Club Meeting of 8/5
Posted by Michael Williams
This morning the club met at Fishbones again as our regular venue is holding Vacation Bible School this week. Larry Marcoux reported that club attendance for July will be over 80%. That is very good since July typically is a down month. There were also reminders of three events that are coming up. This Saturday we are looking for volunteers to assist at Habitat for Humanity by placing stickers on products. This is from 8:30-9:30 at the ReStore (see event for location).
Also on Saturday, Norm is looking for some help in putting a fresh coat of yellow paint on our Duck Booth. This group will be getting together at 8:30 at Greeley's Garage on Washington St. in Auburn. The reason for the painting of the Duck Booth is that the Great Falls Balloon Festival is 3 weeks away and we are still looking for volunteers man the booth. Don't forget to keep selling your tickets. Marcel is still in the lead, but Norm vows to pass him. (Is Tim hiding in the weeds again this year ready to pounce at the last moment)? The final volunteer opportunity is the annual Steak and Burger Dinner on August 26. See the events section to volunteer for any or all of these opportunities. They all make for great make-ups.
Our speaker today was Dick Kendall who spoke on the Lewiston Auburn Youth Court. The Lewiston Auburn Youth Court is the first and only youth court in Maine and one of over 1200 Youth Courts nationally.
Dick became intrigued by the idea of a Youth Court here in L/A after he read an article in Readers Digest. He put together an exploritory committee to determine if a Youth Court should be established and the form it would take. One of the members of the exploritory committee was Judge Cote. He brought an article that was published in the Lewiston Sun in 1944 about the idea of a youth court that his grandfather Adrian Cote was promoting.
The first court was seated in 2002 and since then 122 cases have been heard. The court is made up of youths ages 13-19 and hear cases for youths ages 11-19. Court is held at District Court in Lewiston.
The youth judges issue various sentances which include community service (over 1500 hours to date), a letter of apology, or a 500 word essay among other options. This program has been a success and has resulted in life changing experiences in members of the court as well as the respondents (defendants).