This week’s edition!
UU Theater presents “Ho Ho Holiday Drag Show”
Miss Jacinda, among others, will appear in the Ho Ho Holiday Drag Show.
UU Theater will present a “Ho Ho Holiday Drag Show” on Saturday, December 8 at 7 p.m. Christopher Dufour will host this seasonal extravaganza, featuring performances by Shaneeda Diet, Daveena, Jacinda, Miss Eon, Roxie Devoe and Mystyk. This buffet of beauties in fabulous frocks will bring the season to life with inspiring fun and holiday music.
Admission is $5. Proceeds will benefit the home of UU Theater, the First Universalist Church of Auburn. The church is located at 169 Pleasant Street (enter on Spring Street across from the Dairy Joy). Doors will open at 6:30 p.m. Ample free parking is available and the building is accessible. For more information, call 783-0461 or see www.auburnuu.org.
Auburn, National Guard to plan for use of Mount Apatite
The year-long Joint Land Use Study (JLUS) for the Mt. Apatite Recreation Area, the adjoining Maine Army National Guard property and surrounding area has begun.
The JLUS is funded by a $149,998 Department of Defense, Office Economic Adjustment grant and is intended to ensure civilian growth and development are compatible with vital training, testing and other military operations.
The area includes the Auburn Suburban Little League ball fields and the popular Mt. Apatite Park, a 344-acre park that is covered with gemstone quarries and hiking, cross-country, snowmobile trails and residential areas.
The 154-acre Maine Army National Guard site is part of the existing ball fields (27 acres), and the remaining land use is used for training operations 270 days a year.
Enough is Enough: DHHS shortfall, constitutional officers and holiday greetings
By Robert E. Macdonald
Mayor of Lewiston
What a state we live in!
Take the Department of Health and Human Services—please! A glitch in the department’s computer resulted in paying several million dollars to individuals who had no claim to the money.
Now, because it was a State of Maine error, those individuals who were mistakenly given the money are being allowed to keep it. They’ll probably have a very Merry Christmas.
Now let’s look at the policies of our financial institutions. If they made a similar error, the recipient would be asked (actually, told) to rectify the mistake and return the money. Failing to do so would guarantee an expensive trip to either criminal or civil court. Contrary to the State of Maine’s policies, you would be required to return the money.
Public Theatre’s “A Christmas Carol” opens Friday
The Public Theatre’s acclaimed adaptation of “A Christmas Carol” plays for one weekend only, Dec. 7 through 9. Pictured here is Joel Leffert as Scrooge, with Maddy Leslie.
Lewiston-Auburn’s professional theater company, The Public Theatre, will present their acclaimed adaptation of “A Christmas Carol” for one weekend only on Friday, December 7 at 7 p.m., Saturday, December 8 at 2 and 7 p.m., and Sunday December 9 at 2 p.m.
The Public Theatre’s original adaptation of Dickens’ classic tale featuring six actors and a fiddler has become a favorite holiday tradition in Lewiston-Auburn. Tickets are $18 for adults and only $5 for children ages 18 and under. Gift certificates for tickets to this production, or any play scheduled throughout the remainder of the season, are also available. For tickets, call the box office at 782-3200 or visit www.thepublictheatre.org.
“A Christmas Carol” is sponsored by Twin City Times, Rent it, Agren Appliance, and the Greater Androscoggin Humane Society. Season underwriters are the Sun Journal, Platz Associates, Schooner Estates, Down East Magazine, Gleason Media Services and Austin Associates.
Annual Messiah Sing-along at Congregational Church
The Augusta Symphony Orchestra (ASO) is excited to invite the community to its 10th Annual Messiah Sing-along, with performances taking place at 7 p.m. on Friday, December 14 at the High Street Congregational Church in Auburn and Saturday, December 15 at Hope Baptist Church in Manchester.
Handel’s Messiah was completed in 1741, with composition beginning on August 22 of that year and finishing a mere 24 days later on September 14. Despite its swift creation, only minor errors were found within the 259-page masterpiece.
Described as “a meditation of our Lord as Messiah in Christian thought and belief”, Messiah differs from many of Handel’s other oratorios in that the soloists do not take on dramatic roles, there is no single, dominant narrative voice and very little use is made of quoted speech. It is a musical tour de force that has stood the test of time by remaining internationally popular for 270 years, featuring “Comfort ye”, the “Hallelujah” chorus and the closing “Amen.”
Franco Center restores granite buttresses
For at least the sixth time in 12 years, the Franco-American Heritage Center has scaffolding around a portion of its historic edifice as a local masonry company works to shore up three of the buttresses holding up the building’s distinctive spire.
