Biddeford Journal (Newspaper) - September 24, 1980, Biddeford, Maine CITY EDITION WEDNESDAY une Sept. 24, 1980 282-1535 324-4444 985-3118 25 cents MAINE 326 Days hold postmortem By LEE BURNETT Sanford Bureau It's all in the past tense The predictions in assertions in and wishful thinking of thousands of the outcome of the referendum has turned into the hindsight wisdom of the street corners and shopping With 99 percent of the vote those voting to keep Maine Yankee open outnumbered those voting to close the plant by a total of 230,780-159,761. love said Ralph Croteau of Biddeford from work today at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in nice of the Maine people to see it this I lived in Biddeford when it went through hell in the with the mill This Maine Yankee shutdown would be the He said the vote was a signal for this country to get away from foreign Related photos Page 3 dependence on if we go to Canada to buy our electric we're still in a We have to do our own feel pretty said Annette also of who voted to keep Maine Yankee should have all gone like we did here in just hope they don't start this stuff I heard they might on but I don't think the government should let them for two and a half or three It's using the At the house of Mary and James Wiggin in where many prominent activists in the county gathered Tuesday night as the results trickled the news of a defeat gradually sank in. I'm said Linda Stableford of Wells about 9:15 when the outcome was still up in the nervous so much as never been as interested in an election outcome as this said her husband a prolific writer of recent as he sipped a Like the the news came lightly at With 12 communities it was 900 in favor of a shutdown and 1,100 Then it came harder and By ten it seemed A wave of disappointment swept the room when a banner bulletin blipped across the bottom of the screen of one of the two TV sets turned on for the occasion saying forces were ahead 79,543 to 56,207 with 55 percent of the state There was someone votes no they are risking my life and they don't have a right to do said James Armand Altman was of us that take on the real profound issues of our time somehow never I don't know any candidate I've supported or any major issue that's interjected Pat Jones of Kennebunk who has supported several valiant but vain campaigns in the we all vote for She was bolstering the flagging Page 10, Col. 5) Reaction leaders take step toward second vote AUGUSTA - Leaden movement - rebounding from an overwhelming defeat to the nation's first referendum limed at shutting an atomic plant - today stilled the process to force a second Maine voters Tuesday defeated by a marinl a proposal we immediate shutdown of the Maine Yankee nuclear with M0 of US precincts unofficial results showed the issue lost 230,780 to Secretary of State Rodney S. Quinn Said there could be no new vote until He ssid Tuesday's vote cost taxpayers about James L. state election law Said Raymond leader of the filed the necessary papers with the Secretary of State's Office at 11 a.m. Earlier today a sculptor Who lives 2 miles from Maine Yankee and worked hardest to close the said he was taking solace from having presented voters with a least we took the first step toward banning nuclear power in the he Residents of the tiny coastal town of the home of Maine opted to keep Maine Yankee The town benefits from the hefty property taxes paid by owners of the plant and unofficial returns showed residents voted 966-481 to keep the nuclear plant Just 10 miles away in residents voted 2,109-1,871 to close the even Page 10, Col. 1) Nuke Wiscasset voters were confident of nuclear outcome By DOUG BAILEY Staff Writer WISCASSET - When Mary Rogers opened the door to her Miss Wiscasset Diner on Route 1 at 5 o'clock this morning there was very little else moving in this picturesque coastal of at the Maine Yankee plant two miles down Route 144. Most of the as the morning both locals and came in for coffee or a breakfast ran to the The mercury had dropped to 32. There were seagulls gliding on a thin skin of ice on Kennebec down the Winter's early warning system had gone off. And there was also talk about how the referendum vote had gone just about as expected and that it was good to know that the plant that generated energy for a lot of nice warm heat would keep on All the attention that has been focused here over the summer has not seemed to phase the Most feel like winners today town voted 2-1 to keep Maine Yankee and some are but no one is The consensus is that if Tuesday's referendum had offered a middle rather than an outright ban on nuclear it would have passed with flying James who 13 years ago sold his 150-acre farm to Central Maine Power Co. for about said he was happy Bailey said he sometimes misses the which was purchased by CMP for construction