Portland Press Herald from Portland, Maine • 1

COASTYORK EDITION Police department investigation costing Kennebunk IB wwwportlandcom PMano Jrc55 Hcralti APRIL 1 1998 Guy Gannett Communications Volume 136 Number 24? 42 PAGES Guy Gannett Communications seeks buyer Rising prices for newspapers and TV stations make this the ideal time to sell says the publisher By EDWARD MURPHY Staff Writer Guy Gannett Communications largest media company is up for sale Madeleine Corson the pub lisher and chairman of the company board announced Tuesday that she will search for a buyer who do good things for our employees and care about the She said she expects the company to be sold by the end of the year Guy properties in Maine include WGME TV The Portland Newspapers publisher of the Portland Press Herald and the Maine Sunday Telegram Central Maine Newspapers publisher of the Kennebec Journal and the Central Maine Morning Sentinel and Coas tal Journal A sale will end the Gannett publishing history which dates to Comfort magazine in 1888 INSIDE A chronology of events 6A Reactions to the news of a proposed sale 7A The Press Herald and the Sunday Telegram are largest daily and Sunday newspapers were bom into this and for us like having a Corson said after announcing plans to put the company on the block Corson said prices for newspa pers and television stations are rising making this the best time to sell the paper selling price of these pro perties is abnormally high right she said was a very difficult decision On the other hand it was very Analysts who follow the fortunes of newspaper companies agree that a good time to sell newspapers and television stations It also fol lows an ongoing consolidation of media outlets Given those trends the sale of the papers alone might bring $200 million or more Please see GN'NETT Page 7A State budget hailed as boon for taxpayers Republicans object to the package which passes the House and Senate along straight lines INSIDE Refuge from the heat Staff photo by John Patriquin Portland residents Jeff Wolf and Allison Ayer play with their dog Mosa at the East End Beach in Portland on Tuesday seeking ocean breezes to alleviate the record high temperatures for the last day of March Other photos IB lorida takes spring vacation in Maine Portland sets records with a five day heat wave Elsewhere rivers rise with melting mountain snow By DAVID HENCH Staff Writer The record shattering heat that has baked southern Maine in the past week has unleashed a torrent of snowmelt elsewhere in the state pushing rivers past flood stage and threatening property high temperature of 88 in Portland broke the record for March by two degrees The record of 86 had stood since 1946 Tues day had the fifth record high tem perature in the past week said the National Weather Service The early blast of summer was welcomed in the south but forced emergency officials elsewhere to keep a close watch on rivers and the weather forecast Peter Van Gagnon director of emergency management for Andro scoggin County said he expects the Androscoggin River to reach 18 feet Thursday in Auburn 5 feet above flood stage should still be aware of continuing conditions and monitor weather Van Gagnon said Rapid melting of an above average snowpack combined with an inch to 2 inches of rain Monday night could set off the flooding Rainfall expected today could push even more water down swol len rivers Many of the state's rivers are expected to exceed flood stage the level at which a river starts to rise above its banks and inundate low lying areas The Kennebec River in Skowhe gan pushed past the flood stage of 35000 cubic feet per second Tues day morning and was measured at 51479 later the day Tom Marcotte the local emer gency management director said an unoccupied campground had flooded but the rest of the town was safe have to reach about 60000 (cubic feet per second) before we have a possibility of getting water onto he said The river is expected to reach 70000 cubic feet Please see WARM Back page this section BY PAUL CARRIER Staff i itt AUGUSTA Legislators on Tues day approved a $280 million supple mental budget that cuts taxes pumps millions of dollars into public schools and expands services for the elderly The Democratic majority enacted the budget package over the objec tions of Republican lawmakers who had proposed alternative tax cuts Enactment in the House came largely on party lines Tuesday after noon on a vote of 82 64 Minutes later the Senate approved the budget by a margin of 19 15 along straight party lines Gov Angus King did not sign the budget into law Tuesday night but aides said he will do so this week after analysts have reviewed it The measure will then take effect with The House refuses to opt out of a federal requirement to sell reformulated gasoline 7 A debate has developed over how best to spend monev for the Maine