NEWBURGH – The two-way race for first selectman took a controversial turn last month after incumbent Gene Sparrow questioned his opponent’s character in the town newsletter.

Referring to Tom Jackemeyer, Sparrow said in the Jan. 31 Town Crier that he “carried a specific agenda and questionable baggage.”

“A candidate should come to the table with the good of the town in mind, not the mind-set of a disgruntled group of discontents,” said Sparrow, 71, who is running March 6 for his second term as selectman.

The remarks, which alluded in part to Jackemeyer’s criminal record, prompted Jackemeyer to write a rebuttal in his own defense.

In a letter that he handed out to residents, Jackemeyer said he assumed Sparrow’s “questionable baggage” comment had to do with the problems Jackemeyer encountered when he applied for a permit to operate his auto junkyard and auto recycling businesses.

Noting that he had a hard time trying to meet the code requirements, Jackemeyer, 36, said he found “the current administration not very knowledgeable or helpful in these matters.”

Meanwhile, the town has filed charges against Jackemeyer in Newport District Court, alleging that he failed to fulfill the conditions of the permits to which his attorney agreed. A decision is pending.

Jackemeyer also took issue with Sparrow’s reference to a “disgruntled group of discontents.”

“I have had many people express to me that because they are not happy with the current administration and are hoping for a change, they must be the discontents …” he wrote in his letter.

“I guess they are correct. That makes me a discontent, and if you are not satisfied with the current administration, that makes you a discontent as well.”

Believing that Jackemeyer misinterpreted his comments, Sparrow has since written a clarification.

Paid for by his supporters, the letter was given to those who attended a Feb. 15 meeting to discuss various town projects. It will be mailed to the remaining residents this week.

This time Sparrow spelled things out. The “questionable baggage” comment referred to Jackemeyer’s “long and varied criminal and civil disobedience record,” said the selectman, enumerating his opponent’s infractions.

Court documents and Bangor Daily News stories from 1990 and 1991 verified that Jackemeyer has been convicted of attempted trafficking in Schedule Z drugs and of operating under the influence; that he served time for night hunting; and that he was fined for leaving the scene of a property damage accident and for theft by unauthorized taking or transfer.

Jackemeyer also was fined for disorderly conduct last year.

“If he cannot live by the laws, how can he enforce them?” Sparrow wrote in his letter.

While Jackemeyer refused last week to comment, Sparrow agreed to fill in some of the blanks.

The contentiousness between the candidates began at last year’s town meeting when Sparrow told residents he would do everything he could to “protect our children” and eliminate the drug trafficking in town.

Sparrow said the town needs the junkyard and recycling facilities that Jackemeyer operates and “has done everything to facilitate his permits.”

In the end, Sparrow doesn’t regret voicing his concerns about Jackemeyer.

“It’s nothing personal,” he said. “His type of person just isn’t the type to run the town.”