Category: Spring 2005 Newswire
South Coast Soldiers Killed in Iraq Among 1,300 Portraits at Arlington
ARLINGTON, VA. – Killed less than a year apart; the two men – both fathers, both husbands and both from the SouthCoast – stand among the more than 1,300 faces depicted in the “Faces of the Fallen” exhibit at Arlington National Cemetery.
Staff Sgt. Joseph Camara and Sgt. Peter Gerald Enos were both killed in action in Iraq and are now being memorialized in portraits of each man and woman killed since the war began through Nov. 11, 2004. The portraits were done by more than 200 artists from across the country and vary from brightly colored painting to black and white sketches, from actual images to flowers representing the person.
Sgt. Camara was killed on Sept. 1, 2003, near Baghdad when an explosive device ignited under his vehicle. The New Bedford Police officer and member of the Rhode Island National Guard was 40.
Army Sgt. Enos was killed on April 9, 2004, when a rocket-propelled grenade struck his patrol vehicle in Bayji, about 120 miles north of Baghdad. The 24-year-old was promoted from specialist to sergeant posthumously.
The exhibit, which opened on March 22 and will close on Nov. 11, displays portraits arranged in order of the soldiers’ deaths, surrounded by objects visitors have left behind, such as photos, dog tags, flowers, poems and messages from loved ones or comrades.
Visitors to the exhibit walk slowly along, pausing for a moment to lean forward or bend down for a closer view, commenting on the artwork and often on how young the soldier was.
Some of the portraits show the soldier in uniform, others in casual clothes. One portrayed a soldier in a James Dean pose, smoking a cigarette and leaning off to the side. Others were images of part of the soldier’s face standing out on the cream canvas.
Susan Carney and Sarah Huntington collaborated on Sgt. Enos’ portrait to create a collage with layers of words and paint and an image of Sgt. Enos’ face in the middle, tilted to the side with his name, age and hometown written below the image.
The collage includes the words “Six Nations,” which is from an old treaty between the federal government and Indian tribes, Ms. Carney said.
Ms. Carney, a painter and printmaker from Shepherdstown, W.Va., said she used the treaty to symbolize the correlation between America’s involvement in Iraq and its connection with Native American tribes, and specifically the process of bringing democracy to a country that has never had it before.
She said the idea came to mind after she first sat down to work on the portraits.
“When I started doing this project, the first thing I did was I sat down and tried to make it clear in my mind why they had died,” she said.
Each artist was given photos or images of soldiers killed in a 24-hour period, and told to create a portrait of each soldier.
“It was a very meaningful experience to portray 10 people that way that we’d never met,” Ms. Huntington, of Lincoln, Va., said, adding that she will always remember their faces. “You did feel like you sort of got to know them a little bit.”
Ms. Carney agreed, saying she felt very attached to the men whose portraits she worked on even though she had never met them.
“It certainly made the war more real for me,” she said, adding that she still had the soldiers’ photos in her journal.
Ms. Carney said she tried to show how the soldiers she portrayed were related by adding a rope in the background of the 10 she depicted
“Even though they didn’t know it, they had that kind of strange bond that they all died on the same day,” she said. “If you put them all in a line–a straight horizontal line–you can see the rope.”
Ms. Huntington said although she and Ms. Carney “don’t agree with the war, [they] tried not to put that in the artwork” out of consideration for the families.
“I just think you have to respect the family’s feelings; no matter how they felt about it they lost somebody,” the photographer said. “I tried to keep my politics out of it.”
Jenny Freestone, a printmaker from Takoma Park, Md., created Sgt. Camara’s portrait by doing a detailed pencil drawing and also making a black and white copier transfer of him wearing his New Bedford police hat.
Ms. Freestone said she would remember most the vulnerability of the soldiers, both young and old, because it was something that was very upsetting to her.
Her greatest struggle in creating the portraits, she said, was “the emotional difficulty of realizing what you are trying to draw.”
She said she focused most on the eyes. “They were very important to me because that’s where you connect with me.”
She also said she “tried to tease out personalities from faces” she worked on but found it “difficult to do them justice.”
