2009: Cowan Mill arson

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Late on the afternoon of July 15, the Cowan Mill on the shore of the Androscoggin River in Lewiston was consumed by an arson fire.

Within minutes of the first sign of smoke, flames were seen shooting from the upper floors of the mill. Within 15 minutes, most of the roof had collapsed and what sounded like thunder roared as walls and floors came tumbling down inside the structure.

 

The destruction was so violent, embers spewing across Main Street lit sections of the Bates Mill No. 5 roof on fire.

 

The fire burned over more than a day and, on July 12, a Superior Court judge ordered the demolition of the mill because the remaining structure was so unstable.

 

The textile mill, which overlooked Great Falls, was built in 1850 and had been listed on the National Historic Register.

 

A 13-year-old boy, who has not yet been identified, was detained in October in connection with the fire. He was held at Long Creek Youth Development Center in South Portland, but later released.

 

No charges have been filed in this case. 

2008: Oxford County casino rejected

In November, the hard-fought campaign to build a casino in Oxford County was
rejected by Maine voters.

The casino
project was the brainchild of Rumford attorney Seth Carey, who authored legislation to create a 10-year monopoly, lower the gambling age and seat himself on all agencies that may have benefited from casino profits — all controversial elements that eventually overshadowed the potential job creation and
economic development promise of the casino.

Carey stepped
down from the campaign in the spring as he faced several charges of legal misconduct in his private law practice, but returned weeks later to
continue his fight to site the casino in his hometown. Carey's license was suspended for six months and a day following a misconduct hearing before the Maine Judicial Supreme Court in 2009.

In September 2008, Carey sold his majority interest in Evergreen Mountain Enterprises to Nevada-based Olympia Group, run by former Caesars Place president and CEO Dean Harrold. Harrold continued the campaign to build a $184 million casino resort, but after the November loss at the polls said he had no future interest in siting a casino in Maine.

In December 2009, Black Bear Entertainment LLC, another group that wants to build a four-season casino and resort in Oxford county delivered 90,000 signatures to election officials to force a statewide referendum in the fall of 2010. And, a competing measure to develop a casino in Lewiston's Bates Mill No. 5 has been proposed by investors in Lewiston-Auburn.

2007: Auburn man kills mother, then is killed

On the morning of March 30, police swarmed a Minot Avenue home in Auburn after a man was reported wandering in the yard with what appeared to be an automatic weapon. The body of Margaret Peters, 76, was sprawled in the driveway behind him.

The man with the rifle was soon identified as Peters' son, 42-year-old James Peters, who lived at the Minot Avenue home.

What followed was a daylong standoff between James Peters and a Maine State Police tactical team. Shots were fired back and forth during the tense confrontation, and police tried 114 times to negotiate with Peters by telephone.

The following day, police entered the home and found James Peters dead from a gunshot wound to the abdomen. They also found the AK-47 containing 17 live rounds, a shotgun with two rounds and a hunting rifle with four. Police also found spent shell casings, a clip for the AK-47, 52 rounds for a .357 handgun and 35 rounds for various hunting rifles.

No reason was uncovered for James Peters' rampage, although people familiar with the family said there had been tensions between him and his mother over living arrangements.

The Attorney General's Office later cleared the police officers who shot at and ultimately killed James Peters.

2006: Four killed at Newry B&B

At a quiet bed and breakfast not far from a popular ski area in Newry, the discovery of three bodies on Labor Day marked the first chapter in what would become one of the state's grisliest homicide cases.

Christian Nielsen, 31, a cook living at the Black Bear Bear Bed & Breakfast, was charged with four counts of murder after he shot and killed a guest from the inn in nearby Upton and then gunned down three women at the inn to cover up his crime.

Killed were 50-year-old James Whitehurst of Batesville, Ark., and Black Bear owner Julie Bullard, 65. Nielsen shot and killed Bullard's daughter, Selby Bullard, 30, and her friend, Cindy Beatson, 43, a day later when they showed up at the inn looking for Bullard.

In October 2007, Nielsen pleaded guilty to four counts of murder under the condition he would be allowed to withdraw the plea and take his case to trial if the high court overturned the lower court's decision on the admission of those statements. He was later sentenced to serve four concurrent life sentences in prison. 

He appealed to the Supreme Court to reject his early statements, but that appeal was denied.

2005: Marlee Johnston killed by neighbor

Residents of Fayette were stunned in late November when the body of 14-year-old Marlee Johnston was found near her home in Lovejoy Pond. Police said the teenage girl had been beaten to death and dragged to the edge of the pond.

Days later, Patrick Armstrong, a 14-year-old neighbor who had been taking with walk with Johnston the day she was killed, was charged with murder.

In 2006, Armstrong pleaded guilty to manslaughter and sentenced — as an adult — to serve 25 years in prison. He will remain at the Mountain View Youth Development Center in Charleston until he is 21 years old, and will then serve the remaining 16 years in state prison. It was the first time in Maine that a juvenile sentence and adult sentence were combined.

