Vandals strike at local landfill W. Old Town site has $10,000 damage

OLD TOWN – Vandals on Sunday evening caused an estimated $10,000-plus in damage at the West Old Town Landfill, police said.

Old Town police received a call at 6:41 p.m. from subcontractors who had been working at the site reporting extensive damage to the landfill’s main building, scale house and some equipment.

When police arrived, they discovered the group of subcontractors, who had been working about half-mile away from the entrance, were locked inside.

Vandals superglued the locks on the doors of some buildings. They also broke off a key or other object in the locked chain on the main gate, police said.

“The Fire Department had to come with bolt cutters and cut the chain,” Old Town police Officer Tom Adams said Sunday.

Messages and symbols written with spray paint also were left on the buildings.

“We don’t want your trash here” and “The people say no” were two of the messages left behind.

“There were a bunch of symbols that we’re trying to decipher,” Adams said. The word “Elf” was sprayed on one building.

“I’m sure it stands for something,” Adams said.

In addition to slashed tires and smashed dashboards on some heavy equipment in the yard, the vandals broke windows and put a hose in the scale house and the main building and turned it on, causing water damage to both buildings.

The landfill deal among the state, Georgia-Pacific Corp. and Casella Waste Systems was designed to keep G-P’s Old Town paper mill open while addressing the state’s waste disposal problem.

The state bought the landfill site from G-P for $26 million and chose Casella, which runs the Pine Tree Landfill in Hampden, to operate it. The Maine Department of Environmental Protection approved the project April 9, and attempts to appeal the decision have been unsuccessful.

We the People, a group of area residents opposed to the landfill deal, and Orono resident Paul Schroeder filed lawsuits last year against the DEP and the Board of Environmental Protection, asking the court to review the state agencies’ decision in favor of the landfill. The two suits have been consolidated into one proceeding because of their similarities, but no decision has been made.

Police on Sunday night collected evidence that will be sent to the crime lab for investigation and have narrowed the time frame of when the vandalism was done to between 4:30 and 6 p.m. Sunday.

Police notified landfill technician Dan Dutile of the incident, and workers came in late Sunday night to begin cleaning up.

An electrician also was called in because the vandals turned off the methane torch that burns off landfill gas and reduces the odor produced by the waste.

Although a lot of evidence was gathered, including footprints, police haven’t identified any suspects. Detective Seth Bear, who also investigated the incident, is expected to be back at the scene today.

“Anybody’s a suspect now,” Adams said. “Until we start weeding it down, we can’t really point fingers yet.”