photo courtesy of South China Library
Come join Courtney Roy for South China Public Library story time (online) for some reading fun, songs and finger plays on Wednesday, December 9, at 6 p.m., right on the library Facebook page. This is geared towards ages 0-5.
The library is located on Main St., in South China Village.
For more information please visit the library’s website at southchinalibrary.org, or email them at southchinalibrary@gmail.com.
by Mary GrowChina Tax Increment Financing (TIF) Committee members spent most of their Nov. 17 virtual meeting talking about broadband funding with Jamie Pitney, speaking for the China Broadband Committee.
The Broadband Committee’s goals is to expand and improve internet access throughout China, including making service faster and more reliable for residents who already have it and extending it to unserved areas.
When China’s TIF program was set up, the state program that authorizes it did not include broadband service as eligible for TIF funding. In 2019, according to a report from Pitney, the state law governing the program was amended. TIF money can now be used “to pay costs related to broadband service development, expansion or improvement, including connecting to broadband service outside of a TIF district.”
TIF projects must promote economic development. Municipalities are allowed to use certain property taxes to fund local TIF programs. China supports its TIF activities from taxes on Central Maine Power Company’s north-south transmission line through town and its South China substation.
The Broadband Committee proposes amending China’s TIF document to make broadband expansion and improvement TIF-eligible. A separate proposed amendment would add water quality improvements, so that local groups working on erosion control and related projects around China Lake could receive TIF funding.
The process for amending the TIF document involves the TIF Committee making a recommendation to the selectmen; the selectmen writing a town meeting warrant article and holding a public hearing on the proposed changes; voters approving the amended program; and the state Department of Economic and Community Development approving the final product, Town Manager Becky Hapgood told committee members.
If the changes, known among town officials as Amendment Two or the Second Amendment (voters approved an earlier amendment that redistributed TIF funding), are to be on the warrant for China’s 2021 town business meeting, Hapgood said they need to be in final form by mid-March 2021. The town business meeting is currently scheduled for May 18, to be held by written ballot.
Pitney was not sure the Broadband Committee could act that fast. Selectmen just authorized the committee to hire a consultant, Mission Broadband Inc., to prepare a request for proposals for expanded service.
Pitney and TIF Committee members discussed whether they need to prepare amended wording or amended dollar amounts and decided the answer is both. Pitney had no estimate how much town-wide, fast and reliable internet service might cost; he suggested the “place-holder” $1.5 million in the current TIF budget might be much too low.
At the Broadband Committee two evenings later, Nov. 19, Pitney said committee members talked about how to develop a budget number for broadband work. They made no recommendation.
TIF Committee members agreed to hold a virtual budget workshop meeting at 2 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 1, with Hapgood to send attendees printed budget information in advance to make following the numbers easier. The next regular TIF Committee meeting, also virtual, is scheduled for 6 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 8.
by Mary GrowNot surprisingly, the Covid-19 pandemic dominated discussion at the Vassalboro School Board’s Nov. 17 meeting, leading to reluctant decisions and much praise for everyone involved in keeping the town school safe.
The most unenthusiastic decision was to postpone winter sports – basketball and cheerleading – as Assistant Principal Greg Hughes recommended. In addition to concern about indoor sports potentially spreading disease, the gymnasium is hosting after-school child-care until 5:30 p.m., severely limiting its use for sports, Hughes said.
Board member Jolene Gamage called the unanimous decision “unfortunate but understandable.” Given the unpredictability of the virus’s spread, board members agreed to revisit the issue at their December and January meetings.
On the recommendations of Superintendent Alan Pfeiffer and Principal Megan Allen, board members also agreed unanimously to continue the Wednesday early release days at least through January 2021. The class-free afternoons give teachers valuable time to continue to adapt their teaching materials and methods to remote learning and to exchange ideas and suggestions, Allen said.
Reports from Pfeiffer, Allen, school nurse MaryAnn Fortin and teacher/technology coordinator David Trask assured board members things are going well at Vassalboro Community School, under the circumstances.
