Law allows earlier

pullout from RSU

A new state law will allow districts to start the withdrawal process from Regional School Units six months earlier than previously allowed.

Beginning Jan. 1, 2012, residents of a community that has been a member of an RSU for at least 30 months may petition to withdraw from the unit. The current minimum is 36 months. 

Under the terms of LD 139, 10 percent of the number of voters in town who voted in the previous gubernatorial election must sign a withdrawal petition. A special election would then be held to approve the petition before it is presented to the RSU board and commissioner of education. 

Rep. Wayne Parry (R-Arundel) said the legislative struggle to obtain the six-month reduction began with two bills he sponsored to allow Dayton, Saco and Arundel to withdraw from their districts. Both bills were rejected unanimously by the Legislature’s Education and Cultural Affairs Committee. 

Parry continued to lobby the panel to change the consolidation law to make it easier for towns to withdraw. 

“This now gives the residents of Arundel, Dayton and Saco the opportunity to start the withdrawal process a little earlier if they wish,” Parry said. 

Police say man fired

handgun in house

A Saco man was arrested June 16 after he allegedly shot a semi-automatic handgun into the wall of his home.

Charles Casey, 39, was charged by Saco police with aggravated reckless conduct with a firearm and felon in possession of a firearm after police responded to his Washington Avenue home for a domestic disturbance complaint at 7:54 a.m. 

The alleged victim, a 26-year-old Saco woman, fled the home after the shots were fired to file a police report. Officers located Casey walking near the intersection of Lafayette Street and Washington Avenue. An officer found the handgun concealed in the rear waistband of Casey’s bands, according to police. 

Casey was taken to York County Jail after failing to secure $2,000 bail. He is scheduled to appear Aug. 11 in York County Superior Court. 

AG: Deputy justified

in shooting of man

The Maine Attorney General has ruled an officer was justified when he fatally shot a man armed with knives during a confrontation in Lyman.

Andrew Landry, 22, of Sanford, was shot and killed Jan. 15 by York County Sheriff Deputy Sgt. Kyle Kassa during the confrontation on Faucher’s Lane. According to the attorney general’s report, Landry’s family called police to report he was acting “oddly.” 

Kassa learned that Landry’s odd behavior included calls to family members about weapons and comments that he felt he was in “the matrix,” according to the report. Landry also asked a family member whether his cousin would bleed if stabbed because he though she was a robot, according to the report.

Landy methodically unplugged everything electrical in the home because he believed voices coming from the electrical outlets were talking to him, according to the report. When police arrived at the house, they found upset family members. Landry did not respond to questions and commands from police, according to the report. 

Kassa and Sgt. David Chauvette were