Published in the American Journal
A man who robbed a South Portland video store at gunpoint remained at large as the American Journal went to press Tuesday. Police are seeking a heavy-set 5-foot-5 “Hispanic-looking” male in his late 20s or early 30s with a thin moustache and a thick but intelligible accent.
Just after 9 a.m. Monday, an employee of Blockbuster Video on Waterman Drive, just beside the Casco Bay Bridge, was locking the store’s door to go across the street to a bank when a man approached from behind, according to Detective Eric Jesseman of the South Portland police.
The store wasn’t even open yet, but the man told the employee he had a gun and ordered him back into the store.
Inside, the man displayed a black and white semiautomatic handgun and told the employee to clean out the safe.
The suspect, wearing a baseball cap and hooded sweatshirt to hide from security cameras, ordered the employee to lie on the floor until he left the store, at which point the employee called police. The man was seen running from the store.
Later in the day, a South Portland officer spotted a man who matched the suspect’s description near the intersection of Broadway and Evans Street. That man fled on foot, and officers were unable to catch him, Jesseman said.
Police are hoping someone may have seen the suspect loitering near the store before the crime. “This guy had to be, in my opinion, staking this place out,” Jesseman said.
Wednesday, June 25, 2003
Homecoming sweet for Gorham woman
Published in the American Journal
Tara Rich is home. Rich, a Gorham resident and staff sergeant in the 265th Combat Communications Squadron of the Maine Air National Guard, arrived at the Portland International Jetport Monday evening after a long trip from Kuwait.
Rich, 28, was greeted by her mother Patricia, her sister Stacey Rich-Abbott, Stacey’s husband Dan Abbott and Stacey and Dan’s daughter Samantha Abbott. Family members and friends of 12 of Rich’s fellow squadron members greeted their loved ones Monday as well, on two flights into Portland.
Thirteen members of the South Portland-based squadron remain in Kuwait but hope to be home soon.
The unit was sent to Kuwait in February for a 90-day tour. When war broke out, the National Guard extended Rich’s active duty, along with everyone else in the squadron, for a year.
The delayed return was slowed further by mechanical problems on the aircraft leaving Kuwait, Rich-Abbott said. The group was originally supposed to be home Friday, then Saturday, then Sunday. The family, in fact, had planned a welcome-home party Sunday, but she wasn’t there. “We’ll just have a heck of a Fourth party,” Rich- Abbott said.
Rich had e-mailed her sister to say that the Air Force plane they were leaving Kuwait on had mechanical problems, so it turned around after takeoff and the group was forced to stay put until commercial flights could be arranged.
And though the delay was annoying, the group ended up in better conditions: The Air Force plane didn’t have any blankets, and people were sleeping on the floor, Rich-Abbott said.
The commercial flights worked out. As word passed through the waiting crowd that the first plane was on the ground, Rich’s niece Samantha said, “That’s not good enough. They have to be on the ground.”
As she came into view in the terminal, the family’s excitement built even higher. They had been in touch with Rich from time to time, through e-mail and an occasional phone call. It actually helped that the squadron was involved in communications, the family said.
And then Rich was through the door, wrapped up first in a hug from her mom, then her sister and then the rest of the family.
Rich-Abbott said it was good that Rich’s dachshund Zoe wasn’t there, because the dog is quite excitable and might not have been easy to handle in the airport waiting area, jammed with excited people.
Rich’s mother had a printout of an e-mail message in her purse listing Rich’s food requests, though she hadn’t made any specific meal requests for her arrival night.
On the list were haddock, chop suey, cabbage and broccoli. “I’m sure she’ll be wanting a big seafood fest,” Rich-Abbott said.
In a quiet moment before heading off to baggage claim, Rich looked a bit overwhelmed by all the attention and the crowd of well-wishers. “It’s really good to be home,” Rich said.
She’ll have about a month off after a debriefing session today. The first order of business? “A shower would be good,” Rich said.
Tara Rich is home. Rich, a Gorham resident and staff sergeant in the 265th Combat Communications Squadron of the Maine Air National Guard, arrived at the Portland International Jetport Monday evening after a long trip from Kuwait.
