Category: News

After two bomb threats last month, a bomb expert is arriving on campus to help USM Police train faculty and staff in evacuation procedures and identifying explosives. Police Chief Lisa Beecher has secured the services of Tim Culbert, president of New England Chemical and Explosive Disposal, Inc.

USM | Pattenaude Urges Campus to Vote

PORTLAND–President Richard Pattenaude released a statement via e-mail urging all members of USM’s community to vote tomorrow on TABOR, no matter if it is supported or not. He gave the positions of the Board of Trustees and the Board of Visitors, who oppose it.

Nov. 10, 1871-UJIJI, ZANZIBAR– Seven years after Scottish doctor and missionary David Livingstone’s disappearance in the heart of Africa, a search party led by journalist Henry Stanley found him. Stanley and his party had been searching for Livingstone for eight months.

Last Friday USM Provost Joe Wood defended the university police department’s investigation of a recent hate crime incident on the Gorham campus, saying, “I know they are very thorough and do the best job they can.”

Asked in a telephone interview whether the campus police should collaborate with other law enforcement agencies in identifying suspects, Wood said, “It is my experience that when something is referred to the Attorney General’s office, it involves the [Maine] State Police.

Have you ever been scolded by a mall cop for remaining in one area too long (he’ll call it loitering), or driving too fast in the parking lot? No doubt you just shrugged it off and said, “What’s he going to do? He’s not a real cop. He has no actual powers of

authority.

OCTOBER 6, 1014 – Born Basileios II, Emperor Basil II ruled Rome’s Byzantine Empire from 976 A.D. until his death in 1025 A.D. By the time the Empire took control of Bulgaria, he

had already regained many of the territories lost in Asia Minor and Syria.

On July 29, Emperor Basil finally separated Bulgarian leader Samuel from his army after many years of battle.

SEPTEMBER 23

Noise Complaint / Criminal Mischief – Group

yelling in courtyard of Upton Hastings Hall. Dispatcher could hear the noise through the phone. Group left two granite benches destroyed.

Criminal Mischief – Black Audi damaged in Gorham parking lot.

Chris Yankopoulos woke up on the floor of his team’s cross country bus Saturday morning having no idea what had put him there. The team was en route to its first meet of the season when a car traveling at 60 m.p.h. hit them head on without ever hitting the brakes.

September 7 Motor Vehicle Accident – Property damage only. Jocelyn Potthoff, 21, arrested for operation after suspension. Theft – Wallet and $18 cash stolen from victim’s pants while working out at Sullivan Gym. Lost Dog – Jackson” was found wandering around campus and was returned to owner.

Tuesday, September 12th on the USM Gorham campus a hate-crime was reported to the USM Police Department by a young man who reported being verbally harassed and later chased by a group of male students. He was sitting in the Brooks Dining Center with some friends, when a second group of students sat nearby and directed homophobic comments toward him.

Judge Jianli Song, one of the youngest members of China’s Supreme People’s Court, said Thursday that corruption remains a widespread problem in his nation, especially in local courts. Song discussed China’s changing justice system, speaking to a group of University of Maine Law School students and faculty.

Portland’s Victory Garden Project organized a protest march on Friday, September 15 starting at Woodbury Campus Center and ending on Congress Street. The rally, in response to President Richard Pattenaude’s decision to have Thomas Manning’s art exhibit, “Can’t Jail The Spirit,” removed from campus, boasted the banned artwork.

The Hannaford Lecture Hall buzzed with the chatter of attendees Thursday, September 14 when a voice boomed near the front row. At 7:55 a.m. conversation stopped and everyone’s attention focused on a bearded man with a cane, a service dog and a bullhorn who turned from talking to a debate organizer to address the crowd: “This is discrimination.

BEIRUT, LEBANON – A member of the Islamic Jihad drove a truck loaded with over 1100lbs of powerful explosives up the main drive of the US Embassy building. The driver maneuvered through the guards’ gunfire and to the front of the embassy building, where it exploded.

