Off-Campus Board, Orono Police Team up with Orchard Trails

Since there has been so much damage and complaints at Orchard Trails, the Off Campus Board is going to intervene along with the Orono police to team up with Orchard Trails management. The vandalism that occured last month with resident's vehicles had never happend at the other 78 communites around college towns in the U.S that James Goodson (area manager of Orchard Trails) had seen. A lot of peole were shocked about this incident Goodson said in the Maine Campus November 6th.

Part of the proposed solution is to make an Orchard Trails Representative Board, similar to the hall governing boards in the dorms on campus. According to Goodson in the Maine Campus, at least 525 of the 535 residents are students at the University of Maine.

Also the Orono police, OCB, and Orchard Trails management hope to create forums and meet with residents to talk and discuss concerns and avoid conflict.

I think that it is great the OCB and the Orono police want to team up with Orchard Trails management, however I don't believe it's going to have that much impact on vandalism, underage drinking, etc. I do think that there should be survellience cameras at least in parking lots and maybe hallways of the apartments, although, is that going a little too far? Either way this is a college town, these apartments are geared towards college students, and there is going to be a lot of damage, alcohol and parties involved. There is no way they can prevent this from happening. The residents have learned by now that if you keep it in your apartment theres nothing really the police or OT management can do. The hallways and parking lots are public property and that is mainly where they catch the underage drinking, and vandalism in the hallways and parking lots. The police say that they want to have a relationship with the residents and management, but honestly i do not think the residents would agree that the police treat them in a way to have a "relationship" with them. I do think the forum is a good idea to talk about concerns and problems residents have at the complex. So far there has been one meeting and should be more to come. It will be interesting what else goes on in Orchard Trails for the remainder of the school year. Although lately it has been quiet for the past two weeks.

Vandals Caught!

Two weeks later, the police have finally caught the criminals that were involved in the vandalism of 12 cars at Orchard Trails Apartments. Mario Villani, 22 -years-old, Raymond Vallee, 22 -years -old and Jonathan Merrill, 23 -years-old confessed to the vehicle damages and have been charged with criminal mischief. This is a Class D crime. Merrill was charged with aggravated criminal mischief, a Class C felony. He is also being charged with falsifying physical evidence.

According tothe Maine Campus, police said all three were intoxicated during this crime and Sargaent Wilcox said the estimated amount of damage costs is well over $2,000. Also bicycles missing from this incident may be additional charges to the three young men.

Shayna Cavalieri says she is really careful now with locking her bicycle; however she feels that no matter how hard people try to keep thier bikes, cars and other valuable items locked up, vandalists will find some way to destroy them.

Merrill is a resident of Orchard Trails, Vallee is a Univeristy of Maine student, and Villani was a friend visiting from Portland. Villani and Vallee will be appearing in court November 30th, and Merrill appears in January for the Class C charges. IF he is convicted of aggravated criminal mischief, he could face up to fiver years in prison.

Vandalism in Orchard Trails

To wake up and find your car with scrapes and a window smashed in a million little pieces would be the lats thing on your mind in the morning. This was Raechel Wark's dilemma Sunday, Oct. 22. It was 9:20 in the morning ; Wark was getting ready to leave for work, when she shockingly discovered the back windshield of her car was totally shatter in her backseat.

Wark immediately called the Orono police after she saw what had happened to her car. They were already informed about the vandalism and knew about her car specifically. The Orono police had been at Orchard Trails earlier that morning taking pictures of all the vandalized cars. At least 12 vehicles in the Orchard Trails complex received damage from a group of individuals where alcohol could have been a factor early Sunday morning. The damage occurred around 4 a.m. and included scratches on the paint, keyed surfaces, bicycles thrown through rear windows, and wooden posts were also used to break windows as well as sided doors that were punched in.

"I still want to liver here but i am getting frustrated with the amount of vandalism that goes on here," Wark said. No one from Orchard Trails Staff said anything to Wark about the damages that occurred to her car however, a community assistant- like a resident assistant at the dorms - suggested that they couldn't pay for what happened, but wanted to giver her a candy bag to show they were sorry.

