Issue for April 3, 2025
Area food pantries negatively impacted by USDA cuts
Due to budget cuts by the Trump Administration, Good Shepherd Food Bank, which distributes food to more than 600 partner-organizations including Winslow Community Cupboard food pantry, and China Food Pantry, is receiving, effective April 1, 2025, a 50 percent reduction in the amount of food it usually receives from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)…
Town News
Budget Committee begins work on 2025-26 FY
VASSALBORO – Vassalboro Budget Committee members began their first 2025 meeting on March 18 by re-electing Peggy Schaffer committee chairman. Town Manager Aaron Miller summarized some of the budget highlights, and Vassalboro Historical Society members explained part of their request…
Planners debate cluster or subdivision development
CHINA – China Planning Board members spent most of their March 25 meeting arguing over whether to propose allowing cluster developments in town. Chapter Three of the current Land Development Code prohibits them…
TIF committee approves 11 of 13 applications
CHINA – China Tax Increment Financing (TIF) Committee members reviewed all 13 applications on their March 26 agenda. They fully approved 11…
Road committee discusses ways to improve town roads
CHINA – China Road Committee members discussed several town roads, ways to improve them and related issues at an hour-and-a-half long March 25 meeting…
Springtime feels like the Earth is born again
VASSALBORO — Spring is such an exciting time! It feels like the Earth is born anew: the light bringing warm breezes, scents of moisture and greenery. The birds return, frogs start to sing, and humans step out into their yards to inspect the wreckages of winter. There are a few primary things us arborists look for when evaluating a property for safety and trees for health or signs of damage…
COMMUNITY COMMENTARY: Igniting the spark through volunteering
CENTRAL ME — My personal journey into volunteering began in 2013 when I flew home to Texas to be by my grandpa’s side before he died… by John Kleindienst DAV National Voluntary Services Director
ShineOnCass Community Service Scholarship
ALBION — The ShineOnCass Foundation will award a $1,000 ShineOnCass Community Service Scholarship to one area high school senior who makes service and kindness part of their everyday life. The scholarship is created in honor and memory of Cassidy Charette, a longtime volunteer in the central Maine community and former Messalonskee student, who died in a hayride accident in 2014…
Ezhaya scholarship applications now available
WATERVILLE — This is now a 4-year scholarship and $750 will be given upon completion of the first semester of each college year with a grade point achievement of 2.0 or better…
Name that film!
Identify the film in which this famous line originated and qualify to win FREE passes to The Maine Film Center, in Waterville: “Yo, Adrian!” Email us at townline@townline.org with subject “Name that film!” Deadline for submission is April 3, 2025.
Local happenings
EVENTS: Holy week schedule at SCCC
CHINA – As part of Holy Week, South China Community Church (SCCC) offers several special services: Palm Sunday (April 13, at 10 a.m.), Maundy Thursday (April 17, at 6 p.m.), Good Friday (April 18, at 6 p.m.), and of course, Easter (April 20, at 10 a.m.). This year, for the first time, Pastor Paul Harwath is providing a copy of the Shroud of Turin for viewing and contemplation…
EVENTS: 100 Women Who Give event will award $10,000 to local charity
WATERVILLE — Waterville Area Women’s Club will host its second annual “100 Women Who Give” event Thursday, April 10, at 6 p.m., at Snow Pond Center for the Arts, in Sidney, where attendees will cast live voting to select one local nonprofit to receive a $10,000 unrestricted gift…
EVENTS: History of Sanitary District topic of WHS talk
WATERVILLE – Join local resident and Kennebec Sanitary Treatment District Superintendent, Nick Champagne, for a photo journey through the process of creating the facility and how it serves to keep the Kennebec River clean. Saturday, April 5, door opens at 2 p.m., Nick’s presentation begins at 2:30 p.m. Admission is free, donations gladly accepted…
EVENTS: ShineOnCass animal baby shower & PJ party
ALBION – Children dressed in their pajamas will welcome baby lambs, goats, calves and other newborn animals also wearing pajamas, on Sunday, May 4, at the ShineOnCass Animal Baby Shower & PJ Party at Hart-to-Hart Farm & Education Center, in Albion…
Obituaries
CHINA – Jessica Ann (Levesque) Stuart, 46, passed away on Tuesday, March 25, 2025, following a long battle with a terminal illness. She was born on July 28, 1978 to Roger Levesque and Connie (Quimby) Levesque, in China…
CALENDAR OF EVENTS: China Community Garden to hold workshops
CHINA – On Saturday, April 12, the China Community Garden invites you to its first of many biweekly talks and hands-on workshops at the portable building next to the China Town Office, 571 Lakeview Drive, from 10 a.m. and noon. You will be provided with seeds and starting materials for your first plantings of this year. Free to those who have registered for space as members of the China Community Garden, and $25 for nonmembers. Limit 20 participants. Register at chinaforalifetime@gmail.com by Thursday, April 10… and many other local events!
