AUBURN – A Sabattus man charged with manslaughter in connection with a fatal snowmobile accident in December 2002 attempted to convince a judge that police bullied him to get a confession.

Steven Davies argued at a court hearing last week that investigators from the Maine Warden Service deliberately tried to frighten him and his wife by banging loudly on the door and shining flashlights into the house.

The 37-year-old also claimed that the officers kept him against his will and never advised him of his constitutional rights. As a result, Davies wanted his statements thrown out of court.

But Justice Ellen Gorman didn’t buy his argument.

In her ruling, Gorman denied Davies’ request to suppress the statements that he gave to police after the body of Robert Levesque was found on Sabattus Pond.

“Although Mr. Davies had every reason to be nervous while speaking to the investigators, his nervousness was due to his own actions, not the interrogation methods of the investigators,” she wrote.

Lewiston:

Police to tackle traffic scofflaws

LEWISTON – Police will target speeders, red-light runners and other traffic scofflaws beginning in March.

The city will dedicate three officers to a special enforcement team.

They won’t have regular patrol duties but will focus on projects and enforcement problems in specific areas. Traffic control will be a big part of that, according to Chief William Welch.

“That’s the majority of the complaints we get from the public directly and through city councilors,” Welch said. Patrol officers don’t spend much time doing traffic control, he said.

That will change. Sgt. Mark Cornelio will lead two patrol officers, and they will target problem areas such as schools, intersections and stretches of roads known for speeders.

Auburn:

‘Seed of Sarah’

author honored

AUBURN – Judith Magyar Isaacson remembers reading a magazine article that explored the debate of what it takes to be a Mainer.

After living in Auburn for 57 years, Isaacson considered herself a Mainer. But given her heavy Hungarian accent and her well-known history as a survivor of the Holocaust, she wasn’t sure others would embrace her as one.

She got her answer a couple of weeks ago when she found out that she is being inducted into the Maine Women’s Hall of Fame. “It came as quite a surprise to me,” she said.

Published in 1991, “Seed of Sarah: Memoirs of a Survivor” has been acclaimed for its feminist perspective on the Nazi atrocities.

It tells of Isaacson’s experiences pulling carts laden with live artillery, her struggles in the post-war years and her subsequent move to Auburn with her American husband, local attorney Irving Isaacson.

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