WALES — The first meeting of the new fiscal and school year for Regional School Unit 4, Litchfield, Sabattus and Wales, will begin with the election of a chairperson and vice chairperson.

The meeting is set for 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at Oak Hill High School.

Amy Morissette, of Wales, will be introduced as the newest board member. And the board will consider a number of policies, hiring a number of new staff members and ratifying contracts with support staff, administrators and professional assistants.

Mortgage assistance program deadline extended

WATERVILLE — The deadline has been extended to apply to a federal program that would provide mortgage assistance to local homeowners hurt in the recession.

People now have until Wednesday to submit “pre-application screening worksheets” to the Kennebec Valley Community Action Program for the Emergency Homeowner Loan Program.

In the federal program — authorized by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, and signed into law by President Obama in 2010 — applicants must be at least 90 days late on a mortgage, have received a foreclosure notice from a lender, and have experienced an income drop of at least 15 percent since 2009.

If selected, a homeowner would receive a one-time, 0-percent interest loan to go toward mortgage payments as well as missed payments and late charges, to a maximum of $50,000. Assistance is limited to a two-year period.

Call 1-800-542-8227 for more information.

China man pleads guiltyto 2006 charges

AUGUSTA — A man arrested last week on an indictment from 2006 pleaded guilty Wednesday in Augusta District Court to a charge of theft by deception involving the receipt of $2,557 in unemployment benefits.

Charles W. Janosky, 64, formerly of Albion and now of China, was accused of unlawfully receiving benefits between Dec. 13, 2003, and March 6, 2004, in Augusta.

He was arrested July 12 after Maine State Police stopped his son in a vehicle on Route 3 and saw that the vehicle was registered to the elder Janosky, for whom there was an arrest warrant out from an indictment handed up by a grand jury in Kennebec County on Jan. 11, 2006.

Jansoky’s attorney, Arnold Clark, said Wednesday the sentencing hearing was continued for 12 months and Janosky placed on deferred disposition.

If he pays restitution of up to $2,557, the charge will be reduced to a misdemeanor and Janosky will be sentenced to time served.

Janosky spent about a week in jail.

“In these types of cases, primarily the issue is restitution for the victims,” Clark said.

Winthrop man’scharges dismissedAUGUSTA — A Winthrop man no longer faces a charge of domestic violence terrorizing in connection with an April 23 incident in Winthrop.

The district attorney’s office in Kennebec County dismissed the charge against Lucas R. Doyon, 25, on the eve of his trial this week, saying, “The victim does not wish to proceed and will not come back for the trial.”

Mass. man convictedon OUI charge

AUGUSTA — A jury convicted Mark D. Landry, 49, of Rowley, Mass., of a charge of operating under the influence after a one-day trial Wednesday in Kennebec County Superior Court.

Landry was sentenced to 20 days in jail and fined $600; his license was suspended for 90 days. The offense occurred July 18, 2010, in Augusta.

Two sentenced in Superior Court

AUGUSTA — Two people were sentenced recently in separate hearings in Kennebec County Superior Court:

* Brandon J. Arnold, 18, of Chelsea, failing to stop for an officer April 30 in Augusta; $750 fine; and

* Patricia Philbrook, 61, of Pittston, OUI Feb. 24 in Gardiner; $500 fine, 90-day license suspension.

Probation officers honored this week

AUGUSTA — This week has been designated Probation, Parole & Community Supervision Week, according to a news release from the state Department of Corrections.

According to the department, almost 6,000 Maine adults are being supervised by 70 probation officers, and 2,400 juveniles are monitored by 49 Juvenile Community Corrections Officers.

“These professionals are a force for positive change by assisting juvenile and adult offenders to become productive members of society,” according to the release. “One day they may play the part of a counselor, the next they are enforcing the rules of an offender’s supervision. They may help a single mother find day care or a job in order to abide by the conditions of her supervision. They are problem solvers, crime prevention specialists, motivators, educators, facilitators and often times they are the only support system an offender may have.”

More information is available at http://www.maine.gov/corrections/.