The wait is over.

Indie staples My Morning Jacket will be headlining, alongside electro duo Chromeo, New England’s own Grace Potter and the Nocturnals, legendary rap act Atmosphere and fan favorites The Gay Blades. The initial lineup also includes a few more up-and-comers in rock and hip-hop, with many more local and national acts to soon be announced.

Once again, the festival will last for nine days and span across Downtown Bangor. According to a press release, the final lineup will feature around 40 bands for the weekend music festival and KahBang @ Night performances in local venues. Early-bird tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. April 29 through the festival’s website.

The release also stated that more information on artists and tickets will be made available in the coming weeks. Now in its third year, KahBang is only getting bigger. The complete initial lineup is listed below, according a press release. Visit kahbang.com for more information and to keep updated.

KahBang 2011 Initial Lineup

My Morning Jacket

Chromeo

Grace Potter and the Nocturnals

Atmosphere

Surfer Blood

Atomic Tom

Dom

Evidence

Blueprint

Prof

The Gay Blades

Around me, belt and bra buckles unclasped in unison and fell to the ground.

I hesitated, looking around at the 50 plus people in various states of undress and, taking a deep breath, I removed the last vestiges of my modesty.

For nature and journalism, I was prepared to do my part.

Whether loved or hated, the much-anticipated naked Earth Day bike ride, a University of Maine tradition, was back again.

Dating back to 1970, April 22 sees celebrations on campus of International Mother Earth Day, as it is recognized by the United Nations.

Embracing the all-natural spirit, I joined other brave souls to bare all for the planet. Disrobing, we smeared ourselves in green paint — some applying lotion to keep themselves sleek and shiny.

I arrived at the determined meeting point — the out-of-the-way intersection of Grove Street and Allagash Road — panting for breath. My trusty steed, a relic of a bicycle with two flat tires, seemed inadequate. I was sure I would end up separated from the group.

Trying to shake my trepidation, Amy Marchessault, one of the event’s organizers, said it was the largest showing of nude bikers she had seen in her three rides.

“It’s great every year,” she said. “It’s liberating.”

Bryan Mayo, a relaxed three-year naked ride veteran and co-organizer for this year’s event, described what would be the worst-case scenario.

“Falling off your bike,” Mayo said. “It’s the only rule we really have: If one person goes down, we all wait.”

After clothes are removed and collected in a volunteer’s car, the crew sets off. John Vicenzi and Robert Keegan — struck by a touch of genius and wielding the shaft of a vuvuzela — lashed a chair to a platform and pulled the contraption behind a bike chariot-style.

The most adventuresome of the lot — a unicyclist whose wheel was adorned with a paper reconstruction of the earth — boldly peddled in the front of the line.

Spectators, many feverishly snapping pictures, cheered from sidewalks while cars honked encouragement.

Rather than show embarrassment, the procession yelled and whistled, chanting “Happy Earth Day.”

The scene reminded me of kids who have escaped parents’ clutches and streaked throughout the neighborhood — only this time, police were on our side.

As we got closer to the mall, the crowds and noise grew. Windows in the halls lining the grassy expanse were thrown open to enjoy more than the spring air.

Halfway around the mall, an agonizing cry rose from the crowd. Looking around wildly, at first I thought the worst had happened — “Green naked biker down?”

To my left, an unpainted student on a bike approached our group. He seemed to be disappointed about something. Was it envy in his eyes as we passed?

“It’s not too late buddy,” came a cry from behind.

With astonishment, I watched as the male smiled, threw his bike to the ground, dropped his pants and joined in the procession to raucous cheering from the crowd.

Grinning like fools, we circled the mall not once but three times. We even biked uphill to tease around the Hilltop dormitories. The path split at one point and the calls of, “To the left, to the left” could not keep us from separating.

“How many naked green bikers does it take to follow the trail?” I wondered.

The end of the Earth Day bike ride brought us to the Memorial Gym for showers, when the guys and gals went their separate ways.

As I announced to the entire group for the first time that I was reporting on the event as a first-time rider, several participants reflected on their experiences.

