By David Harry

Staff Writer 

A lot of people in Biddeford know Rory Holland. Many of them just don’t want to talk about him or the murder charges he faces.

Holland, who is charged in the shooting deaths of brothers Derek Greene, 21, and Gage Greene, 19, early Tuesday morning, was a visible – but not always welcome –  figure on Biddeford streets.

“He was arrogant, very arrogant,” said June Wormwood, a clerk at 3D’s Variety on Main Street. “His opinion was the only opinion.”

Wormwood has worked at the store for eight years and said Holland, 55, would visit two or three times daily.

“He would hang out, read the free paper and try to get free coffee,” she said.

Wormwood said Holland had complained of hard times lately. She said though it was often hard to tell if he was serious or joking when he spoke, he recently asked her what kind of trouble he could get into that would get him to jail so he could have three meals a day and a roof over his head.

It was not just business owners and residents who knew Holland.

Records from state and federal courts show Holland made frequent appearances for a variety of lawsuits.

Federal Justice Gene Carter in U. S. District Court in Portland dismissed a case Holland filed against the city of Portland and two police officers in 1996.

Portland police arrested Holland in 1994 after he refused to identify himself to officers who believed he might have been involved in a bank robbery. Although he was not charged in the robbery, Carter rejected Holland’s claims his civil rights had been violated when he was arrested.

In 2000, the Maine Supreme Judicial Court justices ruled Portland National Association for the Advancement of Colored People chapter president Moses Sebunya had not violated Holland’s rights when he had Holland removed from a chapter meeting in 1994.

In 2001, Maine Supreme Judicial Court justices overturned Biddeford resident Robert Kalex’s conviction for terrorizing Holland. The conviction stemmed from an incident in 2000 when Kalex allegedly threatened Holland on a street in Biddeford. 

In the Kalex’s trial in York County Superior Court in Alfred, Holland also alleged Kalex and others made racially motivated protests against Holland during his run for mayor in 1999.

Justices overturned the verdict because evidence of Holland’s reputation for being dishonest was not admitted at the trial.

In 2005, the Maine Supreme Judicial Court upheld Holland’s right to a jury trial after he was fined by Biddeford officials for shutting off utilities at the 56 South St. apartment building.

Holland tried local politics at least twice, running for mayor of Biddeford in 1999 and 2001.

In an interview with The Courier in 1999, Holland called himself a civil rights activist and landlord living with his wife, Janice Appel. 

Appel is listed on Biddeford tax records as the owner of the building at 56 South St. where Holland was arrested after a five-hour standoff with police Tuesday morning.

Before becoming well known to Biddeford residents and officials, Holland served time in prison in Kansas beginning in 1977. The Kansas Department of Corrections database shows Holland was paroled in 1979 and discharged from parole in 1980.

Bill Miskell, the department’s public information officer, said because Holland was an inmate before the electronic records were compiled, he did not know why Holland was imprisoned.

Holland’s confrontational style was why many preferred not to comment about him or the charges, but Sharon Sevigny took a break from serving customers at the Palace Diner on Jefferson Street to say diner owner Kyle Quinn had told Holland he was no longer welcome in the diner.

Sevigny, who owned a restaurant of her own, said Holland was a difficult customer there as well.

“You couldn’t make him happy. Nothing on the menu was ever right,” Sevigny said.

Wormwood recalled a confrontation with him on Main Street where he suddenly kissed her after they had quarreled. 

“I didn’t let him intimidate me,” Wormwood said.

Staff writer David Harry can be reached at 282-4337, ext. 241