Rich, 28, was greeted by her mother Patricia, her sister Stacey Rich-Abbott, Stacey’s husband Dan Abbott and Stacey and Dan’s daughter Samantha Abbott. Family members and friends of 12 of Rich’s fellow squadron members greeted their loved ones Monday as well, on two flights into Portland.
Thirteen members of the South Portland-based squadron remain in Kuwait but hope to be home soon.
The unit was sent to Kuwait in February for a 90-day tour. When war broke out, the National Guard extended Rich’s active duty, along with everyone else in the squadron, for a year.
The delayed return was slowed further by mechanical problems on the aircraft leaving Kuwait, Rich-Abbott said. The group was originally supposed to be home Friday, then Saturday, then Sunday. The family, in fact, had planned a welcome-home party Sunday, but she wasn’t there. “We’ll just have a heck of a Fourth party,” Rich- Abbott said.
Rich had e-mailed her sister to say that the Air Force plane they were leaving Kuwait on had mechanical problems, so it turned around after takeoff and the group was forced to stay put until commercial flights could be arranged.
And though the delay was annoying, the group ended up in better conditions: The Air Force plane didn’t have any blankets, and people were sleeping on the floor, Rich-Abbott said.
The commercial flights worked out. As word passed through the waiting crowd that the first plane was on the ground, Rich’s niece Samantha said, “That’s not good enough. They have to be on the ground.”
As she came into view in the terminal, the family’s excitement built even higher. They had been in touch with Rich from time to time, through e-mail and an occasional phone call. It actually helped that the squadron was involved in communications, the family said.
And then Rich was through the door, wrapped up first in a hug from her mom, then her sister and then the rest of the family.
Rich-Abbott said it was good that Rich’s dachshund Zoe wasn’t there, because the dog is quite excitable and might not have been easy to handle in the airport waiting area, jammed with excited people.
Rich’s mother had a printout of an e-mail message in her purse listing Rich’s food requests, though she hadn’t made any specific meal requests for her arrival night.
On the list were haddock, chop suey, cabbage and broccoli. “I’m sure she’ll be wanting a big seafood fest,” Rich-Abbott said.
In a quiet moment before heading off to baggage claim, Rich looked a bit overwhelmed by all the attention and the crowd of well-wishers. “It’s really good to be home,” Rich said.
She’ll have about a month off after a debriefing session today. The first order of business? “A shower would be good,” Rich said.
Friday, June 20, 2003
Till death do us part: Even if you're mean and surly
Published in the Portland Phoenix
Written by David Bottrell and Jessie Jones. Directed by Mark Nadeau. With Sheila Shay, John Bolduc, Tom Dix, and Doree Austin. At Aqua City Actors Theater, in Waterville, through June 21. Call (207) 580-6783.
When partners take that pledge on their wedding day, and even more so when children are born into a mutual pledge of love — or at least tolerance — it is easy not to remark upon the actual commitment such a promise entails. Raynelle (Sheila Shay) has been doing the honoring for " 39 years, 39 long years " when her husband Bud dies in the opening moments of Dearly Departed.
She and Bud had turned from each other’s hearts long ago, with " not so much as a warm handshake in 33 years, " but Raynelle and her family remain determined to do right by their deceased patriarch.
The play peeks briefly at the issues involved in the ending of a lifelong commitment and the requisite self-reflections. But it mainly sticks to stereotypical white-trash shallowness and bellyaching about life’s misfortunes. There is precious little mourning for the man who begat so many unfortunate creatures.
The play is an odd one, founded as it is on stereotypes of Southern life and Southern people. It was written in 1991, the first play for either of the pair of Kentuckians who gave the script life.
In the Waterville Opera House’s studio theater, however, the play struggles to survive. The problem is really the surroundings, which are impoverished compared to the beautiful renovations that have been made to the rest of the landmark building.
The seats are not elevated properly, meaning anybody further back than the third row must strain to catch a glimpse of the action. And the chairs are shoddy, at best — some are blocked off and visibly broken, while at least one actually gave way with a loud CRACK during a recent production, overly strained by the contortions of its occupant to lay eyes on the actors.