“We did it last year and I’m a huge advocate of sustainable agriculture and sustainable living. I think it’s a good idea to get out there and open people’s eyes — a lot of people are in the dark about it,” said a male who identified himself only as Big Ben. “If it takes everyone getting naked and painting themselves green to get the word across, then we got to do it.”

“I’ll be back next year,” he added.

Mayo jovially put the trip into perspective.

“At this point in my life, this is probably the best I’m going to look. It’s all downhill from here,” he said. “We’re going to look back in 25 to 30 years and say, ‘Holy s—, we rode across the Maine campus naked.’”

Garrett Cheney, 22, pled not guilty to charges of manslaughter, leaving the scene of an accident that resulted in serious bodily injury, criminal operating under the influence of intoxicants and aggravated criminal operating under the influence of intoxicants on May 20, 2010, at the Penobscot Judicial Center in Bangor.

The charges stem from the death of 20-year-old Jordyn Bakley of Camden that took place in the early hours of the morning on Jan. 30, 2010, in Orono.

Though he has been somewhat reluctant to address the news media for fear any negative coverage will disrupt his client’s right to a fair trial, William Bly, Cheney’s Portland-based defense attorney, said much of the evidence against his client is circumstantial.

“This is an awful, awful tragedy,” Bly said. “The only thing that could make it worse would be to convict an innocent person.”

Bly added the defense has hired an accident reconstruction expert who will likely testify at the trial.

Cheney allegedly struck and killed Bakley at approximately 3 a.m. on Jan. 30, 2010, in front of 15 Middle Street in Orono near her apartment. According to court documents, he was driving on the wrong side of the street when he struck Bakley, who was killed instantly.

A newspaper deliveryman found Bakley’s body at 5:30 a.m.

In the weeks that followed, a vigorous investigation was launched to find suspects responsible for Bakley’s death.

At the time, the investigation and mystery surrounding Bakley’s death caused grief and speculation within the greater Orono community.

Cheney, who has no criminal history, surrendered at the Orono Police Department on April 16, 2010. He was arrested and later charged with the crime.

Penobscot County District Attorney R. Christopher Almy said considerable evidence has been collected in the time since Cheney’s arrest that will prove he was the driver of the vehicle that killed Bakley.

“The evidence, in our opinion, is very strong,” Almy said. “If anything, our case has gotten stronger.”

An Orono police affidavit filed at the time of Cheney’s arrest states he was in Orono on Jan. 29, 2010, to celebrate his cousin’s 21st birthday.

After allegedly hitting Bakley, Cheney headed south on Interstate 95. His 2003 Chevy Silverado went off the highway around 3:30 a.m. in Etna, the affidavit states. The truck was towed to a Newport storage lot.

He was arrested two hours later at an Irving service station after state police received an anonymous call. According to the affidavit, his blood alcohol level at the time arrest was 0.15, nearly twice the legal limit.

On Feb. 5, investigators learned that Cheney’s truck was still in the towing company’s storage facility. It was impounded and taken to the crime lab in Augusta, according to Almy.

It is unclear whether Bakley herself had consumed alcohol the night of the accident, but it is believed she separated from friends to return to a house she shared with other students at 27 Middle Street.

Bly said Cheney has continued to maintain his innocence.  The attorney also contends the unfolding of events on the morning of Jan. 30, 2010.  He believes police have charged the wrong suspect and said Cheney called police after his vehicle left the road that morning, a move Bly said demonstrates good character.

Almy maintains that there are no records that show Cheney called police that night and said the caller was a concerned motorist driving the same stretch of road as Cheney.

Furthermore, Almy said Orono police, Maine State Police detectives and crime lab technicians were able to match evidence retrieved at the scene of the hit-and-run with Cheney’s Silverado and Bakley’s injuries.

After being arrested, Cheney was freed on $50,000 bail.  The trial will take place at the Penobscot Judicial Center in Bangor.

If convicted of manslaughter, the most serious crime with which he is charged, Cheney faces up to 30 years in prison and a $50,000 fine.

When Kennedy steps down on July 1 from his role as president after seven years, he will do so believing he has furthered the advancement of the university and the state of Maine and hoping his accomplishments will maintain a positive environment here after his departure.

“I feel very satisfied with the things that we have done over the past seven years,” Kennedy said in an interview Friday. “There were a lot of really good things that happened.”

