St. Stephen — Late last week the Maine government penalized St. Stephen, N.B. native Greg Cogswell for crossing the border on a cigarette and alcohol run. Cogswell has to spend the next 14 days travelling back and forth in his vehicle on Airline Road, a section of Maine State Route 9.
The Manatee caught up with Cogswell just as he was leaving Bangor to begin his 13th circuit of the road. Between dodging oncoming freight trucks, we managed to capture the following statement.
“I told them a thousand times, I had a rough night the day before…one too many Alpine, one too many darts with the boys, y’know? Anyway, I was feelin’ it, and I really wanted some Mickey D’s and something to take the edge off, a little hair of the dog.
“And I’m on CERB eh, so I’m looking to save a bit a cash,” he continued. “Anyway, I thought I’d just quickly jump across and save a few bucks so I could afford to supersize my Big Mac meal. Next thing you know, the COVID police are telling me I gotta get to the Airline and stay on it for the next two weeks — two friggin’ weeks!”
Chief John Verner with the Calais Police Force expanded on their decision.
“You know what? We get you Canadians coming over here for cheap smokes all the time, and we have enough problems to worry about right now without having to deal with some rabid Canuck out for a nicotine fix. We came up with a plan to make it so no one ever makes that mistake again.
“We thought about putting Greg in prison for the quarantine, but then our rookie, Janice, started complaining about having to drive to the Target in Bangor on the weekend and it dawned on me…two weeks on the Airline will be like spending a year in the worst prison we have around here! All we need to do is post up at the end on this side and make sure he checks in every three hours or so and we’re golden.”
The Manatee followed up with Cogswell a few days later as he was emptying a bucket labelled “toilet” just outside Aurora.
“They let me pull over to the side and sleep at night in the car, but every time I close my eyes I see an 18-wheeler barrelling toward me,” he said. “I don’t know if I can make it another week. If you see my family, will you let them know I’m thinking about them?”
Cogswell then shifted his car into drive and, wiping tears away from his eyes, pulled onto the road to continue his sentence.