JANUARY 9, 2025
FREE
BERLIN • NORTH WORCESTER COUNTY• OCEAN PINES
STEVE GREEN/BAYSIDE GAZETTE
PLOWING Berlin Public Works Director James Charles clears a path on Main Street Monday morning after several inches of snow fell on the town and the surrounding area. The year’s first snowfall succeeded in shutting down virtually everything, with the obvious exception of road-clearing crews.
Big donations push skate park forward Knupp Foundation funds, anonymous gift provide a boost to cover initial stages By Tara Fischer Staff Writer (Jan. 9, 2025) The Berlin skate park initiative closed out the year with a pair of donations totaling $34,000. Approximately $14,000 came from the Gavin Knupp Foundation and $20,000 was given by an anony-
mous local donor. Tony Weeg of We Heart Berlin, the nonprofit pushing for the construction of a skate park at Heron Park, said the donations will pay the final $7,500 bill from the design phase and the $25,000 construction documents. The skate park is proposed to be 19,000 square feet in total area, including parking, landscaping and seating areas. Weeg said there will be 17,000 square feet of concrete associated
with elements of the park, which will include a bowl and a variety of features for skaters of all levels. The Gavin Knupp Foundation was created following the death of local teenager Gavin Knupp, who was killed in a hit-and-run in the summer of 2022. The organization was founded by the victim’s mother, Tiffany. In 2023, embezzlement and theft allegations surfaced in connection to the foundation. Tiffany Knupp took an Alford Plea last September, while not an ad-
mission of guilt, acknowledges the stack of evidence to convict her. Part of the plea deal stipulated that the foundation would be dissolved, and any remaining funds would be donated to local charities. One such charity was the Berlin skate park effort. “The money from the Gavin Knupp Foundation comes with a lot of gravity and determination,” Weeg said. “To make sure that we take the memory of the child and go forward See DONATIONS Page 4
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