Sandy Cautillo of Wilton loves to plow snow in her Maine Department of Transportation truck.

Speaking to high school girls at Central Maine Community College about nontraditional trades, Cautillo said she enjoys driving big trucks, but she gets some amusing looks when she steps out of the cab.

During the April 5 snowstorm, Cautillo stopped at a Big Apple store at 2 a.m. for coffee. As she climbed down from the truck with the huge plow, “some man driving a taxi pulled up in front of me. He said, ‘Big truck for a little girl, ain’t it?’ “

“I thought, ‘You’ve got to be kidding me,’ ” Cautillo said. “I said to him, ‘No, not big enough!’ You don’t know what else to say to them when they say silly things like that.”

Cautillo participated in a “Totally Trades Conference” at Central Maine Community College last week to help urge young women to embrace trade professions that they traditionally wouldn’t consider.

– Bonnie Washuk
Worshipful master

People who like to call Lewiston City Administrator Jim Bennett a clown should add a new title to their list: “Worshipful Master.”

Bennett, a longtime member of Lewiston’s Masonic Kora Shrine lodge corps of clowns, was elevated to the leadership position of The Ancient York Lodge #155 of Free and Accepted Masons, in Lisbon Falls. He’ll serve in that position as “worshipful master” for the next year.

Bennett, through his alter-ego Ginjo, become one of a handful of master clowns in the local Kora Shrine in February. He’s one of about 50 master shrine clowns in New England.

– Scott Taylor
Humbled mentor

On April 10 when Lewiston High senior Jared Turcotte was asked to be a motivational speaker to Lewiston Middle School eighth-graders and parents, Turcotte said he was humbled. There are lots of other people who have done more than he, Turcotte said. But maybe kids could relate to a teenager better than someone older, he said.

One way to help eighth-graders get excited about high school is to find some activity – drama, chorus, debate, Air Force ROTC, or sports – that connects them with others and the school. “For me it was football.”

As he spoke, youngsters came up to him with Jared Turcotte football cards asking him to autograph them.

Turcotte, the 2006 Fitzpatrick Trophy winner for top football player in the state, will play for the UMaine Black Bears in the fall.

– Bonnie Washuk