Huge Brawls between Somali students and Lewiston, Maine high schoolers

Lewiston Sun Journal ^ | September 12, 2002 | Lindsay Tice

[gulfwarvet]

School officials fielded anxious phone calls from parents Wednesday, one day after a fight between a Somali student and another teenager broke out at Lewiston High School and turned into an afternoon melee off school grounds.

“What we’re trying to do now is assure parents that we have a very safe school,” said Principal Patrick O’Neill.

Record-setting heat and community friction have caused tensions to rise recently in the 1,250-student high school, officials acknowledged. But, said Superintendent Leon Levesque, “The school has been very calm.”

On Wednesday, disruptions to the school came not from fights but from rampant rumors about weapons and further fights following Tuesday’s brawl near Marcotte Park, in which police arrested two men, neither of whom was a Lewiston High School student.

“It’s completely consumed our day,” said Levesque.

Lewiston police patrolled the area around the high school after school let out Wednesday afternoon. There were no fights.

“Everything was very peaceful and smooth,” said the school system’s Somali community liaison, Mohammed Abdi. He expected similar patrols to continue through the week.

As scheduled, Lewiston High School students will spend this week talking about Sept. 11, its aftermath and effect on Americans’ attitudes toward Muslims and immigrants. No special assemblies or events were planned to address Tuesday’s incident.

According to O’Neill, the confrontation started when a teenager who did not attend Lewiston High School followed a Somali student into the school’s lobby and taunted him. O’Neill said he interceded as the argument became physical and the Somali boy tried to restrain the other teen.

As is school policy, O’Neill suspended the Somali student for three days for his part in the fight. He told the other teenager to leave school property or he would be arrested.

According to police, the high school fight generated a large brawl at 2 p.m. near Marcotte Park. That one involved more than four dozen people.

Levesque said the high school has worked hard to combat rumors and to ease racial tensions there since Somali immigrants began moving into the city a year-and-a-half ago. But friction within the community has begun to cause renewed tension within the school.

While Levesque couldn’t predict whether such friction would lead to more battles at or around Lewiston High School, he hoped to see community leaders identify the issues causing the most contention and come up with resolutions soon.

“I think probably we need to look at this from a community perspective,” he said.

[hellinahandcart]

If I happen to be in a car and someone else puts that station on, that's the only time.

And I can "tune out" pretty easily by cranking up my own thoughts.

[GOV'T MULE]

Lewiston is the arm pit of Maine. Lot of Oxy use, and a major way-point in the North-South narcotics- and prostitution-trafficking corrider. Many of the folks there have nothing to look forward to but Allen's coffee flavored brandy (Mainers drug of choice.) I'd rather live in Jersey.

[MD_Willington_1976]

They offer a new auto-shop class at the highschool, its called:

General maintenance and repair of Technicals

[mhking]

Announcements in churches would tend not to have much influence, given that the Somali population is overwhelmingly Muslim.

Touché -- churches mosques

[ArcLight]

But you don't know if this Somali kid is on welfare. So why bring it up?

[evolved_rage]

Most of these Somali immigrants are emigrating to Maine from Atlanta, Georgia

Winter is coming. heh heh heh

[Black Agnes]

Hey, they're pretty entertaining. Especially when they get on a good rant. They're good for getting the 'talking points' of the lefties.

Listen to WBAI

[FITZ]

I think it's lack of assimilation and immigrants living mostly off welfare which puts their kids in rougher housing projects, lack of common language so the kids can't know each other. Here we had a huge riot of immigrant kids from Mexico against black kids from military families stationed here, the immigrants didn't think the black kids belonged here (ironically even though they were military). It ended up involving over 400 kids and took every police car in town to quiet down.

[Black Agnes]

Somalis in Lewiston

Still, city officials estimate that only about 40 of the 400 to 500 Somali adults living in Lewiston are working. The local labor market offers little for unskilled workers who don't speak English well or lack high school diplomas. At the same time, the annual welfare budget for this financially strapped city has doubled to $200,000 because many Somalis are seeking rental and food assistance.

[Black Agnes]

Of course they don't think the black kids belonged there. Black people were *not* a part of Aztlan.

[Oschisms]

But you don't know if this Somali kid is on welfare. So why bring it up?

Somebody asked. See Post 9

I just want to know WHY thousands of Somali Muslims (unemployed for the most part, collecting 'benefits') have invaded one small town in Maine?

[FreedomFriend]

It looks like it's all part of the plan. Millions of third world, non-assimilatable, legal and illegal, immigrants are brought into America, meanwhile, "Free Trade" is pushed, our jobs are exported, the same time the borders are wide-open and multiculturalism is pushed.

Welcome to the Globalist era.

[AppyPappy]

FREE GOVERNMENT MONEY!!!!

[Brush_Your_Teeth]

There is a LOT we are not hearing in this story. I read about the Somali invasion of Lewiston a few days ago.

Awww you mean the most white state and the most socialist state has bigger race problems then most schools in the country. What a big suprise.

[FreedomFriend]

Yes, the media is propaganda tool, and they're all about lying to the masses. Look at how they tried to gloss over Clinton's charades during those dismal eight years.

[Black Agnes]

bump to 69

[FreedomFriend]

Really? I haven't seen any Somalis. Where are they living in Georgia? I've seen the Mexican invasion, as well as continued numbers of south-central Asians. Yet, I wouldn't doubt anything. Every area of the country, it appears, has to be subjected to the new multiculturalism, as that is most likely the goal.

[rockfish59]

I blame the UN!

[browardchad]

ask if her local taxes have gone up significantly, or are about too

I'd say Lewiston is feeling overwhelmed, for good reason:

...city officials estimate that only about 40 of the 400 to 500 Somali adults living in Lewiston are working. The local labor market offers little for unskilled workers who don't speak English well or lack high school diplomas. At the same time, the annual welfare budget for this financially strapped city has doubled to $200,000 because many Somalis are seeking rental and food assistance....The Somalis' arrival has strained Lewiston's limited resources and rattled city and school officials who are trying to hold down taxes.

Source: Lewiston's Somali surge

The movement of Somalis from Atlanta to Lewiston is being subsidized by the Federal government, as this article (part of a series on Portland immigration)points out.

One also has to wonder about Mohammed Atta's trip to Portland on 9/10...

[myrabach]

Actually there is quite a bit the parents can do. The first thing is for the parents to be willing to call in the police. And this threat must be vocalized to the administration. Usually, the school will bend over backwards to keep the police out of these incidents. However, in this case, press charges against the Somali. Then the parents need to be willing to sue the school, not only for not allowing self defense, but also for putting the student in a dangerous situation. The school did not provide for the safety of the student.