Few things will capture the attention of the police and the media like the report of a 5-year-old driving through downtown.

It happened Monday night. Lewiston Police were called by a person who claimed a man was so drunk that he was having his 5-year-old son drive him around.

Police mobilized quickly. They got a description of the car and began searching for a vehicle with an undersized driver.

They collected a credit card receipt from a store the drunken man had reportedly stopped at as they continued the hunt for the minute motorist.

Other officers worked with license plate information provided by the caller. Officers went to the registered owner’s home to search there. No diminutive driver was found.

They alerted other police agencies and had all available officers in the city on the lookout.

Finally, more than an hour after the call had come in, the vehicle was found on Sabattus Street and stopped.

Inside, they found the driver alone and quite grown-up. The man admitted a friend had been driving him around earlier, but that friend was also an adult. In fact, he wasn’t even very short.

“Not all calls that we receive are exactly what they appear to be,” said a veteran police lieutenant, after the search for a kiddie commuter was over. “But when we hear something like that, it definitely gets our attention.”

– Mark LaFlamme
Irish eyes

Former Saco state Rep. Tom Kane played a return engagement at the State House Thursday, taking to the floor to perform an a cappella version of “Danny Boy.”

The state Legislature – not in session Friday – doesn’t have the power to change the date for St. Patrick’s Day, so members celebrated a day early. Green was everywhere.

During his eight years in the House, Kane has serenaded his colleagues with an annual rendition of an Irish classic. Speaker of the House John Richardson invited him back this year to keep the tradition alive.

– David Farmer
Hicks welcome

And now, in the time-honored tradition of Maine roadside eateries promoting their best, comes the locally famed Chick-A-Dee Restaurant in Turner.

Long known as a place to go for fine seafood, especially fried clams, the Chick-A-Dee is now also carving out a reputation for down-home humor. One of its Route 4 marquees is touting the place as the “hick-a-dee.”

There’s no telling where the “C” went.

At least the place isn’t advertising, “Eat here, get gas.”

– Doug Fletcher