Ryan Decker was giving a client a perm in the JCPenney’s hair salon Monday when she was told to leave the store.

The problem? That perm was only half done.

“I wasn’t going to leave her!” Decker said.

No one knew whether the Auburn Mall’s lockdown would take five minutes or five hours. Five hours would be a problem. A big one. 

But the JCPenney’s salon wasn’t the only one in the mall. In another wing: Regis Salon. And when the stylists at Regis learned about the woman’s plight, they jumped into action. Their shop hadn’t been emptied yet. They had time to wash out the woman’s hair and finish the ‘do. She was done by the time they, too, had to shut down.

“I really want to thank Regis,” Decker said.

— Lindsay Tice

Halloween visitors

Despite Christmas decorations already appearing at local stores, Never Rest Graveyard’s Mike Caron is still thinking about his favorite holiday: Halloween.

He emailed to report the success of his annual free haunted house in the backyard of his East Avenue Lewiston home.

“We had in between 600 and 700 people come to our haunted house, and we raised around $150 in donations for the animal shelter,” he said in the email.

Caron also has hopes that next year will be bigger and that he will be able to raise even more money for a local charity.

“Now that people know about us, we hope to have a better year next year,” Caron said.

— Amber Waterman

Sharkboy

Move over Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck. We’ve all heard of people filing a protest ballot by writing in the name of a cartoon character or some other person.

Tuesday was no exception and while many left their ballots blank on several occasions in the town of Wales and other places, at least one Wales voter took the time to write in Sharkboy —  for everything, from president on down, Deputy Town Clerk Sharon Siegel said this week.  Yep. Sharkboy. 

— Scott Thistle