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FALL 2006
Six judges from the Archangel Oblast will visit Maine November 12 to 19, 2006 as part of the ongoing Rule of Law Program. This visit is funded by the Library of Congress based "Open World" Program. Four of the judges are from the Regional Arbitrage (Commercial) Court: Sergey Ipayev, Konstantin Smetanin, Viktor Khromtsov and Larissa Kunitsina. These four will participate in legal roundtable discussions with Verrill Dana lawyers specializing in corporate, commercial and property law; in addition, they will spend a day at Federal Bankruptcy Court in Portland where they will observe Court sessions and participate in roundtable discussions about tax law, bankruptcy and enforcement of judgements. The other two judges are from the Archangel Region's District court system: Tamara Duryagina and Vladimir Zhirkov. These two will participate in roundtable discussions with Maine professionals specializing in case mediation, domestic violence, guardians, the Kids First Program, and family court scheduling. In addition, all six judges will tour the Cumberland County jail; receive a Court Security/judge protection briefing at the Federal Marshal's Office at the Federal Courthouse in Portland; receive a case management briefing at the Federal Courthouse in Bangor; spend an afternoon with the Penobscot Nation on Indian Island in Old Town where they will become familiar with the Tribal Court; attend the Federal Judicial Conference in Rockport; and spend a day with Maine Secretary of the State Matt Dunlap in Augusta where they will tour the capitol complex and meet informally with several State leaders. There are a number of opportunities for Archangel Committee members to meet and socialize with this delegation: (1) Sunday, November 12, 2006 at 6:00 p.m. Welcome Pizza Party at home of Neale and Deborah Duffett in Portland (FMI: Neale 775-1515); (2) Monday, November 13, 2006 at 7:00 p.m. Informal dinner at Parkers Restaurant, 1349 Washington Avenue in Portland (approximately $20.00 pp) (FMI: Neale 775-1515); (3) Tuesday, November 14, 2006 at 6:00 p.m. Informal evening of shopping, dining and fun in the Maine Mall area (FMI: Ray Pelletier 253-4512); and (4) Saturday, November 18, 2006 at 6:00 p.m. Farewell dinner at home of John Brautigam in Falmouth (FMI: John 671-6700).
Three representatives of Archangel's Department of Transportation (AVTODOR) were hosted by the Maine Department of Transportation from 20 to 29 September 2006. The delegates were old friends Sergey and Svetlana Zhukov (who have visited Maine in Sister City groups previously) and a young engineer named Sergey Khrushchev. The three had a busy professional program, including capital project planning, request for proposals, bid evaluation, contract awarding/administration, bridge project development and bridge construction. Archangel Committee members Dennis Marrotte, Ray and Priscilla Pelletier, and Neale and Deborah Duffett met the delegation for an evening of food and fun at the Cumberland Fair! We send thanks to Cliff Curtis at the MDOT for making this week possible.
The Waterville Sister City Committee hosted Kotlas Deputy Mayor Andrey Bralnin and five other medical professionals from September 21 to October 2, 2006. The group consisted of Doctors Sergey Sukhavov, Elena Koltovaya, Alexander Menshakov and Vladimir Mezentsev and Nurse Tatiana Mezentseva. Dr. Menshakov is also a Senior Advisor to Vladimir Krupchak, the Archangel Oblast's delegate to the Russian National Duma in Moscow. This trip was funded privately by the financial generosity of the MaineGeneral Medical Center, the Inland Hospital, the Waterville Rotary and the Waterville American Legion Post 5. The medical professionals had a busy schedule with many visits and discussions with the staffs of the two hospitals in the Waterville area. Archangel Committee members Marina Trebukhina and Neale Duffett met with the delegation at a community forum in Waterville.
On September 16, 2006, committee member Matt Dunlap spoke to a group at Colby College in Waterville about his recent trip to Archangel and the Solovki Islands. On October 17, 2006, committee members Dennis Marrotte, John Brautigam and Neale Duffett gave a powerpoint presentation to the Portland AARP chapter about Archangel and Solovki. In both sessions, the audience asked many questions and wanted more information about us.
Efforts to help orphans in the Archangel Region continue on many fronts. In June 2006, our legal delegation visited the Archangel Municipal Institution for Child Protection, a facility where children are placed for periods ranging from 2 weeks to up to a year. These are children who have been taken into custody by city child protection workers, often because of abuse and/or neglect suffered in their birth families. Our delegation donated $250.00 from the Archangel Committee to director Tatiana Artymova to purchase essential supplies for the home. In addition, the Ohio non-profit organization Friends of Russian Orphans (www.fororphans.org) continues to provide generous financial support to at least ten orphanages throughout the Archangel Region. Finally, the Virginia non-profit organization Arkangels for Russian Orphans (www.arkangels.org) is also supporting orphanages in the Archangel Region. There are about 170,000 orphans in Russia that are considered to be adoptable. About 7000 are adopted annually by Russian families and a similar number are adopted annually by foreigners (mostly American).
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