(Bad) Excuses for going 108 mph

From the Bangor Daily News:

Bangor -- Two people from the Waterville area were arrested Monday night in Bangor after passing a state trooper in an unmarked police car who clocked them going nearly 110 miles per hour on Interstate 95.

Maine State Police Trooper Forest Simpson said he’d heard a report of a vehicle with its hazard lights flashing traveling too fast on the interstate. A few minutes later, the car came up behind Simpson and his radar registered the vehicle at 108 mph in a 65 mph zone. The car passed Simpson and continued to go more than 100 mph into a 55 mph zone and when exiting I-95 onto I-395 toward Brewer.

The passenger, Thomas Selby, 42, of the Waterville area, opened his door while the car was moving and it looked as if he were going to jump out of the car, Simpson said. Selby then shut the door and the vehicle pulled over.

Simpson gave Selby and the driver, Dawn Parker, 29, orders using the cruiser’s speaker system because they both were acting strangely and Simpson said he wasn’t sure with whom he was dealing.

Neither would cooperate with Simpson. At one point Selby got out of the car and started running toward the trooper who said he then called for backup.

Police eventually were able to get the two suspects into custody.

The two said they were in a hurry to get to the airport for a 5 p.m. flight because Selby had a family emergency. Simpson said no plane tickets or receipts were found in their possession, the two were headed in the direction opposite from the airport, and it was 5:07 p.m. when Simpson pulled them over.

A search of the car turned up prescription drugs, only some of which Selby and Parker had prescriptions for, Simpson said. Police also found drug paraphernalia.

Selby was charged with disorderly conduct and Parker with criminal speed. Both also face charges related to the drugs found in the vehicle. They were taken to Penobscot County Jail.


If I were a betting man, I would say mind-alterating medication were involved. Call me crazy. If you are going to lie about your destination, at least pick destination in the direction you are traveling. And if making up a flight time is involved, make it for a time that hasn't already occurred.

I Don’t Know What's Worse… The Ford Escort or the John Deere Tractor

From the Bangor Daily News:

James Gardner had planned to pick up his prom date driving his dad’s John Deere tractor and wow the crowd of more than 200 well-wishers snapping pictures in the parking lot of Penobscot Valley High School.

But because of the heavy rain Saturday, he picked her up in the Ford Escort his father drives to work most days.

Each year, Gardner said, seniors come up with unusual conveyances for prom night. In the past, revelers have arrived on firetrucks and flatbed trailers, he said. Last year, a couple arrived in a motorboat pulled by a truck.

Gardner’s parents, Ellen and William Gardner of Howland, are teachers in SAD 31, which comprises Burlington, Edinburg, Enfield, Howland, Maxfield and Passadumkeag,

Not being able to make an entrance on the tractor, used on the family blueberry farm in Ellsworth, was the only thing that dampened Gardner’s prom and graduation weekend.

Read the entire article here


Now that I think about it, coming in on a tractor would have really topped off my prom night too. I knew I was missing something to accommodate my tin of Skoal and Canadian Tuxedo. Then again, I think I made up for the tractor when I showed up with my sister.

Honestly though, this is a nice story. It’s nice to see teens have fun with prom and not make it some Hollywood-event where everyone is nervous about losing their virginity or where they are going to drink cheap beer after the dance…

We’re Only Taking 15 Though…

From the Bangor Daily News:

KINGMAN, Maine - Like a gathering storm, at least 15 Maine trucks will start toward Washington, D.C. on Sunday to protest record high diesel fuel prices that they say will cause significant price spikes in all consumer goods, organizers said Thursday.

The Coalition to Lower Fuel Prices and the 15 sponsored trucks will gather at a vacant car lot opposite Lincoln Color Center off Route 6 in Lincoln by 6 a.m. on Sunday, said coalition co-founder Belinda Raymond, a town resident.

Other participants will likely join them there, and other trucks and vehicles will be joining the caravan for varying lengths of time as it proceeds along Interstate 95, she said, before it eventually reaches Washington by 10 a.m. on Monday.

"All I know for sure about are the 15 that we’ve lined up with sponsorship and paid for with our fundraisers," Raymond said Thursday. "By the time we hit Kittery, I don’t know how many we’ll have."

The coalition is the Maine representative to a national rally to protest the diesel prices, which some say are crushing the state’s forest products and hauling industries. Other truckers from other industries and from around the country are expected to attend.


So to protest the high cost of diesel fuel, this group felt that driving 15 trucks from Kingman, Maine to Washington, D.C. (Map Quest has it at roughly a 748 mile/12 hour trip) would be the most influential way to prove their point?

“Hey, look at us! We just drove 15 gas-guzzling trucks to protest how much it cost us to make this trip!”

Send an e-mail, post a YouTube video, make a phone call, sign a petition, sacrafice a small animal... do something other then the one thing you are trying to avoid... paying high gas prices when traveling.

Hey Maine, wear your seatbelt... and this time, we mean it (maybe)

From The Bangor Daily News:

For the last six months, police have issued warnings to motorists who failed to use seat belts money.

Maine long had a secondary enforcement law for seat belts. That meant that seat belt use was required but drivers could not be stopped for failing to buckle up. If they were stopped for another violation, such as speeding, they could be given a ticket for not wearing a seat belt as well.

See full story here.

I don’t know many states that issue a law, kind of talk about maybe some day enforcing it for 6 months and then decide that ‘yup, let’s start enforcing that law.’ What if Texas only gave warnings for the first 6 months they initiated the death penalty? Or New Hampshire says, “We’re going to Live Free or Die, but not for the first 6 months.”

You should either make a law and enforce it, or you sit on it until you’re ready. There is no middle ground, no Mendoza line, nothing.

I look forward to see how the state handles their Real ID program. I see it going down like this, “Um, yeah, if you could go ahead and get this ID card, that would be great. I mean, we won’t check you for a few months, but just get it. Thanks”

Good night all… and please, buckle up, for real this time.