“Obviously you start to think about the person, who were they, what were they like,” Ms. Freestone said. “It kind of helped to think about the person as a person and try and put that back into the drawing, but the bottom line was that you knew that you were drawing this son, this husband, this brother, this sister for the family left behind.”
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Frank Calling for Drug-Free Student Aid Repeal
WASHINGTON - Rep. Barney Frank (D-4 th) says he believes this will be the year Congress repeals the law restricting financial aid for students convicted of drug-related offenses, something he has been working on since the law took effect five years ago.
"The unfairness of it seems pretty clear to people, so I think there's a chance," he said. Previously, Republicans would not allow his legislation to "come up as a freestanding bill" but because the provision is now part of the Higher Education Act - which is up for renewal this year- its repeal is likelier this year than in the past, Frank said.
Under current law, students applying for federal financial aid must state whether they have drug-related convictions. An affirmative answer could make the student ineligible for aid for a set amount of time based on their offenses.
The question was added to the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) form in 2000 after Congress overwhelmingly adopted the provision as an amendment to the Higher Education Act's reauthorization in 1998.
According to Frank's office, more than 160,000 students have been denied aid under the provision. But some organizations, such as Students for Sensible Drug Policy, say that estimate falls well short of the true total.
"That number doesn't account for all the students who started filling out the form, came across the drug conviction question and figured that they'd be denied aid and didn't bother wasting the postage to mail the application," said Tom Angell, the organization's communications director. "So really it's affecting an untold number of students."
According to the Federal Bureau of Investigations 1,958 people under the age of 18 were arrested in 2002 for drug abuse violations in Massachusetts. Overall there were 13,828 drug abuse arrests in the state in 2002.
About 63 percent of Massachusetts high school seniors reported in 2001 that they had used marijuana at least once in their life, compared to about 52 percent nationwide, according to the Office of National Drug Control Policy.
Data from 2000-2001 shows more than 14 percent of Massachusetts residents 12 to 17 years old and almost 26 percent of residents 18 to 25 admitted using an illegal drug in the previous month.
The process for determining whether a student is denied aid begins with an initial question asking whether a student has been convicted of a drug related charge.
Students who answer yes are directed to a worksheet asking if the convictions have been removed from their record and if they have completed an accepted drug rehabilitation program. Convictions before the age of 18 do not count unless the student was tried as an adult.
Depending upon the time and type of the conviction and the number of convictions, a student may be ineligible for federal aid for as little as one year to a maximum of life. A conviction for selling drugs carries a longer period of ineligibility than a conviction for using drugs.
Students convicted of possessing a controlled substance are ineligible for federal aid for one year for the first offense, two years for a second offense and indefinitely for a third offense.
A conviction for selling a controlled substance makes a student ineligible for two years for the first offense and indefinitely for the second offense
The FAFSA form is used by colleges and universities across the country to determine financial aid. More than 226,600 Massachusetts residents filled out a form in 2004 and more than 101,200 have done so this year, according to FAFSA records.
Nationwide, more than 14 million applications are expected for fiscal year 2005, according to the Department of Education.
This is Frank's third attempt to repeal the regulation, and while other lawmakers, including the provision's original author, Rep. Mark Souder (R-Ind.), want a partial repeal, the Massachusetts Democrat says that will not be enough.
"Something's better than nothing, but I think still it ought to be complete," Frank said, "but that doesn't mean that every drug addict gets scholarship aid and . every armed robber gets scholarship aid. We shouldn't single out one set of crimes and treat them differently than other crimes that are more serious."
Currently there is no restriction on financial aid for students convicted of other offenses, including felonies and violent crimes.
Martin Green, a spokesman for Souder, said in a voice-mail message that the provision "was drastically misinterpreted" when enforcement regulations were being written. He also said the Indiana Republican is working to change that interpretation to apply only to those who are convicted while receiving student aid and not to those with previous convictions.
Souder is a member of the House Education and the Workforce Committee, which has jurisdiction over the Higher Education Act's reauthorization-and over Frank's bill.
Alexa Marrero, a committee spokeswoman, said the committee has been working on partial repeal "for a couple of years." Chairman John Boehner (R-Ohio) and Rep. Buck McKeon (R-Calif.) have introduced a bill calling for a partial repeal.
