CRAWFORD, Maine — The environmental manager of Montreal-based Domtar Corp. was arrested early Sunday morning and charged with furnishing a place for minors to possess or consume alcohol.
Jay Beaudoin, 45, of Pembroke is the owner of a camp on Love Lake in Crawford where between 50 and 100 young people held a party late Saturday night, the Washington County Sheriff’s Department said Monday.
The Sheriff’s Department received a tip that a party was going to be held and contacted the Maine State Police.
Officers converged on the site. “It was pretty wild when the guys got up there,” Sheriff Donnie Smith said in a telephone interview Monday. Some of the partygoers ran into the woods, he added.
The party was linked back to social groups at the University of Maine at Machias, and the event was known as Greek Weekend, the sheriff said in a press release.
Lt. Travis Willey of the Washington County Sheriff’s Department said Monday that Beaudoin is a UMM fraternity alumnus. Domtar spokesman Scott Beal confirmed Monday that Beaudoin was employed at the pulp mill in Baileyville. The company announced earlier this year that it was indefinitely idling its pulp mill today, tossing more than 300 people out of work.
Also arrested were Michael Frederick Hinerman, 23, and Royce Michael Bedbury, 19, charged with furnishing liquor to minors. Both men are from Machiasport and are students at UMM. Hinerman, according to the UMM Web site, is a member of Kappa Mu Alpha fraternity. According to the Sheriff’s Department arrest and booking page, it was alleged that both men were under the influence of alcohol or drugs when they were arrested.
Police also summoned 10 others on charges of possession of liquor by a minor. Summoned were Britney St. Louis, 19, of Machiasport, Vandi Farren, 20, of Ellsworth, Katryn Bailey, 19, of Columbia, Marcus Guimond, 18, of Sidney, Bruce Neff, 20, of Greenfield, Ind., Briann Emery, 19, of Madison, Jason Tustian, 19, of Addison, Jessica Brown, 19, of Palmyra, Victoria Pendleton, 20, of Windham and Daniel Rolfe, 19, of Bath. Some of those summoned also were UMM students.
Willey said that three other minors were tested, but were not drinking. The Sheriff’s Department, Willey said, working with newly acquired portable Breathalyzers, were able to test the partygoers on-site.
Police confiscated three kegs of beer and unidentified drinking paraphernalia.
It all started when the Sheriff’s Department received word last month from the Maine Forest Service that there was going to be a party among college students on May 2, at the Rocky Lake Campsite in East Machias on government land.
Jeff Currier, district ranger for the Maine Forest Service, said Monday the Bureau of Parks and Lands notified his office about the party, and he approached Kim Page, UMM director of Student Life.
“She said that it definitely was something that the university was neither sponsoring, sanctioning nor condoning, so let’s work together and see if we can get info on it and squash it before it happens,” Currier said.
Page put Currier in touch with the leadership of two campus Greek organizations. “One was a sorority and one was a fraternity,” he said.
Currier said he warned the students about the inappropriate use of public lands, and the students agreed they would not hold the party there. The party later was moved to Love Lake.
Page said Monday the university did not condone drinking among students. “We do not support underage drinking, and we strongly try to educate our students on the dangers around that,” she said.
Bail on Beaudoin was set at $500 cash while bail on Hinerman and Bedbury was set at $300 each unsecured.
Willey said that anyone who hears of underage drinking parties should contact the Washington County sheriff’s office.