March 29, 2024
BANGOR DAILY NEWS (BANGOR, MAINE

Officials question authority to give away fries

A load of frozen french fries from an overturned tractor-trailer truck could become a political hot potato for a former Penobscot County sheriff who wants the job back.

Timothy Richardson, who runs a towing service and is running against incumbent Sheriff Edward Reynolds, was called to Interstate 95 in Plymouth early Wednesday to tow a rig owned by 3-D Trucking of Windham.

It had dumped 1,000 cases of fries belonging to McCain Foods of Easton.

On Wednesday, with television cameras in tow, Richardson delivered the scattered cargo to the Penobscot County Jail, the Salvation Army, local hospitals and other agencies in what he characterized as a good deed.

But state agriculture officials are trying to determine whether he had any authority to distribute the fries in the first place. If he had none, Richardson could face a stiff fine.

“I was trying to do a nice thing for a lot of nice people,” he said, explaining that he has performed similar acts when trucks have lost their loads of food. Usually, “the first place we go is the county jail. It’s a way to save the taxpayers some money.”

The Penobscot County Sheriff’s Department reportedly received the following document from the Maine agriculture department on Wednesday. It was labeled as an embargo notice referring to the Richardson incident:

“Entire load is (unsalable) and turned over to R&M Towing. Any salvageable product will be donated to state agencies (county jail, etc.). All other product will be disposed at Sawyer landfill in Hampden.”

Richardson said he asked the truck driver, Clyde Macklane, at the accident scene what he wanted done with the french fries. Macklane, he said, in turn asked him, “What do you usually do with it?”

Richardson said he told him he usually distributed the food to local agencies, and that Macklane turned the cargo over to him.

“With that acknowledgement, I proceeded like I usually do,” said Richardson. “This is not unusual.”

The question is if he violated an official “embargo” on the load of fries, which would have required that they be placed in cold storage until their quality could be determined.

Richardson said that he had never heard about the embargo procedure, and that a state Department of Agriculture inspector at the scene heard the conversation and did nothing to prevent him from taking the food.

Jerry Prentiss, another food inspector, said he had not spoken with the on-site inspector to find out exactly what, if any, instructions were given. The beneficiaries of Richardson’s deliveries, he said, were told not to use the food until the department could determine its status.

If Richardson violated an embargo, he said, he could receive a fine of up to $10,000. “You don’t mess with an embargo,” he said.

According to Penobscot Sheriff’s Chief Deputy Carl F. Andrews Jr., Macklane disagreed with Richardson’s version of events and said the conversation Richardson described never took place. Andrews assigned a detective to investigate further.

Andrews would be working for Richardson if he wins the election and has spoken in support of his current boss.


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