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Lewiston Mayor Takes Shot at Welfare Families


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Lewiston, Maine - The mayor of Lewiston is under fire again, this time for suggesting the city's schools are overcrowded because families from Massachusetts and New York move to Maine to take advantage of the state's generous welfare system.

Mayor Robert Macdonald said Wednesday at meeting with parents and school officials to discuss redistricting that there ought to be laws putting limits on how long families can collect welfare benefits.

He says there are 1,000 children of welfare seekers in city schools "who could care less about going to school" because "they don't feel like they're going to work anyway."

The Sun Journal reports that School Committee member Sonia Taylor called the mayor's comments "offensive."

Macdonald was criticized in October for suggesting that the city's large Somali refugee population should abandon their culture.

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