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On Saturday, Clair Ford Lincoln Mercury of Saco hosted its 5th
annual Cartoberfest celebration.  This year it's main focus was the "Life Print 2000 National Tour".
LifePrint is a DNA management kit which is endorsed by John Walsh, better known for his
involvement with "America's Most Wanted", and
is billed as an ultimate safeguard should a child ever become missing.
John Walsh was the founder of the
Adam Walsh Child Resource Center, which is now merged with the  National Center for Missing and Exploited
Children (NCMEC). John and his wife, Reve, worked tirelessly after their
son Adam was abducted and murdered for passage of the Missing Children Act in 1982 and the
Missing Children's Assistance Act of 1984 (the latter bill actually founded the NCMEC).
Since then, the NCMEC has worked 66,350 cases, helped recover more than 47,000 children,
and raising it's recovery rate to 93% since the 1980's (NCMEC statistics 9/99).
Here's how LifePrint works: The DNA sample is taken non-invasively by swabbing the inside of the
child's mouth and placing the swabs in a vial of fixation solution. The vial
is then placed in an ultraviolet protection envelope and stored in a safe place with the
family. No database is created and the sample remains in the hands of the
family. Over the two days that Life Print 2000 was in Saco over 270 kits were
handed out. For more information on Life Print visit their website at www.dna-lifeprint.com, or write to them at:
DNA LifePrint, Inc.
3050 Biscayne Blvd. Suite 502
Miami, FL, 33137
(305) 576-0002
The Maine State Police were also on hand
and provided a K-9  demonstration.
State Trooper Jeremy Forbes and his partner Topper, from State Police Troop A in Alfred,
amazed the crowd with their techniques. Topper, a 4-year old Belgian Malinois, has been
Trooper Forbes' partner for 2 years. Topper is a control dog, whose skills are
obedience and protection. Trooper Forbes demonstrated how Topper can
aggressively subdue a criminal who may resist arrest or physically threaten the trooper
and also how Topper can come to the trooper's aid even if he was left in the police
car. Topper's reward for working hard and correctly is playing with a tennis
ball. The crowd was then given the chance to pet Topper and talk with
Trooper Forbes.
The festivities continued with a petting zoo and pony rides. Music was
provided by the modern rock country music band Almost
Cowboyz. Vince and Larry, the Crash Test Dummies were also present.
Children were able to play on the Super Balloon Slide, Big Bounce Castle, and were
entertained by Renzo the Clown.
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