of Maine but he said company has treated me they got me a place nearby and for a retired I'm very I was for atomic power and I'm glad the way it Ed clerk of the Maine House of who lives in nearby stopped by the diner this morning on his way to Pert said he was very surprised at the seems to be a lot of alternative life-style people in And I really expected them to carry the he An electrician at Bath Iron Wayne said he stopped by this morning expecting to hear about some land for these people who wanted the plant to close said they were going to move if the referendum didn't he figure they must be some houses for sale Wood said he believes Maine's easy ballot access laws leads to referendum questions like He said he thinks there was as much out-of-state interest on the side as they was on the pro ' is one of the few states people can get any question they want on the he out-of-state people who want to start something going come here to get questions on the It costs us a lot of And it has happened with the bottle and the Pittston Oil Out-of-state people get it on the and when they they leave the Although Wood said he voted no on he thinks that if the plant had closed the conditions would have been as bad as the Save Maine Yankee committee around here wanted to keep Maine he they don't want more If that question had been on the ballot it would have been 90-1 in favor of no more All people are saying is let's iron out the problems with this but no one wants to be dependent on nuclear Asked what he thought about Tuesday's Jim Kabin of North Edgecomb said he hated it. don't think the people were thinking about the future of Kabin were more concerned with their own Kabin is not too unhappy with the results and said he believes the plant would never be able to renew its operating think we'll try again in maybe five years when the public has had enough time to read all the data about alternative Page 10, Col. 2) Wiscasset Voter registration offices swamped by last-minute rush That's folks Biddeford patrolman Bruce Audie dumps the last of the city's ballots on to a desk at City Hall as City Clerk Lou Angers looks The ballots were then counted by Roland Dennis and Joseph Ribaudo by Richard COMPILED FROM STAFF REPORTS Tuesday's vote in a as panicky as a gold literally dropped what they were or leaving work in order to reach the polls on The fervor meant that dozens of especially in such York County cities as Biddeford and and the town of showed up at the polls in soiled and tattered work It also meant that dozens more hung around outside the polling making pitches for Such enthusiasm usually pleases election Yet Tuesday it did in most instances because registration and polling officials were nearly overwhelmed by those who registered at the last possible In the Board of Registration has been swamped with new registrations since according to Board Chairman Muriel T. More than three-fourths of the 467 people who registered to vote in Tuesday's election did so within the last three Marchand terrible we can't keep up with the she said around 5:30 when lines of people waiting to register still filled the doorway to her been like this since she As a convenience to the Board of Registration in and in other was open Saturday morning for But only about 15 people showed up at Biddeford City Hall to add their names to the voting City Clerk Luc A. Angers says the Board of Registration succeeds in getting any registrations until the very last because many voters insist on waiting until election day to wait till the last Board member Alphonse E. Descoteaux said Tuesday amidst rows of people in the registration they have all year to do he In 6,884 people voted in Biddeford 3,010 less than those who turned out to vote in the 1976 presidential At that Descoteaux says the glut at the registration office was just as bad as it was On election day in 1976, he says 342 people came to the office to In the city handled approximately 150 election day though Registrar Wilbrod Bedard was good-natured about it. once had about 100 in one during the 1976 presidential said number we had Tuesday was a but we handled Although they in handle Bedard said some voters had to wait in line 10 to 15 minutes to Many voters were determined to make the wait because they also wanted to vole on the city's recall as well as the nuclear The recall provision will allow for the removal of certain elected officials from It passed by a better than 3-1 In Old Orchard more than 100 voters registered prompting Town Clerk Barbara Lord to complain of the hassles it posed for election shouldn't have to go through she have had plenty of time to Despite the and small waiting lines at around dinner Lord said things went smoothly at the where more than 2,300 people cast Things weren't much different in Kennebunk and was a said Kennebunk's