Maine’s Bill Carrigan will be inducted with more recent Sox personalities, including Bruce Hurst, Wade Boggs and Dennis Eckersley.

While playing as catcher, “Rough” Carrigan managed the only Sox teams to play in consecutive World Series, in 1915 and 1916.

Then, the man who grew up on Lisbon Street, moved back home and became a banker. He returned to baseball to manage from 1927 to 1929.

Carrigan, who died in 1969, is probably best known for his work with the Bambino.

“He knew he had to keep a close eye on (Ruth) at all times,” Carrigan’s son, Bill, Jr., told the Sun Journal in 2002. “Babe was all about wine, women and song, and he did everything he could to keep him away from that. But there was only so much he could do.”

Carrigan is also a member of the Maine Baseball Hall of Fame and the Auburn-Lewiston Sports Hall of Fame.

– Daniel Hartill
Transpass system under conversion

Work began last summer on switching the turnpike’s electronic toll collection system to make it compatible with some 40 other toll highways, bridges and tunnels in eight eastern states.

The Maine Turnpike Authority is trading in its Transpass system to join the E-ZPass network.

Observant turnpike commuters might have noticed an increase in work going on around toll booths, but they don’t need to worry about saying goodbye to Transpass just yet.

Despite signs of work on Transpass lanes at several toll plazas, the transition to E-ZPass is still several months away.

Last year, turnpike officials hoped to have the work completed by this May. Now, it looks like November at the earliest.

So what’s up with all the work?

Contractors have been testing prototypes for the last couple of months, according to Dan Paradee, a spokesman for the Maine Turnpike Authority.

The Transpass system will have to stay operational for its 100,000 or so users right up until the switch occurs, Paradee said.

That’s also why a summer transition isn’t in the cards.

Switching over is difficult enough already. It would be an absolute nightmare, Paradee said, during the busiest summer travel months.

Once complete, E-ZPass will make Transpass transponders obsolete.

– David Farmer
City economy getting attention

Lewiston City Administrator Jim Bennett e-mailed a copy of a Washington Times article to various city councilors and officials as evidence of the city’s growing reputation as a pioneer in economic recovery.

The article, dated April 22, examines Lewiston’s transition from a declining, factory-based economy to one that’s diversified and growing. The article is one in a series examining how smaller cities have coped with the loss of manufacturing. The other two communities profiled in the series are Martinsville, Va., and Cortland, N.Y.

Among the local sources quoted in the Times article are representatives from Banknorth, Bates College, Wal-Mart, St. Lawrence & Atlantic Railroad, Bates Fabrics, Acorn Products, Auburn Manufacturing, as well as an assortment of economic development officials.

“This is yet another example of how the outside world is seeing Lewiston as a leader in economic recovery and the positives that are going on,” wrote Bennett at the top of the e-mail.

The link to the story is www.washingtontimes.com/business/20040421-114515-3667r.htm

– Carol Coultas