There was heavy emphasis on safety measures for students, staff and families.
VCS has just reopened on an alternate-days basis after two weeks of 100 percent remote learning after one positive coronavirus test. Allen believes the closure averted a possible spread of the virus.
“I feel really good about that call. I think the CDC (Center for Disease Control and Prevention) recommendation was spot on,” Allen said. She thanked Pfeiffer and Fortin for supporting the decision.
Pfeiffer in turn thanked all the staff for being “hypervigilant” and doing more than their required jobs when necessary. Having no precedents to follow makes their situations extremely difficult, he pointed out.
Pfeiffer said he is in frequent touch with superintendents throughout Maine, especially those in the immediate area, and with Erskine Academy Headmaster Michael McQuarrie. On Nov. 17, following a third reported case of coronavirus, McQuarrie announced that Erskine would go to fully remote classes until Nov. 30. He emphasized that each case originated outside the South China high school; there has been no evidence of transmission inside the school.
Fortin expects soon to receive a supply of rapid-screening tests that can be given to staff members or students who show symptoms that might be coronavirus, with parental permission before a student is tested.
Vassalboro has a shortage of bus drivers, Pfeiffer said. Retired driver Ellie Lessard has returned to work as a substitute, and, Director of Finance Paula Pooler added, a four-week driving course attracted 12 students.
Pooler said Vassalboro has one new bus on the road and three more expected in December, purchased with Covid-19 money. Paperwork for the federal grants is keeping the business office “right out straight,” she said, but so far grants have provided enough money so that the school budget “has not been hit yet” by adaptations to the virus.
Trask’s report described some of the many steps that were needed to implement remote learning, especially buying technological equipment for students and staff. All students and staff members now have computers, he said. There are still a few students who do not have adequate cellphone or internet access to make distance learning easy.
Trask told board members additional equipment, technical support and money to maintain and repair the greater number of devices will be needed. He thanked Pfeiffer, Allen, Hughes and multi-school technical coordinator Will Backman for supporting his requests in March. As a result, he said, VCS was ready for remote learning the day school re-opened.
Backman told Trask, “You embody Vassalboro’s can-do attitude.” School Board Chairman Kevin Levasseur agreed.
In other business, board members accepted with regret Amy Benham’s resignation as special education director for Vassalboro and Winslow. Pfeiffer said the two school departments had advertised for a shared position and had no responses; now he and Winslow Superintendent Peter Thiboutot are advertising separately.
The next Vassalboro School Board meeting will be at 6 p.m., Tuesday, Dec. 15. It is almost certain to be a virtual meeting.
It’s one of Winslow’s most beloved holiday traditions! On Saturday, December 5, from noon to 2 p.m., Winslow Congregational Church (12 Lithgow Street) will be offering over 400 incredibly yummy, ready-to-be-baked turkey pies for curbside/drive-through pick-up. Cost is just $10 per pie, with all proceeds going to empower the Christian/humanitarian work of the church, and for building improvements and repairs.
Freshly-prepared for baking and featuring a mouth-watering blend of turkey, peas, celery, carrots, onions, broth, and a pinch of sage, each turkey pie will be perfect for supper or for freezing for later winter comfort-food enjoyment.
Also available will be fun-filled Holiday Pasta Packages for $5 each. Among the numerous offerings will be reindeer-shaped pasta, snowflake-shaped, snowman-shaped, and toy-shaped pasta. And for dessert-lovers with a holiday-season sweet tooth, homemade fruit pies made by members of Benton Falls Congregational Church will also be available for $10 each.
PLEASE NOTE: Due to the pandemic, health experts advise that you wear a mask when going through a drive-through.