"The intention when it was enacted in 1998 was to serve as a disincentive for students to commit drug-related offenses while in school and receiving federal student aid," Marrero said. "And so the appropriate application of the provision would be only applied to students who are in school and receiving federal aid."
But Yakov Kronrad says partial repeal is not good enough even if it would encourage more students with previous convictions to apply for college.
Kronrad said he was a graduate student and teaching assistant at Worcester Polytechnic Institute when he was arrested and convicted in 2002 and sentenced to one year of probation for possession of marijuana and hallucinogenic mushrooms with intent to distribute.
The 24-year-old said the arrest "didn't even happen anywhere around the university," but he believes the institute "wanted to set an example" for other students by suspending him for two years.
Kronrad, who still lives in Worcester working for a software company, said a "faulty decision" on his part should not have had an influence on his education because "it in no way conflicted to what I did as a student."
In an effort to inform students about the issue and work to change the provision, Students for Sensible Drug Policy is working with its chapters on college campuses and high schools across the country, including in Amherst and Northampton, rallying students to contact their legislators.
Other organizations are tackling the issue in a different way, offering scholarships to those who have been affected by the current law.
The John W. Perry Scholarship Fund, named for a New York City police officer killed in the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, has given out 14 scholarships to 10 students, ranging from $600 to $2,000, since it began in 2003.
None of the recipients has been from Massachusetts, but David Borden, the fund's executive director, said the group has raised $5,000 for next semester's scholarships and expects to have more as it continues hosting fundraisers around the country, such as an event in Boston last December.
Borden, executive director for the Drug Reform Coordination Network, which runs the fund, said he would support partial repeal of the provision although he believes it will continue to discriminate against those who cannot afford to attend school without financial assistance.
"These people have already been punished through the criminal justice system and this is a second punishment that no judge has any control over," Borden said.
The Coalition for Higher Education Reform is working to have legislation similar to Frank's introduced in the Senate that calls for full repeal, is limited to that subject and can be part of a bipartisan effort to use the legislation "as leverage," said Chris Mulligan, the campaign's director.
Other organizations such as the American Council on Education are calling for the drug question to be removed from the financial aid form because it has no relation to the student's financial needs.
"The FAFSA form is essentially a document to determine a student's financial need, and if that's what it's going to be used for that should be all it's used for," said Chris Simmons, the council's assistant director of government relations.
"You can be convicted of a drug crime but if you're not in financial need it's not going to affect your college plans," he continued. "You can be convicted of lots of other kinds [of crimes] and still get a Pell Grant, but if you get caught with a joint you lose financial aid funding."
Six Massachusetts House Democrats are among the Frank bill's 63 co-sponsors, and Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) proposed legislation on Feb. 14 that includes striking the provision from the Higher Education Act. The bill has seven co-sponsors, including Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass).
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Bush Congratulates Patriots on Super Bowl Victory
WASHINGTON, April 13 - The New England Patriots were feeling a bit of déjà vu Wednesday afternoon as President George W. Bush congratulated them on winning the Super Bowl.
The Patriots visited the White House last year after winning and have now dropped by three times in the last four years.
The team, which defeated the Philadelphia Eagles 24-21 in February to win its second consecutive championship, gave Bush a locker room jersey with the number one, a football from the Super Bowl and an embroidered sweatshirt with the Patriots' logo that the president had jokingly called one of Coach Bill Belichick's "designer sweatshirts" in his introduction.
Belichick attended the ceremony in a suit and tie.
Just after Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), who recently had knee surgery, hobbled in on crutches to his front-row seat next to Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), Bush darted out from the Oval Office and into the Rose Garden to introduce the team with a quick joke.
"Well, back again," he said to laughter, later adding that he was happy to honor "a team that showed a lot of heart."
Bush said he was happy to have hosted the team three times, joking that while he was almost certain the Patriots would return this year, he had been a bit skeptical that he would again be host.
"You know, I think I said last time there's a chance you'll be back; I wasn't sure about me," he said. "I'm confident I'll be back next year, and the way you've been playing, there's a good chance you will be, too."