Of course the weather forecast was very unpleasant for five days and the damage to Wark's car left the rear window smashed and open to the rain, leaving her backseat drenched in water. "Fortunately i have two amazing friends that, when they heared about what happened to my car, they came and removed all the smashed glass. They also took it to get vacuumed and taped up the window for me. That kept out most of the rain," she said.

This is not the first time vandalism has hit Orchard Trails; the facility constantly has to repair holes and damages in the buildings and Wark has had experience with this also. "our walls get huge holes kicked in every Friday and Saturday and we hare going to have to end up paying for it. Then this whole incident with the cars happened. I think something needs to be done," Wark said. She isn't the only resident upset about the vandalismand looking for answers. Her roommates were lucky nothing happened to their vehicles but were disappointed that these new buildings are being destroyed.

Thankfully, Wark had insurance on her car as the damage cost about $280. At first she was worried that she did not have insurance because her car was older. This was some of the least costly damage; some residents have to pay thousand of dollars worth of damage to their vehicles, and some perhaps wont have insurance.

According to Orono police, they have identified possible suspects, but do not yet have anyone in custody. Bicycles and wooden posts will be used to see if they can receive fingerprints from these objects. These types of incidents are discouraging and disappointing to residents, and cause the residents to fee unsafe. "I feel a little uneasy walking to and from my car at night or in the early morning when it's still dark. My roommate's and i think that Orchard Trails need surveillance cameras in the parking lot for sure," Wark said.

Recently Orchard Trails Staff has hired Securitas Security Services to work at the complex and guard Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights and the Community Assistant make their rounds until 2 a.m on these nights in hopes that future vandalism and other incidents do not occur.

How Safe is Your Apartment?

Orchard Trails is located right off the University of Maine campus and could perhaps be considered safer than living in the dorms. In the dorms almost anyone can get into the buildings by swiping their Maine Cards where as in the apartment complex you need a key to get into the front door and then into the apartment itself. According to the Web site California NOW, 60 percent of rapes committed on campus occur in the victim's residence, but is Orchard Trails in this 60 percent or is it the other 40 percent.

Recently since the new apartment complex has opened, doors to the outside of the buildings have been propped, a penny stuck inside the doors to make it easy accessible and now the whole hinge to building eight's door is completely taken off and is open to anyone. Shayna Cavaleiri lives with two males in her apartment and said she feels safe living with them and feels if she did not live with males she may be more frightened.

"I like when the door doesn't require a key, it's just convenient not having to search in my purse for five minutes, but i do not like the thought of people being able to come in without a key," Cavaleiri said. Convenient or not, residents do feel uneasy about doors being jammed and open to the public and with other residents having guests over and not knowing who is coming and going out of the apartments, Shayna says that is also frightening.

As of September 1st there have been three assaults. In building eight there was a domestic dispute between a female that lived in the complex and her boyfriend who was visiting. In building ten, resident Charlie Sutter was assaulted by visitors at a party in that building on Friday, Sept. 29. "I was walking outside and there were about three guys smoking and all of a sudden they waited until I wasn't looking and hit me in the back of the head with a magnum flash light,"Sutter said. He had to spend the next day in the hospital, fracturing his left eye socket and stitches above his eye.

Take a quiz and see how safe you are in your apartment: http://crime.about.com/library/blaptsafety.htm

New Orchard Trails Apartments

Orchard Trails Apartment Complex opened in Orono, Maine September 1st to college students and residents.

The complex consists of 12 buildings, with 4 bedrooms to each apartment. The apartment includes a full kitchen, living room, 2 bathrooms, washer and dryer, fitness center, basketball court, volleyball court, patio with grill, pool/recreation center, and all utilites included, for a $499 monthly rent.

This is the college student's dream come true for living arrangements, however has not been going smoothly for the past three months.

For more information on Orchard Trails Apartment Complex visit:

http://www2.collegeparkweb.com/ws/html/orchardtrailsapartments/default.htm