For more information, please call Winslow Congregational Church at 872-2544.
by Gary KennedyThe Wampanoag Indian tribe and the first Plymouth Colonists, in the fall of the year 1620, shared a feast that we know as Thanksgiving today. The Wampanoag Indians are also known as the Wȭqanȭak. In the 17th century they were a loose grouping of several different tribes. (Pequot’s, Narragansett, Iroquois, Powhatan, Nipmue and Abenaki). Most of the tribes were under the protection of the Narragansett’s, historically the tribes would have two homes. These tribes for the most part lived in the area that we know as Rhode Island. The first European settlement was established in 1635. The winter home of the Wampanoag people was called a long house and in the summer the tribes would move to the shore line and build very large dug out logs or a type of canoe. These could hold as many as 40 men. These would be great for military efforts, transportation and fishing. They built temporary abodes which resemble igloos, for their summer stay along the ocean. Much to their dismay the Narragansett’s and affiliates joined with King Philip against the Massachusetts colonist and suffered a devastating defeat, thus breaking up the tribes of that time. They retreated to the forest. This is just a capsule of history.
You can research much more of this very interesting history. In any case, the first official greetings for Thanksgiving was given by the father of our country, George Washington. The foods that were part of this festivity was dominated by meat sources, deer, turkey, goose as well as chestnuts, onions, potato, turnip, and some herbs and spices. Boiling and roasting was the cooking method. There might have been some fish. So it wasn’t as elaborate as today’s fare. However, its purpose remains similar to today’s Thanksgiving, an American holiday.
I should mention that this is the 400th anniversary of the original holiday of 1620. Unfortunately, we can’t celebrate it as we should, four centuries is a long time with much history both good and bad. Thankfully we tend to lean toward the good.
We think of family, food, football and fun. I refer to this as the four F’s. However, this Thanksgiving we will need to work on this a little harder as these are very hard times for America and the world. The entire world is not well and seems like it is never going to end.
However, Americans are a resilient people and have experienced hard times before and not only survived but prospered, coming together to solve the issues that try to tear us apart. As we come into the holiday season we should remember who we are and from where we came. We should acknowledge all the positives and embrace all the blessings of which we all are a part. We are Americans free to think and believe what we like without ramification other than self reflection. Happiness is just a thought, smile and deed away. Let your heart be your life force and bring you to that happy place where people glow because of you. It really is up to each of us, one at a time. This leads to a group, population, and a society.
The fixin’s are the turkey and all that is spread before you. Let’s be an example for the world and get through these trying times together. Let’s put Thanksgiving in our hearts and let it radiate for the world to see. Share the wonders of this time with others, especially those who have lost their way and/or have so much less.
The key word here is find a way to share. Believe me, you will feel so much better when you and yours give to those who have feelings of envy when they see what you have and wish they had. Don’t let a tear be shed this season even though we are having a difficult time with Covid. Remember, “it’s not what you have or take with you, it’s what you’ve left behind.”
May God bless you, your family and friends, your table and those whose lives you touch. God bless.
Happy Thanksgiving from all of us.
China Cub Scout Pack #479 sold masks to help support scouting. (contributed photo)
Covid-19 has changed the way society has operated this year. Governments and businesses have altered operating practices and new rules have been put in place to keep everyone safe. The same is true for the programs of Scouting.
Waterville Troop #436 scout climbs the trail at Tumbledown this past August. (contributed photo)
“The Scout motto is ‘Be Prepared’,” said Kennebec Valley District Chair Kelly Pillsbury. “Scouts are prepared for hiking in bad weather. Scouts are prepared to treat someone in need of first aid. Scouts are prepared to teach others to protect nature. And Scouts are prepared to continue the programs of Scouting during a global pandemic.” Local Scout Troops and Packs have followed guidance from the State of Maine, the Center for Disease Control and from the National BSA to ensure they are doing all they can to keep Scouts and Scouters safe while delivering the values-based activities of Scouting.