Worse still, the acoustics are dismal, requiring a massive tandem effort of projection and enunciation to make any words audible. It is helpful that most of the dialogue is delivered from a standing position, with actors in a back-stoop scene standing and sitting to alternately speak and listen.
The atmosphere was made even worse by the audience, who — perhaps as a result of the advanced age of many of them — took every opportunity to converse with each other. Three notes to those who wish to keep their seats in most theaters around the globe: Scene changes, no matter how long, are not your cue to take a turn at a speaking role. Second, actors in rehearsal may need help beginning a line. After the line is delivered, especially during a show, it is not helpful or polite to repeat it. And third, when something comes to mind that you simply must say, realize that nobody in the room is there to listen to you.
And a note to theater managers and ushers: Movie houses expressly ask their audiences not to talk during the movie, and turn up the sound in case people ignore them. In the absence of amplification, it would seem sensible to make a specific request — either in person before the show, or in the program — to refrain from dialogue during the performance.
There are nice touches in this production, including a clever scene in a car, with three hayseed children painted on a canvas representing the back seat. An overbearingly religious woman (Marguerite, played by Doree Austin) bellows each time she speaks of her Lord and Savior or reads from the Holy Book. An entire character (Delightful, the all-consuming daughter, played by Joel Gagne) is included, whose sole purpose is disgusting comic relief, and whose audition must have consisted of an eating contest at a Shoney’s midnight buffet.
The acting is strong, the comedy is funny, and there is poignancy at all the right moments. In particular, the conflicted bitter belle Suzanne (Marty Kelley) and her failed-entrepreneur husband Junior (Tom Dix) are hilarious. Raynelle and her son Ray-Bud (John Bolduc) are perhaps the most " normal " of the characters, allowing room for everyone to identify with someone in the show. The cast’s theater newcomers and old-timers (if they’ll forgive the expression) work well together and play off each other nicely.
The ending, however, drags on. Closing a comedy is no simple task, and for novice playwrights to have done it perfectly would be a real stunner. It is, however, a surprise that the veteran actors at ACAT didn’t adapt it slightly. All the loose ends are gathered, all the bonds retied, but at what price? A play nearly 15 minutes longer than it needed to be, with at least three consecutive endings all tagged together.
A special note: Two of the cast, Kelly Camp-Force (playing Nadine, a pregnant mom of several, none by the same dad) and Tom Kelleher (playing Royce, a vacant and lazy young man whose career aspirations are to stay on unemployment until he can get married, become a father, and go on welfare) just finished the high school academic year. Their strong performances show their theatrical futures will far outstrip the characters they played, though that’s not really saying much.
Written by David Bottrell and Jessie Jones. Directed by Mark Nadeau. With Sheila Shay, John Bolduc, Tom Dix, and Doree Austin. At Aqua City Actors Theater, in Waterville, through June 21. Call (207) 580-6783.
BACKSTAGE
• Best wishes and a speedy recovery to Linda J. Bruce, Waterville Junior High School teacher and drama club leader. Also an actor in productions throughout central Maine, she recently was hospitalized for a sudden, serious condition.
• Summer theater-fruit reminders: The Cast at the St. Lawrence June 19, 21, and 22; Light up the Sky at the Gaslight in Hallowell June 19 through 21 and 26 through 28; Macbeth at Spring Point starting June 25.
Thursday, June 19, 2003
Board worried about more cuts in high school plan
Published in the Current
The Cape Elizabeth School Board is worried that town councilors will use a Monday meeting between representatives of the two boards to try and reduce the $7.5 million budget for the high school renovation – scheduled to go to referendum in November.
On Monday, June 23, from 3:30 to 6 p.m., there will be a meeting of three town councilors and three School Board members at Town Hall “to determine the amount of money that goes to referendum for the high school,” according to School Board Chairman Marie Prager, who was renamed head of the board last week.
Prager was speaking at a School Board workshop Tuesday. She said it did not appear that the joint committee would take public comment, though Monday’s meeting would be open to the public.
The committee will make a cost recommendation to the council by July 9, and the council will act to set the amount for the referendum vote during its regular July 14 business meeting.
The nature of the recommendation worried board members. With three members of each board, a disagreement could result in “no real recommendation,” board member Kevin Sweeney said.
