HARMONY — A Harmony woman wants to rename two local bridges after a mother and her two children who were killed recently in a domestic violence incident in Dexter.
Sandra Mitchell said she has launched a petition drive to change the name of Higgins Stream Bridge on Route 150 to the Amy, Coty and Monica Bridge in memory of schoolteacher Amy Bagley Lake, 38, and her children Monica, 12, and Coty, 13.
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Steven Lake, 37, Amy’s estranged husband, shot and killed his wife and children, then turned the gun on himself June 13. Police called the incident a “despicable case of domestic violence.”
There was a protective order and bail conditions in place against Steven Lake from a June 2010 incident for threatening his wife and children. He was awaiting trial for that incident in Wellington and was free on bail.
Mitchell also wants to change the name of the Main Stream Bridge on nearby Route 154 in Harmony to the Remember Me Bridge, for all victims of domestic violence. She said Amy Lake and her children would use that road to travel from Harmony, where Amy grew up, to Dexter, where she was a school teacher, so they would not have to drive by Steven Lake’s business on Route 150.
She said she doesn’t want the name Lake on either of the bridges.
“There will be 12 locations for the petitions from Athens to Dexter and three locations in Harmony and in Cambridge and Parkman,” Mitchell said. “I enjoyed talking to Amy when we’d meet, especially at the Harmony Labor Day Fair; she was very active in that, making floats. This year her family is going to be making a float in Amy’s name and the children.”
She said she also wants to organize a walk to end domestic violence and car washes to raise money to help the Bagley family with funeral and cemetery expenses. She also wants to promote legislation to mandate house-arrest monitors for people accused of family violence until their cases are settled in court.
Mitchell said she had been in contact with state Sen. Doug Thomas, R-Ripley, who is helping her organize the petition campaign and will submit a bill to the Legislature when it reconvenes later this year.
She said she needs at least 300 signatures on the petition to get it to the Legislature, but expects to garner many more than that.
Thomas said Tuesday he will submit a bill to have the state Department of Transportation rename the bridges.
“There are a lot of people who want to participate in the petition, who want to be a part of this,” Thomas said. “I want them to be a part of it; I want them to feel like they’ve done something — but I don’t know that it’s enough. How do you do enough in a situation like this? Whatever I can do, I will.”
Mitchell said she hopes to have the bridge plaques in place by next June.
Doug Harlow — 612-2367
dharlow@centralmaine.com
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