“When our programs can meet indoors, we do so following the rules on masks, social distancing and frequent hand-washing,” Pillsbury said. “When we can’t meet indoors, we meet outdoors and follow the Covid-19 procedures. When we can’t do either, our Scouting Packs and Troops and leaders meet virtually. The generations before us overcame a lot and we will overcome this too,” she said. Scouts have stepped up to show that they don’t quit even during national emergencies.
For example, important ceremonies look a little different but continue to be held like Augusta’s Michael J. Fortin who was awarded his Eagle Scout rank during a socially-distanced ceremony in July and Cub Scout Christopher Smith of Pack #585 who, along with his parents, wore a mask when he received his Arrow of Light award, in Farmington.
At camping trips, hikes, meetings and other events, Scout leaders communicate with parents and Scouts to be sure each participates in the most appropriate and comfortable way possible. For some it is in person, for others it may be virtual. For any in-person event, Scouts, parents and leaders should be screened for any signs or symptoms of Covid-19 including coughing, shortness of breath, chills, etc. “We’ve gotten good at finding ways to make things work,” Pillsbury said. “Some of our Scouting units have met at schools but when schools are closed, no Scout meetings happen there, so we have learned to find alternative meeting sites.
When that isn’t possible, they have developed virtual meeting plans to help Scouting leaders keep their Scouting program going. It has become so important to our youth that things remain as close to normal as possible. I have been very impressed. Not only are the Scouts continuing to meet and camp and hike but they are finding ways to help others. Scouts are collecting food for food pantries, doing neighborhood cleanups, and sending emails and video messages to residents of nursing homes to encourage them.
In Jackman, the Scouts have asked for food donations for the needy and people can leave it on their step, let them know and a Scout will pick it up. The same is true in Camden and Rockport where Pack #200 Cubs put out fliers to area homes seeking food for the needy and then collecting on November 22. All while being safe and keeping those donating safe. Some of our Scouts, like Cubs in China Pack #479, have been selling masks to help others while helping support their programs. We want all of our Scouts, during this crisis and when things return to normal, to do a good deed every day. We all want this pandemic to be over soon, but until it is, Scouting will be there just as it has been for more than 100 years.”
Through December 21, all are encouraged to check gifts off their Christmas shopping list by visiting the St. Michael School Christmas Fair, being presented virtually due to the pandemic, at https://sites.google.com/smsmaine.org/smschristmasfair.
“People can shop from the convenience of their own homes anytime through the week of Christmas and have items shipped directly to their homes,” said Kevin Cullen, principal at St. Michael.
The fair, hosted by the St. Michael School Parent Association, is a fundraiser for the school and features many local vendors and items of interest, including a variety of décor, soy-based candles, health and wellness products, photographs and artwork, lavender products, doll clothes and accessories, nature mandalas from Maine, kitchen tools, pottery, oils, custom made gifts, wooden ornaments, clothing, and much more.
The fair has become one of the most popular in the area at Christmas. Traditionally, it draws a gym full of vendors, pictures with Santa, wreath auctions, food, gift wrapping, raffle baskets, and more.
For more information about this year’s virtual fair, call the school at (207) 623-3491.
by Debbie WalkerOh yeah, it is that time of year, the time to start preparing for the holidays. In a Woman’s Day magazine, April Franzino honored her family’s Thanksgiving tradition of serving dinner to homeless. However, her spin on it is to volunteer at a local food pantry. And, of course, either of these would work any day of any week.
An editor of Woman’s Day, Kaitlyn Pirie, focused her traditions on children. Again, hers was done for Turkey Day. Between dinner and dessert, they play games. They put butcher block paper for a tablecloth. Draw rectangles around each place setting and let them decorate.
Yet another tradition, by Lizz Schumer, of Woman’s Day, wrote that they take a walk around the neighborhood after dinner. They like to get moving and continuing conversations. Once they get back, they eat dessert.
Christy Pina, associated with the same magazine, says after dinner her mom asks everyone to write down for what they are thankful, (to me it seems we could do this on a daily basis and it wouldn’t hurt anyone). They all take turns reading them aloud and sharing.
