LIVERMORE FALLS – Sweat dripped off Zack Beaulieu’s face as he moved the weed-wacker left and right to trim the overgrown plants and grass on the outside of the fence at Griffin Field.

The 16-year-old had done more trimming around the Livermore Falls High School and mowed grass and did some inside cleaning previously as part of his community service work.

“This is definitely hard work,” Beaulieu said. “I’ve done a lot of this type of work before. I used to work on a farm in Auburn.”

Beaulieu said his parents got divorced and he ran into some trouble with the law recently with alcohol, and when the judge asked if he wanted to pay a $200 fine or do 25 hours of community service, he chose to do the work.

He was working off the remaining two hours Thursday.

“I’ll have it done, boom, gone,” Beaulieu said, his hands mimicking his words. “I don’t want to do this again. I’ll definitely think twice before I touch another bottle,” he said. “Twenty-five hours may not seem like a lot of hours, but when you get working, it definitely adds up.”

The work and conditions are not bad, he said. “The guys like Dave (Goding) are funny and cool,” he said.

Goding is the SAD 36 maintenance and grounds supervisor and is overseeing Beaulieu’s service work.

“They don’t overwork me, and they let me have enough water breaks,” he said.

He just might attend this high school in the coming school year, he said. He attended Buckfield and Waterville high schools previously.

His mother, Bonnie Beaulieu, said she hopes her son learned his lesson and was glad he decided to do community service instead of pay the fine, which he didn’t have the money for.

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