SOUTH PORTLAND (AP) – A committee is looking into the possibility of putting a historical marker at the site of a plane crash that killed 19 people in Maine.

The Long Creek Air Tragedy Memorial Committee says the marker would go in South Portland at the site where an Army Air Corps A-26 Invader went down on July 11, 1944.

Nineteen people were killed in the crash, which remains the state’s worst aviation disaster.

The plane, piloted by South Portland native Phillip “Phee” Russell crashed as it was about to land, coming to a rest in the Long Creek area.

Man sentenced for role in drug ring

BANGOR (AP) – A 44-year-old Caribou man is going to prison for more than five years for his role in a marijuana distribution ring in northern Maine.

Anthony Caparotta was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Bangor on Tuesday to 68 months in prison and fined $17,900.

A jury convicted him in June of marijuana distribution charges.

Prosecutors said Caparotta worked for Michael Pelletier, an Aroostook County man who was convicted of running a multimillion-dollar international marijuana smuggling operation from his wheelchair while collecting disability checks.

Pelletier is serving a life sentence.

Nader appearance a hit in Portland

PORTLAND (AP) – Ralph Nader received an enthusiastic reception when he spoke to about 250 people at a Portland church.

The independent presidential candidate said the United States is drowning in debt while corporations are running the country.

In his Monday night comments he also complained that third-party candidates are excluded from the presidential debates.

Nader said the biggest difference between Republicans and Democrats is “the speed at which their knees hit the floor” when corporations knock on the door.

Copy the Story Link