The following is an excerpt from Governor Mills’ remarks at her July 15 opioid response summit, “Turning the Tide: Maine’s Path Forward in Addressing the Opioid Crisis.”

You know, I subscribe to many newspapers, national and local. One I picked up at breakfast the other day began with a description of a city neighborhood which sounded like the setting of a television crime drama. It read:

“The sidewalks are littered with cigarette butts and people loiter outside the nearby grocery store. A man and a woman, both in their pajamas, scream at each other from opposite ends of the sidewalk. 

“A driver with all the car windows rolled down yells as he blows through a stop sign. The tires screech loudly as the car whips around the corner.

“The neighborhood children spend most of their day outside, riding their bicycles up and down the connecting streets. But by 8 p.m. they all disappear. Even if they aren’t on curfew, it’s as if they know better than to be alone on these streets at night.

Members of the Edward Little High School Class of 1959 celebrated their 60th Reunion recently at the Fore Seasons Restaurant at Turner Highlands Golf Club in Turner. Forty-four classmates and 16 guest attended the reunion dinner, where the guest speaker was Rachel Desgrosseilliers, executive director of Museum LA. Other reunion highlights included a guided tour of Museum L-A, an evening social gathering, and a cake with an edible photo of the Edward Little statue. The class plans to have its next reunion in 2021.

LA Arts, in collaboration with the Bates Dance Festival, will present “Do You Know What’s Worrying Me?”, a live visual art and dance performance by New York-based artist Jonathan Allen and dancer-choreographer Joanna Kotze, with music by Ryan Seaton, as part of Art Walk LA on Friday, July 26, at 6 p.m. Free and open to all, the performance will take place in the LA Arts Gallery at 221 Lisbon Street in Lewiston.

Abigail Elise Hart has been selected as the 2019 recipient of the Donald M. Gay Scholarship. Ranked eighth in her Edward Little High School graduating class of 205 students, Hart plans to major in journalism at Suffolk University in Boston beginning this September. 

According to ELHS counselor Michael Dunn, journalism is a subject Abby has been fascinated by for years. “Her combination of curiosity and courage are gifts that she puts to good use in any adventure in which she is invested.”

The Maine Highland Fiddlers will perform at the Sawyer Memorial in Greene on Friday, August 2 at 2 and 7 p.m. Both shows are free and open to the public.

The Maine Highland Fiddlers are part of the revival of traditional Celtic music currently thriving across the North Atlantic rim. The music of Scotland, Cape Breton Island, Ireland, and the Shetland Islands echoes the rich heritage of Maine’s early Celtic settlements. 

Attracting talented young people to Maine and making this state their home is a top priority of my administration. As you may have seen, a new sign now greets all people arriving at our state at the Kittery line. It says simply: “Welcome Home.”

I’m not the only one rolling out the welcome mat for Maine’s future innovators, business people, employers, and working people. Maine’s tourism industry is also showing the world that there is no place like home, and no place like Maine.

Maine welcomed more than 37 million visitors in 2018, including over 6 million visitors who discovered our state for the very first time.

The Women’s Literary Union will host a Christmas (in July!) Tea Party at Auburn’s historic Foss Mansion on Thursday, July 25, from 4 to 6 p.m. This benefit will support Auburn’s 150th Anniversary Bricks Project to raise the Bells of St. Louis at their permanent new home in Anniversary Park. 

The Christmas season is supposed to be a time of celebration, good cheer, and relaxation, but as we know, relaxation often just doesn’t happen. The Woman’s Literary Union of Androscoggin County invites the community to enjoy a holiday-themed afternoon tea without the stress of the holidays. 

Minot Historical Society will host their annual Civil War Encampment at 493 Center Minot Hill Road on Saturday, July 27, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sunday, July 28, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.

Reenactors from the 3rd Maine Infantry, 15th Alabama, and 5th Connecticut will demonstrate what life was like for common soldiers during the war. The soldiers will conduct drills and mock battles throughout the weekend. Those sensitive to sudden loud noises should bring proper hearing protection to avoid being startled. 

The City of Auburn, Auburn School Department, and the Auburn 150th Committee have announced “Come Home, Auburn,” a special weekend that invites all alumni of Edward Little High School home to Auburn November 1 through 3.

Highlights of “Come Home, Auburn” will include a “Battle of the Bridge” football game featuring Edward Little vs. Lewiston High School at Walton Field on Friday, November 1; various alumni games and gatherings throughout the day, including a ceremony for the unveiling of the Bell Tower in Anniversary Park and a huge alumni reunion at Lost Valley, on Saturday, November 2; and a Family Fun Day at Edward Little High School, complete with a Family 5K and Kids Zone, as well as tours and presentations on the new Edward Little High School project, on Sunday, November 3. 

Mrs. Beverly Foster Robbins was recently elected and sworn in as the new State Regent of the Maine State Organization of the Daughters of the American Revolution at the organization’s 128th Continental Congress in Washington, DC.

Robbins joined the Mary Dillingham Chapter of MSODAR in 2003 after moving to Lewiston from Jacksonville, Florida. She joined DAR in 2002 as a member of the Kan Yuk Sa Chapter of Jacksonville.