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BIG MOOSE TOWNSHIP - Burglars broke into the local field office of Plum Creek Timber Co. this week, took three computers and rifled through files of the company that has proposed a massive and controversial development project in the Moosehead Lakes region. The break-in at the company's Greenville field office was discovered about 5:30 a.m. Wednesday by a company forester, company spokesman Jim Lehner said Wednesday night. Files were found strewn on the floor. It wasn't known if any had been stolen. Three computers were missing, but their monitors were left behind, while an older monitor was taken, Lehner said. The files contained forestry documents, including logging contracts, inventory information and photographs, but "really nothing of substance," Lehner said. "We're really not worried about any of the information being sensitive to our company at all," he said. Investigators with the Piscataquis County Sheriff's Department were at the offices for several hours Wednesday morning, and Lehner said that as far as he knew they had not identified who might have broken into the offices. The break-in came a day after opponents to Plum Creek's proposed development of a resort and housing project involving nearly 1,000 lots across 426,000 acres in the Moosehead Lake region said they would pursue every means possible of stalling the project, including lawsuits or a citizen referendum. On Tuesday, environmentalists and members of Maine's Green Independent Party announced the formation of a "Save Moosehead" campaign, opposing the project by Plum Creek that would be the largest subdivision development in Maine history. Green party Rep. John Eder of Portland, who was part of the campaign announcement Tuesday, has said he may introduce a bill in the next legislative session calling for a moratorium on large-scale development in such wild areas. Eder did not immediately return a phone call left at his home Wednesday. The burglary occurred sometime between 5 p.m. Tuesday and the next morning when the forester came in, Lehner said. A second-floor window accessible by an emergency exit below had been left unlocked and the burglar or burglars pulled out a screen and entered through the window, he said. Tighter security measures, including motion sensors, will be put in place in light of the burglary, he said. "We definitely are going to beef up security now," Lehner said. Plum Creek is self-insured, and Lehner estimated it will cost the company $4,300 to replace the computers. Earlier this year, vandals painted graffiti on Plum Creek's offices in Fairfield, covering light motion sensors and destroying a couple of outside lights, he said. No one has been charged in that incident. |