John Bennett will be giving a Trek bicycle to one lucky student at Trenton’s Annual Town Meeting,

Shaun Farrar

Apr 16, 2026

TRENTON—Summer is coming and that means school summer break, warmer weather and the perfect time for riding bikes.

At the April 14 Trenton Select Board meeting, member John Bennett announced that he would be giving away a “like new” Trek Roscoe bike to one lucky student of the Trenton Elementary School.

“Back in the 80’s town meeting attendance would be a full house, standing room only, which brings me to the point of why I am doing this,” Bennett explained, Tuesday. “My hope is to get young people interested in town government again, to understand how the system works, and how it affects each one of us.”

Bennett’s first recollection of a government interaction that affected his life was when he was 18 and he received a letter from the President of the United States.

That letter, according to Bennett, read something along the lines of “you have been selected by friends and neighbors to serve in the armed forces, report to the selective service system.”

The draft was a hat drawing system based on numbers and Bennett’s number was high enough that he did not get selected for the draft, but he still, voluntarily, served seven years in the Air National Guard.

Bennett’s first taste of local government was when he started working for the Hancock County Sheriff’s Department in the early 70’s. He became a court officer for superior and district courts and graduated from both the Maine police academy and the federal law enforcement academy in Glynco, Georgia. He finished out his law enforcement career as a Maine Marine Patrol officer assigned to Bar Harbor, his home at the time.

While living in Bar Harbor, Bennett “began working for Jean Barker at the Bar Harbor Town Office as a deputy election warden in the 80’s. Back then, before computers, on Presidential elections we would work from 7 a.m. until all the ballots were counted by hand, finishing sometimes early the next morning when Jordans would open and we would all go to breakfast and congratulate each other for getting it done.”

Later on, Bennett moved to Trenton where he was appointed to the Planning Board and then ran for and was elected to the Select Board.

“I have loved all my involvement in government and would do it all over again,” Bennett said.

The bicycle is being provided by Bennett himself and his plan is to bring it to Trenton’s Annual Town Meeting at the Trenton Elementary School on May 19 at 6 p.m. Bennett said that any Trenton Elementary student in grades 6, 7, or 8 who shows up to the town meeting will be given a numbered ticket.

To reinforce the goal of igniting an interest in government proceedings and imparting some knowledge regarding how government’s work and can affect people and their lives, Bennett will make the students sit through the reading of several warrant articles and the subsequent motions, discussions, and voting.

The moderator will then take a break in the town meeting and Bennett will draw a raffle ticket and award the bike to the winner.

Bennett says that he has several Trek bicycles available and if any other towns in Hancock County would like to try something similar, they can contact him and he will donate a bike to their cause.

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