Team owner Robert Kraft said he was happy the team returned for its third visit, adding "I hope we keep this reunion going and next year, if we're blessed to be here, we'll follow Sen. Kennedy's advice and bring the cheerleaders."
The p resident congratulated the team for its work both on and off the field, specifically mentioning records the team both broke and tied this season and its work with Boys and Girls Clubs of Massachusetts.
The team won a record-setting 34 games during its back-to-back championship seasons and tied a record-nine--for the most consecutive playoff game wins.
After the ceremony, Kerry said he was proud of the team, which he called "an extraordinary group of individuals."
"They're just a good bunch of guys," he said. "They're down to earth with a terrific work ethic and a great team spirit."
The Patriots also visited wounded soldiers from Iraq at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington and the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md. Kraft said eight team members visited the soldiers for about four hours and were inspired by what they saw.
"It just gives us such a good sense of how lucky we are in this country," Kraft said after the ceremony.
Quarterback Tom Brady agreed, saying "it makes what we do seem so unimportant" and calling the visits the highlights of the trip to Washington.
"I think you saw firsthand the definition of courage when you saw those young soldiers who had been wounded that are working hard to overcome their injuries," the president said.
Brady also said he was happy to see linebacker Tedy Bruschi, who suffered a stroke in February, attending the ceremony.
"He's the same ol' Tedy, he hasn't changed a bit," Brady said. "I think everyone was a little scared when it initially happened."
Bruschi threw the ceremonial first pitch at Fenway Park Monday and whether he will play next season remains uncertain.
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Bush Hosts Patriots Again
By Tim Heaney
WASHINGTON, April 13 -The World Series champion Boston Red Sox were rewarded with a trip to the South Lawn of the White House last month. This month, the two-time defending Super Bowl champion New England Patriots earned themselves a visit to the Rose Garden.
President George W. Bush Wednesday welcomed to the White House more than 30 members of the football team for the third time during his presidency.
"You know, the commentators would say, well, they're not the flashiest bunch, they're not the fanciest bunch, they just happen to be the best team," Bush said. "They're the team that showed that when you play together, when you serve something greater than yourself, you win."
The Patriots have won three of the last four Super Bowls, the first team to accomplish that feat since the Dallas Cowboys in 1993, 1994 and 1996. The Patriots have won nine straight playoff games dating back to 2002.
Bush said the Patriots' leadership of quarterback Tom Brady, head coach Bill Belichick and owner Robert Kraft exemplified what it entails to win while maintaining a serious tone.
"I'm pretty impressed with the way you handle yourself," the president said.. "I think some of us involved in the political arena could -- could spend a little time getting tutelage on how to handle the mike like you do," Bush said, referring to Belichick's notoriously curt postgame interviews.
The Patriots also spoke of their visits to wounded soldiers at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington and the Naval Medical Center in suburban Bethesda, Md. The team said that the experience put their accomplishments into perspective, and made them realize the sacrifices the soldiers made for their country.
"To go in there and see the troops, it makes what we do seem so unimportant," Brady said in a press conference following the White House ceremony. "We admire them more than we could ever express."
Bush honored linebacker and fan favorite Tedy Bruschi for his courage on and off the field. Bruschi joined the team for the visit after suffering a stroke in February. Bruschi was smiling while greeting invited guests, and Brady said he was in good spirits.
"It was the same old Tedy," he said. "We were all scared when it initially happened, but it was good to see him back there."
All of the Patriots' Super Bowl victories came by a margin of 3 points, with kicker Adam Vinatieri gaining celebrity with last-second field goals against the St. Louis Rams in 2002 and the Carolina Panthers in 2004. Vinatieri did not make the trip because of the birth of his second child.
While acknowledging the New England congressional delegation in attendance, Bush said that the region's sports presence at the White House was becoming redundant. "I'm surprised more of the delegation hasn't come, but, you know, Red Sox one week, Patriots the next -- it's getting to be old hat here," he said.
Kraft presented the president with a "Bush 1" white home jersey. Belichick presented Bush with a hooded gray Patriots sweatshirt like the one the coach has consistently sported during the Patriots' run.
Kraft promised Bush the team would return, while taking advice from Massachusetts Sen. Edward Kennedy.
