HARMONY — The Legislature’s Transportation Committee will hold a hearing this morning on plans to change the names of two bridges in memory of a mother and two children killed in a domestic-violence attack in Dexter last year.
The hearing is scheduled for 10 a.m. at the State House on proposed legislation to change Higgins Stream Bridge on Route 150 to the Amy, Coty and Monica Bridge in memory of schoolteacher Amy Bagley Lake, 38, and her children Monica, 12, and Coty, 13.
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Steven Lake, 37, Amy’s estranged husband, shot and killed his wife, children and then himself June 13.
The bill, sponsored by state Sen. Doug Thomas, R-Ripley, also would change the name of the Main Stream Bridge on nearby Route 154 in Harmony to the Remember Me Bridge, for all victims of domestic violence.
Amy Lake and her children used that road to travel from Harmony, where Amy grew up, to Dexter, where she taught school, so they would not have to drive by Steven Lake’s business on Route 150, according to Sandra Mitchell of Harmony, who has spearheaded the bridge-naming campaign.
Thomas said today’s hearing will be held in the Transportation Committee room on the first floor of the State House.
“I think we need to raise awareness of domestic violence and everyone needs to know that it has to stop. Naming these two bridges does that,” Thomas said Monday.
“No one should have to go through what they went through.”
Mitchell launched the petition drive, seeking 300 signatures, in July. On Monday, she said she has gathered many more.
Mitchell said she will attend today’s hearing, as will Ralph and Linda Bagley, Amy’s parents and Monica and Coty’s grandparents.
She said she plans another campaign to plant perennial flowers along the two roads in memory of the family and others who have died as a result of domestic violence, breast cancer victims, and those who have died in military service.
Morning Sentinel Staff Writer Doug Harlow can be contacted at 612-2367 or at: dharlow@centralmaine.com
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