Huge Garage Sale Lowers Town’s Debt

From old cars to radios and rakes, residents of this small town hauled out their old junk and dusty treasures for a huge garage sale to help retire the town’s debt.

The sale on Saturday netted $10,000, a small step toward erasing an estimated $238,000 of debt discovered last month. A state audit begins next month into hundreds of bad checks the town has written.

Items donated for the sale included televisions, exercise equipment, lawn mowers, skillets, radios, rakes. Handmade doilies were sent in by a Florida woman who read of the town’s plight in her local newspaper. At an auction at the sale, a bird house sold for $30 and a truck load of gravel for $90.

Police Chief James Poulin joined town trustees for a soaking in a dunk tank. Contestants paid $1 for three chances to dunk an official with a softball throw.

“Hey, didn’t I give you a speeding ticket?” Poulin said to a thrower before being knocked into the water.

Earlier this month, he raised $5,000 when he sat atop Town Hall for 10 hours.