Week of June 18, 2020

Celebrating 32 years of local news

It’s graduation season for area high schools

Typically, the first two weeks of June is the graduation season in central Maine. This year was no different, except that due to the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic, things were done a little differently. In Winslow, their graduation was held on June 10. The graduates and parents participated in a procession of cars around the high school with fire and police vehicles leading the way. Supporters and well-wishers lined Danielson Street to celebrate the occasion… by Roland D. Hallee

Your Local News

Town meeting to be by written ballot; absentee voting encouraged

CHINA — Outgoing China Town Manager Dennis Heath explained some of the main questions on the July 14 town business meeting warrant and their financial effects at a June 14 public hearing…

Town meeting, voting to go ahead, with adaptations

VASSALBORO — Vassalboro officials are going ahead with a Monday evening open town meeting and Tuesday written-ballot voting as in past years – but with adaptations. The 2020 town meeting warrant calls voters to assemble at 6:30 p.m., Monday, June 22…

TIF program tops selectmen’s agenda

VASSALBORO — Vassalboro’s Tax Increment Financing (TIF) program was the selectmen’s main topic at their June 11 meeting, held in-person in the town office meeting room with appropriate social distancing and very few masks…

Planners seek to place revised comprehensive plan on November ballot

CHINA — China Planning Board members acted on two important issues at their June 9 meeting, setting the schedule for moving the revised comprehensive plan to a November vote and approving Phase Two of the causeway project…

TIF committee tackles four topics

CHINA — China Tax Increment Financing (TIF) Committee members had four topics on their minds as they met June 15: money, the second phase of the causeway project at the head of China Lake’s east basin, the impending change in town managers and needed amendments to China’s TIF plan…

China transfer station accepting recycling

CHINA — In a press release from China Town Manager Dennis Heath, “If you didn’t see it on the town’s Facebook page and website, the Transfer Station resumed recycling on June 16…”

Sawyer meets a Waterville police officer; but still wants to tour police station

WATERVILLE — Sawyer absolutely loves and admires police officers, and has for quite some time. Last winter he received a police uniform as a gift. He wears it quite frequently, almost daily. He wants to be a policeman someday… by Mark Huard

Grab & Go bean dinner

VASSALBORO — The Vassalboro United Methodist Church, on Main St. (Rte. 32), in North Vassalboro, will hold a Grab and Go bean dinner on Saturday, June 20, from 4:30 until all the beans are gone. Come along and grab a meal!…

School News

Congratulations to area graduates — Class of 2020

CENTRAL ME — List of graduating seniors from Carrabec High School, Cony High School, Erskine Academy, Lawrence High School, Madison Area Memorial High School, Messalonskee High School, Waterville High School and Winslow High School…

Winslow High School announces top 10 seniors

WINSLOW — The following are the top 10 seniors in Winslow High School’s class of 2020…

Madison Area Memorial High School announces top 10 seniors

MADISON — The following are the top 10 seniors in the Madison Area High School’s class of 2020…

Up and down the Kennebec Valley: Palermo (New!)

PALERMO — Palermo is the only town in this series that is not in Kennebec County. The boundary line between China on the west and Palermo on the east is also the line between Kennebec and Waldo counties. It runs through Branch Mills, formerly Palermo’s main commercial center…  [1538 words] by Mary Grow

Up and down the Kennebec Valley: China Lake

CHINA — China Lake is an important area resource for year-round recreation; drinking water in municipalities served by the Waterville-based Kennebec Water District; and, given the high value of waterfront property, taxes for the Town of China…  [1436 words] by Mary Grow

Up and down the Kennebec Valley: China

CHINA — The Town of China lies north of Windsor and west of Vassalboro. Much of the town is in the watershed of China Lake, a major influence in the town’s history. Two of the town’s four villages, China Village and South China, lie at opposite ends of the lake’s east basin. The other two, Branch Mills and Weeks Mills, are on the West Branch of the Sheepscot River in eastern China, upstream of Windsor…  [1566 words] by Mary Grow

Up and down the Kennebec Valley: Albion

ALBION — There is debate over names of the first settlers in what is now Albion, partly because records are incomplete, partly because current Albion once included parts of several other towns. For example, Nathaniel Wiggin’s and several other families’ holdings at the north end of China Lake’s east basin were in Albion before the Albion-China boundary was moved north and their land became part of China…  [1722 words] by Mary Grow

Webber’s Pond

Webber’s Pond is a comic drawn by an anonymous central Maine resident…

Local Town Meetings Schedule 2020

Local town meetings schedule for 2020 for Albion, China, Fairfield, Vassalboro and Solon. To add your town to this list, email us at townline@townline.org

Give Us Your Best Shot!

The best recent photos from our readers!

Obituaries

WINDSOR – Tamara L. Schriver, 56, died Friday, June 5, 2020, at Alfond Center for Health, in Augusta, following a brief illness. She was born January 15, 1964, in Gardiner, the daughter of Paul and Dora Dolan Schriver… and remembering 7 others.

Common Ground – Round 18: Win a $10 gift certificate!

DEADLINE: Friday, July 10, 2020

Identify the people in these three photos, and tell us what they have in common. You could win a $10 gift certificate to Retail Therapy Boutique in Waterville! Email your answer to townline@townline.org or through our Contact page. Include your name and address with your answer. Use “Common Ground” in the subject!

Previous winner: Michael Bilinsky, China Village

Town Line Original Columnists

Peter CatesREVIEW POTPOURRI

by Peter Cates | I was alone at home during the first viewing and still remember being spooked out by its small town setting, so similar to my hometown of East Vassalboro, Maine, and to the other quiet, charming, boring villages of so many other childhoods…

I’M JUST CURIOUS

by Debbie Walker | Recently I wrote about an old rhyme called “Mother May I,” and some memories it stirred up for me. At the same time Nana Dee had mentioned a couple of older rhymes, one of those was “As I Was Going to St. Ives”…

Marilyn Rogers-Bull & PercySOLON & BEYOND

by Marilyn Rogers-Bull | The Solon Community Garden was started last year in 2019 by a group of dedicated gardeners. Deb Gerry came to the selectmen with the idea and a proposal. The selectmen and fire chief agreed to allowing the town land along Rogers Lane to be used for the garden…

FOR YOUR HEALTH

(NAPSI) — During these challenging times, people are avoiding the supermarket and, instead, stocking up on shelf-stable and frozen foods. Unfortunately, these can often be loaded with preservatives and lack nutrition. Many families also resort to take-out foods that can be high in sodium, hydrogenated fats and refined sugars…