Tom Allen to visit Cape on Sunday

    A community discussion about foreign policy in the
Middle East with Tom Allen will be held at the Cape Elizabeth Middle
School Cafetorium on Sunday (Jan. 28). Seating and question submission
will begin at 12:30 p.m. with the presentation beginning at 1 p.m.
sharp.

The event is being sponsored by The World Affairs Council of Cape
Elizabeth High School and is supported by a grant from the Cape
Elizabeth Education Foundation and in association with the World
Affairs Council of Maine.

This is an opportunity for citizens learn more about what is currently
happening, listen to different ideas and perspectives, and share
concerns with our Representative in the U.S. House.



Bromley finds faults in special ed rules

    State Sen. Lynn Bromley (D-Cumberland County)
recently commented against the imposition of new state rules governing
special education. The proposal would mandate that pre-schoolers
receiving services through Child Development Services (CDS) obtain
those services in public schools, and calls for changing eligibility
criteria in ways that could result in fewer children receiving services.

    “I am very disappointed with this rule change,”
Bromley said. “It appears as though children will only qualify for
services, or in fact can be dropped from services, unless there is
proof of ‘an adverse effect on academics.’ Further, and most
disturbing, the rules require that the disability’s impact on academics
be pervasive over a six month period. This means that parents would
have to watch their child “fail academically” for six months – two
thirds of a school year – before special education supports services
could be made available. We can do better.”

    Information concerning the rule change is located at
the following website:
www.maine.gov/education/edletrs/2007/ilet/07ilet051.htm

Written comments on the rule change were due Jan. 22.

    Bromley lives in South Portland and is Senate Chair
of the Business, Research and Economic Development Committee.



Bliss Asks for bridge scheduling bill

    State Rep. Lawrence Bliss (D-South Portland) has
submitted a bill to the state legislature asking the Department of
Transportation (MDOT) to create a schedule for opening of the
Portland-South Portland Bridge. The bill, which does not yet have a
“Legislative Document Number,” will be sent to the Legislature’s
Committee on Transportation for debate and deliberation.

    “When I’m sitting on the bridge at 7:45 in the
morning, knowing I’ll be late for work as I wait for a tanker to crawl
across the water, I get multiple telephone calls on my cell phone from
constituents who are, like me, sitting in their cars,” said Bliss. “I
understand that the ships need the high tide, and that it costs them
money to sit and wait, but I’m sure a reasonable schedule can be
created.”

The bill offers no specific solution. Rather, it asks the Department of
Transportation to find a solution that would set aside specific morning
and evening rush-hour periods on weekdays when the bridge would not be
opened, except for emergency situations.

    “I love living in South Portland and being able to
come into Portland to work,” Bliss said. “But with so many commuters
from South Portland, Cape Elizabeth, and Scarborough relying on the
bridge every work day, I think a bill like this just makes sense.”