As Edward Little teachers assembled Tuesday, the last day before summer vacation, they acknowledged those who were retiring or leaving.

One teacher won an award for being the most vigilant about kicking out (OK, escorting to the office) people without visitor badges.

Assistant Principal Steve Galway talked about the Sun Journal “visits” – school security checks, really. He wanted it known that the second time the Sun Journal visited EL in the spring, it did far better. The intruding reporter, staff writer Christopher Williams, was spotted in nine seconds, Galway bragged.

“The faculty has been incredibly vigilant on following through on that,” Galway said. And one person had been extraordinary: Richard Dahlquist.

“We’ve all heard the need to provide safety in school. But Dick takes it to another level,” Galway said. He said Dahlquist had stopped well-known TV reporters, the deputy police chief and the police chief.

“You’ve heard of McGruff? We got McDahlquist,” Galway said as he handed Dahlquist a shirt with a picture of the crime dog and the name “McDahlquist.”

– Bonnie Washuk
Roundabouts on the air

A series of videos that show drivers how to navigate two new Turner Street roundabouts in Auburn began airing on the local cable access channels Friday.

The four videos were created by the Wisconsin-based firm Ourston Roundabout Engineering. Each is meant to show how easily cars move through intersections with roundabouts.

Crews are building two roundabouts along Turner Street, on either side of Mount Auburn Avenue. The first, being built at the Turner Street entrance to Wal-Mart and Best Buy, should open this summer. The second, being built across from the Auburn Mall and Lamey Wellehan entrances, should be completed by September.

The videos will be part of the regular rotation on Great Falls TV’s two municipal channels through July 1.

They’ll be shown at midnight, 7 a.m., 3 p.m. and 10 p.m. daily on Time Warner’s Channel 22 and Oxford Networks’ Channel 2.

They’ll also air at 5 a.m., 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. daily on Time Warner’s Channel 7 and Oxford Networks’ Channel 1.

– Scott Taylor
Man in the moon roof

Thank heavens for young men with skateboards!

With notebook, pen and camera in hand, I started to rush up a hill in Mexico to cover a structure fire. Before I got too far, I realized I had locked my purse and my keys in my car. I quickly doubled back, then tried to figure out how I could climb atop my car and reach through the partially open moon roof to get my keys. Since I was wearing white pants, and my car wasn’t exactly spit-polished clean and I had the whole day ahead of me to work, I decided that wasn’t the route to take.

Just in time, a young man carrying a skateboard came walking along Granite Street. I waved him down and asked if he could do something for me.

Sure enough, when I described my dilemma, he looked at the car and at the roof, and immediately hoisted himself up high enough to reach in and retrieve the keys.

“I’ve never done this before,” he said.

I thanked him profusely and went to cover the fire.

– Eileen M. Adams
Check out the pool

After reading about Brian Serfes, the Lewiston graffiti artist, on Tuesday, June 26, Linda Wagner of Lewiston felt the stars had aligned. So she hired the spraypaint aficionado to paint stellar scenes, like planets and stars, on the side panels of her new above-ground swimming pool.

And flowers. And underwater scenes, like flowing seaweed and a bright pink fish. From the corner of Bushey Circle (where Wagner lives) and Russell Street, the brightly colored word “SPLASH” beckons from her back yard.

Serfes apparently isn’t done. A neighbor of Wagner’s has asked him to paint a motorcycle and his sport-utility vehicle. There’s also talk of Serfes doing some (legal) graffiti artistry in downtown Lewiston.

Watch for it.

– Anthony Ronzio