Drooling Goat BBQ owners support Dexter PD K-9 unit
DEXTER — Drooling Goat BBQ will be feeding more than just hungry patrons as owners Ken and Janice Spaulding made a $500 donation to the Dexter Police Department K-9 unit, with the funds being earmarked for dog Zelda’s food. The Spauldings presented K-9 handler Officer James Roy with a check during a Dec. 12 town council meeting.
Ken Spaulding said the food truck operates on Saturdays in the Millworks parking lot — Drooling Goat BBQ is also open in Pittsfield and Newport on Thursday and Fridays, and mentioned he and his wife had been talking about how they can give back to the community and the police department for protecting their business. He said they first thought of a K-9 vest, but Zelda already has this piece of equipment.
Observer photo/Stuart Hedstrom
K-9 DONATION — Drooling Goat BBQ owner Ken Spaudling presents Dexter Police Department Officer James Roy with a $500 donation to support the K-9 unit. The funds will be used to help cover the cost of food for Roy’s dog Zelda.
“The K-9 program in Dexter is somewhat underfunded,” Spaulding said, as he talked with Roy about possible needs. “She has to eat every day and we thought $500 would be a reasonable amount of money for her to have food,” the Drooling Goat BBQ owner said.
“I think it’s well deserved, this dog has been on 87 cases these last few years with arrests and convictions,” Spaulding said. He added that he and his wife feel safer with Zelda and Roy working in town.
Observer file photo/Stuart Hedstrom
K-9 DEMONSTRATION — Officer James Roy of the Dexter Police Department and his dog Zelda gave a narcotics detection demonstration during a 2017 meeting of the Dexter Town Council. Roy had hidden a small bag of heroin underneath a chair as Zelda was unleashed to follow her handler’s command to sniff around the room. The dog quickly found the contraband, and got to play with a squeaky toy as a reward.
In other business, councilors authorized the finance officer to transfer up to $4,000 from the fire department special revenue account to purchase a pair of cold water rescue suits.
Town Manager Trampas King said the account is comprised of funds recovered from emergency calls. “If people from out of town get in an accident and we go, we have the right to bill them,” he said.
King said the fire department tested its current cold water gear and two suits were leaking due to age. He said the new pieces of equipment should arrive by next week in time for the ice fishing season on Lake Wassookeag.
The council organized with new members Andrew Bermudez, Heidi Kinney and David Palmer sworn in, Marcia Delware elected as chair and Fred Sherburne elected as vice chair.
More than half a dozen board/committee appointments were made, all at 3-year terms. These are airport committee, incumbent Mike Jones; board of appeals, incumbents Adam Briggs and Charles Merrill; cemetery advisory, incumbents Donald Clukey and Chuck Ellms; highway/equipment, incumbent Mark McKusic; human resources/CDBG, incumbent Susan Page; Abbott Memorial Library trustees, Teresa Brzustowicz, Lisa Cronwell, incumbent Meredith Josselyn; and planning board, incumbents Ron Apel and Richard Fanjoy.
Mike Curtis was appointed to a seat on the HAD 4 board of directors with his term to expire on Nov. 3, 2020.
During open session, Bermudez — who serves as pastor of the First Baptist Church of Dexter — said those involved in bringing the Group Missions Trips workcamp to town in July to help area residents with needed homeowners would like to see this project return in 2021.
“I just want to bring up the idea of the next one in 2021,” he said. The council decided to have an item on the workcamp be placed on next month’s agenda to potentially make a formal motion in support.
The 2019 edition had a $10,000 contribution from the town. “Now that we understand and know what you are going for we are hoping to get less from the town and more in donations,” King said.
Bermudez said grants will be sought, and the applications would be stronger with council support.
Four hundred volunteers from 13 states spent nearly a week in Dexter from July 22-26 working to fix 60 homes at no cost for residents who otherwise could not afford to have the needed repairs taken care of. Home improvement projects were carried out by Group Missions Trips, a non-profit, interdenominational Christian volunteer home-repair organization based in Fort Collins, Colorado.
During the summer there were about three dozen different workcamps with over 14,000 volunteers going into communities across the United States. The Dexter workcamp was sponsored by the town, The First Baptist Church and various businesses following two years of planning.
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