Walking the D.C. beat. Two Lewiston school resource officers walked a different beat last month when they attended an anti-drug-abuse conference in Washington, D.C.

Officers Michael Lacombe and Corey Jacques attended the Community Anti-Drug Coalition of American Conference, held in collaboration with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administrations.

They heard from national experts about eye-opening drug trends. “We learned some of the ‘new and improved’ ways kids discover how to use drugs and not be detected,” Jacques said. He didn’t divulge what those new ways are. They also heard about the sobering costs of underage drinking, from enforcement to long-term medical care.

Lacombe and Jacques attended a “Capitol Hill” day at which they met with U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, to talk about programs and funding. The cost of attending the conference was covered by a grant, Jacques said.

— Bonnie Washuk

Wedding crashes. Anne St. Pierre of Lewiston called the newsroom last week to share a story about three accidents her family was involved in a few days before her wedding, all within a few hours. She was driving in two of the crashes.

On Feb. 28, 1962, her father was running errands, getting ready for the wedding, which was days away.

“There was a big snowstorm,” St. Pierre, 69, said. “Going down Pownal Road in Auburn, he tried to dodge a car and ended up in a ditch.”

She decided to take over the errands. As she backed out of her driveway, a car cresting a hill struck her vehicle. She bumped her head badly enough for police to recommend she go to the hospital to get X-rays.

En route to the hospital, her car and another tried to dodge parked cars. They collided head-on. They weren’t going fast, but the impact damaged the vehicles and rattled Anne.

Upset, she told her father. “God is trying to tell me not to get married!” Her father assured her that was not the case.

The former Anne Demers and Leo St. Pierre did get married. Today, March 3, they are celebrating their 50th anniversary.

The Lewiston couple has six children, four grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. “We can’t believe it’s gone this fast,” she said. “We love each other more now.”

— Bonnie Washuk

Jamie Bolduc said nothing! This just in, at Monday’s Lewiston School Committee meeting, lacrosse mother Jamie Bolduc said nothing! If you know Bolduc — who is anything but a shrinking violet — that might surprise you.

She asked me at the meeting to quote her saying she had no comment. Then she pretended to “zip” her lips with her hand, and laughed.

Here’s the background: At a Feb. 13 meeting Bolduc was a tad frustrated when committee members discussed whether to suspend a policy and allow a team to be created without a six-month wait. As the meeting wore on, an exasperated Bolduc said, “We’re not coming here asking you if we can put condoms in the junior high!”

That kind of quote is going in the story, unless an editor decides otherwise.

During the Feb. 27 meeting, committee members voted to cancel the policy and allow the team to form right away. During the lengthy debate, Bolduc listened and said nothing.

So Jamie, here’s your quote.

— Bonnie Washuk

Students tweet for no school. Tweeting Lewiston Superintendent Bill Webster gained 17 new followers in the early hours Thursday during the snowstorm. He suspects his new followers were school students wanting to know if school was called off.

One tweet was from a student who claimed to have polled the student body who favored a snow day. Webster’s favorite tweet was: “Dear Superintendent. I am a senior in AP government with an essay due tomorrow. You should make tomorrow a snow day.” He closed with a smiley face.

When school was called off before 4 a.m., five people retweeted Webster’s no-school announcement. The lobbying Webster received via tweeting made no difference in the decision to call off school, but Webster’s fine “with people thinking they had an influence.”

— Bonnie Washuk

L-A school budgets released next week. Wednesday night school superintendents in Lewiston and Auburn are releasing their recommended school budget to their school committees. It’s unusual both are being released on the same night. What will this mean to programs and property tax bills? Stay tuned.

— Bonnie Washuk