"I hope we keep this reunion going, and next year if we're blessed to be here, we'll follow Sen. Kennedy's advice and bring the cheerleaders," Kraft said.
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Patriots Celebrate Their Third Super Bowl Victory at White House
WASHINGTON, April 13 - The New England Patriots are no strangers to the White House.
For the third time in four years, President George W. Bush welcomed the champs to his Pennsylvania Avenue home Wednesday to congratulate the team on its 24 to 21 Super Bowl victory in February against the Philadelphia Eagles.
"I was thinking that Coach Belichick was so comfortable coming to the Rose Garden that he might just wear one of those designer sweatshirts," Bush said after taking the podium. "I'm a little disappointed."
The audience and players erupted into laughter as the President poked fun at Bill Belichick, the team's head coach. "I'm glad to see you own a tie, though," he told Belichick.
The usually tight-lipped coach, who donned a gray suit and blue tie in place of his infamous hooded sweatshirt, interrupted the President before he continued with his speech. "Is this a roast?" Belichick asked.
After waiting for the audience to settle down, Bush went on to thank guests, including Massachusetts Sens. John Kerry and Edward Kennedy and Rep. Martin Meehan (D-Mass.), for coming to the ceremony. He took a few moments to recognize longtime Patriots linebacker Tedy Bruschi, who suffered a stroke in February.
"I congratulate you on showing such courage on the field and off the field," Bush told Bruschi, who has yet to decide whether he'll be playing next season. This year, Bruschi played in his first Pro Bowl. On Monday, he threw one of the ceremonial pitches at the Red Sox opener at Fenway Park.
"There's a lot of people that were praying for you, I know. And I'm glad you're feeling good and I'm glad you're back," Bush said.
Bush expressed his regret that kicker Adam Vinatieri could not make it to the ceremony. Vinatieri, whose wife recently gave birth to their second child, had what Bush called "an excused absence."
As expected, Bush congratulated the team on its record-winning season, saying that it has been an inspiration to New England sports teams like the Boston Red Sox.
"In back-to-back championship seasons, you've won 34 games. That's a record. You've won nine straight playoff games, which ties a record. The coach has the best playoff record in league history," Bush said. "This is a club that has won 20 games in a row in the home park."
He also acknowledged their volunteer work, including a trip that several of the players made to Walter Reed Army Medical Center and to National Naval Medical Center.
"I think you saw firsthand the definition of courage when you saw those young soldiers who had been wounded that are working hard to overcome their injuries," Bush said. "I can assure you that your visit helped lift their spirits. There's nothing better than a Super Bowl champ encouraging somebody to continue to work hard to recover."
Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, in a press conference after the ceremony, agreed with the president.
"To go in there and see those troops.it makes what we do seem so unimportant," Brady said. "As much as they look up to us, we admire them more than we could ever express."
After Bush gave his speech, team owner Robert Kraft presented him with a white locker room team jersey, the newest addition to a growing collection of Patriots shirts that must be hanging in Bush's closet.
"It won't be on eBay, I can assure you that," the President quipped as Kraft handed over the jersey that said "Bush 1."
Bush said it might not be the last time that the Patriots are honored guests in his home.
"You know, I think I said last time there's a chance you'll be back. I wasn't sure about me," Bush joked. "I'm confident I'll be back next year. And the way you've been playing, there's a good chance you'll be too."
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Maine and New Hampshire Delegations Continue Support for Portsmouth
By Tim Heaney
WASHINGTON , April 12 - Members of the Maine and New Hampshire congressional delegations received thousands of constituent letters Tuesday opposing any attempt to close the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard.
The Seacoast Shipyard Association, under the slogan "Save Our Shipyard," presented the two delegations with approximately 10,000-12,000 letters of support for the endangered base. The lawmakers said they would deliver the letters to the Defense Department.
New Hampshire Sens. Judd Gregg and John Sununu and Reps. Jeb Bradley and Charles Bass and Maine Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins and Reps. Tom Allen and Mike Michaud continued their campaign to save the yard, which is in danger of being shut down in the latest round of military base closings.
