Cape youth arrested for Monday's bomb threat

    On December 11 at or about 5 p.m. the Cape Elizabeth
Police Department was notified that the Cape Elizabeth High School had
received a bomb threat. The note was written on a wall in the boy’s
bathroom indicating that a bomb was set to go off on December 12 at
what was believed to be 4 p.m. The police secured the building and
conducted a search with the help of a bomb-sniffing dog from South
Portland.  No evidence of a bomb was discovered.

    On December 12 police and school officials
collaborated to interview several students. A suspect was identified.
He is a 17-year-old boy from Cape Elizabeth and he has been charged
with Terrorizing. A previous bomb threat dating back to November 29
remains under investigation.



Still room for vacation camp

    The South Portland Parks and Recreation Department
is offering two trips for grades 6, 7 and 8 during Christmas vacation
week. These trips are for any student in grades 6 through 8 who is a
resident of South Portland.

    A trip to Shawnee Peak for a day of snowboarding or
skiing is being held on Wed., Dec. 27. Participants will depart from
the Community Center at 8:30 a.m., and return at 5:00 p.m.  The
cost is $28 or $48 if rentals are needed. Transportation is included.
Children need to bring lunch or money for lunch.

    A trip to the pick and Paint Pottery shop, along
with lunch at the new Westbrook McDonalds is being held on Thurs., Dec.
28. Children can pick their own masterpiece to paint and fire then pick
up the piece of pottery at the Community Center approximately two weeks
after the trip. Participants will depart at 10 a.m. and return at 2:30
p.m., but may choose to stay and hang out at open gym until 4:30 p.m.
The cost is $12 per person and includes transportation and pottery
studio fees and materials, but not money for lunch. Parents can sign up
for one or both of these trips at the South Portland Community Center
at 21 Nelson Rd., right next to South Portland High School. Space is
limited on both trips, but room is still available. For more
information please contact Lisa Bingham, Recreation Coordinator at
767-7650.



SMCC gets $2.2 mil. grant

U.S. Senators Olympia J. Snowe and Susan Collins announced this week
that the U.S. Department of Labor (USDOL) has awarded $2,214,394 in
funding to Southern Maine Community College in South Portland as a part
of its Community-Based Job Training Grant program.

 “The United States Department of Labor funding will allow the
Maine Community College System the opportunity to expand the efforts
currently underway by Maine’s North Star Alliance Initiative,” said
Snowe and Collins in a joint statement. “We are pleased to see
continued federal support for Maine’s ongoing effort to provide for
future opportunities for advanced technology training and education.
This is fantastic news for Maine’s growing composites industry, and the
entire economy of the State of Maine.”

    The grant will be used to create the Maine
Composites Technology Training Initiative to develop the infrastructure
necessary for Maine’s community colleges under the leadership of SMCC.
This grant will leverage at least $1 Million in Workforce Innovation in
Regional Economic Development (WIRED) training dollars, as well
as  $1.7 million from other partners, and deliver training to
Maine’s composites industry.