On this date in Maine history: Dec. 21
By Joseph Owen
Northbound traffic approaching the York tolls in June, 2020. Gregory Rec/Staff Photographer
Dec. 21, 2005: Maine Turnpike Authority Director Paul Violette announces that his agency is planning to replace the turnpike’s toll plaza at York, which was meant to be temporary but has been functioning for 35 years.
Violette said the toll plaza, which is 7 miles northeast of the New Hampshire state line on Interstate 95, is in an unsuitable location and has lasted more than twice as long as was originally intended.
The new toll gates would be built farther into Maine, within 4 miles of the old ones. The design has not been determined, and the agency also hasn’t made up its mind about highway-speed, or open-road, tolling.
The Maine Idea: Case against fuller still not proven
By Douglas RooksThe Maine Idea
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The fate of Melville Fuller – or at least the statue representing him near the Kennebec County courthouse – will remain undecided at year’s end.
Despite some fiery testimony at a Dec. 1 online hearing, the Kennebec County Commissioners appear in no hurry to decide the request that the Fuller statue be relocated, initiated by Acting Chief Justice Andrew Mead on behalf of the Maine judiciary.
One can see the judges’ point. In one of the dispute’s several ironies, the Judicial Branch declined to sanction the likeness of the only Mainer to serve as U.S. chief justice, donated by a Fuller descendant in 2013, on new courthouse land. It was then accepted by the county commissioners on county-owned land in front of the old courthouse – what the judges see as the “gateway” to their new Capital Judicial Center, opened two years later.
On this date in Maine history: Dec. 20
By Joseph Owen
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Efficiency Maine contracted with ChargePoint, a California company, to install and operate seven ultra-fast charging stations for electric vehicles on highways from southern Maine to the Quebec border. Courtesy photo
Dec. 20, 2018: The Portland Press Herald reports that Efficiency Maine, a state agency whose mission is to help Maine residents use energy more efficiently, has contracted with a California company for the installation of seven electric-vehicle charging stations along Maine highways from the southern part of the state to the Quebec border.
The company, ChargePoint, installs the stations in 2019, as expected. They are the start of a three-phase plan to establish fast chargers on important highways statewide for Maine residents and tourists alike.
On this date in Maine history: Dec. 19
By Joseph Owen
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Dec. 19, 2011: As police investigate the disappearance of 20-month-old Ayla Reynolds of Waterville, officers seize her father’s sport utility vehicle and a Portland woman’s car from the driveway at the man’s Violette Avenue home.
Searchers use an airboat to search along Messalonskee Stream for signs of the girl, and dozens of officers search the area around the house where she lives with her father, Justin DiPietro, 24. They find nothing that helps in the investigation.
DiPietro said Ayla, wearing a soft cast on a broken arm, was put to bed on the night of the 16th. She was reported missing the next morning. Police have established that several adults were in the house at the time. They say it’s possible the child was abducted.
Douglas Rooks: Case against Melville Fuller still not proven
The record of the only Mainer to serve as U.S. chief justice is not as clear as some believe.
By Douglas Rooks
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The fate of Melville Fuller or at least the statue representing him near the Kennebec County courthouse will remain undecided at year’s end.
Despite some fiery testimony at a Dec. 1 online hearing, the Kennebec County Commissioners appear in no hurry to decide the request that the Fuller statue be relocated, initiated by Acting Chief Justice Andrew Mead on behalf of the Maine judiciary.
One can see the judges’ point. In one of the dispute’s several ironies, the Judicial Branch declined to sanction the likeness of the only Mainer to serve as U.S. chief justice, donated by a Fuller descendant in 2013, on new courthouse land. It was then accepted by the county commissioners on county-owned land in front of the old courthouse what the judges see as the “gateway” to their new Capital Judici