Portsmouth escaped closure attempts in 1991, 1993 and 1995, and supporters argue that the shipyard has vastly improved since then. Portsmouth is the only nuclear naval base in operation, Bass said, and its roles in the military and in the local community justify its preservation.
"It has its own unique contributions to make to national defense, and, as we did back in 1995, we will make the same cases again," he said. "Clearly, the community is galvanized and it is united on this; there's no element of partisanship around here."
Seacoast Shipyard Association members and the two congressional delegations said that the shipyard is the most efficient in the country and that shutting it down would hurt the Navy's efficiency.
Greater Portsmouth Chamber of Commerce official Ginny Griffith said the association has recently faxed 10-12 letters a day to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld as "little reminders" of the community's commitment to the yard.
The two states have planned a joint rally for April 23 at Prescott Park in Portsmouth, N.H., and John Paul Jones Park in Kittery, Maine. Portsmouth is one of 426 national military installations under review as part of the base realignment and closure process, which the Defense Department says was intended to save billions of dollars.
"This needs to be underscored. It's a record of performance and quality and a set of skills that just can't be duplicated by any other yard," Sununu said.
On May 16, Rumsfeld will reveal his recommendations for base closings. A nine-member presidential Base Realignment and Closure Commission will review the list and submit its recommendations to President Bush, who in turn sends his recommendations to Congress. The legislative branch must then accept or reject the recommendations on an all-or-none basis.
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Letters of Support for Shipyard Delivered to Washington
By Liz Goldberg
WASHINGTON, April 12 - With the Pentagon's announcement of suggested base closings little more than a month away, four members of the Seacoast Shipyard Association traveled to Washington Tuesday to deliver letters of support for the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard to members of the Maine and New Hampshire congressional delegations.
All four senators and four House members were on hand to receive the more than 10,000 letters, which they said would be passed along to the Pentagon later in the day. The shipyard is in danger of closing as the Department of Defense reduces the number of military bases in the United States.
"These are not just computer print-out letters," said Rep. Charles Bass (R-N.H.). "Every single one of these letters has a handwritten note."
The letters, which are printed on Seacoast Shipyard Association's letterhead, have been published in local newspapers for community members to clip and mail. They also are available on the group's Web site, www.saveourshipyard.org , said Pat Dowaliby, office manager, secretary and treasurer of the association. The bottom of the letter has blank space for senders to write a personal note, and each letter was signed.
The association has spent the past few months collecting letters to show community support for the shipyard, which it says has been recognized as the safest, most efficient and least expensive shipyard in the country.
As other members of the delegations chatted before the presentation, Rep. Jeb Bradley (R-N.H.) quietly read through a few of the letters.
"They express the same sentiment that I think we've been expressing," including noting the quality, speed and efficiency of the shipyard, as well as community support for it, Bradley said in an interview after the presentation of the letters.
Collins noted that the letters are not only from the shipyard workers but also are from business leaders and other members of the community.
"We have to give credit to the community for responding to it [the letter-writing campaign]," Ginny Griffith, business development manager for the Greater Portsmouth Chamber of Commerce and an executive board member of the Seacoast Shipyard Association, said after the event.
Collection of the letters will continue until an April 23 rally in several communities surrounding the shipyard, Griffith said. Members of the congressional delegations are expected to attend, she said.
Dale Gerry, who worked with the delegations and the shipyard in the three rounds of base closings in the 1990s and is a consultant for this round, said this is the most "concerted effort" he has seen from the members of each delegation.
"When you've got eight members of Congress together in the same room at the same time, that is a statement" of support, he said.
On May 16, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld will reveal his recommendations for base closings. A nine-member presidential commission will review the list and submit its recommendations to President George W. Bush, who in turn will send his proposals to Congress. The legislative branch must then accept or reject the recommendations on an all-or-none basis.
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Cherry Blossom Princess Meets First Lady, Makes Contacts
By Liz Goldberg
WASHINGTON, April 8 - In the past week, Sarah Gamble has been mistaken for a contestant in the Miss America, Miss USA and Junior Miss pageants.
But Gamble has not worn the pink "Maine" sash during her travels around Washington for a pageant. Instead, the sash signifies Gamble's participation in this year's National Cherry Blossom Festival.