Kennedy said one of his biggest goals during his tenure was to create what he calls the “new model land-grant university.”

“The University of Maine is perceived by the public at large as something that is relevant to the state because of our students and the jobs they get which contribute to the economy of Maine,” Kennedy said. “That’s what to me the new model land-grant university is, and I think we have definitely achieved it.”

During his tenure, the face of the campus has changed with the addition of the Student Fitness and Recreation Center, the renovation of the Collins Center for the Arts and the refurbishment of the Wells and Hilltop dining locations.

“The biggest impact [of] the Rec Center — as important as it would be on recreation and wellness for our students — is going to be on our academic programs,” Kennedy said. “It is going to help recruit people to our campus, and it has.”

Along with campus upgrades, Kennedy has exerted himself to find other means to help financially support UMaine.

Kennedy’s fundraising efforts while president are unsurpassed. He ran Campaign Maine, the largest private fundraising campaign in the history of the university. The current figures on Campaign Maine show the total raised is approximately $152 million.

“We set the goal of having this fundraiser principally about our academic programs,” Kennedy said. “This was a comprehensive campaign and we set the goals for scholarships, to support student activities, to support faculty excellence.”

He said roughly 80 percent of the money has been used to support academics, both directly and indirectly.

“It is certainly not all about money, but it was very important to finish the job,” he said. “There is sort of a clean table now. We finished it, and it allows [incoming president Paul] Ferguson to come in and set his own goals as to where the university needs to go.”

Not all of Kennedy’s decisions while in office were easy. Due to a projected budget gap, he was forced to consider cuts in 2010 that involved eliminating programs and faculty positions. The Academic Program Prioritization Working Group was designed to help with this process.

“[Seventy-five] or 80 percent of my time was spent on personnel choices and they are very tough decisions,” Kennedy said. “It may be a tenure decision that affects a person’s career, it may be a hiring decision or eliminating positions in a limited economy — those have been very, very tough choices, and you take them seriously.”

Kennedy said the human aspect of making cuts as well as outcry from the campus community affected him most leading up to the APPWG recommendations.

“I remember a group of 30 to 40 University Singers coming up to me in Wells Commons and pleading the case for not cutting as many of the music programs as were on the table at the time,” Kennedy said, adding that several engineering students pled for funding for non-engineering programs. “It really gave me an appreciation of how one major isn’t just for students in that major.”

He added that universities nationwide that did not address the financial issue are dealing with it now and are worse off because they did not tackle the problem earlier.

“That was a very difficult time,” Kennedy said. “It isn’t easy. It wasn’t fun, and I wish we didn’t need to do it, but it was in a planned manner.”

Kennedy will remain a member of the UMaine faculty and will be taking a six-month sabbatical funded by the university. He will not be filling a full-time role within the University of Maine System, despite rumors swirling around the community.

“I will still be a UMaine faculty member working from a home base on campus,” said Kennedy. “The system may reimburse the campus for some of my time to work on alternative energy and other things that have a broader systemwide and statewide potential. In my mind, I am not working for the system.”

Kennedy also discussed issues Ferguson will face.

“He is a lucky man to be stepping into a position that will probably be one of the best — if not the best — of his career professionally and personally,” Kennedy said. “I think the economic challenge will be the biggest issue he will face.”

Kennedy offered a parting message to the campus community.

“I express my appreciation for the opportunity to serve this great institution and to have the chance to interact with so many people,” Kennedy said. “I would really like people to remember the University of Maine as a very special place.”

In order to combat a slew of issues in neighborhoods with noise and parking arising from the conversion of single-family homes to rental properties, Orono devised a scheme five years ago involving amendments to or the creation of town ordinances.

While the passage of these official ordinances coincides with the change in neighborhood behavior cited by the town’s police chief, the jury is still out on the exact cause of this shift.

According to Orono Police Chief Gary Duquette, nightlife in this town used to be a very different scene.

“I’ve been here for 18 years now, and I remember when I first got here, the parties were huge,” Duquette said. “I mean, it was nothing to go to a party with 300 kids there and having two or three or four of them going on in the same night.

“That’s really rare now,” he said.

