Representatives of St. Mary’s Food Pantry recently presented an award to Sam’s Italian Foods of 963 Sabattus Street in Lewiston for the store’s outstanding effort in raising money to end hunger in Maine. In addition to a plaque for display, employees were awarded free movie passes and popcorn generously donated by Flagship Cinema of Auburn and free bowling donated by Sparetime Recreation of Lewiston.  

The TRIO Student Support Services Program at Central Maine Community College has awarded over $12,000 in scholarships to 17 students this semester. These scholarship recipients were selected in recognition of their achievements and determination to succeed at the college. 

On Tuesday, March 26, the Androscoggin Historical Society will present a program on the Poland Spring Resort. Cyndi Robbins and Laura Brown will tell stories about the facilities and its guests at 7 p.m. at the Society’s Davis-Wagg Museum on the third floor of the County Building.

Poland Spring Resort has a legendary place in the history of Androscoggin County. A huge hotel, the Poland Spring House, attracted vacationers who were the economic and social elite of the country. The resort purchased the Maine State Building of the Chicago World’s Fair of 1893. Other features of the historic property are the golf course, the chapel, and, of course, the bottling plant.

“The horse knows the way to carry the sleigh over white and drifting snow…”  Bursting into sleighing songs was irresistible when 111 members of the USM-LAC Senior College Outdoor Adventure Club set out to explore the fields and woods of High View Farm in Harrison on a sunny day in February. 

With sleigh bells ringing, two golden Belgian horses, Madison and Dixon, stepped smartly across the fields following a trail that led into a fairytale woodland. A light snow clung to the branches. “It’s like being in a Christmas card!” one member exclaimed.

When I was a little girl, I watched my father as he left for the Legion hall every week and as he left to go to his Navy Reserve unit in full uniform. He was a proud World War II veteran, who served bravely at the Battle of Leyte Gulf in the Pacific and saw kamikaze pilots attack his own ship.

Much later, my brother served several tours of duty off the shores of Vietnam in the U.S. Navy following my father’s lead. Both of them became members of the American Legion.

So today, I am writing about how, 100 years ago, far from home in Paris, France, a group of World War I U.S. military personnel founded the American Legion. The Legion is an organization dedicated to honoring four pillars of advocacy: veterans, defense, youth, and Americanism.

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The team celebrates in Kirk Hall, where they put in many hours of training and practice to make it to the national stage.

For second time in three years, the Central Maine Community College Mustang Women have returned home as national basketball champions. The team exploded out of the gate last week at Penn State Fayette in Uniontown, PA to capture the 2019 USCAA DII National Championship with an 85-78 victory against number one seed Villa Maria College.

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Bates College alum Joyce White Vance (Class of ’82) teaches law at the University of Alabama. (Photo by Matthew Wood, University of Alabama)

Bates College will present a program by Joyce White Vance called “The Mueller Investigation and the Rule of Law” on Thursday, March 21 at 7 p.m. in the college’s Muskie Archives, located at 70 Campus Avenue in Lewiston. Presented by the college’s Harward Center for Community Partnerships, the program is free and open to the public. For more information, call 786-6202. 

A frequent commentator on the investigation for MSNBC and a former U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama, Vance is Distinguished Professor of the Practice of Law at Culverhouse School of Law, University of Alabama. She is a member of the Bates Class of 1982.

Lewiston resident Michelle Dehetre (r.), with Sen. Susan Collins

While driving with two of her sons in the car last week, Michelle Dehetre, a mother of five from Lewiston who has Type 1 diabetes, had a frightening experience that has become all too common for her: she began to feel very faint. Fortunately, no one was injured, and paramedics quickly arrived on the scene to take her to the emergency room.

Dehetre is one of the millions of Americans who struggle to purchase the medications they need to maintain their health. She struggles to pay for the insulin she needs, and she cannot afford a continuous glucose monitor and pump that would help manage her diabetes, resulting in life-threatening emergencies every month.

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David Muise, owner of Four Pines Painting, and Josh Stoehner, Director of Fundraising for An Angel’s Wing

Four Pines Painting of Poland has announced that the recipient of their annual charitable giving effort is the newly formed nonprofit organization An Angel’s Wing.

Four Pines Painting’s support of the new nonprofit included painting the entirety of its forthcoming retail arm, the Walk-In Closet. Located at 1567 Lisbon Street in Lewiston, the Walk-In Closet’s profits will go toward providing a support system to individuals affected by Substance Abuse Disorder.

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In response to reports nationwide regarding the prevalence of a group of chemicals known as PFAS, earlier this week I signed an Executive Order creating a Governor’s Task Force to mobilize state agencies and other stakeholders to review the prevalence of PFAS in Maine and to put forward a plan to address these dangerous chemicals.

While PFAS were once common chemicals used in products ranging from clothing to cookware, scientific studies reveal that they could pose a danger to the health of people, which is why they have been phased out over the past several decades. But because of their frequent use since the 1950s, contaminated sites have been identified across the country, including some here in Maine.

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