JAY – The Maine Department of Transportation plans to replace an aging bridge on Riley Road near International Paper.

It is starting preliminary design work for the future replacement of Allen Brook Bridge, which is a 10-foot diameter steel pipe beneath a deep fill that was built in 1966.

The bridge is in poor condition and considered structurally deficient, said DOT project manager Ben Foster.

Preliminary engineering is tentatively scheduled to be completed in the spring of 2005 with construction tentatively scheduled for the summer of 2006.

Professor receives funding for study

LEWISTON – Paula Schlax wants to understand bacteria.

“There’s so much we don’t understand in our simplest organism,” Schlax said. “It’s kind of the quest for knowledge.”

The National Science Foundation has given Schlax, an assistant chemistry professor at Bates College, more than $270,000 to follow her passion.

Schlax, a 36-year-old mother of two, spent the past six years studying E. coli in a pair of small college labs.

With help from student assistants, Schlax had one goal in recent years: to find out how bacteria respond to changes in their environment.

“Say, going from a hamburger to the inside of a stomach,” Schlax said.

She believes that environmental stress – such as changes in temperature and acidity of the human body – turns on a genetic switch that toughens bacteria and helps it survive. If scientists can discover how that switch is turned on, they might be able to turn it off. That would make the bacteria easy to kill.

“There are fundamental laws that allow these things to act. We don’t know what they are yet,” Schlax said.

Coburn Gore road work to resume

COBURN GORE – Drivers using Route 27 in Chain of Ponds and Coburn Gore after May 10 may want to allow some additional travel time until mid-summer, according to the Maine Department of Transportation.

“We’re going to resume work May 10 on our project to improve 10 miles of Route 27, beginning at Ledge Hill and extending north to the Canadian border,” said Jeffrey Wallace, MDOT’s construction manager for the project.

“The first major effort this spring will be installation of a retaining wall at Natanis Pond. That installation will require digging out about 220 feet of existing roadway, pouring a concrete slab, and allowing the concrete to cure. Once that work begins, traffic will be restricted to a single lane, day and night, for about three days,” Wallace said.

“By the end of May, we anticipate five to eight separate construction operations to be ongoing within the 10-mile corridor,” Wallace said. “Our typical work hours will be 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. and drivers should expect to encounter multiple work areas during that time.”

Lewiston block grants down by $30,000

LEWISTON – Councilors continued slimming down their community group giving this year.

Councilors approved a $1.25 million community block grant budget. The city set aside $133,802 of that for community groups, including the Abused Women’s Advocacy Project, the Catholic Charities Maine and L/A Arts. The amount was down $30,000 compared to last year.

This year, 35 groups requested more than $364,000 from the city. They included several newly created groups that received no money from the city at all.

Councilors said they could not guarantee the city would continue to get new CDBG money year after year and have been trying to wean the community groups from relying on it as a funding source.

“We are not required to provide any money to community groups,” Councilor Renee Bernier said. “That is something this council decides.”

Only 29 groups received money from the council, and none received as much as they wanted.

Possible hate crimes investigated

LIVERMORE FALLS – Police are investigating possible hate crimes.

A bottle believed to have contained urine was thrown out of a white-colored vehicle driving up Depot Street at a black male walking up the street on April 18, said police Chief Ernest Steward Jr.

Steward said a racial slur was also shouted from the vehicle, which had several people in it.

A little while later, a white female on Depot Street called to report people in a vehicle going by shouted a racial death threat, Steward said.

Arena project jumps by $1 million

LEWISTON – The price tag for a new entrance to the Colisee went up another $1 million Tuesday.

Councilors agreed to borrow $1.5 million pay for a three-story facade on the front of the hockey arena. The city had agreed to borrow $500,000 to help pay for a facade. That plan had been designed by former owner Roger Theriault.

City Administrator Jim Bennett said it didn’t include electrical work and was built on unstable ground.

“The original deal was done very quickly, in three weeks,” Bennett told councilors. “I apologize for not being able to make the deal and go over all of the engineering and design plans, but we didn’t.”

The city officially assumed ownership of the former Central Maine Civic Center in February, agreeing to take on $4.2 million in debt and management of the center. That includes day-to-day operations and repairs.

Bennett said getting involved was still the right decision.

“One of the criticisms of government is that we need to act like a business,” Bennett said. “We are. This makes sense, from a business standpoint.”

Internet upgrade for public records OK’d

FARMINGTON – Commissioners approved spending $17,578 Tuesday to upgrade the Registry of Deeds computer system to allow Internet access to public records. The upgrade is expected to be completed by summer.

The upgrade also includes wireless capability for other computers in different departments at the Franklin County Courthouse to access the Internet.

The registry money is included in Register of Deeds Susan Black’s budget. Money for the other departments’ share would come from budgeted funds not used for other purposes.

Black told commissioners that wanted Internet service for her office to allow people to view deeds in a read-only mode that would prevent tampering with documents.

People wouldn’t be able to make copies of the documents unless they had an account, she said, so the county would still receive the revenue generated by the fees.

Motorbike ruling survives appeal

LISBON – The Board of Appeals voted 4-0 this week to uphold a ruling by the Code Enforcement Office that the Longchamps Motorbike Race Track does not violate a local land-use ordinance.

A neighbor, Ronald Poulin, citing excessive noise coming from the 120-acre track, contended that it was prohibited under a land-use ordinance enacted in 1974.

However, upon investigation, the Code Enforcement Office concluded that use of the track was grandfathered. It was in use prior to the 1974 ordinance and has been in continuous use since that time and “had not expanded or materially changed.”

About 30 people attended an appeals hearing Monday night, with seven speaking against the track and eight in support.

The board’s decision is not expected to end the controversy. Poulin said when he filed the administrative appeal on behalf of himself and neighboring residents that he was taking a “two-pronged approach,” beginning with the appeal.

Bass center targeted for tenants

WILTON – Requests for qualifications have been sent to nine possible tenants of the old Bass Distribution Center, selectmen were told Tuesday. Building options have been a priority since the Phillip-Van Heusen Corp. offered it to the town for $1 earlier this year.

Town Manager Peter Nielsen said the Greater Franklin and Wilton Development corporations, along with Androscoggin Valley Council of Governments and the state Department of Economic and Community Development, have been working to find businesses to move into the building.

The building is next to the town office and houses an ICT in-bound call center.

Last month selectmen agreed to put $5,000 toward marketing efforts. The $5,000 appropriation will come from the Wilton Development Opportunity Fund and will support marketing efforts for future development of the building.