Maine Town Splits Over Online Feuds and Election Chaos

A tiny Maine town is falling apart because of Facebook fights that have moved into real life. Clifton has only 877 people. It sits twenty minutes east of Bangor. Now it is split by personal insults traded in rival online groups. The anger has pushed officials out of office and called for police help.

Debt looms over the community at more than two million dollars. The town clerk was fired recently. Select Board members are accused of meeting without one another present. Two misplaced absentee ballots changed a March election result by a single vote. Maine's highest court stepped in to fix the count.

Steve Armenia lost his first race to Cynthia Grant. She got 114 votes while he took 113. Later, officials found two unopened absentee ballots meant for him. Both were cast for Armenia. The court ruled they should be counted in July. That gave him a one-year term by an 115 to 114 margin. He replaced another selectman who resigned after backlash over board decisions.

His past became the main target of online attacks. A mugshot from his September 2019 arrest in Florida has been posted dozens of times. The image came from a group called Clifton Maine Truth. Records show he was arrested by the Pasco County Sheriff's Office. Charges included battery on a law enforcement officer and resisting an officer with violence. He pleaded guilty to the battery charge. Reports say he has been arrested multiple times in total.

The Facebook page is run by Jeff Roberts, a 65-year-old resident who started it in 2023. He began the group after being kicked out of another local space for critical posts about town officials. Roberts said his goal was to let residents say anything that was not a lie. Screenshots reviewed by the Daily Mail show him targeting Armenia before and after the election. One April 24 post read in all caps: STEVE ARMENIA IS STILL IN THE PENOBSCOT COUNTY JAIL!!!

Photos of Armenia's family were shared repeatedly alongside his property deed. Messages went directly to members of his family too. This harassment led to explosive confrontations at town meetings. Residents felt their privacy was violated by these deep personal attacks.

"What have I done in that town for those people not to like me?" Armenia told the Bangor Daily News. "If they let me know, I can apologize and make it better." He is a former Marine who worked with Customs and Border Protection before his legal troubles. Roberts admitted his group contributed to the division of the town to a degree.

The information shared in these groups is limited to those inside the circle. Outsiders cannot see what happens behind closed digital doors. Yet the fallout spills into public view through court rulings and police reports. The town now faces a bitter political divide fueled by social media.

HE WOULD HAVE MADE A GREAT SELECTMAN FOR CLIFTON!!!" screamed Jeff Roberts repeatedly online. His posts targeted Steve Armenia hard. One post claimed Armenia stayed in the Penobscot County Jail while sarcastically labeling him a potential selectman. Clinton's municipal office has since become the epicenter of an increasingly divided Maine town.

Roberts later called Armenia's election a "sad day for Clifton" and insisted he was not even a town resident. He also accused Armenia of participating in what Roberts labeled "another one of Debbie's dirty deals," pointing fingers at the town clerk. The Daily Mail reached out to Armenia and the Town of Clifton seeking comment on these serious allegations.

After Armenia joined the Select Board, Roberts announced plans to launch an effort to remove him from office immediately. "The way I read the recall amendment is the beginning of the current term," Roberts wrote in a post. "I will be starting recall on August 1st to get rid of Steve Armenia." He did not stop there. Roberts also targeted Planning Board chairman Bruce Jellison by publishing details about his business and alleging it was not properly registered with state or federal authorities.

Jellison hit back in a separate Facebook post criticizing Roberts' influence on Clifton politics. He acknowledged taking the insults personally and admitted some of his own remarks had been "petty." Roberts told the Bangor Daily News that his Facebook page had contributed to the town's division "to a degree." He also claimed eight harassment orders had been brought against him, though the newspaper did not identify who filed the complaints or what conduct was alleged.

Roberts maintained that his posts were not personal attacks and said his aim was simply to elect officials who cared about Clifton. Despite years of online fighting, Roberts and Armenia said they had never held a substantive conversation in person. Their encounters instead led directly to calls to police. Both men were ordered to leave one town meeting after an argument where Armenia told Roberts to "meet me outside." Roberts said he waited until Armenia had left before going outside himself.

The conflict has since spread throughout Clifton's government. Jellison recently resigned as chairman of the Planning Board, blaming the hostility surrounding comments made on social media. "Recent events make this in the best interest of Clifton as this public outpouring of hate affects town business," Jellison wrote while announcing his resignation online. He claimed his Facebook posts had been taken out of context and used against him. He also said a resident he had previously considered a friend confronted him over the posts during a Planning Board meeting.

Select Board member John Williams has also become a frequent target of online attacks. Williams stepped down as chairman after Armenia called for the board's officer positions to be reconsidered during his first meeting. He said social media had created echo chambers that encouraged residents to reinforce their own views instead of listening to one another. "At this point, social media seems to create more toxicity, drama and division between people in small towns versus allowing us to focus on getting basic things accomplished and focusing on what we have in common," Williams told the Bangor Daily News.

Roberts accused election officials Jan Logan and Debbie Hodgins of misconduct and claimed Logan tried to fight him after a town meeting. The town's political factions now reportedly sit in separate groups during public meetings based on which officials they support online. Police have been called to meetings to deal with confrontations, even though Select Board gatherings typically attract fewer than a dozen residents.

The turmoil comes as Clifton faces serious administrative and financial problems. The town clerk was fired in July, board members have allegedly held meetings without one another, and the town remains more than $2 million in debt. It remains unclear how much the conflict affects residents who are not involved in town politics. Two people interviewed by the Bangor Daily News at the Clifton General Store said they knew about the online feuds but deliberately avoided participating. Similar disputes have caused problems in other small Maine communities, where officials have blamed online abuse and political division for discouraging qualified residents from seeking public office. Some towns have struggled to fill positions and have temporarily closed municipal offices because of staff shortages.

Roberts and Armenia have now both acknowledged that the tone of Clifton's online debate needs to change. Roberts conceded that calling people names would not reunite the community and said his Facebook group should allow residents to express their views without attacking others. Armenia said the groups did not need to be shut down but should become "part of the solution instead of part of the problem." "Post something nice once in a while," he added. The Daily Mail has contacted Roberts, Armenia, and the Town of Clifton for further comment.