AUBURN – The Auburn Public Library will host a discussion of “The State Boys Rebellion,” a book based on the lives of wards of the Walter E. Fernald State School, at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, June 2.

Three of those “boys” – Albert Gagne, Joseph Almeida and Robert Gagne – will be on hand to talk about their story of struggle and survival, and how as men they reunited to find justice.

“The State Boys Rebellion,” by award-winning journalist Michael D’Antonio, uncovers the tragedy of those who suffered through childhood confined to the Walter E. Fernald State School for the Feebleminded in Waltham, Mass.

The Fernald School and its counterparts were not schools, but warehouses for the mentally and physically handicapped, and dumping grounds for children of parents who gave up custody.

Kids like the Gagne brothers were labeled social burdens, subjected to physical and mental abuse, and forced to serve as an unpaid labor force.

After World War II, Fernald and other schools turned their charges over to the government, which, with partnering institutions and corporations, used the children as subjects of “medical experiments.”

Co-ed summer basketball for kids

LEWISTON – The Lewiston Recreation and Parks Department will host co-ed summer basketball for ages 5 through 13. The program will run from July 5 to Aug. 4 and will take place on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.

Participating children will be placed in respective groups: Group I, ages 5 to 7, 5:15 to 6 p.m.; Group II, ages 8 to 10, 5:15 p.m. to 6 p.m.; and Group III, ages 11 to 13, 6 to 7 p.m.

The registration fee is $35 for Lewiston residents and $45 for non-residents.

For more information, contact the Lewiston Recreation Department at 782-5951; TTY/TDD – 784-5999.

Many and One elects directors

LEWISTON – The Many and One Coalition, a volunteer-based organization that encourages diversity and opposes racism and discrimination in the Lewiston-Auburn area, has elected its Board of Directors and officers for the coming year.

The facilitator (board chairman) is Rabbi Hillel Katzir; co-chairman is Pierre Teko; secretary is Shawn Jackson; treasurer is Tara Thornton; and staff liaison is Kate Brennan, the outgoing facilitator.

Other board members are Elizabeth Eames, Karen Jackson, Priscilla Jenkins, Zam Zam Mohamud, Mary Ruchinskas and Kader Said.

The Many and One Coalition is a nonprofit corporation that grew out of the pro-diversity rally in January 2003 in support of the Somali immigrant community in Lewiston.

The organization is dedicated to addressing short- and long-term barriers to diversity in the Twin Cities area.