“It seems to me to be a charade,” Sweeney said.
Board member George Entwistle agreed. “It seems like it’s an exercise in creating an appearance of some democratic process that doesn’t exist.”
When the Town Council decided in May to have a committee review the costs, councilors expressed concern that construction costs might have changed in the eight-month-old project estimates and wanted to make sure\ the dollar amount was correct before setting the amount to be sent to voters.
The committee will not discuss a proposed $1.5 million expansion to Pond Cove School, which has already been set for a November vote. It will talk about the $7.5 million proposed for the high school project – costs that initially started $2 million higher.
“We’ve already made the cuts” to get to $7.5 million, said Elaine Moloney, School Board finance chairman and a member of the newly formed review committee.
“There really is no real role for (councilors) to cut further,” she said.
She did say that the cost might go up as much as 3 or 4 percent, because of increasing construction costs.
The councilors are particularly interested in plans to expand the cafeteria, add a sprinkler system, make changes to the lower athletics field and locker room renovations.
All of those are detailed in documents drawn up by the School Board and its architect, Cape resident Bob Howe of HKTA architects in Portland.
High school Principal Jeff Shedd has written a letter explaining the need for a cafeteria expansion and the athletic field reconfiguration, Prager told the board.
The sprinklers, estimated to cost $500,000, are not required by the state fire code, but “our fire chief feels that it’s necessary,” Prager said.
The locker room area will be renovated to provide additional storage space and new locker room facilities, but the exact details have not yet been worked out, Prager said.
Superintendent Tom Forcella told the board the committee would only be able to look at the final dollar amount, and not make changes to the renovation plans themselves. If any plans were changed, they would have to be approved by the School Board.
The Cape Elizabeth School Board is worried that town councilors will use a Monday meeting between representatives of the two boards to try and reduce the $7.5 million budget for the high school renovation – scheduled to go to referendum in November.
On Monday, June 23, from 3:30 to 6 p.m., there will be a meeting of three town councilors and three School Board members at Town Hall “to determine the amount of money that goes to referendum for the high school,” according to School Board Chairman Marie Prager, who was renamed head of the board last week.
Prager was speaking at a School Board workshop Tuesday. She said it did not appear that the joint committee would take public comment, though Monday’s meeting would be open to the public.
The committee will make a cost recommendation to the council by July 9, and the council will act to set the amount for the referendum vote during its regular July 14 business meeting.
The nature of the recommendation worried board members. With three members of each board, a disagreement could result in “no real recommendation,” board member Kevin Sweeney said.
“It seems to me to be a charade,” Sweeney said.
Board member George Entwistle agreed. “It seems like it’s an exercise in creating an appearance of some democratic process that doesn’t exist.”
When the Town Council decided in May to have a committee review the costs, councilors expressed concern that construction costs might have changed in the eight-month-old project estimates and wanted to make sure\ the dollar amount was correct before setting the amount to be sent to voters.
The committee will not discuss a proposed $1.5 million expansion to Pond Cove School, which has already been set for a November vote. It will talk about the $7.5 million proposed for the high school project – costs that initially started $2 million higher.
“We’ve already made the cuts” to get to $7.5 million, said Elaine Moloney, School Board finance chairman and a member of the newly formed review committee.
“There really is no real role for (councilors) to cut further,” she said.
She did say that the cost might go up as much as 3 or 4 percent, because of increasing construction costs.
The councilors are particularly interested in plans to expand the cafeteria, add a sprinkler system, make changes to the lower athletics field and locker room renovations.
All of those are detailed in documents drawn up by the School Board and its architect, Cape resident Bob Howe of HKTA architects in Portland.
High school Principal Jeff Shedd has written a letter explaining the need for a cafeteria expansion and the athletic field reconfiguration, Prager told the board.
The sprinklers, estimated to cost $500,000, are not required by the state fire code, but “our fire chief feels that it’s necessary,” Prager said.
The locker room area will be renovated to provide additional storage space and new locker room facilities, but the exact details have not yet been worked out, Prager said.
Superintendent Tom Forcella told the board the committee would only be able to look at the final dollar amount, and not make changes to the renovation plans themselves. If any plans were changed, they would have to be approved by the School Board.
