Two recent editorials in the Sun Journal unfairly place the entire blame of Lewiston having become the “”home of the Somali rally”” on the shoulders of Mayor Larry Raymond. Saying his letter to the Somali community is responsible for all this turmoil is like blaming darkness on the sun for refusing to shine 24 hours a day.
The real cause of the situation Lewiston is faced with can be traced back to the Tara administration and her alliance with Catholic Charities Maine in Portland.
Portland had all the Somalis they could accommodate and were looking for a place to resettle several families. Tara and Catholic Charities had tried a similar approach with Togolese families. Remember that? But, apparently the Togolese were too wise to take the bait and really did not come to Lewiston in the numbers that had been projected.
The Somalis are sponsored, to some extent, and protected by the U.S. government through its immigration laws. Guess what that carries with it? The potential for federal dollars for the state and the city of Lewiston.
That was the carrot that Tara was dangling for Lewiston when she aligned herself with Catholic Charities to promote the migration and it backfired. Instead of arriving a few here and a few there, they came in droves, and they overwhelmed our resources and our cultural proclivities as well.
The rest, of course, is history and here we are.
Larry Raymond was representing the people of Lewiston and doing his job when he wrote his letter to the Somalis. Kaleigh Tara set us up and sold us out. She should be required to live among them.
Paul St. Jean, Lewiston
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