Maine news, sports, weather | Kennebec Journal, Augusta, Maine

Attack victim to watch graduation via link

BY MECHELE COOPER Staff Writer

PITTSTON -- Nicole Guerrette, critically injured along with her father in a home invasion last month, will be watching her fifth-grade class graduate today via laptop computer from her hospital room.

Ten-year-old Nicole and her father, William Guerrette, 48, are being treated at separate hospitals for stab wounds suffered during the May 27 attack. Nicole is at a Portland hospital and her father remains at a Lewiston hospital.

Shelly Simpson, principal of Pittston Consolidated School, said Nicole will see the graduation ceremony through a Web camera. Simpson said she has software on her laptop computer at the school that allows users to make telephone calls over the Internet and features support for video conferences.

"We have a celebration to honor all the fifth-graders leaving our school and wanted her to be a part of it," Simpson said Tuesday. "With the help of our technology coordinator, she's going to be able to watch it live."

She said the celebration for fifth-graders who will attend Gardiner Regional Middle School next year will begin around 1:30 p.m.

Dick Rogers, chairman of the School Administrative District 11 School Board, said he is proud of all the school is doing to support Nicole and her family -- especially going through the trouble of setting up a computer with a Web cam so the child can see her friends graduate.

"I thought it was a grand idea," Rogers said.

This is just one of many ways the school has tried to help Nicole and her family.

Nicole's classmates have held a bottle drive. And donations are being accepted for blue ribbons -- Nicole's favorite color -- that people can pin to their clothing that Simpson said expresses "hope and love for Nicole."

The funds will be used to purchase a gasoline card for Nicole's mom, Melanie Guerrette, who is driving back and forth between the two hospitals.

Nicole's dad remains at a Lewiston hospital, where he continues to undergo surgeries. He may be taken out of a drug-induced coma this weekend and possibly moved to the Portland hospital where Nicole is being treated.

"It's just another small way we can help as much as we can," Simpson said. "People would have to come to the school to get the ribbons. Some are with hearts for the women, and we have plain ones for the men."

Simpson said Nicole was supposed to go to Plymouth, Mass., with her class on a field trip and to a Portland Sea Dogs baseball game for a reading incentive program. That trip was a reward to the students who reached their reading goals, which Nicole had done.

She said the Sea Dogs posted a sign that said "Get Well Nicole. Love, the Sea Dogs and Your Pittston School Friends."

The pitcher signed a baseball and all the Sea Dogs players autographed a T-shirt that students brought back for Nicole along with souvenirs. The school also has sent Nicole teddy bears and books to read, she said.

"We're trying to stay in contact so she knows we're still thinking of her," she said. "I had the pleasure of talking to her yesterday on the phone. It was very touching. She was chosen student of the month for her class -- before this all happened -- so I had called to tell her.

"We had a great conversation, like I would have had with any other fifth- grader. She gave her uncle two thumbs up when I told her she was student of the month for her fifth-grade class."

The attack on Nicole and her father occurred around 2 a.m. on May 27 during a break-in at their Stoney Acres Road home.

Leo Rose Hylton, 18, of Augusta was arrested two days after the home invasion and charged with elevated aggravated assault. He is being held on $1 million bail.

Hylton's roommate, Dan Fortune, 20, of Augusta was arrested a day later and is being held on charges connected with a November robbery at the Guerrette home, during which more than $100,000 in historic currency was taken. Fortune's attorney has said Fortune is expected to face charges connected to the home invasion.

Simpson said Nicole's classmates are slowly coming to grips with the attack on the Guerrette family. They're getting the support at home, she said, and through the school with help from teachers and the guidance counselor.

On a message board out in front the school, Simpson spelled out the words "We love you Nicole." She said several students thanked her for that.

It's a sentiment felt by the whole community, she said.

"We're all trying so hard to help the family," Simpson said. "People feel so helpless in this situation. They want to send their thoughts and prayers and their caring. They care so deeply for her. She's adorable. And we've tried to encompass the fifth-graders as much as possible with whatever we do.

"At this point, we're just hoping that Nicole continues to recover, as well as her dad, and are hoping for the very best."

Mechele Cooper -- 623-3811, Ext. 408

mcooper@centralmaine.com