Kid who couldn’t read makes university dean’s list
Published in the Current
Before Arin Bratt came to Scarborough High School, he had been told he would never learn to read and wouldn’t make much of himself. His dyslexia was too severe. Last June, he left Scarborough High School, after his junior year, and now 18, is about to go into his junior year in college and made the dean’s list last semester.
“He always wanted to go to college,” said his mother, Susan Snow. Too shy to be interviewed himself, Bratt allowed his proud mother to speak for him. When he was growing up, his dyslexia meant he couldn’t read.
“We read everything to him,” Snow said. That included books, magazines and even the encyclopedia. Growing up, his peers made fun of him for being “stupid” or “dumb,” because he couldn’t read.
As a middle-schooler in Texas, Bratt was told that he had “plateaued” – that he would never learn to read and wouldn’t get much further in school.
“That’s when he really dug in,” said high school biology teacher, Ellen Ross, who later coached Bratt on the high school Academic Decathlon team. The family’s move from Texas to Scarborough also played a big role.
He was so determined to read, Snow said, that he quit playing soccer, and the family brought in a high school student who spent hours teaching him to read. After months of work, “he painstakingly got through about two sentences,” Snow said.
“He compensated by memorizing” everything that was said in his classes. He couldn’t really take notes, and it was pointless for someone else to take notes for him, because he couldn’t read them.
He could do math, but it was hard for him to show his work. Near the end of his freshman year, the family called a school conference to discuss whether Bratt would be allowed to take physics the following year with the seniors, instead of biology with the sophomores.
The high school physics class requires calculus, but Bratt had only taken geometry. Everyone agreed anyway, as long as Bratt took calculus at the same time.
“Any one of them could have said no,” Snow said.
“He was bright and quite motivated,” said physics teacher Dave O’Connor. “He was able to formulate a picture of an abstract thought quite easily.”
He did very well in class. “His analytical ability was phenomenal,” O’Connor said. “He wanted to understand things at a fundamental level.”
Bratt also knew that he needed foreign-language experience to get into college. Because of his difficulties learning from books, he planned to study in Costa Rica for a summer, to immerse himself in the language. When 9/11 happened, the trip was cancelled, forcing Bratt to take classes at USM instead.
He took other university classes, as well, particularly in math and science, earning college credit that would later help him skip an entire year of college.
He also dived into the Academic Decathlon team with a passion. “He was very focused,” said Ross, the team’s coach.
He learned so much that not only did he rank third individually in the nation for schools the size of Scarborough’s at the Academic Decathlon, but he also took advanced placement tests in five subjects, doing well enough to earn college credit for them as well.
“I think sometimes he amazed himself,” Ross said.
He was given extra time on the tests because of his reading difficulties, but he had to know all of the material involved, and communicate it clearly.
As his junior year progressed, he became interested in nanotechnology, the science of very tiny machines that involve all the sciences –biology, chemistry and physics.
The University of Texas at Dallas, which Snow calls “a think tank for nanotechnology,” offered Bratt early admission and a scholarship for him to study there. His college dream was real.
Technically speaking, he couldn’t graduate from high school until he finished his senior year. So he dropped out of school and got a GED instead, which required the consent of the superintendent because of his young age.
He started classes at UT-Dallas in the fall of 2002 and had enough college credit in advance to skip his sophomore year and start his junior year in the fall. He is double-majoring in physics and economics.
He still has accommodations for his spelling problems, but continues to make progress in that area. “As he reads more, he learns how to spell in context,” Snow said.
His reading continues to hover between the second- and fifth-grade reading levels. “I don’t think he’s ever gotten above fifth-grade reading level, but he compensates,” Snow said.
And despite his trouble reading and writing, Bratt is working on a book based on his original historical research on the Tripolitan war, a conflict in the early 1800s between the fledgling United States and the Barbary States, home to many pirates.
One of the players in the war was Portland-born Edward Preble, a naval commander.
And while his own hard work may be the source of his success, Snow said Bratt is deeply grateful to the staff of the Scarborough schools. “He feels as though they deserve all the credit,” Snow said.