After being selected by the Washington-based Maine State Society, the 20-year-old Bethel native took a week off from her sophomore year at the University of Maine in Orono to represent her home state in the festival.
On Friday night, the Cherry Blossom Queen was to be chosen by the spin of a wheel. The queen will act as a U.S. ambassador, traveling to Japan for that country's own Cherry Blossom Festival. Both festivals are held each year around the time cherry blossom trees bloom. The trees in Washington were a gift from Japan in 1912 to signify friendship between the two countries.
During her time in Washington, Gamble said she and her fellow representatives have visited countless museums and lunched at several embassies.
"I have a new favorite pretty much every evening when I get back to the hotel," she said. "I'm studying to work in museums, so pretty much every museum has been exciting for me."
Gamble is majoring in history, with minors in museum education and dance.
The princesses also had their photo taken with First Lady Laura Bush and were given a tour of the White House by the head curator.
"I harassed him with questions the entire way around," Gamble said Thursday night during her remarks to the Maine State Society at a reception honoring her and Massachusetts princess Jennifer O'Halloran.
Between her fellow princesses - some of whom currently are working in Washington - and the museum trips, Gamble said she has made a number of contacts who will come in handy if she decides to attend graduate school in the area.
But Gamble does not expect to live in the nation's capital forever.
"I'm a Maine kid," she said. "I don't think I could live in a city for the rest of my life."
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Mainers Meet in Washington
By Liz Goldberg
WASHINGTON, April 8 - As soon as she walked into the room, Joan Boos was greeted by a smiling Charlotte Seamans.
"There's my neighbor!" Seamans said.
But the two were not in their hometown of Calais, Maine. They were at a reception at the Fort Myer, the Army base across the Potomac River from Washington.
Though the women lived two streets away from each other while growing up in Calais, they did not meet until years after they both moved to the D.C. area and joined the Maine State Society.
"It was a small world back there," said Seamans, 72, who was a student in one of Boos' sister's classes while in school in Calais and now lives in Alexandria, Va., and works as a receptionist.
Boos' and Seamans' away-from-home meeting is not an uncommon society occurrence, members said.
"Everyplace else there's six degrees of separation and I think in Maine it's two and a half degrees," said Lewis Pearson, the 73-year-old society treasurer and newsletter editor.
Boos, who moved to Silver Spring, Md., in 1943, said she enjoys reconnecting with fellow Mainers.
"Maine people, we're not from big cities, and I think the small towns keep you kind of close," the 80-year-old said.
THE MEMBERS
The Maine State Society is a social organization that was founded in the 1890s and has remained one of the nation's most active state societies, currently boasting a membership of more than 1,000. The society is made up of Mainers who moved to the D.C. area and want to socialize with fellow "Mainiacs."
But not all of the members still live in Washington. About 60 members reside in Maine and a number of others are scattered across 26 states and two other countries, Pearson said.
"A lot of people pass through here for one reason or another - for work, military, what have you - and they maintain their membership," he said.
With the annual $10 individual or $15 family membership, all members, regardless of their current residence, receive "The Maine Event," the society's monthly newsletter, enabling them to stay up-to-date with local news. Pearson said he and his wife, Marjorie, find local tidbits to include in the newsletter by reading their subscriptions to the Bangor Daily News and the Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram, as well as by receiving news tips from members.
"By reading the newsletter and talking to the people, going to the events, you hear about different things going on that you probably wouldn't have heard about otherwise," Seamans said.
THE EVENTS
In addition to keeping up with the happenings in the state, society members get together to socialize about eight times per year at events that include a Congressional Breakfast with the full Maine delegation, a lobster dinner, a baked bean supper, biannual cleanups of Maine Civil War gravesites at Gettysburg National Cemetery and Thursday's Cherry Blossom Princess Reception.
The society also awards the annual Big "M" Award to Mainers who have made significant contributions to the state and its citizens. A separately chartered nonprofit organization that is run by society members has provided, through 2004, 60 scholarships totaling more than $66,000 to Mainers studying at colleges in the state.
In the late 1940s, the society also had a Halloween party, remembered Don Larrabee, an 81-year-old retired journalist from Portland who now lives in Bethesda, Md.
