WHITNEYVILLE (AP) – Residents in the eastern Maine town of Whitneyville have voted against deorganizing the town and becoming part of Maine’s Unorganized Territory.

Thursday’s election was spurred by the high cost the town is paying to educate its children. But townspeople voted 52-46 in favor of halting the deorganization process.

Whitneyville has a population of 254 and was the third Washington County town in the past three years to consider deorganizing.

Centerville, with a population of 27, successfully deorganized in 2004, but Cooper had its effort blocked last year by the Maine Legislature.

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Information from: Bangor Daily News, http://www.bangornews.com

AP-ES-09-15-06 0936EDT