Youth Center 7B the start of the next fiscal year on July 1 King also is holding oil while the Legislature debates a bill he sup ports that sets non binding revenue guidelines for the state and munici palities But aides say King will sign the budget even if the other bill dies On Tuesday Democrats charac terized the budget as a victory for Maine taxpayers because it will exempt more of their income from Please see BUDGET Back page this section Sanford proposes guards to assure students are safe The two security positions in the 1998 budget are new to Sanford but arc part of a growing trend MARK SHANAHAN Staff Wiitei SANORD There is much in the proposed 1998 Sanford school budget that is educational aides to boost literacy in the early grades more foreign language instruction and even a part time horticulturist Then there are the mon two new positions at Sanford High School that have less to do with the traditional rfiission of schools and more to do with security The monitors a euphemistic term for guards would not teach but patrol They would try to keep the hallways bathrooms and park ing lot of the state's fiftli largest high school free of fights and drugs so that educators can do their jobs Even before last week's events in Arkansas where two young boys opened fire on their classmates and teachers killing five and wound ing 11 others schools across southern Maine have been stepping up security They hope that a police presence will encourage students to think twice before behaving badly or committing comes in school "We consider this prevention" said Stephen Woodcock principal of Sanford High School "We need to assure that the building is safe because kids always leave their problems at the door" The new monitors whose com bined salaries would be $30000 would not cany weapons or have the authonty to arrest or suspend students They merely are intended as two more pairs of watchful eyes before during and after school Please see SCHOOL Page 5A Bacterial epidemic killing tiny songbirds Maine is the 1 4th state to report large numbers of dying common redpolls By ROBERTA SCRUGGS Staff Writer Maine has become the 14th state in the nation where common red polls tiny songbirds with a red caip are dying in lafge numbers The high mortality which has been traced to a salmonella epide mic was first noticed at bird feeders across the state said Judy Walker staff naturalist for the Maine Audu bon Society Audubon has had more than 50 reports of sick or dying birds have been getting calls for several weeks five or six weeks probably about birds dying in massive Walker said Tuesday Tom Hodgman state wildlife biol ogist can run quickly through a list of places where dying birds have been reported including Madawaska Bethel Embden Bel grade Gardiner Cape Neddick and more a comer of Maine got people and there are dead birds said Hodgman who special izes in songbirds Please see BIRDS Back page this section Assodird Press 'J Emily Rosa 11 sits outside her home in Loveland Colo A study she did in the fourth grade disputes the concept that people have detectable "energy experiment upsets therapeutic touch method A fourth grade science fair work is causing medical turmoil By GINA KOLATA Hie New Yen Times Two years ago Emily Rosa of Loveland Colo designed and car ried out an experiment that chal lenges a leading treatment in alter native medicine Her study reported today in the Journal of the American Medical Association has thrown the field into tumult Emily is 1 1 She did the experi ment for her fourth grade science fair The technique she challenges is therapeutic touch in which healers manipulate what they call the energy by passing their hands over a patient's body without actually touching the patient The method is practiced in healing centers and medical centers throughout the world and is taught at prominent universities and schools of nursing Tens of thousands of people have been trained to treat patient? through the use of therapeutic touch Its practitioners insist that the human energy field is real and that anyone can be trained to feel it But Emily asked a sort of Please sec TOUCH Baek page this section Going pro I I Avumahd Phaa Cindy Blodgett I'Mainc basketball standout announces Tuesday in Orono that she has signed to play in the WNBA Story I Quote of the Day a corner of Maine that's rot people and there ate dead )irds 1A Tom Hodgman state wildlife biolo gists on an epidemic killing the ciynmon redpoll 4 Nation Bella Abctig one of the most reeogniz able leaders of the liberation movement dies at age 77 9A The Weather Showers today still warm with a high near 60 Showers tonight low 49 Cloudy showers Thursday 10B Index HcUc 5C 1 kwscepc 5C Abbv 4C 1 aiulcr 4C Business 6C 1 cgals 6D ClaWicd 6D Lottery 1A Comas 4C People 8C Deaths 9B Planner 2B Editorials 10A Television 5C I lip Side SC Theaters YJC INSIDE INSIDE.