Town activist arrested after calling selectchair crooked

Town activist Teri Merrill is taken into custody by an unidentified Maine State Trooper earlier today. (YouTube screen capture)

LEBANON, Maine - A town activist and one of the leaders of the current selectmen recall effort was arrested today after she went to Town Hall to attend a selectmen's meeting.

Teri Merrill, who has a no-trespass order at Town Hall taken out by Selectchair Chuck Russell, one of the targets of the recall, said on a live feed Facebook video she'd been told by the town clerk that she could come down anytime she had town business.

However a few minutes after Merrill strode into a regularly scheduled meeting and berated Russell over what she called his many illegal and inappropriate moves during his tenure, a state trooper arrived in the Town Hall lobby and called Merrill out of the selectmen's room to discuss the situation.

Moments later Merrill can be heard saying, "No if you're going to arrest me, arrest me in front of selectmen," after which she appears on camera and was taken into custody.

State Police were not immediately available to discuss the charges.

"This is how they silence political opponents in Lebanon," Mike Merrill, her husband said after the arrest.

Earlier this month Russell threatened another citizen activist with arrest when he ordered resident Michael Walsworth to stop talking or he would call State Police.

Selectmen Jeff Adams, Butch Lizotte and budget committee member Deborah Dorey Wilson are also up for a recall vote later this year.