HARMONY – The woman who succeeded in having two bridges renamed to honor domestic violence victims now wants to add memorial gardens at the bridges and to plant perennial flowers by the roadside — all the way to Dexter.

Sandra Mitchell said she was a friend of Amy Bagley Lake of Harmony, who with her children Monica, 12, and Coty, 13, was shot to death by Lake’s estranged husband in Dexter last June 13.

Mitchell also was a friend of Connie Porter Barrett of Oakland, who was shot and killed by her husband in a hospital parking lot in Waterville in 1986.

“Pretty much Connie’s scenario is the same scenario that Amy went through — bail and restraining orders that were no good and kept getting broken — that’s what I’m hoping to change,” Mitchell said.

Beginning June 2, Mitchell will hold fundraisers in Harmony to generate money for a park and for perennial flowers. One day, she said, she would love to see perennials planted from the bridge on Route 150 in Harmony along the 17-mile route to the Ridgeview School in Dexter, where Amy was a teacher.

Mitchell already has gotten that bridge over Higgins Stream renamed by the state as the Amy, Coty, Monica Bridge. Another bridge on nearby Route 154 in Harmony was renamed the Remember Me Bridge for all victims of domestic violence.

Mitchell said she plans to hold a fundraiser each weekend in June. The idea is for people to bring their own perennial plants and donate $6 for each one they plant. Mitchell said plants can be dedicated to the memory of victims of domestic violence, cancer or military combat.

The car wash at C&R Store in Harmony village has been donated for fundraising use each weekend in June. Mitchell said the funds raised will be split among two domestic violence prevention groups, a veterans’ group, the Make-A-Wish Foundation and American Cancer Society.

Morning Sentinel Staff Writer Doug Harlow can be reached at 612-2367 or at:

dharlow@centralmaine.com

 

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