A number of public works departments in Androscoggin County hosted a really cool event Friday in celebration of National Public Works Week.
The departments jointly hosted a four-hour open house at the Auburn Mall, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., where families were “encouraged to bring their children to explore dump trucks and bulldozers,” play games, collect prizes and see big-vehicle demonstrations by departments from Lewiston, Auburn, Greene, Lisbon and Sabattus.
It’s the kind of stuff kids love.
Too bad most of the departments’ targeted audience couldn’t attend since many parents were working and most children were in school mid-day Friday.
Our public works departments are important to us because our roads, bridges, water and sewer lines and the rest of our public infrastructure is important to us.
This event was intended as an opportunity for residents to “observe what’s being done to enhance local communities.”
If public works departments are serious about sharing information about what they do, next year we hope the open house is held on a weekend day when more families can attend.
This is a worthy event. It’s a real shame so many families had to miss it.
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Someone stole Jessica Smith’s nine-week-old beagle/Lab mix from the back of her pickup truck Thursday while she was in South Paris.
Facebook got him back.
Smith’s pup — Dunkin — goes everywhere with her, traveling in the back of the truck with toys, food and water. “He’d rather be in the truck than anywhere else,” Smith told The Bethel Citizen, so she was distraught when she found him missing after attending her adult-ed math class at the Fox School.
She called police, checked with the local vet and shelter, and went home to Bethel.
Once there, she posted a “lost dog” notice and picture on the Oxford Hills Swap and Save FB, and hours later someone called to report she knew who had taken the dog.
That caller, who actually had the dog herself, was eventually charged with possession of stolen property and Dunkin was returned to Smith.
Dunkin won’t be left alone in the truck any more, Smith said. He’ll be home, where her friends will be able to keep an eye on him.
That’s a doggone happy ending.
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Cathy Holt of Litchfield is a fortunate woman.
A wife, mother, grandmother and cancer survivor, she’s also the newest Red Sox “Bat Girl.”
All it took for Holt to win her new position was the deep and abiding love of her only child, Megan Moody.
Moody wrote an essay about her mother, and entered it in the National Baseball League contest to select bat “girls” for last Sunday’s Mother’s Day games in ballparks across the nation.
In Boston, Holt was that girl.
Diagnosed with breast cancer 2008, Holt was more recently diagnosed with lymphodema, but Moody said her mother has never let the family see she was afraid.
A lifelong Red Sox fan, Holt “was pretty much the rock for everyone” else in the family, Moody said, taking care of others as only a mother can.
She’s done more than that, too, by participating in cancer walks and other fundraising activities, and offering comfort to others who have breast cancer.
She might be a baseball fan, but this lovely woman with a loving family has got plenty of fans of her own.
And, since the Sox routed the Cleveland Indians 12-1 when Holt was at Fenway, maybe the team ought to consider inviting her down more often. She’s a winner.
jmeyer@sunjournal.com
The opinions expressed in this column reflect the views of the ownership and the editorial board.
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