The dates for this year’s Great Falls Balloon Festival fall inside the Maine Principals’ Association “hands-off” dates, which means student-athletes will not be permitted to man their schools’ booster club food booths at next month’s festival. Doing so would violate MPA rules for student athletes and coaches to be involved in any organized team activity in the two weeks prior to the start of the fall sports season, prompting consequences from the MPA if they violate that mandate.

Every five years, or so, the two-week “hands off” sports mandate and the balloon festival overlap, requiring student athletes to step aside and requiring booster clubs to find other volunteers to flip burgers, pop the corn and pour the pop. It’s something Lewiston High School Athletic Director Jason Fuller has been warning students, parents and coaches about since the spring. It’s a policy that’s been in place for years, and it just so happens that this year the dates don’t coincide to allow students to work the booths, Fuller explained.

According to Mel Hamlin, co-chairwoman of the festival’s food committee and treasurer of the balloon festival organization, there are about 30 food booths reserved for the Aug. 15-17 event, “and probably half of them are local sports teams.”

Student athletes from St. Dom’s, Lewiston, Auburn and Leavitt Area high schools will have to rely on parents, friends, neighbors and others to fill their posts. And, although a few parents have complained, it’s a simple calendar thing.

The Maine Principals’ Association has established Aug. 4-18 as down time for student athletes, giving families a breather before the busy fall sports season starts Aug. 18. The festival dates all fall within that down time, which means “parents are going to have to participate this year,” Hamlin said.

The MPA rules are strict, which means cheerleaders can’t work their own booth and they can’t work the football booth, even though that’s not their team, and vice versa. It will be strictly a no-student-athlete-allowed zone for all booths – although athletes are allowed to purchase food to support their boosters.

Fuller said he won’t be patrolling the festival to make sure his athletes follow the rules, relying on the honor system to work. “My booster clubs know and they know the expectations,” he said.

– Judith Meyer
Who is that?

Does the voice on Sen. Susan Collins’ most recent television ad sound familiar? It should. It’s Steven Zirnkilton, a resident of Mount Desert Island and a former state legislator. His low, steady tones also open each episode of Law and Order … “In the criminal justice system, the people are represented by…”

– Rebekah Metzler
Not Me …

As rumors circulate about the impending vice president announcement of presumptive Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain of Arizona, don’t expect to see Maine Sen. Olympia Snowe on the ticket.

Snowe, a moderate Republican with a long history of government service, is not being vetted by McCain’s camp, according to her staff. Snowe had been mentioned by some pundits as a possible, albeit long-shot, choice for McCain.

– Rebekah Metzler