Several weeks ago, an editorial in this paper scathed Lewiston City Councilor Norm Rousseau for walking out of a meeting in order to prevent Mayor Laurent Gilbert and cronies, Councilors Stavros Mendros, Ron Jean and Paul Samson, from appointing an alien to the Downtown Neighborhood Task Force. Why?

Rousseau’s action prevented the ceding of Lewiston’s citizens’ sovereignty to a non-citizen. Had that gone through, what would Gilbert have tried next? Aliens voting in local elections? Perhaps aliens as city councilors?

Further, the individual in question also works for Catholic Charities, the agency contracted by the federal government to resettle refugees in Maine. I believe this raises the question, whose interest would be served – Lewiston’s or Catholic Charities?

Recently, I learned that a new group has been resettled in Lewiston. Volunteers are now needed to teach them American culture. Why wasn’t that taught to those people before resettlement here?

Lewiston is a struggling city. For many years, our elderly citizens labored long and hard in the mills, saving for retirement. Now, not only are their savings being depleted by higher taxes, but they are further condemned in their twilight years to living with the uncertainty, whether real or imagined, of losing their homes with the next tax hike.

It’s time for certain elected officials and various social agencies to reassess their policies and begin to show some charity to the citizens of Lewiston.

Robert E. Macdonald, Lewiston


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