Homeless man incites mental health debate

PRINCETON – A man who carried a hammer and hatchet when he went into a local redemption center Thursday morning ended up having coffee and doughnuts with the clerk.

In fact, the homeless man, who is believed to be 53, told police he uses the tools to search for artifacts. He was not arrested.

But for a time Thursday morning, his visit prompted plenty of sirens and blue lights on Main Street.

Sgt. Donnie Smith of the Washington County Sheriff’s Department said that around 7:30 a.m. dispatchers were told that a man carrying a “machete” and hatchet was seen walking around town and had entered Mom’s Redemption Center on Main Street.

Officers from Indian Township and an agent from the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency were the first on the scene. “The [store clerk] had already taken the hammer and the hatchet away from him. When I arrived, there he was having a cup of coffee and eating a doughnut. He hadn’t threatened anyone,” Smith said.

Smith said the man apologized to the police for causing all the commotion.

According to some residents, the man appeared in town several months ago and has been living in a tent. He is believed to be from Baileyville or Grand Lake Stream.

Assistant District Attorney Paul Cavanaugh said that, although he was not familiar with the incident, as long as the man is not a danger to himself or others, there is nothing police could do.

“Homelessness is not itself a crime,” he said. “Under the civil mental health statutes, if a person is a danger to him- or herself or others because of a mental disease or illness, then police can detain the person long enough to take them for a medical evaluation,” he said.

Smith said he had offered to take the man to the hospital, but he refused.

If the weather turned cold, Smith said, police would pick him up to keep him from freezing. “I hope this guy will get some help over the next month or so,” he said.

But Smith’s boss, Sheriff Joe Tibbetts, said he was frustrated because the laws do not protect those who are believed to be mentally ill.

Tibbetts said if someone were walking down the road in his pajamas in February deputies could pick him up and take him home, but deputies could not refer him to a mental health facility.

The sheriff said he believed the laws needed to be reviewed. “For the past 30 years [as a police officer], this has been a big gripe of mine,” he said. “OK, maybe they’re not a danger to someone else, but they are definitely a danger to themselves.”