LEGAL NOTICES for Thursday, December 10, 2020

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STATE OF MAINE
PROBATE COURT
COURT ST.,
SKOWHEGAN, ME
SOMERSET, ss
NOTICE TO CREDITORS
18-A MRSA sec. 3-801

The following Personal Representatives have been appointed in the estates noted. The first publication date of this notice December 10, 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.

2020-321 – Estate of GERTRUDE LEONA ZANE, late of Skowhegan , Me deceased. Alice L. Walter d/b/a Lorraine A. Water, 19 Pennell Street, Skowhegan, Maine 04976 appointed Personal Representative.

2020-324 – Estate of RUTH E. SYLVESTER, late of Madison, Me deceased. Linda S. Garland, 678 White Schoolhouse Road, Madison, Maine 04950 appointed Persona Representative.

2020-326 – Estate of ELIZABETH C. HART, late of Canaan, Me deceased. Robert L. Hart, P.O. Box 116, Canaan, Maine 04924 appointed Personal Representative.

2020-328 – Estate of LILLIAN WHITE (SMITH) FRAZIER, late of Hartland, Me deceased. Andrea Delligatti, 1565 Willow Springs Road, Dallas, GA 30132 appointed Personal Representative.

2020-246 – Estate of BERTELLE W. THIBODEAU, late of Madison, Me deceased. Alan Thibodeau, 513 Preble Avenue, Madison, ME 04950 appointed Personal Representative.

2020-025 – Estate of MARCIA COLLINS, late of Smithfield, Me deceased. Paul R. Dionne, Esq,, 465 Main Street, Suite 201, Lewiston, Me 04240-6738 appointed Personal Represenattive.

To be published on December 10, 2020 & December 17, 2020.

Dated: December 7, 2020 /s/ Victoria Hatch,
Register of Probate
(12/17)

STATE OF MAINE
PROBATE COURT
41 COURT ST.
SOMERSET, ss
SKOWHEGAN, ME
PROBATE NOTICES

TO ALL PERSONS INTERESTED IN ANY OF THE ESTATES LISTED BELOW

Notice is hereby given by the respective petitioners that they have filed petitions for appointment of personal representatives in the following estates or change of name. These matters will be heard at 1 p.m. or as soon thereafter as they may be January 6, 2021. The requested appointments or name changes may be made on or after the hearing date if no sufficient objection be heard. This notice complies with the requirements of 18-C MRSA §3-403 and Probate Rule 4.

2020-303 – Estate of STEPHANIE FAITH DRINKWATER. Petition for Change of Name (Adult) filed by Stephanie Faith Drinkwater, 220 Chadbourne Road, Harmony, Maine 04942 requesting her name be changed to Stephanie Faith Ireland for reasons set forth therein.

Dated: December 7, 2020 /s/ Victoria Hatch,
Register of Probate
(12/17)

Solstice project reaches out to Waterville students & families

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Kacie Gerow, left, with daughter Roslyn Gerow. (contributed photo by Tony Gerow)

The Winter Solstice Luminary Project will expand and amplify the Art Kits for All program across Waterville – literally lighting up the city by providing luminary kits to approximately 1,600 students enrolled in the Waterville public schools. Waterville Creates, in collaboration with community partners, including the Colby College Museum of Art, Kennebec Montessori School, Waterville School District, Family Violence Project, Waterville Parent Teacher Association, Northern Stars Planetarium, and the Children’s Discovery Museum will distribute kits to area schools on Thursday, December 17. The free kits will include materials for two luminaries per kit along with battery operated candles. Students and their families are encouraged to place the crafted luminaries at their homes and businesses throughout the city on December 21 between 4 and 6:30 p.m. to collectively celebrate the winter solstice.

“This project is designed to create a shared joyful experience while we practice social distancing and continue to navigate the challenges of the pandemic. It’s also a creative and collaborative way to illuminate our city during the solstice,” says Serena Sanborn, Education + Outreach Coordinator for Waterville Creates.

Naomi Shirley makes a luminary. (contributed photo by Shannon Haines)

The Winter Solstice Luminary Project is part of the very successful Art Kits for All program which was launched in May 2020 in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. This program is an innovative, collaborative program designed to keep families engaged and connected to the arts. By providing free art supplies and instructions, this program offers high-quality, accessible art experiences in a completely reimagined way. To date, over 1,600 art kits have been distributed to hundreds of area families since mid-April. This is the largest single distribution the Art Kit team has undertaken.

The Winter Solstice is the shortest day and longest night of the year and occurs each December in the Northern Hemisphere. The solstice event occurs as a direct result of the Earth’s tilt and relative position to the sun. In many cultures throughout the world, people have holidays and festivities that involve lights to celebrate the Solstice. Creating luminaries around the solstice is a tradition that dates back thousands of years.