One thing we started doing in my family years ago is called a “Memory Jar.” Because we only get together every so many years the memory jar had multiple uses. My mother and the Maine grandchildren used to enjoy reading about the memories we all had at that gathering. In later years Mom always had it handy. We took that idea and requested memories for Mom’s Celebration of Life party. No one seemed to mind. And we soooo… appreciated the words.
Don’t be afraid to add new traditions and with that thought I would like to recommend a tradition worth adding, for peace in the home:
I believe this applies mostly to the ladies. Year after year I hear women complaining about their spouses awful gifts to them for Christmas. “I don’t know what he was thinking to give me this. What am I going to do with a bread machine, I don’t bake!”
You may have been dropping hints for weeks. HE Won’t Get It. You can drop hints to your female friends, and they will understand but sad to say most men will still be without a clue!
I learned years ago to cut out a picture from a flyer. You are still leaving it to chance. You and I know very often we get to the store and “Oops” it’s gone. There were only three to begin with.
My answer to that was when I find something I want; I buy it, and much to his happiness he doesn’t have to struggle. The other option is order online with him sitting with you or you go to the store together. My history tells me he wants nothing to do with the store, shoppers, etc., so I would buy. Just a suggestion, but in my experience, it made for a peaceful holiday for all.
I’m just curious if you will share some of your traditions with me. You can, find me at DebbieWalker@townline.org. Please share. Thank you all for reading and have a great week!
The following Personal Representatives have been appointed in the estates noted. The first publication date of this notice November 12, 2020. If you are a creditor of an estate listed below, you must present your claim within four months of the first publication date of this Notice to Creditors by filing a written statement of your claim on a proper form with the Register of Probate of this Court or by delivering or mailing to the Personal Representative listed below at the address published by his name, a written statement of the claim indicating the basis therefore, the name and address of the claimant and the amount claimed or in such other manner as the law may provide. See 18-C M.R.S.A. §3-804.
2020-279 – Estate of FRANK A. ANDERSON SR., late of West Forks Plantation, Me deceased. Frank A. Anderson Jr., 303 Chestnut Hill Road, Chepachet, RI 02814 appointed Personal Representative.
2020-280 – Estate of HARRIET C. DOLAN, late of Bingham, Me deceased. Michael S. Dolan, 636 New Portland Road, Embden , Me 04958 appointed Personal Representative.
2020-284 – Estate of DAVID LEE CHADBOURNE, late of Harmony, Me deceased. Marsha Chadbourne, PO Box 216, Harmony, Me 04942 appointed Personal Representative.
2020-285 – Estate of EUNICE D. MICHAUD, late of Fairfield, Me deceased. David Michaud, 15 Victoria Drive, Waterville, Me 04901 appointed Personal Representative.
2020-286 – Estate of HAROLD CARL GORDON, late of New Portland, Me deceased. Joseph R. Gordon, 687 Industry Road, New Sharon, Me 04955 appointed Personal Representative.
2020-290 – Estate of HELEN B. LAZARIS, late of Harmony, Me deceased. Karen A. Gibbs, 17 Village Green Road, Waterville, Me 04901 appointed Personal Representative.
2020-030 – Estate of JULIA LYN CHESLEY, late of Norridgewock, Me deceased. Juliet M. Chesley, 668 White Schoolhouse Road, Madison, Maine 04950 appointed Personal Representative.
2020-291 – Estate of LILLIAN A. WASS, late of Mercer, Me deceased. Cynthia D. McDermott, 19 Wheeler Road, Pepperell, MA 01463 appointed Personal Representative.
2020-296 – Estate of GUSTAF F. AGREN, late of New Portland, Me deceased. Bruce G. Agren, 190 Carrabassett Road, New Portland, Me 04961 appointed Personal Representative.
2020-297 – Estate of JACKIE H. HINKLEY, late of New Portland, Me deceased. Jesse E. Hinkley, PO Box 36, New Portland, Me 04961 appointed Personal Representative.