Town Edna of how much you advertise your registration people still wait until election day to And it does nothing but create Kennebunkport's Registrar of Marilyn also was unhappy with the though glad that more than Page 10, Col. 1) Registration Newly elected councilor to be seated By ANNE CONLEY Staff Writer BIDDEFORD - Democrat Arthur Rizas will be seated on the city council at a special meeting tonight after winning Tuesday's citywide election for The meeting will begin at 7, in City Hall council chambers and is open to the Rizas beat Republican challenger Alfred Gagne in a 3,684 to 2,569 The democratic candidate's lead was smaller than had been Many thought Rizas would with the win through the support of predominantly Democratic More than 80 percent of the registered voters in this city are enrolled in the Democratic according to the Board of Warden in Ward 4 for more than 10 Rizas had the biggest win in his own Gagne's only from the city's seven was in his own Ward 2 where he beat Rizas 347-238. The race was close in Ward 1 which claims the highest percentage of registered Republicans of all the But Rizas had the edge at 668428. One write-in candidate received a vote in Ward 7, the city clerk's office Norman McAuley of 38 Westmore was the candidate on that A resident of 125 Cleaves Gagne ran in the 1950s for city He was elected to the police commission and served as a Page 10, Col. 2) inside Rufus Harris homecoming P. 11 Iraq moves in Tehran P. 5 War and peace the White House P. 5 24 pages 2 une Bad day for birds Harrit meats Toby Knight Vermont P. 9 Almanac Cartoons Classifieds Community County Crossword Puzzle Dear Abby Editorials Horoscope Jumble today's 15 16-17-18-19 22 3 15 8 4 15 15 Sports 11-12-13-14 College was a lousy She disagreed with my bumper sticker and I disagreed with her Old alarm boxes hottest items around By ANNE CONLEY Staff Writer BIDDEFORD - Few people get sentimental over unused fire alarm Except Take Capt. Donald for He has fond memories of the alarm system that was in service when he joined the Biddeford Fire Department 14 years For one he preferred the way it went off. When an alarm sounds with the present buzzers But with the old bells They were still Poirier but they weren't as With the buzzer blood flows a little bit when it wakes firefighters at 3 Poirier bells woke you up like he But when they firefighters counted the which were arranged in a to find out where the fire Poirier says he liked the ritual of counting the considered it more of The captain notes his feelings are probably a product of I came in here longtime were talking about the horse-drawn fire guess everybody has his place in he Poirier and other firefighters concede there are advantages to the new system which was installed in Arthur who's been with the department for 22 says firefighters used to have to work constantly oh lines in the old Firefighters have been relieved of this chore because there are no wires in the new With the old when a fire alarm was a charge was transmitted through the lines to the sounding the when an alarm is a small generator in the alarm box is sending a radio frequency to the fire sounding the Twenty-seven lines of wire had to be maintained in the old system and firefighters say that included a lot of climbing - up and down The system was also inconvenient because sometimes it was a tough job to find a damaged section in the If the smallest section of wire a large section of the line could be put out of And if firefighters couldn't find the which might be inside the insulated jacket of the wire and not they would have to go from pole to inspecting every inch of line along the The system was also less convenient in terms of fire If one was it Page 10, Col. 5) Alarm Recall right approved by Saco voters SACO - By a better than 3-1 voters decided Tuesday to amend the city charter to allow for the electoral recall of certain city The final vole was 3,578 to 1,235. And the provision takes effect The according to City Clerk Joan will work in the following Any 50 voters of the in the case of the mayor or school board or any 50 voters of a in regard to a warden or ward could make and file with the city clerk an affidavit of the of city officials whose removal is sought and a general statement of the reasons The city clerk would then prepare petition blanks containing the names of those whose removal is The petitions would remain in the city clerk's office for 20 business where they would have to be signed by a certain percentage of Saco's registered To hold an election asking for the recall of the mayor or members of the board of petitions would have to contain 15 percent of the number who were registered to vote citywide in the last general municipal The same percentage would be though on a ward to prompt a recall election against a warden or ward
