Bartender school maine9/26/2023 ![]() He bikes 3,000 miles a year, even though he’s been hit by a car four times. LePage has lost 80 pounds over the last few years, the result of a lifestyle change after being diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes. Around November, they will decamp for the winter to Ormond Beach, Fla., where they live in a gated community. His wife, Ann, has worked as a waitress there for several years. LePage, who owns property in Boothbay Harbor and nearby Edgecomb, began working at the bar last summer. “Thanks, nice to meet you,” LePage said with a wide smile. After the refill, the patron wished LePage good luck in the governor’s race. “All set?” he asked a patron, pointing toward an empty glass. Although LePage wore a clear face shield during nearly all of his shift, masks were a rarity among the bar’s customers, many of whom sat much closer than 6 feet apart. ![]() ![]() On this weekend day, LePage was a man in constant motion - pouring drinks, taking orders, cleaning glasses, and punching in purchases at the cash register. “People say there is racism in the country," he added. I had a lot of help, and that’s where the difference is." “I just happened to run into the right people at the right time. She was a saint,” LePage said, shaking his head as he wiped down the bar before a crush of customers arrived. “That poor lady, she really took some beatings. One of 18 siblings, LePage at age 11 fled an abusive and alcoholic father who would regularly strike him, his mother, and other children in the family. ![]() Dam, who was orphaned, said he and LePage share similar stories of childhoods spent on the streets of Lewiston. “This is a big morale booster for me," said Daniel Dam, a retiree and cancer survivor who drove to Boothbay Harbor on the chance he would see LePage. What matters, LePage’s supporters say, is his record as governor: lower taxes, reduced unemployment, and fewer welfare cases. Each of them featured three or more candidates. Like Trump, LePage embraces political incorrectness and stirs intense loyalty among his supporters, even though he never reached 50 percent of the vote in his statewide races. “I don’t ask them to come to Maine and sell their poison, but they come, and I will tell you that 90-plus percent of those pictures in my book, and it’s a three-ringed binder, are Black and Hispanic people from Waterbury, Conn., the Bronx, and Brooklyn,” he said at the time.Ī public records request filed later by the ACLU and others showed that most of the cases involved white suspects. In 2016, LePage ignited a firestorm when he said that a binder he kept of drug arrests in Maine showed the vast preponderance of cases involved out-of-state people of color. What he calls straight talk, however, is also widely assailed as racist. Isn’t that what we want in a person?" said Donna Matthews, a retiree from Bath Iron Works. The former governor signs Trump paraphernalia for patrons, autographs the bar’s signature “rum bucket” drinks, and talks Maine politics with anyone who bends his ear. Kevin Thomas, the McSeagull’s manager, said LePage’s presence turns the place into a “mini-Trump rally" during his shifts on Mondays and Saturdays. He wore shorts, as well as a T-shirt that urged customers to "Eat, Drink & Flounder. The support base is there, no question,” LePage said one recent morning as he set up the large, outdoor bar. The trio came to Boothbay Harbor to see LePage at McSeagull's restaurant where he is now a bartender. Former Maine governor Paul LePage headed back to the bar after posing for a picture with Lori and John Turcotte of Lewiston, Maine and Wendy Gagne, of Auburn, Maine.
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