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Archive for June 2013

Webster takes 4th place in national bus driving Roadeo

Bus driver David Webster (l.) of Western Maine Transportation Services recently took fourth place in this year’s CTAA National Transit Roadeo in Albuquerque, New Mexico. This was the ninth time Webster won the state competition to represent Maine in the national event.

Bus driver David Webster (l.) of Western Maine Transportation Services recently took fourth place in this year’s CTAA National Transit Roadeo in Albuquerque, New Mexico. This was the ninth time Webster won the state competition to represent Maine in the national event.

Western Maine Transportation Services bus driver David Webster of Wales recently took fourth place in the tightly-contested 2013 Community Transportation Association of America (CTAA) National Transit Roadeo in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Held as part of the annual CTAA Expo conference, the event attracted 61 of the nation’s top transit bus drivers. The top five contestants were separated by only 31 points. Webster collected a total of 865 points for his efforts, which resulted in a tie with the fifth place finisher, but Webster took fourth place honors because he had a faster elapsed time on the driving course.

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Elks host Flag Day Celebration

Commander Willie Danforth and Robert Levesque of Franco American War Veterans Post 31 raise a new U.S. flag at the Flag Day Celebration on June 16.

Commander Willie Danforth and Robert Levesque of Franco American War Veterans Post 31 raise a new U.S. flag at the Flag Day Celebration on June 16.

The Elks Lodge #371 held a Flag Day Celebration on Sunday, June 16. Exalted Ruler of the Lewiston Elks Club Michael Aube served as master of ceremonies. Several music videos were presented along with a flag folding ceremony presented by the Daughters of the American Revolution.

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Rotary Club hosts Awards Night

Students receiving $1,000 scholarships are (l. to r.) (front) Brendan Landry of Lewiston H.S.; Erin O’Leary of Edward Little H.S.; Minarva Craig of St. Dom’s Academy; Emma-Jane Turton of Poland Regional H.S.; (back) Bill Denehy and Kristianna Benoit of Lisbon H.S.; Brandon Clark of Leavitt H.S.; Brian Daniels of Oak Hill H.S.; and Shawn Wright of Lewiston H.S.

Students receiving $1,000 scholarships are (l. to r.) (front) Brendan Landry of Lewiston H.S.; Erin O’Leary of Edward Little H.S.; Minarva Craig of St. Dom’s Academy; Emma-Jane Turton of Poland Regional H.S.; (back) Bill Denehy and Kristianna Benoit of Lisbon H.S.; Brandon Clark of Leavitt H.S.; Brian Daniels of Oak Hill H.S.; and Shawn Wright of Lewiston H.S.

The Lewiston-Auburn Rotary Club held its annual Awards Night recently at the Ramada Inn of Lewiston, where the inaugural Ethics in Business Award was presented to Jim Wellehan of Lamey Wellehan Shoes. Other nominees for the award included Center Street Dental, Geiger Group, Grant’s Bakery, Community Credit Union, City of Lewiston and Taylor Brook Animal Hospital.
“With seven very respectable businesses nominated, the nomination committee had a tough decision to make,” said L-A Rotary president Shawn Wright. “We have no winners and losers here tonight. The nominees are a great testament to the vibrant business community of Lewiston-Auburn.”

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Letters: Students have a willingness to succeed

To the Editor:

This is a rebuttal to Lewiston Mayor Robert Macdonald’s column, “Enough is Enough: College material, hospital debt and welfare expansion.”

Enough is enough with the negativity in the City of Lewiston.

The mayor writes that there is pressure on students to attend and graduate college. I don’t call it pressure at all. Instead, I believe students have a willingness to succeed and live a better life than their parents did.

Macdonald asserted that “many who falter academically excel in trades, such as automotive, woodworking, sheet metal and, in case you’ve been away from the area for a few years, an extremely renowned culinary arts program.”

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Enough is Enough: A good rapport with our local refugee population

By Robert E. Macdonald

Mayor of Lewiston

I was humbled by Jane Pelletier’s letter which appeared in last week’s TCT (“Refreshing to have Mayor Macdonald”).  However, I must address one sentence, “out of the country guests wanted him to resign.”