Anne Hobby Contributing Writer A bonfire. A woman’s soccer game. A drive-in movie. A trivia competition. An 80’s dance. These are just a few of the events scheduled for this year’s homecoming, USM’s largest to date. It will definitely be better than last year’s said to Sarah Dionnen, a residence assistant on the Gorham Campus.

Erik Eisele Staff Writer The Budget box truck parked in front of 102 Bedford St. slowly filled with toilet paper, children’s books, Slinkys and hair care products Wednesday evening. At 6 PM donations were still arriving. Brian Farrell, the man in charge of the collection effort, pushed back his departure to Massachusetts’ Camp Edwards to accommodate the late arrivals.

USM has a variety of illustrious speakers coming here every week. Here is a sample of some of them. This list is not all-inclusive and the number of listings is contingent on space. If you, your student group, club, etcetera would like to place a listing, send an email to freepress@usm.

September 20

At 3:49 p.m. a car drove through the parking garage gate disabling the system.

September 22

Students riding the bus into Gorham reported a male subject was in their personal space. The subject stated he was not a student. The case is under investigation.

Student Senators resign from their positions

Two senators handed in their resignations at the third Senate meeting of the semester.

Mike Bardin and Sergio Descart had their resignations accepted. . Descart cited time restrictions and other obligations with his position of President on the Board of Student Organizations (BSO).

Amber Spaeth Contributing Writer Lisa Beecher served at the Portland Police Department for 21 years before retiring in 1998 to become the chief of police at USM. For the past eight years she has worked to make the campus as safe as possible for students, staff and faculty.

by Jamie McAvoy

Staff Writer

In an effort to accommodate the growing needs of the University, the Honors Program will likely be changed to a college, capable of granting degrees.

USM is working on the honor’s curriculum as part of revisions to the general education program.

Making news around the country, colleges have opened their doors for students displaced by Hurricane Katrina. Bates College, for example, offered any Maine undergraduates enrolled in colleges in the hurricane affected region free courses during the fall semester.

Student groups and individuals

on both campuses have joined

in organizing relief efforts for

Hurricane Katrina victims.

“It’s been an incredible

response. People want to respond

and they want to help in any way

possible,” said Cass Newell, a

senior majoring in human biology.

“There are certainly a lot of goodhearted

folks out there that are

willing to step up to the plate.

They’ve been really incredible and

I’m looking forward to working

with everyone.”

Newell is in charge of

organizing the various relief efforts

of students on campus. To that

end she is organizing a series of

fundraising events centered around

Homecoming, which includes

bottle drives, a 50/50 raffle, coin

collection cans in high profile

campus locations, and a car wash.

Newell is also trying to get a

car donated to be raffled off and

is making arrangements with the

Comedy Connection in Portland to

have a comedy night on the Portland

campus.

“Honestly, I considered a leave

of absence this semester to go down

south,” said Newell, but instead

she “called the Red Cross and

asked if I could help.” Newell had

fundraising experience from having

participated in the American AIDS

Ride for three years.

Newell chose to focus most

of her fundraising efforts around

Homecoming because of its

visibility on campus as well as

Homecoming week being at about

the same time as Newell hoped to

have completed her fund raising

efforts. “Because it’s such an

immediate need I’m pretty focused

on keeping people focused on this

event and the immediate nature of

it.”

Newell said she would like to

see the donation to the Red Cross

total about $10,000, a number

she thinks is entirely possible,

especially if she can get a car

donated. She emphasized that the

work is being done by many more

people than herself.

Separate from Newell’s

efforts, WMPG hosted their own

miniature Mardi Gras event on

Tuesday in order to raise money for

WWOZ, a community radio station

in New Orleans. According to John

Dennison, development director for

WMPG, the station chose to support

another radio station because the

two stations are kindred spirits.

“We felt the best way WMPG

could exert hurricane relief was to

go with what we know,” Dennison

said. “That would be a great trend

for all businesses.” For WMPG this

means businesses in the same trade

should help each other through hard

times like WWOZ is going through

after Hurricane Katrina damaged

compiled by the USM Police Department – Sept. 8The fountain in the Gorham Student Center was soaped during the night causing damage to the coolant system. – There were reports of possible bias at WMPG due to the defacement of a member ID card between August 15 and August 19.