In 2006, issues in the community came to a head. Town Planner Evan Richert said he “received a flurry of complaints” about noise and parking “in a couple neighborhoods” that had previously been inhabited by single families.

He said the addition of rental properties marketed to college students brought “a different lifestyle” to once quiet side streets.

“It was just ordinary people carrying out their ordinary lives. It’s just that hours shift and the way that people have visitors over — which is a perfectly legitimate thing to do — is different,” Richert said. “And it ranged from that to things that were abusive — things like trash or people going to the bathroom outside or being drunk or whatever.”

In order to address these issues, the town implemented an amendment to its land use code alongside the creation of the rental unit registration program.

Through these two measures, the town changed the allowable number of unrelated occupants of a single unit from five to three in the two largest areas — the Medium Density Residential and Farming and Agriculture zones — and forced landlords to demonstrate compliance with this restriction.

Duquette said these changes were made to foster “a working relationship” with town landlords and to “get them involved in the whole thing and policing their own rental properties and to have a little more accountability for the whole situation.”

When asked his opinion of how the ordinance alterations have affected Orono’s rental scene, one landlord, who asked to remain anonymous, agreed he has seen changes — but they might not be the shifts the town council intended.

“It did solve the problem — the one of us being able to buy and rent properties in those neighborhoods,” he said.

Chad Bradbury, co-owner of large area leasing company KC Management, said the economics of trying to pay back a 20-year mortgage with only three tenants excluded him from certain neighborhoods.

“You can’t make money on a three-bedroom,” Bradbury said. “Four and five [bedroom units] are the way to go.”

Richert maintained the changes were not intended to force college students out of single-family neighborhoods but were merely a way to halt the creation of large-group rental units in those areas.

“I think they’re trying to edge college students who want to live in groups of four or five people to areas that are zoned for more multifamily kinds of development,” he said, pointing to the downtown and other commercial zones as examples. “They’re welcome in the [Medium Density Residential] district, it’s just that there can’t be five people with five lifestyles and five cars.”

Even with these areas set aside for new multifamily developments, Bradbury pointed to past struggles companies have encountered when seeking permission to build as an indicator of attitudes many town residents have toward the college population.

“It’s funny, you listen to how hard the townspeople fought Orchard Trails, but that’s the solution to all their problems,” he said, adding, “They don’t want the college kids to have any fun, but they sure do like their money.”

Many of Bradbury’s properties qualify for grandfathered status under the ordinance, which allows him to rent a unit to a maximum of five unrelated individuals so long as the building was used in this manner before the new occupancy restrictions were enacted. In this way, he is able to skirt the restriction — at least on his older properties.

Still, he said a lack of action on the ordinance’s conditions by town officials has not spurred him to change his business practices.

“Nobody is knocking on doors and counting beds,” Bradbury said. “If they enforced the green space requirement, I would lose my grandfatheredship.”

Dennis Cross, owner of rental agency Cross Properties, found the move to be a way for the town to blame landlords for problematic units and their tenants.

“To me, all of that is the act of taking the conduct of a third party and making someone else responsible for it,” he said.

“It hasn’t worked anywhere,” he continued. “They tried to make beer companies responsible for drunk drivers, they tried to make the firearms manufacturers responsible for people shooting one another, but Orono’s making it work by making the landlord responsible for the conduct of the tenants.”

Bradbury agreed with Cross’s assertions, saying, “All it is is trying to keep complainers quiet.”

Cross pointed to several of the complaints commonly raised at town meetings as problems already covered by existing statutes. In his view, the changes were an unnecessary and redundant layer of legislation intended to fix problems that could have been better solved by stricter enforcement of existing policies.

“One of the complaints I would hear is ‘There’s cars parked all over the sidewalk,’” Cross said. “There’s already state laws that make that illegal — Orono did not need another regulation on that one. It’s a very simple thing to fix.”

Duquette pointed to increased enforcement of a separate measure — enacted in March 2004 — as the real reason Orono has quieted down in recent years.

“From our view, from what we do, it’s really been the disorderly property ordinance that’s had an impact,” he said.

That ordinance set many standards for conduct deemed proper by the town council regarding issues ranging from excessive noise to fighting, with civil penalties for scofflaws.

By stepping up enforcement of this ordinance, Duquette said his department has been able to keep issues under control.