EVENTS: Local central Maine Town Meetings schedule for 2025
CENTRAL ME – List of area town meetings. To be included in this list, visit our Contact Us page or send an email to The Town Line at townline@townline.org…
Up and Down the Kennebec Valley: Lower courts & Augusta Courthouse (new)
CENTRAL ME HISTORY — Last week’s article summarized part of the origin of Maine’s court system, including the 1820 creation of the state Supreme Court. The next level below the Supreme Court, according to William Penn Whitehouse’s information in Henry Kingsbury’s 1892 Kennebec County history, was the court of common pleas… by Mary Grow
Up and Down the Kennebec Valley: Courts
CENTRAL ME HISTORY — One of the chapters in Henry Kingsbury’s 1892 Kennebec County history is about the courts. The next chapter is titled The Kennebec Bar and names members of the Kennebec Bar who practiced as lawyers and/or held judgeships or other legal positions… by Mary Grow
Up and Down the Kennebec Valley: Vassalboro Ctr./Getchell’s Corner
VASSALBORO HISTORY — When Henry Kingsbury started his detailed description of the Town of Vassalboro in his 1892 Kennebec County history, he named six “post hamlets” and five “prominent localities.” Each post village was also a “manufacturing and mercantile” center, he said… by Mary Grow
Up and Down the Kennebec Valley: Windsor High Schools
WINDSOR HISTORY — Last week’s story covered primary schooling in the Town of Windsor, south of China and Vassalboro and east of Augusta in the Kennebec Valley. This week’s article will add a bit of information on Windsor high schools, plus a biographical sketch of an early area settler who was Windsor’s first primary-school teacher…. by Mary Grow
Common Ground: Win a $10 gift certificate!
DEADLINE: Wednesday, April 10, 2025
Identify the people in these three photos, and tell us what they have in common. You could win a $10 gift certificate to Hannaford Supermarket! 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: Robin Marchesi, Vassalboro
Town Line Original Columnists
SCORES & OUTDOORS
by Roland D. Hallee | Last week while looking out my kitchen window, I observed a flock of starlings that had settled in a nearby tree. There were so many, it looked like the tree was completely leafed out with its summer dress. There had to be dozens of them. It reminded me of many years ago when I had some thick brush in my backyard. Dozens of starlings would show up to feed…
REVIEW POTPOURRI
by Peter Cates | Aram Khachaturian (1903-1978) composed some of the most colorful, captivating music in these Ballets and the Piano Concerto. The exotic rhythms and atmospheric poetry give a unique beauty to a composer who was deeply rooted in his Armenian background, his most popular piece being the Gayaneh Sabre Dance which has been used innumerable times as background for chase or fighting scenes in cartoons and for TV commercials…
FOR YOUR HEALTH
HEALTH | Migraine is a debilitating neurological disease that affects one billion people worldwide, but it is not just an adult disease. For the 1 in 10 children diagnosed with this complex and incurable condition, it can be a daily battle that affects academic performance, impacts friendships, and leads to diminished quality of life. And many struggle for years before receiving a proper diagnosis…