Briefs

Student honored
as Red Cross hero

WESTBROOK — A Westbrook student was honored this week by the American Red Cross as one of this year’s Southern Maine Real Hero Award winners.

Westbrook High School senior Tyler Brackett received the Youth Hero Award Thursday for alert residents at the scene of a house fire at 445 Main St. in April 2018.

“Tyler was driving on Main Street in Westbrook last April when he saw a deep red glow in the window of an apartment building. He stopped to investigate and as he approached the building, the window shattered and fire erupted out of it,” according to the Red Cross in a prepared statement. “Tyler, then 16, called 911 and banged on doors and windows and honked his horn to alert residents. All of the occupants made it out safely.”

Brackett and the other winners of Real Hero awards are “ordinary people who commit extraordinary acts in service to others,” said Patricia Murtagh, CEO of the Maine Region of the American Red Cross. “They each embody the humanitarian spirit that is at the heart of the American Red Cross.”

BERT victorious
at robotics competition

STANDISH — Bonny Eagle and Gray-New Gloucester robotics teams came out on top at the For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology competition April 5-6.

Thirty-two high school robotics teams from across New England competed in the event, which was held at the Androscoggin Bank Colisée in Lewiston. Alliances competed with one another to determine whose robots were best able to complete certain tasks.

The event winner was an alliance that included Baxter Academy for Technology and Science in Portland, Bonny Eagle High School in Standish and Northwestern Regional High School in Winchester, Connecticut. Bonny Eagle’s team, BERT, is ranked sixth in New England.

The runner-up alliance included Gray-New Gloucester High School in Gray, Nashoba Regional in Bolton, Massachusetts and Milford Area Youth Homeschoolers Enriching Minds in Milford, New Hampshire.

District Championships will be held April 11-13, and World Championships will take place April 24-27 in Detroit.

Brewery hosts event
at new tasting room

GORHAM — Lone Pine Brewing Company is hosting a public grand opening of its new tasting room from noon to 8 p.m. Saturday, April 13, at its Gorham production facility, 48 Sanford Drive, in the Gorham Industrial Park.

The public can tour the tasting room, featuring 16 taps, located in the barrel-aging facility and get a behind-the-scenes look at Lone Pine production. The tasting room has indoor and outdoor seating, will have food trucks on rotation and will sell merchandise and cans-to-go in its retail area.

Lone Pine Brewing Company marked its third year last month and was named the fifth fastest growing craft brewery in the United States by the Brewers Association. For more information, visit www.lonepinebrewery.com or Instagram: @lonepinebrewing.

Fund started to help
Don’s Lunch owner

WESTBROOK — Friends and family of Craig Bernier, well known in the city as the owner of the Don’s Lunch food truck, are seeking community support to raise $25,000 to help with his treatments for leukemia.

According to a gofundme page set up by Jason Beaulieu, Bernier was diagnosed a few months back with leukemia, a cancer of the blood. The cancer has since spread into his brain.

Medical treatments have caused Bernier, 48, to miss a significant amount of work, making it hard for him to provide for his two children, Emma and Sam, as well as his girlfriend, Christine and granddaughter, Arrella, the page says. Beaulieu hired Bernier as a service writer at Jason’s Auto Service in Hollis in 2018.

As of Wednesday morning, more than $23,800 had been donated to the fund for Bernier.

“Each and every one of you have touched my heart in a huge way,” Bernier wrote on the page. “I am fighting this disease with all I have, and am going to beat it! As I continue on this roller coaster of a ride, I am humbled by all of the love and support! Seems that the minute I start to feel a little down, my phone will have a message or one of you will call and lift me up, bringing back up to a good place.”

The money will help Bernier pay for an upcoming chemotherapy treatment at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston.

Bernier recently operated Don’s Lunch in the Friendly Gas parking lot on Main Street. The donation page can be found by searching for his name at gofundme.com.

Farm tractor safety
course available

GORHAM — The University of Maine Cooperative Extension in Cumberland County is offering a tractor safety course to be held at Gorham Public Works, 80 Huston Road.

Participants will learn how to handle tractors and equipment safely, avoid hazards and minimize the chances of accidents. The classes are designed for adults and youth at least 14 years old and are required for 14- and 15-year-olds who plan to operate farm equipment for hire on farms that are not owned by direct family members. Those who successfully complete the written and road tests will be issued a Federal Certificate of Training.

Classes will be held from 5:30-7:30 p.m. April 29 and May 6, May 13 and May 20, with the final at 9 a.m. May 25. The cost is $20, which includes the Tractor Safety Manual published by Pennsylvania State University. Register at extension.umaine.edu/register/product/2019-farm-tractor-safety-course-cumberland-county/. For more information, contact Lynne Hazelton at 781-6099 or lynne.b.hazelton@maine.edu.

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