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THURSDAY, AUGUST 4, 2011
Bedbugs and books; pick-up montage See Bob Higgins’ column on page 4
A horror film in D.C. See Maureen Dowd’s column on page 5
VOL. 3 NO. 130
PORTLAND, ME
PORTLAND’S DAILY NEWSPAPER
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Heavy item pick-up may be recycled Curbside disposal, retrieval of bulky items under review BY CASEY CONLEY THE PORTLAND DAILY SUN
More than three years after it was scrapped for budget reasons, the city is poised to reintroduce a scaled-down version of its popular heavy item pick-up program. As proposed, Portland residents could
place unwanted items on the curb for city crews or contractors to remove on their normal trash day. Items set on the curb for removal would require a special sticker bought from the city. The re-introduction of the program is pending approval by the city council, which needs to approve the creation of a new fee. A decision on the plan is likely at the Aug. 15 meeting. The current proposal was created by
Public Services officials at the direction of the Solid Waste Task Force, which was set up in January 2010 to create policies and programs around expanding recycling. “The idea behind this is that the program attempts to replace what was eliminated three years ago or four years ago,” said Mike Bobinsky, Public Services director for the city. see PICK-UP page 7
Abolitionist ‘groundbreaker’ remembered at Abyssinian Meeting House BY MATTHEW ARCO
Police take kids fishing See the story, page 16
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THE PORTLAND DAILY SUN
More than a century before Rosa Parks helped spark a boycott calling attention to racial segregation on public buses, James Pennington made waves by working to integrate New York City's street cars. He was a former slave, a leader of the abolitionist movement, the first African American to study at Yale and recipient of an honorary doctorate from Germany's University of Heidelberg — another first for the African American community. Although not as well known as Frederick Douglass, Pennington was just Author Christopher Webber, center, signs a copy of his book Wednesday during an open house at the Abyssinian Meeting as pivotal in helping the country move House. President of the Committee to Restore the Abyssinian Meeting House Leonard Cummings, left, and volunteer Herb see PENNINGTON page 8
Adams, right, hosted Webber’s book signing. (MATTHEW ARCO PHOTO)
July was hottest month on record in Portland BY DAVID CARKHUFF THE PORTLAND DAILY SUN
From tomatoes to beans, plants flowered early this year for community gardeners Liz Acheson and Gabe Heasly, a byproduct of a sweltering July. And it wasn't just a typically warm July. This one shattered records. July was the warmest month on LEFT: Liz Acheson lays out produce grown at the Valley Street Community Garden. A record heat wave in July caused some plants to flower early, she reported. (DAVID CARKHUFF PHOTO)
record at the Portland Jetport, the National Weather Service confirmed Wednesday. "We average five days above 90 for the summer, and we had four in July alone," said Tom Hawley, meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Gray. Three of the four days that exceeded 90 degrees came in a hot patch — on July 21, the high hit 97; on July 22, the high was 100; and on July 23, the high was 95 in Portland, according to the weather service. see JULY page 7