Even though the police have been able to rein in the more troublesome elements and the town council has limited expansion of rental properties into single-family neighborhoods, Cross encouraged those looking to relocate to Orono to seriously evaluate area demographics before buying.

“I will never be able to understand why people move to a college town and then they’re disturbed when they find college students,” he said. “I just don’t know how that works.”

Michael Shepherd contributed to this report.

Currently at the University of Maine, a student whose GPA falls below the minimum for his or her year of study — a 1.5 for a first-year student, 1.7 for a second-year, 1.8 for a third-year and 1.9 for a fourth-or-more-year — must appeal to his or her academic dean to stay in school.

If the dean and student agree on terms of what will be done to raise the GPA, the financial aid office is told the student may still receive aid.

After this semester’s grades are posted, academic deans and the financial aid office will begin working together to determine if a student can both stay in school and remain eligible for financial aid.

“Satisfactory academic progress is really saying broadly that a student must be working toward a degree with timely progress, with good grades, so at the end of the four or six years, they can graduate,” said Peggy Crawford, director of Financial Aid at UMaine.

Crawford said the change in federal SAP guidelines is “making them more prescriptive” by synthesizing old requirements with new ones.

Students will have to earn the minimum GPA for their year and finish a minimum percentage of their classes, but they will not be allowed to attempt more than 150 percent of credits needed to graduate from their programs without earning a degree.

“You can’t continue to get financial aid forever,” Crawford said, explaining the third requirement. She offered an example of a full-time student taking six years to earn a four-year degree but failing to graduate.

“The federal government is really asking institutions to bring [academics and financial aid] together,” said Virginia Nees-Hatlen, associate dean for the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. “Are students making good use of financial aid, making good progress toward a degree?”

Nees-Hatlen said it may seem “like punishment” to a student who loses financial aid eligibility and cannot take classes. She added the SAP process may be “more painful to students temporarily but may be better for them in the long run.”

“The goal of it is to help them graduate,” she said. “If we don’t take a time out … they dig a deeper and deeper hole, and they don’t graduate.”

A student who fails to meet SAP guidelines will receive two letters over the summer — one from an associate dean and one from financial aid. They must respond to the letters with separate appeals, creating more work for students and administrators.

“I don’t think it’ll be as bad as it may sound,” said Alan Kezis, associate dean of the College of Natural Sciences, Forestry and Agriculture. “I don’t think you’ll see a dramatic number of students doing anything different.”

Associate deans and representatives from financial aid form the appellate board. Kezis said this will create “a lot more work on everyone’s part” but will ensure board members understand the intricacies of students’ situations.

Crawford said the new SAP guidelines were formed, mostly, with for-profit institutions in mind.

“Students have been receiving financial aid without receiving anything from that,” she said. “Their loan debt is increasing without achieving a degree.”

It is possible for some students to fall into a gap between the two appeals; however, she said not all of the details have been worked out and students will receive explicit instructions if they fail to meet SAP guidelines.

Gianna Marrs, senior associate director for Financial Aid at UMaine, said students in danger of failing to meet SAP guidelines will be given benchmarks to track progress. Their transcripts will be re-evaluated at the end of enrollment periods to determine whether they have recovered or are still not meeting standards.

“There are some students who just miss the benchmark and in one year, they can pull themselves up,” Marrs said. “My guess is we would always allow an appeal.”

You could be covered under Maine’s implied warranty law.

This seldom-utilized law covers any product purchased in the state of Maine except used cars. Every non-perishable product, from toasters to televisions, falls under this law, intended to protect against faulty merchandise.

The Maine Consumer Law Guide features a three-pronged test for determining whether a product is covered by the warranty. If it was purchased in the state and is “so poorly designed or made that it is seriously defective and its use is impaired; you have not abused it, and it was purchased less than four years ago and is still within its normally expected ‘useful life,’” then there is a good chance that it can be fixed at no cost to you.

However, it is not as simple as showing up and demanding a new product. According to the Maine Consumer Law Guide, the consumer has to give the business that sold the product a draft letter and a notification of the product’s defect.

There is a lot of leeway on what can be considered the “useful life” of a product.

