A representative from Sen. Susan Collins’ office got an earful about the No Child Left Behind Act at a SAD 58 board meeting.

Chuck Mahaleris, who works in Collins’ Lewiston office, was in northern Franklin County to listen to people’s concerns and make them aware of resources available through the senator’s office.

Talk at the school board meeting quickly turned to the act. Many schools in Maine aren’t making adequate progress, according to a recently released list.

Superintendent Quenten Clark has been outspoken about the act. “It looks to me like a system designed to do away with public education,” Clark told Mahaleris. “It isn’t an issue of leaving children behind, it’s an issue of throwing them overboard. It’s discoursing kids from education.”

Lewiston:

Mission will bar sex offenders

Pastor Paul McLaughlin has dedicated his life to providing food and shelter for people who have nowhere else to go. As long as there is room at Hope Haven Mission, McLaughlin opens his doors to anyone who needs to come in out of the cold.

With a few new exceptions, that is. Child molesters and rapists are no longer welcome at the Lincoln Street shelter.

“We’re concerned about the safety and well-being of the rest of our clients,” McLaughlin said. “We cannot put them at risk while they are taking refuge in our facility.”

Hope Haven has room for 25 people. On any given night, the shelter is filled with men, women and children. Entire families will wander through the doors, homeless and hungry.

“We don’t want them to feel threatened when they stay here,” McLaughlin said.

Lewiston:

Plow shears off part of house

LEWISTON – A steep drive and slick streets were too much for a city plow truck that plowed into a house and sheared off the porch and laundry room.

“It’s pretty amazing to look at,” said homeowner Carol LeBlanc. “Luckily, nobody was hurt.”

LeBlanc’s house at 17 Sand Hill Road is down a steep side street that connects to Strawberry Place. Plow trucks don’t usually try to tackle it, LeBlanc said.

“The big plows just go by Sand Hill, then one of the smaller trucks comes up Strawberry Place and clears out our area,” she said.

Chesterville:

Teen charged with murder threat

CHESTERVILLE – A 19-year-old man was charged with terrorizing after he allegedly threatened to kill his father and lunged at him with a cast-iron fire poker.

Franklin County Sheriff’s Department Cpl. Nathan Bean was called around 10:30 p.m. Wednesday by a Chesterville man who said his son, Joseph Conlogue, had come after him with a fire poker.

According to Bean, Conlogue was caught drinking vodka by his father, who took the alcohol away, dumped it down a sink and then went upstairs to sleep.

Angered that his father took away the booze, Conlogue grabbed a 2-foot-long cast-iron fire poker and charged up the stairs into his father’s room, Bean said, adding that the poker weighed about six pounds.

According to Bean, Conlogue allegedly told his father that he would put him in the hospital if he didn’t give back the alcohol. When he learned the vodka had been poured out, the teen allegedly ratcheted the threat up a notch, Bean said, telling his father he would kill him.

Before any physical harm was done, Bean said, Conlogue’s girlfriend separated the two men.

Chesterville:

Man charged with sexual assault

CHESTERVILLE – A convicted felon living in Chesterville was arrested in connection with the rape and assault of a longtime woman friend.

Douglas Harris, 49, of 209 Adams Road was arrested by Franklin County Sheriff’s Department Deputy David Rackliffe Wednesday afternoon after a short investigation.

According to the deputy, a Chesterville woman came to police asking how she could get a restraining order against a man who had been bothering her.

Lewiston:

Mission will bar sex offenders

LEWISTON – Pastor Paul McLaughlin has dedicated his life to providing food and shelter for people who have nowhere else to go. As long as there is room at Hope Haven Mission, McLaughlin opens his doors to anyone who needs to come in out of the cold.

With a few new exceptions, that is.

Child molesters and rapists are no longer welcome at the Lincoln Street shelter.

“We’re concerned about the safety and well-being of the rest of our clients,” McLaughlin said. “We cannot put them at risk while they are taking refuge in our facility.”

Hope Haven has room for 25 people. On any given night, the shelter is filled with men, women and children. Entire families will wander through the doors, homeless and hungry.

“We don’t want them to feel threatened when they stay here,” McLaughlin said.

Lewiston:

Brawl breaks out in bar; six arrested

LEWISTON – A love triangle, an upbeat country song on the Karaoke and a hurled pitcher of beer. Police said those classic ingredients started a barroom brawl that spilled onto Walnut Street.

One man was taken to a hospital after his head crashed through a pane of glass. Others were examined for lesser injuries and a half dozen more were arrested in the brawl.

The fight ended with a pile of people battling in the middle of Walnut Street while police tried to break it up and sort out the details.

When all was said and done, six people were taken to the Androscoggin County Jail. Investigators learned the scrap had started during Karaoke night at Del’s Bar and Grille.

It started about 8 p.m. when a woman was singing “Guys Do it all the Time” on the Karaoke, police said.

As the singer crooned, a man she knows walked in with another woman, according to a witness. Jealousy brewed in the bar and shortly after 8 p.m., someone hurled a pitcher of beer across the room.

“It was obvious there was more going on,” Rackliffe said.

After more discussion, he was arrested and charged with felony Class B gross sexual assault, punishable by up to 10 years and a misdemeanor domestic-related assault, punishable by up to 364 days in prison.

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