut down cribbage games and tournaments at American Legion Post 4 in Gardiner.

The inspector told players their game was illegal because the Legion did not have a license to host games of chance.

Since an article about Post 4 appeared in the Kennebec Journal last week, Sgt. William Gomane of the State Police said he has been "fielding calls" from the public.

"These rules are not easy to understand and it's hard to explain to people," Gomane said. "Without knowing the circumstance, it's difficult to say (if a game is legal or illegal). If it's a community center and it's social gambling, it's legal. If you went to a place where you have sports betting in a for-profit bar, it's illegal." (Cooper, Kennebec Journal, 11/13/07)

BELFAST COUNCIL

Two of the three election winners took the oath of office Monday and vowed to bring a divided community together so that the city can leave the big box issue behind.

Newly elected Mayor Walter Ash and re-elected City Councilor Catherine Heberer said close votes in the Nov. 6 election will present a challenge to the mayor and council, but they hope the city may move on to other issues.

City Clerk Roberta Fogg said Councilor-elect Janet Anderson had to travel to Washington state to attend her brother's burial, and Anderson will be sworn in when she returns. Fogg said Anderson's brother died on candidate's night.

Fogg thanked outgoing officials for their work and presented them with their nameplates and plaques, saying "Keep your nameplate handy, keep it close," in case they serve again. Hurley also received his gavel.

Ash said the 1,170 to 1,140 voted for him for mayor over J. Michael Shell was close and the greatest challenge will be to get both sides of the city "on the same page."

"To the people who elected me, I appreciate it," Ash said. "For the 1,140 people who didn't vote for me, I'll do my darnedest to make you support me. We've got more to do than big box." (Andrews, Maine Coast Now, 11/13/07)

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE LAW

Earlier this year lawmakers overwhelmingly approved legislation strengthening the penalties for domestic violence, but an error in drafting the measure means it will fall short of expectations unless lawmakers act in January to fix the error.

"It's a mistake in the drafting," said Senate President Beth Edmonds, D-Freeport. "It does not do all we intended it to do."

Edmonds is sponsoring emergency legislation to fix the mistake that significantly weakens the law that takes effect Feb. 1, 2008. The portion of the statute that is affected is the section that provides for up to five years in prison for a second domestic violence conviction.

"There was a mistake in the drafting that makes the law prospective only," said Evert Fowle, district attorney for Kennebec and Somerset counties and vice president of the Maine Prosecutors Association. "But the right section was referenced for other jurisdictions, so part of the law will work as intended."

Fowle said that without changes, the new law would not allow prosecutors to "look back" at previous domestic violence crimes and consider them as the first offense, allowing the "felonizing" of the second offense.

"But say a person committed an act of domestic violence in Massachusetts in January, and committed another in Maine in February; we could charge the person under the law with a domestic violence felony as a second offense," he said. "That really doesn't make a lot of sense and needs to be fixed."

Fowle said the new law had broad support in the Legislature and was supported unanimously by the Legislature's Criminal Justice Committee. Gov. John Baldacci praised the legislation at a ceremony held to underscore its importance.

"Too many women and children are being victimized, and each story is tragic and compelling," he said last July. "We've come a long way in just a few short years." (Leary, Capitol News Service, 11/13/07)

EDITOR can be reached via email at editor@politicsnj.com.

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