Suspect allegedly to 

blame for Internet outages

A Saco man was charged by Biddeford police for allegedly causing a telephone outage during a burglary at Great Works Internet on Jefferson Street. 

About 700 residential and 50 commericial customers, including the Biddeford Police Department, lost all telephone service and 1,000 Internet customers lost service due to a burglary and aggravated criminal mischief on Sept. 11, according to police. 

Brett L. Misenor, 40, of Saco, was charged Oct. 4 with aggravated criminal mischief. According to police, Misenor worked at GWI for eight years until he resigned his position. He tried to rescind his resignation, which GWI would not do. Police said Misenor used an access badge to get into the Jefferson Street building and unplugged circuitry associated with telephone and Internet services. 

Aggravated criminal mischief is a Class C felony punishable by fines and three to five years in jail. 

Gun charge in shooting case to be seperate

Superior Court Justice Roland Cole ruled last week a gun charge will be separated from the two murder charges against Rory Holland of Biddeford. 

Holland was charged with murder and illegal possession of a firearm following the 2009 shooting deaths of brothers Derek and Gage Greene in front of Holland’s South Street home. The judge ruled the firearm charge could be prejudicial to a jury because Holland was prohibited from having the gun because of a prior conviction for attempting to kill his 16-month-old daughter in Kansas in 1977. 

Cole turned down a defense request to suppress videotape evidence collected by Eric Cote of Saco from a home Holland once shared with Susan Varney. 

Holland is scheduled to stand trial this month at Penobscot County Superior Court in Bangor. Jury selection is scheduled to begin Oct. 18 and the trial is expected to start Oct. 25. Holland pleaded not guilty and has been held without bail since his arrest. 

UNE grant will help physician shortages

The University of New England’s Westbrook College of Health Professions received a $990,000 grant for its physician assistant program.

The money is from a Health Resources and Services Administration Affordable Care Act Grant. The goal is to meet primary care shortages facing the state and nation, according to UNE officials. It will provide $22,000 in annual tuition reimbursement to five students accepted into the program each year for the five-year length of the grant. 

Awards will be given to students who apply and demonstrate a commitment to practice in Maine. 

Dr. George Bottomley, director of the program, has partnered with Penobscot Community Health Center and St. Joseph Hospital system in Bangor to create a clinical training experience. Students who are awarded the grant will receive the first 12-month didactic training of their 24-month mater’s level program in Portland, then relocate to Bangor for a 12-month immersion experience in primary care. 

FEMA to rework area flood plain maps  

The Federal Emergency Management Agency will withdraw and rework proposed floodplain maps for portions of York and Cumberland counties.

The agency agreed to look at the maps again eight days after Sen. Susan Collins requested the agency do so. Collins, a ranking member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee that oversees FEMA, sent FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate a letter expressing concern about the mapping process. 

“The economic consequences of the initial flood maps could have been devastating, particularly in the current economic climate. That is why I was so disappointed when FEMA published proposed flood maps on Sept. 2, 2010, that did not reflect the most up-to-date data provided by several cities and towns in Cumberland and York counties,” Collins said in a prepared statement.

Accurate flood maps allow communities to make informed decisions about economic development, emergency preparedness and response, and how structures can be built to withstand or mitigate the consequences of flooding, according to Collins. 

FEMA published preliminary flood maps for Portland, South Portland, Cape Elizabeth, Falmouth, Kennebunk, Kennebunkport, Harpswell and other towns on Sept. 2. The publication initiated a 90-day appeal process.