Anti-abortionist arrested outside Bangor church

Bangor police arrested anti-abortion protester Terence Hughes after he allegedly pushed two people outside a church Sunday morning.

Officer Michael Brennan said he went to St. John’s Catholic Church, 207 York St., shortly before 10 a.m., where he learned that two men had been standing in front of the church holding graphic anti-abortion posters.

There has been controversy between the church and some pro-life activists for months over the activists’ professed right to display images of aborted fetuses. The church says the signs are upsetting to worshippers, especially children.

Brennan said the men were standing on the opposite side of the street. A recent court decision limits protesters to the grassy area between the sidewalk and the street.

Brennan said he told the men they weren’t allowed to stand in the street, at which point they moved to the grass. Several members of the church were there already, holding large posters designed to block the activists’ signs.

Hughes, 65, of Orono, was accused of pushing a woman and a man standing on the grass in front of the church.

Two witnesses told the officer that Hughes pushed the woman.

Brennan said he arrested Hughes for two counts of assault.

On the way to Penobscot County Jail, Hughes told Brennan the woman had pushed him, too. He asked that she be charged with assault.

A Garland woman allegedly attempted to steal tooth whitener from a convenience store in Bangor on Saturday.

Bangor police Officer Butch Moor said he went to the Rite Aid store on Broadway at about 5:20 p.m. An employee told him she caught Kandace McPherson, 20, trying to pocket a tooth whitening product.

Moor summoned McPherson for theft.

Police arrested a Bangor man after he allegedly threatened to shoot his ex-girlfriend and himself Saturday afternoon.

Bangor police Officer Erik Tall said he spoke with a woman around 4:30 p.m. who told him Joshua Branscomb, 22, of Bangor, had told her he wanted to kill her because it was the only way he could get into jail.

She claimed Branscomb, her former boyfriend, said he would shoot her and himself, and that he had a gun. The woman told Tall she never actually saw a weapon.

She also told Tall that Branscomb pinned her into a corner, then threw her onto the bed and covered her mouth with his hand, preventing her from leaving his apartment.

The woman told Tall she believed Branscomb had been using drugs.

Officers Christopher Morley, Butch Moor and Tall went to Branscomb’s Hammond Street apartment, where they found him on the front porch and handcuffed him. When asked if he was alone at the apartment, Branscomb allegedly said it was “just me and my guns.”

Branscomb was taken to Penobscot County Jail. Tall said the jail later called to say Branscomb had been taken to St. Joseph Hospital.

After a few hours, Tall spoke with Branscomb at the hospital, where he denied all the complaints except putting his hand over his ex-girlfriend’s mouth.

Tall said Branscomb told him he kept a fully-automatic weapon and several other guns in the basement of his apartment building. Morley found nothing there.

Branscomb was summoned for assault, criminal threatening and criminal restraint.

Somebody broke into a recreational vehicle on a sales lot in Bangor on Friday night.

Bangor police Officer Paul Colley said he spoke with the owner of Webb’s R.V. on Outer Hammond Street Saturday morning. The owner told him someone had entered a trailer the night before, stealing a microwave and a range, each worth $250.

The thief also tried to steal the refrigerator, causing about $1,000 in damage in the failed attempt.

– Compiled by NEWS reporter Isaac Kimball