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WINTER 2007
A mixed Sister City and Rule of Law Delegation will travel
to Archangel in April 2007 and will participate in the week long celebration
called "America Week in Archangel". Official events begin in Archangel on
Monday, April 16t and continue through Saturday, April 21st. The celebration is
jointly sponsored by the City of Archangel, the Archangel Regional Academic
Library and the United States Consulate General in Saint Petersburg. Archangel
Mayor Alexander Donskoy has written us that America Week will be "devoted to
American history, culture, art and also to the past and present of our American
twin-city Greater Portland". In addition, Mayor Donskoy writes that they will be
celebrating the "200th anniversary of establishing the diplomatic relations
between Russia and the U.S.A.". The American Consulate has also contacted us and
has urged us to send a delegation during that time. The consulate is
enthusiastic about the program and will be sending several people there,
probably including Consulate General Mary Kruger. A preliminary list of official
events include a youth conference on terrorism, a September 11th photo
exhibition, an ecology conference, a teen disco party, a baseball exhibition, an
American movie festival, American quizzes and songs for school children, and
various seminars and conferences at Pomor University and at Archangel State
Technical University. We are invited to propose any other events that we would
like to put on! An outbound Rule of Law delegation has been timed to coincide
with "America Week" and will be led by U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Michael Deasy. We
hope that Deputy U.S. Marshal Tom Folan will also be on the delegation. Judge
Deasy will work with the Archangel Arbitrazh Court on property and tax matters,
while Tom Folan will work with both the Arbitrazh Court and the Oblast Court on
"Courthouse Security and Judge Protection". The inbound legal delegation of
Archangel judges in November 2006 attended a similar program put on by Mr. Folan
at the Federal Courthouse in Portland; they were so impressed that they have
asked Mr. Folan to put on a similar program in Archangel. The delegation
tentatively plans to leave Maine on Friday, April 13th and return to Maine on
Tuesday, April 24th. If you are interested in going, the cost of the trip will
be about $3,000.00 per person (including modest hotel). Our Committee cannot
organize your trip but we can provide some planning and coordinating advice. If
you are going, you may contact Ray Pelletier at 774-4000.
Plans are being finalized for an outbound legal delegation to Archangel in May 2007. The group will consist of Maine Superior Court Justice Mark Horton, Cumberland County District Attorney Stephanie Anderson, and Violence Intervention Partnership Director Faye Luppi. The delegation will participate in seminars and roundtable discussions about innovative judicial and prosecutorial approaches to addressing specific social problems, i.e., domestic violence, high-conflict divorce, substance abuse and juvenile offender treatment.
On Sunday, June 24, 2007 the City of Archangel will celebrate City Day with the theme "City of Angels" (last year's theme was "Archangel: One Family"). Of course, they want people from Maine to come be involved in the Celebration. No official delegation is planned at this time but our Committee could offer planning help to individuals if you want to go on your own.
Members of our Committee participated in the 2nd Internet Video Bridge with Archangel on December 20, 2006. The theme of this Video Bridge was a "Christmas Meeting of Friends" and included many Sister City and Rule of Law Participants (about 20 people on each side). While we drank coffee at 10:00 a.m. our time, they sipped champagne at 6:00 p.m. Archangel time! Greetings were exchanged, good times were reminisced, and plans for the future were made. In addition, Rex Turner from the Maine Lakes Conservancy Institute announced plans for the Water Science Academy in Maine this coming July 22 to 27, 2007. MLCI will be inviting an Archangel Science teacher and interpreter to participate in the Academy. During this December Bridge, Archangel State Technical University English Professor Valentina Golysheva asked us if we would be celebrating the 200th Birthday of Maine poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow on February 27, 2007 and would we celebrate with her English Department on that day by Video Bridge. "Of course" we said! Come to the Bridge on Tuesday, February 27, 2007 at 9:45 a.m.; the location will be Neale Duffett's office at 465 Congress Street (8th floor) in Portland.
The official website of the City of Archangel (www.archcity.ru)
proudly lists all nine of Archangel's Sister Cities: Greater Portland, Maine;
Vardo, Norway; Slupsk, Poland; Emden, Germany; Mulhouse, France; Oulu, Finland;
Pireas, Greece; Kiruna, Sweden; and Jusdal, Sweden. The relationship with
Greater Portland is listed first as it was their initial Sister City
Relationship (treaty signed on November 18, 1988). The Archangel City website
includes a link to our own Committee website at www.arkhangelsk.org. |
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