Even so, for expensive purchases like laptops and large home appliances, it can pay off to follow the procedures outlined to get a product fixed for free.

The biggest problem facing the law today is peoples’ lack of knowledge of its existence. Many businesses, even large chains such as Macy’s or Best Buy, see little use of the law, often only a few times a month.

“If that — it isn’t often at all,” said Danielle Faulkner, an operations senior at Best Buy in Bangor. “It’s not something that is widely known.”

In addition to that, the 10-page guide can mislead consumers into thinking they are covered for something they are not.

“People that do know about it sometimes don’t understand what it covers,” Faulkner said.

Many department store employees interviewed had no knowledge of the law at all. With such infrequent use, it seems evident that Maine consumers do not have a great deal of knowledge about its existence.

“I’d say in a year we maybe get five or six claims,” said Rob Mackenzie, a manager at the Bangor Mall Sears.

For many businesses, the implied warranty can move in on territory occupied by their service plans.

Best Buy’s “Black Tie Protection” is one such plan, which is often purchased along with the product. Maine’s implied warranty law covers a great deal of what the plan covers, with only slight discrepancies between them.

Other businesses have the same problem.

“There are things that this four-year plan covers that our service plan covers,” Mackenzie said.

However, the plans have differences that can cause misunderstandings.

“We’ve had people come in here saying that ‘this is covered under Maine’s implied warranty’ when it isn’t,” Mackenzie said. “As an associate, we don’t like it.”

Another problem with the law is the amount of time it can take for the product to be repaired or replaced.

“It’s not something that happens right off,” Mackenzie said.

The product’s claim must be reviewed to determine whether it was within its “useful life” and whether it was used properly. This can take time, and a claim may be rejected if it does not meet the criteria.

Still, for big-ticket items, an easier-to-use protection plan can cost a lot of money. According to Home Depot’s replacement plans, a product costing between $800 and $1,000 costs $189 to cover under a repair plan.

Determining whether the price of a service plan is worth its value is typically up to what the service plan covers. If it only covers defects and breakage under normal use, it is usually a safe bet to skip the extra cost.

Read the fine print carefully next time you buy a big-ticket item. Maine’s implied warranty law could provide the same coverage as plans the smiling salespeople want to sell you.

More than 100 students hunted for eggs and though Roman had no idea what the final numbers were, he was enthusiastic about the results.  According to Roman, some students got so into the egg hunt that others could not find any eggs.
“Hiding 1,000 eggs was the biggest burden,” Roman said. After “cleaning out Dollar Tree” of plastic eggs, members of Student Government stashed them all over campus Sunday night. Significantly fewer eggs were nestled among tree branches or under hedges halfway through the week, so volunteers went out on Wednesday night to hide more.

The color of each egg was coordinated with its location and each egg had a point value. Eggs were found between signs, in trees and on windowsills, among other places.
“I really wanted to hide eggs in places that people should know exist,” Roman said. The idea was “that these places would get more traffic.”

Some eggs were hidden more creatively. For example, volunteers hid an egg in the Student Legal Services office. Clues, such as a photograph vaguely showing an egg’s hiding spot, were posted on Twitter. Roman said he saw students walking around with their laptops open, looking for the picture’s location.
They even gave an egg to Debbie, “the world famous Union cashier,” according to Roman. To get the egg, a student needed to sing the “Itsy Bitsy Spider” song to her.
Finding an egg in a special hiding place won a student a prize instantly, such as Skullcandy headphones.
Before they could hide the eggs, there was prep work that Roman and other Student Government members needed to do, but it “wasn’t that bad,” he said. There was a lot of “grunt computer work” creating the maps for the egg hunt, he said.
“[The] tediousness came in with the slips,” Roman said, adding that a lot of cutting and folding was involved. He described an assembly line of all the Student Government members cutting and folding paper and stuffing the eggs.
“Basically, we [wanted to reach out] to the students,” he said. “We fund other groups, but we don’t have [events] that we do every year. I wanted students to pay more attention to what we do. I wanted us to be reachable. We are here, we can have fun and we’re here to listen.”
Roman said he wants to make the hunt an annual event, but next year Student Government does not plan on announcing when it will be. He plans to hide the eggs and then say, “The egg hunt is here,” without prior advertising.
Student Government announced the winners on Friday. According to Jose Roman, Matt Pender was in first place with 1,195 points, followed by Chris Goodwin with 704. Tyler Roy was next with 446 points; Rob Stigile, the news editor for The Maine Campus, with 276; Curwin Martin with 258 and Sergio Alfonzo with 190.

