© 2024 Maine Public | Registered 501(c)(3) EIN: 22-3171529
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
Scroll down to see all available streams.

New Jersey Man Takes A Hatchet To Maine's Giant Ice Disk

Brian Bechard
/
Maine Public
The ice disk in the Presumpscot River in Westbrook.

The floating ice disk in Westbrook is back in the news. A 44-year-old man from New Jersey caused a stir on social media Thursday by going out onto the disc and chopping away at it with a hatchet. The Portland Press Herald is reporting that Christopher Angelo planned to cut a giant peace sign into the 100-yard disc, which is in the middle of the Presumpscot River. The publication says Angelo has a history of staging public stunts and has been arrested a couple of times for doing so. 

 

Westbrook Police Chief Janine Roberts says the department got several reports of a person out on the ice, but says that's not against the law. 

 

"If it looked like his safety was in jeopardy we'd been working with out fire department counterparts to try to get him off that unsafe area of the ice, if he was jeopardizing somebody else's safety," Roberts says.

 

The Press Herald says that Angel eventually took his gear off the ice. Photographs show large crack running near the disc's diameter.

Ed is a Maine native who spent his early childhood in Livermore Falls before moving to Farmington. He graduated from Mount Blue High School in 1970 before going to the University of Maine at Orono where he received his BA in speech in 1974 with a broadcast concentration. It was during that time that he first became involved with public broadcasting. He served as an intern for what was then called MPBN TV and also did volunteer work for MPBN Radio.