April showers The last time I complained about dreary, wet, gloomy, lousy, rotten, vaguely fish-smelling April weather, the day the column ran it was sunny bright and T-shirt warm. Clearly, I have powers you mortals can’t even comprehend. You don’t even know, man. So in hopes of sparking another warm, sunny weekend for us all, […]
Mark LaFlamme
Posted inbPlus, sj-web
Paul Baribault: A writer's life
Almost from the very beginning, Paul Baribault knew what he wanted to do with his life. And so, with big dreams dancing in his head, he announced his plans to his high school guidance counselor. It could have gone better. “I said, ‘I’m going to be a writer,’” Baribault recalls of that long ago conversation. […]
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Posted inMark LaFlamme, sj-web
Street Talk: Don't mess with Jesse
The very moment I heard Jesse’s name uttered at the scene of the crash, I knew I had a big story on my hands. It is news when anybody gets hit by a car, but this was Jesse Kontoes lying there in a heap on the cold, slushy street. This was a local icon. A […]
Posted inMark LaFlamme, sj-web
Talk of the town: Say it like you mean it
He went that-a-way A police foot chase one recent night came to an end right next to the Wendy’s drive-through window on Center Street in Auburn. See? This is exactly why, if I was a crook, I’d keep a red-headed pigtail wig and some fake freckles as a disguise. As it turns out, I already […]
Posted inLewiston-Auburn, Mark LaFlamme
Street Talk: OJ Simpson and the memory hole
Late afternoon, June 17, 1994. I was just three months into my spanking new journalism career when I walked into the newsroom to an unsettling sight. All of the editors, typically splayed out at manageable distances around the newsroom, were standing in one spot in the middle of the room. Managing editors, copy editors, daytime […]
Posted inbPlus, sj-web
Catch the craze: HQ Trivia
Every night, at 9 p.m. sharp, Phoebe Chamberlin, Spencer Emerson and their crew answer the call. The call is just a simple phone alert, letting the gang of six know that it’s time to play HQ Trivia. For the next 10 or 15 minutes, the four young men and two young women will work together, […]
Posted inLewiston-Auburn, Mark LaFlamme
Street Talk: No prescription necessary
The woman was a ragged mess, her nerves jangled, her guts in a knot. She was having problems with one of her grown children and it left her frantic. Unsettled. Paralyzed at times with gnawing fears of the creeping unknown. A few years beyond 80, she went in desperation to her local pharmacist, in search […]
Posted inLewiston-Auburn, Mark LaFlamme
Street Talk: The old man and the streetwalkers
Hardly a day goes by when I’m not asked one question or another about the working girls of downtown Lewiston. You know the working girls. They stand on the corners along Pine and Ash, trying to look sexy in five layers of winter garb. They offer a sly glance as you drive by in the […]
Posted inMark LaFlamme, sj-web
Talk of the town: Don't look at me in that tone of voice
Comfortably numb So, some young lady claims she was ordered by an airline to flush her comfort hamster down an airport toilet. That’s sad. It reminds me of the time years ago when I was forced to flush my comfort Pabst under similar circumstances. Broke my heart to do it. Tsunami! Nope. Sorry. False alarm. […]
Posted inLewiston-Auburn, Mark LaFlamme
Street Talk: A trip to Cooper Spring
Every month, like clockwork, we make the journey north — or possibly west — to fill our water jugs at the Cooper Spring in Buckfield. Or possibly South Paris, it depends on which map you’re using. The ride to the spring is half the fun. The journey takes us down the winding roads of Minot, through bucolic […]