Not all in Kennebunkport await summitry with glee

[unhappycamper]

Not all in Kennebunkport await summitry with glee
By Michael Levenson, Globe Staff | June 25, 2007

KENNEBUNKPORT, Maine -- They are stocking up on Stolichnaya Elite vodka and caviar from the Caspian Sea at Hurricane Restaurant on Dock Square.

At the town offices on Elm Street, the secretaries and clerks are signing up for a Putin potluck lunch, featuring such Eastern European favorites as cherry-pear compote, eggs baked in butter and sour cream, and fiery chicken paprikash.

But at his post inside a shingled attendant's booth at the busy Dock Square parking lot, Calvin Bryant was in no mood to whip up a batch of borscht just because President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia is scheduled to arrive Sunday for talks with President Bush on the issues that bedevil the US-Russian relationship.

"He should've stayed in Russia," grumbled Bryant, 64, a former Navy man. "He comes up on a holiday weekend, jams all the traffic up. We don't get any cooperation from the guy, so why should we put up with him?"

As the leaders prepare to huddle for two days at the Bush family compound on a rocky promontory called Walker's Point, Kennebunkport is a resort town divided. Residents here are caught be tween excitement over their town's renewed identity as the stage for high-level international diplomacy and dread over the bottlenecks and headaches bound to ensue when swarms of journalists, protesters, functionaries, and security officers arrive at the kickoff of July Fourth weekend.

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[Ian David]

1. They'd better be nice to Vlad the Poisoner... or else. n/t