“The school worked with him on his strengths,” she said. “Anyplace else wouldn’t have been open to that.”
Before Arin Bratt came to Scarborough High School, he had been told he would never learn to read and wouldn’t make much of himself. His dyslexia was too severe. Last June, he left Scarborough High School, after his junior year, and now 18, is about to go into his junior year in college and made the dean’s list last semester.
“He always wanted to go to college,” said his mother, Susan Snow. Too shy to be interviewed himself, Bratt allowed his proud mother to speak for him. When he was growing up, his dyslexia meant he couldn’t read.
“We read everything to him,” Snow said. That included books, magazines and even the encyclopedia. Growing up, his peers made fun of him for being “stupid” or “dumb,” because he couldn’t read.
As a middle-schooler in Texas, Bratt was told that he had “plateaued” – that he would never learn to read and wouldn’t get much further in school.
“That’s when he really dug in,” said high school biology teacher, Ellen Ross, who later coached Bratt on the high school Academic Decathlon team. The family’s move from Texas to Scarborough also played a big role.
He was so determined to read, Snow said, that he quit playing soccer, and the family brought in a high school student who spent hours teaching him to read. After months of work, “he painstakingly got through about two sentences,” Snow said.
“He compensated by memorizing” everything that was said in his classes. He couldn’t really take notes, and it was pointless for someone else to take notes for him, because he couldn’t read them.
He could do math, but it was hard for him to show his work. Near the end of his freshman year, the family called a school conference to discuss whether Bratt would be allowed to take physics the following year with the seniors, instead of biology with the sophomores.
The high school physics class requires calculus, but Bratt had only taken geometry. Everyone agreed anyway, as long as Bratt took calculus at the same time.
“Any one of them could have said no,” Snow said.
“He was bright and quite motivated,” said physics teacher Dave O’Connor. “He was able to formulate a picture of an abstract thought quite easily.”
He did very well in class. “His analytical ability was phenomenal,” O’Connor said. “He wanted to understand things at a fundamental level.”
Bratt also knew that he needed foreign-language experience to get into college. Because of his difficulties learning from books, he planned to study in Costa Rica for a summer, to immerse himself in the language. When 9/11 happened, the trip was cancelled, forcing Bratt to take classes at USM instead.
He took other university classes, as well, particularly in math and science, earning college credit that would later help him skip an entire year of college.
He also dived into the Academic Decathlon team with a passion. “He was very focused,” said Ross, the team’s coach.
He learned so much that not only did he rank third individually in the nation for schools the size of Scarborough’s at the Academic Decathlon, but he also took advanced placement tests in five subjects, doing well enough to earn college credit for them as well.
“I think sometimes he amazed himself,” Ross said.
He was given extra time on the tests because of his reading difficulties, but he had to know all of the material involved, and communicate it clearly.
As his junior year progressed, he became interested in nanotechnology, the science of very tiny machines that involve all the sciences –biology, chemistry and physics.
The University of Texas at Dallas, which Snow calls “a think tank for nanotechnology,” offered Bratt early admission and a scholarship for him to study there. His college dream was real.
Technically speaking, he couldn’t graduate from high school until he finished his senior year. So he dropped out of school and got a GED instead, which required the consent of the superintendent because of his young age.
He started classes at UT-Dallas in the fall of 2002 and had enough college credit in advance to skip his sophomore year and start his junior year in the fall. He is double-majoring in physics and economics.
He still has accommodations for his spelling problems, but continues to make progress in that area. “As he reads more, he learns how to spell in context,” Snow said.
His reading continues to hover between the second- and fifth-grade reading levels. “I don’t think he’s ever gotten above fifth-grade reading level, but he compensates,” Snow said.
And despite his trouble reading and writing, Bratt is working on a book based on his original historical research on the Tripolitan war, a conflict in the early 1800s between the fledgling United States and the Barbary States, home to many pirates.
One of the players in the war was Portland-born Edward Preble, a naval commander.
And while his own hard work may be the source of his success, Snow said Bratt is deeply grateful to the staff of the Scarborough schools. “He feels as though they deserve all the credit,” Snow said.
“The school worked with him on his strengths,” she said. “Anyplace else wouldn’t have been open to that.”
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