No purchase required to play merchant sweepstakes games? Right.

A Lewiston woman complained to the state’s Gaming and Weapons Division that C.N. Brown was operating an “illegal gambling ring” at their Big Apple stores, requiring customers to purchase an item in order to receive a Peel’n Win Sweepstakes game card. That’s against state law, but Jim Gass, an inspector with the gaming division said C.N. Brown is not in violation.

In some stores, with some customers, clerks who were not adequately trained were requiring a purchase in order to claim a sweepstakes card, but C.N. Brown has assured Gass that managers will be reminded that a purchase is not required. However, that doesn’t mean someone is entitled to receive a game card merely by showing up in the store. If not making a purchase, you just have to spend a little effort to get a game card online or mail a letter requesting a card, according to the published rules.

In an informal survey, Sun Journal staff visited a dozen Big Apple stores in Rumford, Mexico, Canton, Auburn, Lewiston, Paris and Farmington to see whether Big Apple clerks and managers required a purchase. In some cases they did, including the store on Main Street in Auburn, the Lisbon Street store in Lewiston and the Canton Big Apple. A second visit to the Auburn store yielded a game card, no purchase required. In most stores, even though clerks were not required to hand over a game card on request, they did. With a smile.

If someone goes into a store and asks for a card, but doesn’t make a purchase, clerks are supposed to point customers to the directions to enter online or through the mail, which Gass said they have been reminded to do. Nothing illegal going on. Just a chance to win a prize, according to the rules.

— Judith Meyer

New homes found for puppies

Just two days after their story appeared in the Sun Journal, all of the puppies at the Greater Androscoggin Humane Society have been adopted. 

By Friday morning, about 300 people had called and over 150 people had dropped by to see the two dozen out-of-state puppies that the Lewiston humane society had taken in to save from certain death in overcrowded Southern and Midwestern shelters. The puppies started going home Thursday. The last of them will go to their new homes Saturday.    

Some other animals at the shelter are going home, too.

“We had a lot of people go into the cat room and discover that they needed to have a cat as well,” said Allyson Collins, operations manager. “A lot of our kittens have left. It’s been great.”

Wanted a puppy but didn’t get there in time? The shelter expects to get in more puppies next weekend. It also still has up for adoption a number of adult dogs, including an out-of state German shepherd and a shepherd mix that were part of what the Humane Society of the United States called one of the largest animal-hoarding cases in American history.

— Lindsay Tice

Troopers lead pack on fundraising

Maine’s State Troopers have massed the largest team taking part in Sunday’s Dempsey Challenge to raise money for the Patrick Dempsey Center for Cancer Hope & Healing at Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston. According to Stephen McCausland, spokesman for the Department of Public Safety, the troopers’ team includes 175 members who will walk or run the 5K leg of the event and has pledged over $11,500.

According to McCausland’s news release, Trooper Aaron Turcotte, who patrols from Troop C in Skowhegan, helped organize the team. Cancer has hit close to home for Turcotte, McCausland said. His brother, Andrew, the deputy fire chief in Kennebunk, is a cancer survivor and will join the troopers Sunday.

Another of Turcotte’s inspirations has been former Trooper Mike Pearson, who was stricken with brain cancer in 1994. “Mike Pearson is fighting every day. He is a true inspiration to State Troopers and to all people who are affected by this terrible disease,” Turcotte said in the release. Pearson’s brother, Jerry, also a trooper and one of the two State Police pilots, will also participate Sunday in honor of his brother.

Jerry Pearson said,” We’re the largest team heading into the Dempsey Challenge. People have been coming out of the woodwork to support not only Mike, but friends, family and colleagues who have had to battle cancer.”

The team with the second most members, following the Maine State Troopers, is Rumford Hospital with 73 members and the Maine Cycling Club with 66 people registered to participate.

The Dempsey Challenge is scheduled to step off from Simard-Payne Police Memorial Park in Lewiston at 8 a.m. Sunday.

— Judith Meyer