Mayor refuses to talk about race relations

LEWISTON – Mayor Larry Raymond refused to discuss race relations Tuesday night as he made his first public appearance since last month’s white supremacist and pro-diversity rallies.

Arriving for his first City Council meeting since his return from a Florida vacation, Raymond was peppered with questions from reporters about relations with Lewiston’s Somali community and calls for his resignation.

“I have nothing more to say,” he said. “That’s it. End of story.”

When reporters persisted with questions about the Somali issue, the mayor said he might seek to have them removed from the building.

Raymond, who was in Florida during the two simultaneous rallies, said earlier that he had no plans to resign.

The demonstrations followed Raymond’s open letter last fall calling on Somalis to discourage further migration to Lewiston because the city’s resources were “maxed out.”