"Sen. Margaret Chase Smith came out to the party and she was participating too, I remember, bobbing for apples too," he said in a telephone interview.
The society has had a number of special events over the years, including a concert by country star Dick Curless, which was arranged by then-president and former Maine governor John Reed.
"He [Dick] was brought up in my hometown and he came with his band and it was one of the best events we ever had," Reed said. "It was kind of the highlight of my three years as president."
This year's May 14 lobster dinner (which, it was announced on Thursday, will include blueberry pies for a real at-home feel) will feature entertainment from author, radio host and "Yankee humorist" John McDonald, Pearson said.
The lobster dinner is the society's most popular event, usually attracting a few hundred people each year, Pearson said.
The Congressional Breakfast is also well attended, particularly by the Maine congressional delegation.
"An incentive for them to show up is a lot of people in the society have maintained their voting registration back in Maine," Pearson said.
The delegation is involved in other events as well, Pearson said. Rep. Mike Michaud (D) escorted this year's Maine Cherry Blossom Festival Princess, Sarah Gamble, to the festival's congressional reception Wednesday night.
THE APPEAL
Since Dave Moulton left Scarborough and moved to Washington in the late 1970s, he has traveled around the world and heard many accents. But going to society events allows the 57-year-old retired security director to hear the accent that is most familiar to him.
"I don't particularly have an accent but I like to hear that accent every once in a while," the Mitchellville, Md., resident said in a telephone interview.
Dee Dee Fusco, the 1981 Maine Cherry Blossom Princess, said she enjoys other classic characteristics of Mainers.
"The people from Maine are fun, they're loving, they're intelligent and they've accomplished great things historically," she said.
"We must have good genes," she added with a laugh.
Fusco was born in Washington but lived in Maine for part of her childhood and also vacationed there.
The 42-year-old, who now lives in Stafford, Va., and is director of development for the main campus libraries at Georgetown University, said she always feels comfortable at society events.
"This is almost like coming home," she said.
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New Britain Improvement Projects Called “Pork”
By Emily Beaver
WASHINGTON, April 6 -Federal grants that may be used to improve computer records at New Britain General Hospital and replace the water tank on Elam Street are "pork-barrel" spending projects, according to a report released Wednesday by Citizens Against Government Waste.
The group dedicated to eliminating government waste listed a $300,000 grant for facilities and equipment at New Britain General Hospital and a $300,000 grant for city water infrastructure improvements in its 2005 Congressional Pig Book.
The Pig Book, which CAGW calls an "expose of pork-barrel spending," names nearly 14,000 projects throughout the country earmarked for federal funding. CGAW president Thomas Schatz said the Pig Book aims to hold members of congress responsible for spending on local projects, which is rapidly increasing.
"We want to ask members of Congress if their parochial project is more important than our nation's financial security," Schatz said at a press conference Wednesday.
Although the book highlights what it calls some of the "most egregious and blatant examples of pork," like $70,000 granted to the Paper Industry International Hall of Fame in Wisconsin, New Britain organizations said the grants they receive are necessary to fund important programs.
Gilbert Bligh, director of the city's water department, said a $300,000 grant from the Environmental Protection Agency would be used to replace a 67-year-old water tank on Elam Street. The federal grant is "a key part" of funding the project, which has a $2.7 million estimated cost, Bligh said.
"We're a distressed city and the money is needed so we can replace the water tank," he said.
New Britain General Hospital plans to use its grant for new computer software that would allow the Emergency Room to obtain patients' medical documents, said Larry Tanner, the hospital's Chief Executive Officer.
Tanner said it was "irresponsible" of CAGW to call a new information system for the hospital a pork-barrel project.
"If someone thinks that's pork-barrel money, then tell them not to get sick," he said.
All of the "pork-barrel" grants listed in the Pig Book met at least one of seven criteria. Those criteria included grants that were requested by only one chamber of Congress, grants that were not requested by President George W. Bush and grants that "greatly exceed" the President's budget request or the previous year's funding.
The book named a total 107 pork projects in Connecticut. The state ranked 36 th in the country for "pork per capita," spending $25.26 per person on pork-barrel projects.
