Vandals attack in Tremont Couple: victimized for anti-noise work

TREMONT – Wilbur Wolf was dozing in a chair at 10 p.m. Sunday when he heard the gunshots. By the time he got to the door, the shooters were gone.

But not the evidence.

Splattered on the front of Wolf’s ranch-style home were 13 blotches of red, orange and green paint.

“They sounded like gunshots,” Wolf said Monday of the paint-ball guns. “It was a very unnerving experience.”

Wolf and his wife, Donna, are convinced the vandalism was not random. They think it was in retaliation for helping to collect enough signatures to force a November vote on whether the town should impose an ordinance to stop late night noise in the neighborhood around Kelly Town Road.

Their biggest fear, however, is that the vandals will be back and could do serious damage to their property or their persons before police can catch them.

“We need help,” said Donna Wolf, a retired artist who sews and makes alterations to augment the couple’s retirement income.

Wilbur Wolf was a psychiatric nurse at the Bangor Mental Health Institute. Now retired, he tunes pianos part time.

A second house was pelted with about 30 balls of paint Sunday night. The owners also helped collect signatures. The owner of the second residence did not want to comment on the record Monday.

The Wolfs called the state police and waited an hour for an officer to arrive. He was not optimistic that police would find the culprits, according to Donna Wolf.

The trooper, Alden Bustard, was off Monday and other state police officers had no information on the case.

The trooper who covers Tremont, Jason Lepper, also had a day off Monday, according to police.

Under an agreement between the state police and the town, Lepper is assigned full time to Tremont. The town does not have a police department of its own. It pays the state $75,000 a year for Lepper’s services.

Lt. Peter Stewart, Troop J supervisor, said the incident is under investigation.