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Community spirit in high gear at ‘Touch a Truck’

Community spirit in high gear at ‘Touch a Truck’

Talek Dobrusin, age three and a half, was delighted to learn that the 1947 tractor at Touch a Truck still runs.

Patrick L. Sullivan

LIME ROCK — The Lakeville Hose Company held its “Touch a Truck” fundraiser at Lime Rock Park Saturday, June 29.

Race cars whizzed by as people wandered around the vehicles from fire and ambulance squads, and local businesses such as Perotti Tree and Century Aggregates. And sometimes just someone’s tractor. Skyler Ohmen of Salisbury had his 1947 John Deere tractor ready to go.

He was asked if it runs. By way of an answer, he fiddled with knobs and levers and then turned the key.

It ran, much to the delight of Talek Dobrusin, age three and a half, who was perched in the driver’s seat under the watchful eye of his grandfather Alec Dobrusin.

Stacey Dodge sat inside the Salisbury Volunteer Ambulance Service’s vehicle, showing a group of interested young people exactly what all the straps are for.

And Ethan Borkowski of Torrington was on hand with state troopers Nate Day and Josh Wedge.

Borkowski, age 15, is a member of the Troop B cadet program. He said he comes to community events to “interact with the public.”

Day said the Troop B cadet program currently has four cadets and could certainly use more. Cadets learn how to conduct DUI stops and building searches, attend leadership and team building exercises, and undergo physical training.

The program accepts boys and girls, ages 13 to 20.

While the troopers and the cadet chatted with a reporter, several family groups approached and got pens, stickers, and a couple of youngsters even got to sit in the police car and play with the siren a little.

And in case of lagging interest among the younger set, there was also a bouncy house.

Patrick L. Sullivan
Senior Reporter
Patrick Sullivan has been a reporter for The Lakeville Journal since 2004, covering everything from town meetings to local characters and the outdoors. He grew up in Northern Virginia but spent summers on Mount Riga in Salisbury, giving him a lifelong connection to the Northwest Corner. A graduate of Denison University, Patrick is also the author of Tangled Lines, the newspapers’ popular fly-fishing column—making The Lakeville Journal, as far as anyone knows, the only newspaper in Connecticut with a regular fly-fishing columnist. He once received a fan letter from England, which he considers sufficient evidence that his work has achieved international acclaim.

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