The Times Record from Brunswick, Maine • A1

Happy Thanksgiving November 24-25, 2021 55 Number 207 20 Pages BRUNSWICK, MAINE Midcoast Only Daily Newspaper weather Mostly sunny. High 50. See Page A10. B4, B7 B10 A6-7 TV 7 724910 03311 Tuesday Day Pick 3: 1-1-2 Evening Pick 3: 7-3-1 Day Pick 4: 4-2-7-9 Evening Pick 4: 5-4-9-4 Gimme 5: 9-10-21-23-36 Monday Lucky For Life: 5-7-8-14-35 (8) HeadlinesInside Sections Tri-state Lotteries Sports Golf Wrap-up: Spaulding rises to top of Class B1 Local Teen driver crashes into propane truck A3 School district denies unvaccinated request to play maskless A3 Toy Fund launches 72nd annual A6 Bath pizza restaurant offers free Thanksgiving meals A7 Maine COVID rapid tests can be scarce, yet holidays approach A2 Nation Man charged with 5 homicide counts in deadly crash A8 Due to the holiday, The Times Record will not be printing on Thursday, Nov. 25.

BY C. THACHER CARTER Times Record staff Maine Department of Transportation has not ruled out closing a bridge connecting downtown Brunswick with Topsham if the structure continues to deteriorate. Passenger cars are still safe to travel over the Frank Wood Bridge despite announcement that all commercial vehicles are prohibited from cross- ing, according to Maine Department of Trans- portation Chief Engineer Joyce Taylor. The Frank J. Wood Bridge, built in 1932, car- ries traffic on Route 201 between Topsham and Brunswick.

An inspec- i i showed section loss on the 90-year-old and on Tues- day, Taylor said that the bridge is experiencing a loss of steel below the deck area on the down- stream side. More so than a total collapse, Taylor said, the primary concern by The Maine Department of Transportation is that the weight of a commercial vehicle could puncture the deck of the bridge and render the structure completely unusable. will make sure the public is safe and if that means having to take more restric- tive measures that are more impactful we will do what we have to, up to and including closing the said Taylor, adding that if the deterio- ration progresses might be next is running traffic up the center of the bridge one or posting the bridge at five tons. In a media release, the Maine DOT stated that cameras and license plate readers have been installed on the bridge and overweight vehicles should use the Route 1 Bypass. The bridge will continue to be inspected every six months, and someone from Maine DOT will also be check- ing on it monthly.

Last month, Maine DOT changed the weight limits on the bridge to 20,000 pounds, due to public safety concerns fo lowing the tate inspection in September. On Monday, the Bruns- wick Police Department a a restrictions that com- mercial vehicles with a gross weight rating of 26,001 pounds or more are also prohibited from driving over the bridge. This applies to large trucks, buses and vehi- cles with more than two axles and vehicles that weigh more than 20,000 pounds are still prohib- ited. i i were adjusted to better address enforcement problems, Taylor said, noting that yesterday C. THACHER CARTER THE TIMES RECORD Maine Department of Transportation Chief Engineer Joyce Taylor standing in front of the Frank Wood bridge on Tuesday during a press briefing.

BY C. THACHER CARTER Times Record staff The Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention is investi- gating a COVID-19 out- break associated with the Dionne Commons Assisted Living facility in Brunswick. According to Ryan Rousseau, the assistant director of Financial Operations for Rous- seau Management, the outbreak at the facility began almost two weeks ago and all of the over 20 residents and staff members that tested positive were vaccinat- ed. Dionne Commons is a 60-bed facility locat- ed on Maurice Drive, owned and operated by Rousseau Manage- ment Inc. According to Rousseau, there are 53 residents.

Symptoms have been minimal and comparable to a cold, Rousseau added, stat- ing that the company is continuing to stock up on personal protec- tive equipment such as gowns, N-95 masks, boo- ties, face shields, gloves and masks to help miti- gate the spread. Rous- seau said that staff do not continue working after testing positive for COVID-19. our outbreak started almost two weeks ago our team at Dionne Commons has C. THACHER CARTER THE TIMES RECORD A sign for the Dionne Commons Assisted Living facility, where the Maine CDC is looking into a COVID-19 outbreak. BY ERIC RUSSELL Portland Press Herald The number of COVID- 19 patients in critical care hospital beds in Maine has increased by 25 just in the past four days and reached a pandemic high of 96 on Tuesday.

Overall, there are now 298 individuals hospital- ized across the state, which set another record for the sixth time in the last nine days. Of those, 40 people are on ven- tilators, which is two shy of the record set on Sept. 15. In the last two weeks, the number of daily hospitalizations has increased by and more than 3,000 individu- als have been hospital- ized with COVID-19 at some point since the pan- demic began. Maine health officials also reported 1,089 new cases of COVID-19 for the three-day period from Saturday through Mon- day and 28 additional deaths from the disease, although half of those occurred between Oct.

27 and Nov. 9 and were identified through a peri- odic review of death cer- tificates. Deaths were reported in 12 of 16 coun- ties. One was a person in their 20s, two were in their 50s, six people each were in 60s and 70s and 13 victims were over 80. Since March 2020, there have 116,948 con- firmed or probable cases of COVID-19 and 1,300 deaths, according to the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

BY KATHLEEN Times Record staff Bath-area schools will soon operate using solar power, which is expected to save the district about $40,000 on its energy bill annually, but the schools likely be able to use solar power until late 2023. The Regional School Unit 1 board signed a 20-year contract with ReVison Energy Mon- day to purchase power generated by a solar farm the company will build near Augusta. RSU 1 serves Bath, Arrowsic, Woolwich and Phippsburg. RSU 1 Superinten- dent Patrick Manuel said the solar power agreement is estimated to save the school dis- trict between $850,000 to $900,000 over the 20-year lifes- pan. Those savings come from energy bill- ing credits RSU 1 will receive to offset a por- tion of its Central Maine Power bill for using solar power.

RSU 1 attorney Aga Dixon estimated the district will receive a roughly discount, totaling about $40,000, annually on its CMP bill through this agreement. MaineDOT: will do what we have to ensure bridge safety Primary concern by Maine Department of Transportation is that the weight of a commercial vehicle could puncture deck of the Frank J. Wood Bridge, Chief Engineer Joyce Taylor said Bath-area schools to use solar energy to save $40,000 a year CDC investigates COVID outbreak at local senior home About 20 active cases among residents and staff at Dionne Commons Assisted Living Please see BRIDGE on A10 Hospitals see spike in ICU patients as Maine reports 28 more COVID deaths Please see HOSPITALS on A6Please see SOLAR on A6 Please see OUTBREAK on A6 Call 207-837-6560 for more information on Studio Specials!.