H1N1 and a prayer

The Rev. Douglas Taylor, director of Lewiston’s street ministry “The Jesus
Party,” was worried about the H1N1 flu and students getting sick.

“My wife, Sonia, was running for school committee, and we thought it
would be appropriate to host a mobile prayer meeting from school to
school,” Taylor wrote in an e-mail.

On Oct. 19 the Taylors and others visited all of Lewiston’s eight
schools. They drove to the front of the schools and remained in their
vehicles. (They didn’t feel it would be appropriate to stand outside.)
In their vehicles they prayed for Superintendent of Schools Leon
Levesque, School Committee members, teachers, students and school
nurses.

“We prayed against any attack of illness of the H1N1 virus,” Taylor
wrote. “We prayed that the Lord would be the vaccination, and asked in
faith there would be a visible sign as testimony to answered prayer.”

On Nov. 12 there was a front page story about how absentees were up in
Auburn, but that Lewiston schools were doing well with fewer students
out sick.

“Your article was that visible sign,” Rev. Taylor said. He agrees
that Lewiston acted swiftly vaccinating students, that the nurses were
heroes. “However, we know that there was divine intervention.”

— Bonnie Washuk

Free plowing at Camp Gustin 

Rick Laliberty lives in Sabattus, next to Camp Gustin. He said he was taken aback when a Boy Scout official cited costs to plow the camp road among the regular upkeep expenses for the Scouts, who are considering selling the camp.

Laliberty’s plowed past the camp in the winter for the last 10 years, for free.

“You’ve got to go through all the Boy Scout land before you get to my land,” he said. “Not once have they given a nickel for it and not once have I asked.”

Laliberty, who lives at 188 Loon Pond Road, said his mother-in-law plowed the road for years before him. Four families live down there year-round. It’s a dirt road so the town doesn’t plow, he said.

Another neighbor takes care of the one-mile gravel road in the summer, watching for pot holes, also for free.

Pine Tree Council Scout Executive Tony Rogers had told the Sun Journal, “Any camp like Camp Gustin has costs associated with it, other than just plowing the roads. There’s insurance, and some maintenance that’s done there.”

This week Rogers confirmed that Laliberty is correct: he has been plowing for free.

“We pay for electricity, maintenance supplies that the volunteer caretaker doesn’t do, water test, licensing, insurance and more on the property, but we do not pay for plowing,” Rogers said.

He didn’t offer costs associated with any of those.

Laliberty said he’s spent as much as $2,000 on gas for his plow truck in just one winter.

“I don’t mind spending it but don’t tell people you’re spending it,” he said. As for this winter, “As it goes, right now, I’ll be plowing it, and it won’t cost them a dime.”

— Kathryn Skelton 

Snuggies for two

Wednesday night was the last Auburn School Committee meeting for Larry Pelletier and Ron Potvin.

Pelletier lost re-election for his seat, and city Councilor Potvin, the mayor’s representative on the committee, will no longer be a city councilor after Dec. 7.

The two were given gifts of Edward Little blankets. Someone joked they were EL “Snuggies.”

Both Pelletier and Potvin gave gracious thank-yous.

Potvin, who occasionally raised the ire of fellow members (especially Bonnie Hayes) when he asked questions or did things his own way, said sometimes he questioned what they did or how they spent money.

“But I never questioned any of your intentions and passion about caring for kids,” Potvin said. He said he admires their commitment and called the Auburn School Department a professional organization, from the teachers to the administration to the committee.

Superintendent Tom Morrill said people like Pelletier and Potvin who are willing to serve is what makes communities great.

“To step up to that call and give night after night with the intention of making Auburn a better place for students, I can’t thank you enough,” Morrill said.

— Bonnie Washuk