Police are outnumbered by those attending music events on Fuda’s property.
By Jim Smedley
Staff Writer

NORWAY – Police Chief Tim Richards and selectmen continued discussions Thursday about maintaining safety and access on McKay Road during a yearly summer music festival.

No decision was reached at the bimonthly selectmen meeting. Richards was charged with doing more research on how other Maine towns handle similar situations.

Officials are concerned about parking near 57 McKay Road, Aaron Fuda’s property, during his music festival in July.

Richards said those parking along the road do so illegally because vehicles are partially on the road. He said the parked cars narrow the road to the point that emergency vehicles cannot not pass. That in turn cuts off emergency service to two other McKay Road homes.

Richards said the parking problem has to be stopped before it gets started.

“We have to stop the large number of cars getting into this,” Richards said. “We would have to block the road and only allow a limited number of cars in and it would have to be an around-the-clock job. If we left for an hour there would be 100 cars in there. It’s going to be expensive,” he said.

Town Manager David Holt said he was worried about getting aid to people suffering drug overdoses or injuries at the festival.

The police department, even with help from the County Sheriff’s Office and Paris police, are outnumbered by Fuda festival goers and those attending other annual music events on Fuda’s property.

On Nov. 3 police arrested Fuda, charging him with providing a place for minors to drink alcohol and resisting arrest. At the time of the arrest, someone in the crowd of party goers threw a log at the Norway police cruiser and damaged the grille and hood.

In his report, police Officer Shane White said there were 100 to 150 people there and a band was playing outside.

“If there was a manageable group of people we can warn them in the case of noise complaints and let them know if they didn’t comply we could arrest the band,” Richards said. “But you can’t do that with five guys against 100.”

Selectmen told Richards to check with the Maine Municipal Association to see if he could determine what other towns facing a similar problem do. They agreed they wanted controls in place before the next concert in July.

In other action, selectmen rejected bids on three town-owned vehicles, a 1986 Chevrolet Blazer, 1989 Ford pickup and a old Buffalo-style fire truck. The board received bids, but they were all to low. New bids are due on Jan. 5 and will be reviewed at the Jan. 8 selectmen meeting.

Selectmen also agreed to ask for $13,500 at the next town meeting to repair the roof over the door leading to the the police office.

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