This week’s edition!
News
Greenwood dance group to host Solstice Soirée
Flutist Meg Om Shanti will be among the roving performers in period-style clothing providing entertainment at the event.
Spark your own cultural reawakening at the Renaissance-themed Solstice Soirée of the Cottage Street Creative Exchange on Saturday, June 17 from 7 to 11 p.m. at the Local Hub in Greenwood. The evening will feature the entertainment of roving performers in period-style clothing. Meg Om Shanti on flute, Steven Moore on mandolin, and juggler Jack Gentempo will send your senses back to the 1600s, when a cultural reawakening ushered the middle ages into the modern world. Also performing will be the Art Moves Dance Ensemble. A Renaissance-inspired buffet will be catered by the Local Hub, which prides itself on using all-natural ingredients. There will also be a cash bar. Guests are welcome to wear period-style clothing and bring recorders to join in madrigals and general merrymaking.
Op-Ed: Residents near Bates College should feel safe in their own neighborhood
A man steps out his front door into a puddle of vomit. A girl drunkenly slur-shrieks at a police officer, then starts chasing and pounding on his vehicle with her fists as he pulls away.
A swaying, slurring boy who has just been ejected from a party puffs himself up and yells at a police officer, “Do you know who I am? Don’t you know who I am?”
An intoxicated girl in stilettos chases her visiting sister down the street, shrieking, “Where do you think you’re going? I’m telling mom! You are completely ruining college!” She repeatedly bangs her head on the nearest vehicle and starts sobbing.
A mother has to shepherd her young child away from the broken glass on the sidewalk, as they kick through stretches of smashed plastic Solo cups. A man comes frighteningly close to being beaten to a pulp by a drunken member of a sports team who is held back by two friends, who are a just bit less drunk.
Governor’s Address: Money cannot solve our problems with Maine’s education system
Money alone cannot solve our problems, we need change.
Dear Maine Taxpayer,
Too much money can hide a lot of problems. Well, we spend more and more money every year on education, but our student performance remains stagnant. That’s a problem.
Instead of blindly throwing more money at public education, we need to ask why this problem has been allowed to go on for so long.
Just because the status quo is something that has been done for years doesn’t mean it’s the right way to do it, and we can’t defend it any longer.
Enough is Enough: Low-income housing projects are not a formula for success
By Robert E. Macdonald
Mayor of Lewiston
It has been a long five-and-a-half years serving as Lewiston’s mayor. We tried and failed to get any meaningful welfare legislation passed, thanks to Ben Chin and his Maine People’s Alliance, Equal Maine Justice Partners, Pine Tree Legal and a host of special-interest (not your interests) groups whose voices drowned out the majority of Lewiston’s voters’ voices.
You may have elected me as Lewiston’s mayor, but you failed to elect local state legislators who were on the same page.
During my tenure as mayor, Lewiston has been cited by both Forbes and AARP as a great place to retire and live. This has been due to a very unappreciated and hard-working city staff, which through long periods of heavy lifting has started and is bringing to fruition a positive direction toward prosperity.
But the dark forces of the status quo are fighting hard to ensure that Lewiston’s image does not change.
Rotary Breakfast Club surpasses $500,000 in charitable donations
Breakfast Club President Donald Fournier and President-Elect Jeffrey “Pete” Preble
The Auburn Lewiston Rotary Breakfast Club recently surpassed a major milestone by exceeding the $500,000 mark in donations to various local charities. The club, which has enjoyed an average membership of forty members, was formed in 1991 and has organized numerous fundraising campaigns since then to support local organizations providing services to youth and the elderly.
Donations have been provided to over 164 different organizations and charities, including the Boys and Girls Club, SEARCH, the High Street Food Pantry, Auburn Suburban Little League, and Advocates for Children. The club meets at 7 a.m. on Wednesday mornings at the United Methodist Church on Park Avenue in Auburn. New members are always welcome. For more information, see www.auburn-lewistonrotary.org.
Norlands to host Civil War reenactment June 17-18
The 6th Maine Battery will be on hand to fire their Parrott Rifle-cannon and a full-scale battle scenario will be staged each day.
The Washburn-Norlands Living History Center in Livermore will host its sixth Civil War reenactment weekend on Saturday and Sunday, June 17 and 18. The largest Civil War reenactment in Maine, Rally for Norlands features a wide variety of living history demonstrations, exhibits, and engaging activities recalling daily life in the Civil War. This family-friendly event is organized by the 3rd Maine Company A and 15th Alabama Company G to benefit Norlands, Maine’s oldest living history farm and museum.
Pinning ceremonies at CMCC
Julie Davis, graduate and president of the Medical Assisting Club, helps her daughters, Ocean and Ryver, get her pin ready. Looking on are fellow graduates Erin Conary and Denise Castonguay.
Family members, friends, and faculty gathered in Central Maine Community College’s Kirk Hall recently to attend annual pinning ceremonies to honor the graduates of the college’s nursing and medical assisting programs. Twenty-two students completed the associate degree in nursing and twelve completed the associate degree in medical assisting.
The nursing program at CMCC, offered since 1968, prepares students for careers in medical-surgical, obstetrical, pediatric, geriatric, or psychiatric nursing. The medical assisting program prepares graduates for entry-level employment in settings in which medical secretarial and/or basic clinical and laboratory training are required.
Erica Brown and the Bluegrass Connection coming to Sawyer Memorial
Brown’s talent for combining the precision of classical music with the spontaneity of country and bluegrass makes for a fun-filled performance every time she plays.
Erica Brown and the Bluegrass Connection will perform at the Sawyer Memorial in Greene on Friday, June 16 at 2 and 7 p.m. Both shows are free and open to the public. Brown brings a special energy and style to the Maine music scene. Her talent for combining the precision of classical music with the spontaneity of country and bluegrass fiddle makes for a fun-filled performance every time she plays.
Governor’s Address: Turnpike Tolls are Not the Answer to Better Roads and Bridges
Our administration has done a good job bringing accountability to the Maine Turnpike Authority. Mainers are still counting on us to ensure that turnpike revenue is spent as efficiently as possible.
Dear Maine Taxpayer,
As a state, we must plan long-term and streamline the management of the state’s transportation infrastructure. If the Department of Transportation and the Maine Turnpike Authority merged, there would likely be a number of efficiencies found. This would lower costs for toll payers, while at the same time continue to maintain good roads and bridges.
Only Steps Forward: Remembering those who served their country, then their community
By Jonathan P. LaBonte
Mayor of Auburn
One hour. Just one hour.
That was how the Mayor of the City of Lewiston, Bob Macdonald, opened his remarks to the hundreds gathered at Veterans Park, overlooking the Androscoggin River, in Lewiston.
A man of few words when I’ve joined him speaking in the community, Mayor Macdonald wasn’t offering an announcement of how long he planned to speak on this Memorial Day. Instead, he was pointing out how such a short period appeared to still be too much for the many residents who could not make time out of their day to take part in the Memorial Day ceremony.
Mayor Macdonald, a Marine who served our country in Vietnam, spoke forcefully about how Memorial Day is not the official start to the summer season. It is a day of remembrance for those who served our country and who were lost in that service.