2020-301 – Estate of DARRELL LEE WOOD, late of Fairfield, Me deceased. Susan Strout, 11 Pleasant Hill Drive, Waterville, Maine 04901 appointed Personal Representative.
2020-306 – Estate of BEVERLY A. NEWTON, late of Pittsfield, Me deceased. Roseann Newton, 550 Buckfield Road, Turner, Me 04282 appointed Personal Representative.
2020-307 – Estate of DEANNA L. NASON, late of Skowhegan, Me deceased. Leon A. Nason, 110 Bigelow Hill Road, Skowhegan, Me 04976 appointed Personal Representative.
2020-310 – Estate of PATRICIA F. HUBBARD, late of Hartland, Me deceased. William E. Hubbard, 4 AJ Drive, Norridgewock, Me 04957 appointed Personal Representative.
2020-313 – Estate of LILLIAN JOANNE COMEAU, late of Harmony, Me deceased. Tina M. Comeau, PO Box 215, Harmony, Me 04942 appointed Personal Representative.
2020-317 – Estate of ELTON D. POWERS, late of Skowhegan, Me deceased. Barbara Janel Goodman, 29 Alexis Lane, Hampton Falls, NH 03844 appointed Personal Representative.
2020-318 – Estate of MARY LOVELL, late of Anson, Me deceased. Beverly L. Noonan, 383 East River Road, Skowhegan, Me 04976 appointed Personal Representative.
To be published on November 12, 2020 & November 20, 2020.
Dated: November 9, 2020 /s/ Victoria Hatch,
Register of Probate
(11/19)
Cesar Cui
by Peter CatesOrientale; Glazunov: Arabian Melody.
Hans Kindler, cello, with orchestra. Victrola 702, ten inch acoustically recorded shellac from May 27th, 1920, and December 12th, 1921.
Cesar Cui (1835-1918), along with fellow composers Mily Balakirev (1837-1910), Alexander Borodin (1833-1887), Modeste Moussorgsky (1839-1881) and Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1844-1908), forged a bond known as the Russian five in writing music with nationalist feeling, rhythms and melodies of their country’s history, legends and folk music sources.
Moussorgsky was best known for the opera Boris Godunov, the Halloween showpiece Night on Bald Mountain and Pictures at an Exhibition. Unfortunately he drank himself into an early grave.
Borodin was a medical doctor and organic chemist and composed on a part time basis but left the justly popular opera Prince Igor with its exotic Polovetsian Dances and the delicate tone poem In the Steppes of Central Asia. He succumbed to a heart attack while attending a ball.
Rimsky-Korsakov was a naval officer but also taught composition to such pupils as Igor Stravinsky. His arguably most famous work is Scheherazade.
Mily Balakirev
Balakirev was a composer, pianist and conductor who left a solo piano showpiece Islamey and 1 Symphony of note and was the leader of the group as well.
Cesar Cui taught fortifications and wartime strategies at several military academies and may be the least known of the group. His Orientale for cello and orchestra was recorded two years after he died and has a plaintive melancholy and beauty rendering it worthy of popularity. Dutch-born cellist/conductor Hans Kindler (1892-1949) gave a deeply felt performance.
Alexander Glazunov was a famed teacher of composition whose most well-known student was Dimitri Shostakovich. He would unfailingly show up at concerts of his students music, no matter its quality and would sit in front row center with seemly very attentive listening. What was not noticed by many was that Glazunov stuffed his ears with paper tissue so he could be alone with his thoughts.
His very lyrical Arabian Melody also received a rapturous performance. And this old record has stood up with several hearings and can be heard via the internet.
Hans Kindler started the National Symphony Orchestra of D.C. from a small community group in 1931 and, despite the Depression, achieved extraordinary success. He recorded a batch of music on Victor 78 sets including a very exciting performance of Tchaaikovsky’s 3rd or Polish Symphony. His google images have a photo of him shaking hands with FDR.