A year later, Orono beating victim heals Town’s response reassures resident

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ORONO – The scars Michael Curtis suffered in a beating outside his house on Pond Street one year ago today are hard to notice on his smiling face. But the physical effects of the attack remain.

“Attitudewise I’m great,” said the 50-year-old Orono resident. “Physically, I’m still having problems. I’m seeing an ear, eye and throat guy to see if I can get something done with my breathing.”

Scar tissue that runs from midway down his nose nearly to his right eye still hampers his breathing and is a constant reminder of the assault, Curtis said.

Curtis, an engineer, was attacked across the street from his home last year by three unidentified people when he attempted to quiet a loud party near an apartment building at 13 Pond St. The attack left him unconscious with a broken nose, two black eyes and multiple bruises.

In the year since the attack, Curtis believes progress has been made on the part of the community, campus and law enforcement agencies to prevent a repeat occurrence. So far this school year, reports of unruly students at off-campus apartments in the Pond Street area are down, according to police. But the year is young. And Curtis still would like to know who attacked him.

“I want to know who did that,” he said. “I don’t know if I have any hope of pursuing any legal action because I have no witnesses, but I would want to know.”

Orono police are no longer investigating the incident, said Chief Robert O’Halloran, who took over as chief two months after the assault. He said identifying who was involved in the attack is now almost impossible.

The chief said the proximity of four apartment buildings that share a common parking lot across the street from the Curtis home has hindered the investigation. The four buildings have a total of about 25 apartments. The attackers could have come from any of them. No witnesses have come forward, and many of the student tenants have since moved.

“It’s not a pending investigation. It’s a closed case,” O’Halloran said last week. “If new information came forward, we’d reopen it, but it’s a closed case.”

It is not known whether the assailants were University of Maine students.

A community responds

The physical pain left from the 2:30 a.m. confrontation a year ago has not scarred Curtis’ outlook on living in Orono.

“Basically, if you look at all the things that happened as a result of that night, it’s amazing,” Curtis said. “The sum total of everything that has happened is good.”

New ordinances are being fashioned, new regulations are being considered, and the relationship between the university and the town has improved, Curtis said. All are a result of a task force made up of off-campus students, town residents, council members, town officials and university representatives that formed in the wake of the incident.

“The task force came up with three main goals: [to address] disorderly behavior at large; rental problems; and conditions of rental property,” Orono Councilor John Bradson said recently.

Two new ordinances that focus on rental problems are a disorderly-house ordinance and a rental property occupancy permit ordinance. A committee also is working on an amendment to strengthen Orono’s noise ordinance.

“Basically, what the disorderly-house ordinance is trying to address is [locating] certain properties with recurring problems that are generating repeat complaints,” interim Orono Town Manager David Struck said. “It’s also trying to put some of the responsibility back onto the landlord for conduct and use of the property.”

The property occupancy permit ordinance is an 11-page document that will provide an inspection and permitting process for rental units.

“This is to protect students from paying $1,000 a month for an apartment with fire or safety issues,” said Curtis.

Another committee was set up to improve university-town relations. That group now is working on forming a permanent committee.

“Historically, there are problems that have existed and have never been dealt with officially,” said committee member Randy Alford, who is also a UMaine professor. “This is something we need to have.”

An inspiration

Alford’s wife, Jo Carol, said the attack on Curtis did spur some residents into action, including herself. The Alfords live on Pond Street and Jo Carol is now an Orono town councilor. She said she never was involved in politics before the assault on her neighbor.

“Since Mike got beat up and left for dead on my doorstep I’ve been to over 100 meetings,” she said. “We’re very optimistic because we have put in so many hours to review these. Things will get a lot better but the key is enforcement.

“These [ordinances] are not against students, they’re against the slum and absentee landlords that are the main problem,” she said.

A traffic and police patrol committee also was formed at the onset of the task force but soon dissolved, said Jo Carol Alford.

“We got a new police chief and he solved all of the problems so we stopped meeting,” she said.

Bradson and Curtis both said O’Halloran’s hiring has changed the area.

“Our new police chief is a boon,” Curtis said. “He’s from here and he’s got a lot of experience.”

Orono police Officer Willie King said that, so far, incidents of student parties have remained steady in town but have reduced significantly on Pond Street.

“As far as that street goes, it has improved,” he said. “One apartment building [98 North Main St., formerly known as 100 North Main] has been renovated and no one is living there.

“We have not had, to my knowledge, a party call over there. It’s much less than before. It’s been a dramatic change but it’s early, too.”

Suspicion subsides

The incidents of a year ago still affect the Curtis household. Rumors that the assailants were UMaine athletes led Curtis to hire an investigator.

“I even hired a private detective and he came back with absolutely nothing,” he said. “I basically wanted to know who it was.”

Over the past year, Curtis’ paranoia and suspicion of every male UMaine student have mostly subsided.

“I still have a little psychological problem,” he said. “Every time I see a male student I wonder if he’s snickering or if he was involved. I’ve pretty much overcome that. I basically have always assumed people are good people.”

Curtis said he has had no thoughts of leaving the house he shares with his wife, Nancy Hall, and their two daughters.

“My kids like their school, we like the house and like the town,” he said. “Most of our interactions with the students have been good. We bought the house knowing students lived there. We like students.”

So far this year, Curtis said, he has had no problems.

“Right now the group of people living in the house where I had the encounter … are really a good bunch of people,” he said. “I’ve met them all. Everything is going to be nice this year.”

Relationships also are forming between landlords and law enforcement, O’Halloran said.

“One of the things I think has improved since last year is I think there is a better relationship with the landlords,” O’Halloran said. “It’s a positive thing. We have a good dialogue and a good relationship with them, I believe. I am very optimistic that things are going to be better this school year.”

O’Halloran said that once the ordinances are adopted, the police would have a better tool to use against disruptions.

The town’s Police Department and campus law enforcement are working on ways to coordinate efforts in the future.

“I’m pleased that a greater degree of attention is being paid to student life off campus this past year,” University of Maine public safety director Noel March said, “and that a group of university officials, town officials and residents have been working cooperatively on our relationship and our mutual interest in student life off campus.”