The incident she is referring to was performed by a group of illusionists who succeeded in masking their identity in order to make it appear that this protest was being carried out by “out of the country guests.”

To better understand what went on here, I must refer to two events, one referenced by Ms. Pelletier and another which took place over a three-day period. Both were an attempt to label me (feel free at this point to enter a derogatory name).

At the beginning of this year, I was visited by two agents from the Department of Justice. One of the agents was Frank Amoroso, a former Portland Police Chief, and his partner of Somali descent. For three days, they had been roaming the streets of Lewiston inquiring of every Lewistonian of Somali descent as to how they felt about me.

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governors

Auburn Community Concert Band kicks off 32nd season

The Auburn Community Concert Band kicks off its annual summer series of free weekly outdoor evening concerts on Wednesday, June 19.

The Auburn Community Concert Band, under the direction of Milt Simon, will kick off its annual summer series of

free weekly outdoor evening concerts at Festival Plaza in downtown Auburn on Wednesday, June 19.
The 7 p.m. performance is the first of ten programs scheduled for the season. The concerts will continue weekly
on Wednesday evenings through August 21 at this Main Street location, weather permitting. If inclement weather
is forecast, the band will move its performance indoors to the Hilton Garden Inn Auburn Riverwatch, located at
Great Falls Plaza, if the hotel’s ballroom is available for that evening.

Bath House & Garden Tour

Hyde School, based in this Colonial Revival mansion on grounds originally landscaped by Carl Rust Parker, marks the starting point of this year’s Bath House & Garden Tour on Saturday, June 15.

Hyde School, based in this Colonial Revival mansion on grounds originally landscaped by Carl Rust Parker, marks the starting point of this year’s Bath House & Garden Tour on Saturday, June 15.

Local gardening enthusiasts lamenting the lack of a Twin Cities garden tour this year may be interested to know
that Sagadahoc Preservation, Inc. (SPI) will present its 11th annual Bath House & Garden Tour on Saturday, June
15, from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. The event will feature 12 historic properties, including several prominent gardens.
Bath’s annual tour is widely regarded as outstanding, reflected in the large attendance the tour garners each year
from Bath and the surrounding area.

Letters: Preservationists see the value of churches

To the Editor:

I found the column penned by Lewiston Mayor Robert E. Macdonald (“Enough is Enough: Churches were Lewiston’s social and religious centers,” June 6) a curious read, running interference as I take it, for Central Maine Healthcare.

Rather than defend his city’s rich social and religious ethnic heritage, Macdonald aims his brickbats at those who have come forward to defy the political and economic establishment to defend the civic culture: the historic preservationists. Mayor Macdonald composes his words to defend the entity that would raze St. Joseph’s church for a parking lot.

For some reason, Macdonald reminds me of the mayor of Amity Island in the movie “Jaws.”  Mayor Larry Vaugan refused to let police chief Martin Brodie post the beaches off limits after the first shark attack. Vaugan was afraid of ruining the tourist season and offending powerful beachfront hotel owners.

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Enough is Enough: Legislators want to expand welfare, but ignore our most needy

By Robert E. Macdonald

Mayor of Lewiston

They are truly God’s children. Perhaps that is why they have been left on the side of the road by our ever-increasing secular society.

You will never hear them asking for or demanding government assistance. You will never hear them at all. They represent a moral and societal debt that must be paid if we wish to continue to exist and call ourselves a civilized society. They are those among us that unfortunately have been born with severe mental disability.

Our society, which continues to pat itself on the back for projecting a philanthropic attitude toward those labeled as “down trodden,” continues to ignore the basic needs of unquestionably our most vulnerable.

Growing up, they did not sneak around with their peers to participate in a rite of passage known as under-aged drinking. Growing up, they did not experiment with the illegal drug du jour.

Growing up, they required constant, dedicated care and attention by family, teachers and societal agency staff. They will need this care until they are called from this Earth.

Today in Maine our legislators make sure that money is available for those who flock to Maine, many with their GPS programmed for Lewiston, to obtain the generous welfare benefits offered by our caring Legislature. But for 3,100 of our most needy, those who cannot survive without assisted living, the funding for home- or community-based care is not available.

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