The work, which began last week and is being partially paid for by a $40,000 grant from the Maine Community Foundation—money being matched by private donations—is expected to take another month to complete.
Over $6 million has been raised to renovate the Franco Center since it was purchased from the Catholic Diocese of Portland in 2000. Executive Director Louis Morin estimates that approximately $1.5 million still needs to be raised to fully complete needed structural work to the building.
Construction of the Franco Center, which used to be known as St. Mary’s Church and served mostly French-Canadian immigrants in what became known as Lewiston’s “Little Canada” neighborhood, began in 1907 and was completed in 1927.
Big crowds turn out for 6th Annual Twin Cities Holiday Celebration
The number of attendees and parade participants were at an all-time high Monday to make a huge success of the 6th Annual Twin Cities Holiday Celebration. Onlookers lined the streets to view the Parade of Lights with a theme of “Celebrating Cultural Holidays.”
Pre-parade activities were held at Auburn City Hall and the Lewiston Public Library, including story time, arts and crafts, a holiday sing-a-long and physical comedy by performer Michael Trautman, the latter sponsored by L/A Arts.
The Parade of Lights commenced in Auburn and ended its route at Dufresne Plaza in Lewiston, with Dunkin’ Donuts providing snacks at Festival Plaza in Auburn as parade onlookers waited patiently for the parade to begin.
Throughout the evening, festivities at Dufresne Plaza included music by Dionne Entertainment, free horse and wagon rides by Stillbrook Acres, free Photo Finish photos with Santa and Mrs. Claus, performances by the Lewiston High School and Edward Little High School choral groups, snacks compliments of the Salvation Army, lighting of the Christmas tree and Menorah, visits with costumed characters, and holiday wishes extended by Lewiston Mayor Robert Macdonald, Auburn Mayor Jonathan LaBonté and Rabbi Hillel Katzir.
Could Lewiston become the hub for out-of-state waste?
This is the last in a series on Casella Waste, which is seeking a 30-year contract with the City of Lewiston to take over the city’s recycling transfer station, build a single-stream recycling facility and lease land at Lewiston’s River Road landfill. The contract would allow Casella to process 90 million pounds of “mixed recyclable” waste a year.
The first three parts were published in the November 15 and 22 editions of TCT. See them at www.TwinCityTimes.com. Click on the Digital Edition, then click on the Archive button at top right to see the November 15 or November 22 Digital Editions.
By Hillary Lister
and Dan Gregoire
In 2008, Casella presented a plan to the Lewiston City Council to enter into a contract with the company to take the city’s recycling to its single-stream facility in Massachusetts. The company wanted to move its Pine Tree Waste collection operation out of Mechanic Falls to the KTI site on Plourde Parkway in Lewiston, bringing 51 loaded trucks a day.
The facility would continue processing construction and demolition waste, and Lewiston—which owns the land where the KTI facility is located—would extend the lease by 10 years and support Casella in the project. The Lewiston location would become Pine Tree Waste’s Central Maine base of operations.
Enough is Enough: Federal funds should be used to tear down vacant buildings
By Robert E. Macdonald
Mayor of Lewiston
They arrived wearing tailored suits and well-coiffed hair, carrying expensive designer briefcases. To us simple folks in the room, they presented an air of stature, an air of importance. An air of superiority—airs found solely in representatives of the United States Government.
Present in the room were the mayors of Lewiston-Auburn and the economic development staffs of both cities.
Each representative from the federal government introduced himself or herself, informing those present of their individual expertise. Each explained how the magical mystical drug they had brought, known as taxpayers’ money, could be used to elevate our cities into a modern low- to no-income metropolis even more desirable for those wishing to live as recipients of Maine’s generous entitlement programs.
Mayor LaBonté and I thanked them for their concerns, but opted out of any federal funds designed to build additional low- to moderate-income housing. They were thanked for their concerns. It was pointed out that although this perennial gift of money was well intended, it has destroyed the character of our once-thriving working-class neighborhoods, turning them into a warren of abandoned buildings, drugs and filth, creating pockets of crime-ridden areas throughout our cities.
LETTER: Concerns about redistricting Lewiston’s elementary schools
To the Editor:
Through this letter I am hoping to motivate parents to attend the meetings that will be held in their child’s schools concerning the redistricting of the Lewiston Public Elementary Schools as proposed by the Redistricting Committee.
I do have to commend the committee for its transparency in the recent articles concerning the reasons and conclusions on how and why they want to redistrict. I do, however, have many concerns on why it will be done in the fashion that they are proposing.
For starters, taking more children from the downtown area and sending them to schools further away is going to decrease parental involvement. I have spoken to a young, single mom of four who at the beginning of the year put in a request for out-of-district placement for her three children of school age (something that she will have to do every year).
