Marzen enjoying role ?of a lifetime ?at Schoolhouse

Amie Marzen is finally satisfying a life-long dream. She is currently performing the role of Shelby in “Steel Magnolias” at the Schoolhouse Arts Center in Standish.

Although she lives in Bath, Marzen gladly makes the commute several times a week for rehearsals and performances.

“Shelby has long been on my bucket list of parts I’d love to play, so even though I live a little over an hour away from the Schoolhouse I couldn’t resist the opportunity,” says Marzen.

She will be performing through April 29. Performances will be at 7:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday evenings. Sunday matinees will be staged at 2 p.m. The theater is located at 16 Richville Road (Route 114) in Standish. Admission prices are $14 for adults and $12 for seniors and children. FMI, call 642-3743.

“I actually enlisted the help of a co-worker from North Carolina and asked her to teach me some vocal tricks to help me sound more like a southern belle during auditions for the role,” Marzen said. “I am so thrilled to be cast as Shelby, a sweet but dramatic role that holds a lot of meaning for me.”

Sen. Diamond authors book probing child sex abuse

A new book by state Sen. Bill Diamond, D-Windham, offers an unflinching look at the tragedies and suffering of the victims of child sexual abuse, a pervasive but mostly hidden crisis in Maine and America, he concludes.

Told through the eyes of actual victims and predators, “The Evil & the Innocent” offers graphic details and startling facts so readers can fully comprehend the depth and prevalence of these unspeakable acts – and take action to prevent these horrible crimes against children and infants.

A state senator and former teacher, Diamond has researched, written, cosponsored and sponsored more than 50 proposed laws and amendments pertaining to sex offenders. Diamond says the system in place to prevent and apprehend child predators is broken and needs to be fixed. His book, he says, is a plea for tougher laws and better enforcement against this evil to protect the innocent.

“Until we are able to make the public understand the sexual assaults on our children that are happening in our churches, schools, homes, and neighborhoods, these abuses will not be eliminated or even reduced,” said Diamond. “These assaults will, in fact, continue as they currently do, going unnoticed just below the surface of our daily routines.”

The book probes Maine’s Sex Offender Registry, the case of 10-year-old Michelle Tardif of Saco who was abducted, new details about the 2006 “Maine Easter Murders” that were committed by a lone vigilate who used Maine’s Sex Offender Registry as a resource to locate and kill his victims, as well as the Maine Computer Crimes Unit who over the past three years have found and rescued 26 children who were used prominently as “sex stars” in the child pornography industry throughout the United States.

“My teaching background has given me unique insights regarding the needs of children that became the foundation on which this book was built,” Diamond says, a former Windham teacher. “It’s been an intense relationship with a subject that tears my heart out, but I couldn’t stop telling the story even when the horrific details of abuse kept leaping out at me from the hundreds of pages of research – leaving me with a bruised mind and a blistered soul.”

The book is available at AuthorHouse.com, at Amazon online bookstore, and at local bookstores. For more information see www.evilandinnocent.com.

Amie Marzen