The winners chose prizes in the order in which they won. These included an iPod Touch, an HP All-in-One Printer, a gas card worth $50, a $25 gift certificate to Starbucks, and a prepaid Visa debit card.
“We were concerned that college students wouldn’t be interested, but as it turns out,

it was the exact opposite,” Roman said.

As Maine draws near the $4 per gallon mark, one University of Maine professor is offering tips to help maximize fuel efficiency.

One of the most important aspects when attempting to increase fuel economy lies in driving habits.

“Your fuel economy is proportional to power,” said Chuck Maguire, a mechanical engineering professor and former General Motors employee. “The more power you demand with your right foot, the more you are going to pay for it.”

Maguire said a lighter foot has a substantial impact when it comes to gas mileage.

“Easing out of red lights opposed to heavy acceleration as well as being easy on the brakes can help your gas mileage,” Maguire said. “Let the car coast as much as it can before your slamming on the brakes and then speeding up.”

Maguire said heavy acceleration when traveling up hills can also lead to poor gas mileage. Maintaining a constant speed is an effective way to increase mileage.

“Try to maintain constant speeds and try not to stop,” Maguire said. “That is where you are eating up your fuel economy. When you are sitting there at a light or you stop for a light that is where a majority of your fuel goes. Once you get up to speed it only takes 4 or 5 horsepower to keep going on flat level ground.”

Maguire added that, in Maine, it is important to check the brakes of a vehicle, not only to make sure the vehicle will stop effectively but also ensure they are not slowing your car or truck down.

“In the state of Maine, making sure that the brakes aren’t frozen up in the wintertime is huge,” Maguire said. “One of the problems vehicles face is that the calipers end up locking up and they don’t retract fully anymore” due to new de-icing chemicals on roads.

Maguire said there are a few other areas of the vehicle that should be checked on a regular basis in order to maximize fuel efficiency, starting with what he sees as the most overstated — tire pressure.

“I hate to say this because everyone makes a joke out of it, but tire pressure [and] rolling resistance is one thing that you can reduce,” he said.

Maguire said that carefully selecting the tires and tread pattern for your car can have an impact on the vehicle’s gas mileage. Replacing studded winter tires with a smoother summer variety with a less aggressive tread pattern can impact fuel economy.

Maguire added that simple things like keeping windows closed or open — depending on the situation — may affect your car’s aerodynamics.

“Drive with your windows up if you can,” he said. “Open windows can cause air drag. Also, roof racks, canoe racks and anything that is interfering with the car’s aerodynamics being removed helps.”

Maguire said open windows are mainly a highway issue because of the speeds cars travel and the wind resistance encountered in those situations.

Proper maintenance of the vehicle is also important for mileage. Items such as air filters and oil can have an impact on the gas mileage of that vehicle. Also, fullness of the gas tank affects mileage.

Maguire said that while some think it would make the most sense to keep the gas tank a little on the empty side to reduce the vehicle’s weight, this practice can have detrimental effects on a car.

“Most cars use the fuel in the tank as a cooling mechanism for the fuel pump,” Maguire said. “So if you habitually run a car low on fuel — down below a quarter of a tank — especially in hot weather, it is taking life off of the fuel pump. So you may be saving fuel economy but you’re looking at a $400 to $500 repair for premature failure of the fuel pump.”

Maguire said while all of the aforementioned will help, the most important aspect of saving money on gas lies with the person driving.

“Make believe you have an egg between your foot and the gas pedal,” he said. “That is the biggest factor, because it is really your behavior that is going to make or break your gas mileage.”

For people trying to enhance their vehicle’s performance through aftermarket parts, they  would be wiser to save their money. According to Maguire, these $20 to $30 parts can be found at just about any retail store with an automotive section and are essentially useless, in some cases actually reducing a vehicle’s gas mileage.

“If the factory could put on a device for $20 to $30 that will improve fuel economy, they certainly would,” he said.