Children hurt when bus and van collide

Saco police said five children were injured when the van and bus they were traveling in collided on the way to Funtown-Splashtown USA. 

Sgt. Bruce Cote said two vehicles from a summer camp in Belgrade were headed north on Route 1 around 9:30 a.m. Sunday when the school bus stopped and was hit from behind by a full-size van. Cote said 10 people complained of injuries and five children were taken to the hospital for treatment of what appeared to be minor injuries.

The most severe injury appeared to be a broken nose, Cote said. Children in the vehicles ranged in age from 5 to 10.

The van had 15 passengers and the bus was carrying 50 people when the accident occurred, Cote said. The van was totaled and the bus had minor damages. 

Neither driver was charged and police continue to investigate the accident.

Cote said the uninjured campers continued to Funtown.

Local firms named best places to work

Several local companies have been named “Best Places to Work in Maine” by the Maine State Council of the Society for Human Resources Management.

The list includes 40 businesses from across the state and companies will find out how they ranked during an awards banquet Oct. 11 in Lewiston.

Local companies on the list are Volk Packaging of Biddeford, PeoplesChoice Credit Union and Saco and Biddeford Savings Institution of Saco.

The program recognizes companies that have established and consistently fostered outstanding workplace environments. The assessment process evaluated each company’s employee policies and procedures, as well as responses from employees.

Lantern, bench to be unveiled at park

The public is invited to a celebratory unveiling of a neighborhood lantern and bench on Williams Court in Biddeford.

A lantern cast from hands of residents and friends of the South Street neighborhood will be unveiled 1 p.m. Saturday. A bench dedicated to the memory of Donna Marie Parent, a former Williams Court resident who died young, also will be unveiled during the ceremony.

The city park was funded by the Housing and Urban Development Neighborhood Stabilization Program. Three apartment buildings were demolished to create safe and more open space, said Linda Hardacker, community development coordinator for Biddeford.

At the center of a circular concrete walkway is the lantern, which was cast in bronze by Josh Dow and Lauren Holgren of Green Foundry in Eliot.

“The lantern is a symbol to the neighborhood of their strength and community, and the neighborhood has worked hard to promote revitalization,” Hardacker said. “They are proud of this park and lantern and the efforts they made as a neighborhood to make it happen.”

The bench, donated by Cecile Parent and her family and Saco and Biddeford Savings Institution, was carved by sculptor Joe Auciello of Rockland.

The ceremony will be followed at 2 p.m. by a free South Street block party. The party includes food, activities and music.

High school needshelp with plantings

Biddeford High School officials are asking residents to help fill the school’s new courtyard garden.

Principal Britton Wolfe said the garden was created as part of the ongoing building renovation, but the school does not have money to buy plants. Large sections of the garden need to be filled and school staff will keep donated plants alive until they are ready to be planted.

Desired flowers and plants include monarda, echanacea, rudbeckia, coreopsis, echinops, dianthus, achillea, campanula, delphinium, salvia and clematis. School officials also would like to include Tiger lilies, the school flower, and orange asters, which bloom in the school color in September.

Donations may be dropped off at Biddeford High School at 20 Maplewood Ave. For more information, call 282-1596.

CasinosNo! seeks referendum change

Members of CasinosNo! have requested the Secretary of State change the wording of a November referendum question that would allow racinos in Biddeford and Washington County.

Dennis Bailey, executive director of the grassroots organization that opposes expansion of gambling in Maine, said in a prepared statement he submitted the request to make the ballot question more accurately reflect the intent of legislation that would allow the two racinos.

The owner of Scarborough Downs has partnered with Ocean Properties and plans to move the track to Biddeford. The complex, if approved by voters, would include a racino and hotel. Voter approval is needed to allow the racino in Biddeford and a tribal racino in Washington County.

The current ballot question reads, “Do you want to allow a slot machine facility at a harness racing track in Biddeford and at a harness racing track in Washington County?”

Bailey said the question should instead ask voters if they want to allow racinos within 25 miles of an exiting harness racing track in Scarborough and at a harness racing track in Washington County. The law to allow the racino makes no mention of Biddeford, but does require the racino be within 25 miles of the existing Scarborough track.

“Although residents of Biddeford have voted to host the slots facility (and a developer has made claims that the Scarborough Downs racetrack will be moved to Biddeford), none of this is guaranteed in the law that voters are being asked to decide,” Bailey said in a prepared statement. “In fact, as outlined in the law, any community within 25 miles of Scarborough Downs -– which would include Saco, Old Orchard Beach, Kennebunk, Scarborough, Portland, South Portland, Westbrook, Windham, Falmouth, Cumberland, Yarmouth and other communities – could hold a local referendum before Dec. 31, 2013, to host a slots facility without having to host a harness racing track.”

Ed MacColl, attorney for Scarborough Downs and the project, said Bailey’s proposed question is “misleading and wrong.”

“The law is very clear the slot facility would have to be on the premises of the harness racing track,” he said. “It’s very important to Scarborough Downs and harness racing that it be fully integrated with everything right at the track.”

MacColl said developers want to move Scarborough Downs to Biddeford, where local voters last year voted in support of the project. He said it “makes sense people understand at the polls” the racino would be in Biddeford.

“The secretary of state did a good job of boiling (the question) down to its essence,” he said.  

– Compiled by Staff Writer Gillian Graham