In 2007, Johnston's father Ted Johnston began working with the Attorney General's Office on legislation to require these kind of blended sentences for certain crimes. At the time, Johnston said he was working to honor his daughter's memory because he believed it wrong for juveniles who committed even the most despicable crimes to be placed in adult prisons until they became adults. 

2004: Mainers at war

In January, there were parades and ceremonies as Mainers watched 500 local soldiers leave for war. There were hasty marriages and private parties before the men and women of the Maine National Guard's 133rd Engineer Battalion were shipped to Iraq and
other parts of the world.

Locally, people watched with concern and pride as 100 of these part-time soldiers from Oxford and Androscoggin counties went off to join the war effort in the Middle East. But with service comes sacrifice, and it was only a few months before the news turned
grim.

In mid-April, a Maine soldier was killed and three others were wounded when their convoy was attacked in northern Iraq. Spc. Christopher D. Gelineau, 23, of Portland, was killed when a roadside bomb exploded as a convoy from the 133rd was traveling near Mosul. Fellow guardsmen Spc. Dwight Nickles, 22, of Union, Spc. Sok San Pao, 22, of Portland, and Spc. Craig Ardry of Pittsfield were injured in the attack by insurgents.

In December, a few days before Christmas, there was more tragic news from the Middle East. Two Mainers of the 133rd
were killed and 10 others injured in a suicide bombing in Mosul.

Spc. Thomas Dostie, 20, of Somerville, and Sgt. Lynn R. Poulin Sr., 47, of Freedom, died in the attack on their dining hall tent. In all, 22 people were killed. Days later, three more members of the 133rd were wounded, one of them seriously. By the end of 2004, 10 Mainers had been killed in action.

The 133rd was scheduled for deployment to Afghanistan in January 2010, but the deployment was canceled.

2003: Rally in support of Somalis in Lewiston

For months, police and residents in the Twin Cities fretted over a white supremacist rally planned for Jan. 11 in Lewiston. Matt Hale, the self-described high priest of the World Church of the Creator, had announced his group would gather to encourage the expulsion of Somalis from the city.

The proposed rally outraged minorities and civil rights groups, and drew national media attention. The community braced for the appearance of a hate group with a history of violence. In the end, the rally itself was almost anticlimactic.

An estimated 500 people showed up on Goddard Road to support or protest the World Church group's presence at the nearby National Guard Armory. There was shouting and shoving, but little violence. One arrest was made; nobody was hurt.

A massive police presence, the isolated location of the rally site and bitter cold temperatures were credited with keeping the peace.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the city, nearly 5,000 people gathered that Saturday at Bates College to celebrate tolerance, diversity and acceptance at the Many and One peace rally. 

2002: The mayor's letter

Lewiston Mayor Larry Raymond said he had only the best intentions
when he drafted an open letter to the Somali community in October. But the
reaction was fierce. Some praised Raymond for addressing the situation. Others
condemned him.

The letter, made public Oct. 3, urged Somalis to pass the
word to friends and family that the city could not handle many more immigrants.

"The Somali community must exercise some discipline and
reduce the stress on our limited finances and generosity," the mayor
wrote.

By the time the letter was made public, more than 1,000
Somalis had moved to the city. Raymond suggested the city had become
"maxed out financially" by trying to help the continuing influx of
immigrants.

In the days and weeks that followed, some people — both
black and white — accused the mayor of bigotry. Others said the city leader did
what he had to do to get a handle on a situation that was quickly getting out
of control.

Lewiston is now home to over 4,000 Somalis.

2001: Sept. 11

 

The attacks at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon galvanized the nation and eclipsed other stories in the news.

Lewiston high school graduate James Roux, the 43-year-old son of a former Maine governor, was aboard United Airlines flight 175, flying from Boston to California. Just after 9 a.m., the hijacked plane streaked into the World Trade Center.

Former Lewiston Daily Sun reporter, 38-year-old Robert Allan Schlegel, was in an office at the Pentagon in Arlington, Va., when another plane crashed into that building. Schlegel, a Navy commander, was killed.

In the days to come, more local links were found. Not all of them involved victims of the attacks. A father and son from Auburn were arrested after returning from the scene of the destruction at the World Trade Center. The men were charged with stealing a fireman's coat and policeman's hat while visiting the site.

The $3.1 billion Freedom Tower, designed to replace the World Trade Center, is expected to open in 2013. It will soar 1,776 feet in the air, hundreds of feet taller than either of the trade center towers, with 2.6 million square feet of office and retail space.

2000: CMMC earns certificate of need to build cardiovascular unit

In October, the Department of Health and Human Services granted a certificate of need to Central Maine Medical Center to build its much-anticipated cardiac surgery center. 

The center, the third in Maine behind Portland's Maine Medical Center and Bangor's Eastern Maine Medical Center, includes two operating rooms and 16 post-operative suites that allow patients to remain in one room for their entire stay.

Lewiston's $10 million Central Maine Heart and Vascular Institute opened in April 2003, headed by Dr. Richard Cochran. It now employs 10 cardiologists, a pediatric cardiologist and six cardiac surgeons.

In addition to cardiac surgery, CMHVI includes a primary prevention and outreach program, diagnostic and intervention services, cardiac rehabilitation, education and research.