Bill Wilson caught MonsterQuest on the History Channel this week from his home in Illinois. The show featured reports that a mutant beast was found in Turner, Maine, in 2006. Wilson became excited.

Did he recognize the creature? Did he have stunning revelations to share?

No. Wilson called a reporter at the Sun Journal because something else in the History Channel program had caught his eye.

“There was a Ford Mustang in the yard of one of the women on the show,” Wilson said. “I want to find out what the deal is with that car.”

Forget wild-eyed beasts and dog-killing monsters. Wilson is a car man. He spotted the Mustang in the yard of Michelle O’Donnell, the Turner woman who found the strange, dead animal in August 2006.

Since then, O’Donnell has been hounded by news reporters, scientists and documentary film crews interested in her find. Wilson’s zeal was no less passionate, but his was focused on a beast of a car instead of a beast of the fanged variety.

By the middle of the week, there was no word from O’Donnell on whether she planned to sell. It was unknown whether she still has the Mustang or, like many things that roam Turner, it slipped off into the night – never to be seen again.

– Mark LaFlamme

Battle continues for a princess

“Princess” Savannah Hurley is back in the Barbara Bush Children’s Hospital in Portland, undergoing another round of chemotherapy.

The 7-year-old Wilton girl has been battling cancer since 2005 and has been in and out of the hospital since then. She has four tumors in one lung that doctors are trying to shrink enough in order to safely remove.

Before Savannah returned with her mother, Melissa Hurley, for the treatment this week after a break since New Year’s Eve, she and her sister, Kiara, 5, and her brother, Donovan, 3, enjoyed some outdoor exercise at a Carrabassett Valley ski area.

The two sisters attended ski school and the special day was captured on video and in pictures to go with other memories the family has created.

Melissa Hurley writes about Savannah and the family’s journey through illness, one day at a time, on a special Web site created for people who are ill. Hurley’s words spark emotions as she details her family’s experiences.

In a recent entry, she expressed gratitude to readers: “Thank you for all of the prayers, our family has really felt them this weekend.”

– Donna M. Perry

A warm welcome for industry?

Michael Miller, a broker with NAI Dunham who specializes in the industrial market, took a short break from his forecast report at a conference of the Maine Real Estate and Development Association on Thursday to make a plea for his clients.

Noting that most of the state’s economic development efforts have focused on drawing new industries to Maine, he urged some consideration go toward those industries that are here now, providing jobs and paying taxes.

“What we really need to do is focus on business retention,” Miller said. “We need to take care of those people who are already here.”

He cited a Biddeford manufacturer that is looking at a new home in Alabama, where it expects to reduce utility costs by 45 percent. According to October figures from the federal Energy Information Administration, Maine’s average per kilowatt hour cost for industry is 11.16 cents; in Alabama, it’s 5.4 cents. The U.S. average is 6.44 cents.

– Carol Coultas