Join Waterville Creates and its partners as they bring light to the longest night of the year! For more instructions on creating your luminary, please visit the Waterville Creates YouTube channel on or after December 4.

Critical support for this program has been provided by Kennebec Savings Bank, MaineGeneral Health, Colby Center for the Arts + Humanities, United Way of Mid-Maine with additional support from Bangor Savings Bank and dozens of individual donors.

Give Us Your Best Shot! for Thursday, December 10, 2020

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To submit a photo for this section, please visit our contact page or email us at townline@townline.org!

PURPLE SKIES: Ashley Wills, of Palermo, photographed this unusual sunset over Sheepscot Lake recently.

GOOD EVENING: Pat Clark, of Palermo, captured these evening grosbeaks feeding on the ground near her home.

Changes are happening at Fairfield Center’s Victor Grange

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The dilapidated house that was razed. (photo contributed courtesy of Barbara Bailey)

Although it is not the first in its 146 years of existence, it is probably one of the most visibly noticeable.

Submitted by Barbara Bailey

Victor Grange has taken on another challenge. Although it is not the first in its 146 years of existence, it is probably one of the most visibly noticeable. As people drive through the Fairfield Center area they will notice that the house next to the Grange has been demolished. The house had been in a state of disrepair for many years and needed to be torn down. After a long battle and lots of negotiations with many parties, this has finally been accomplished.

The boot scraper that was located at the front door of the house above. (photo contributed courtesy of Barbara Bailey)

In 2015 the house was taken by the bank in foreclosure after the owner passed away. The lack of size for the land and setback restrictions from both the stream and road limited its potential. The bank put it up for auction twice but it never sold.

This area is a busy part of the Fairfield Center, and the house was located in the same block as the Volunteer Fire Dept., two businesses, and The Victor Grange – all quite active. With the need for parking in the area and restrictions on this lot, it was suggested that the bank turn the property over to the town to be demolished and used as a parking area/green space. The town received the property in December of 2016.

After three-and-a-half years of the house continuing to deteriorate, no action by the town, and no money in the budget to proceed, Victor Grange proposed that the town turn the property over to them. They too wanted to create parking and green space but felt with the help of the community and Friends of the Grange they could accomplish it faster.

Map of what is now Fairfield Center in 1860. Here, the intersection with Rte. 139, Fairfield St. and Ohio Hill Rd. (photo contributed courtesy of Barbara Bailey)

Though the demolition was inevitable, it is important to recognize that this area has such a rich history. Through research, it was established that in 1860 the house belonged to H.S. Toby, the local blacksmith; this was evident with the front step which consisted of a large piece of granite with an elaborate boot scraper embedded in the stone. This stone has been moved to the Grange until permanent placement, possibly in the new green space.

The surrounding area also has an interesting history. Through deeds, hand-drawn plans, and receipts in the Victor Grange records we know of purchases of the store, the schoolhouse, and the conversion of the Grange Store to the ell of the present hall.

On the 1860 map, this area was known as “Fairfield”, not Fairfield Center as it is now. It was a bustling village made up of the Town Meeting House (where all town business was conducted), church, parsonage, one-room schoolhouse, hotel, two stores, doctor’s office, blacksmith, carriage, tanner, and sleigh shops.

The legend of the business owners at the time for the 1860 map above. (photo contributed courtesy of Barbara Bailey)

From 1874 to 1899 Grange rented the “Old Town Meeting House” for their meetings until the current hall was built. In 1878 The Grange purchased one of the village stores to run as a Grange Co-Op, where members could purchase supplies at bulk pricing. When renting the Town Meeting House was no longer an option, the decision was made to build a new hall. At that time, the Grange Co-op/store was rotated 90 degrees and attached to the new hall, for use as the entrance/foyer, stairways, kitchen, bathrooms, coat and junior rooms

In the 1960s the state removed the old dam and fire pond and rerouted the Norridgewock Road thus making many new changes to the layout of the land in Fairfield Center. This meant the water from the pond was redirected behind the Grange and the house next door, each losing land to the new state road.

COMMUNITY COMMENTARY: Is our country ready to round the corner on race relations?

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by Charlotte Henderson

After the Civil War, during the Reconstruction Period in American history (1865 – 1877), many newly-freed blacks took advantage of the right to vote and the right to hold office. As slavery was abolished (13th Amendment to the Constitution), denial of voting rights on account of race was prohibited (15th Amendment), and means were set up for secessionist states (freed blacks, too) to rejoin the nation and vote (14th Amendment), there were as many as 2,000 black office holders. But the successes were short lived as, over only a decade or so, segregationist powers modified rules and carried out personal attacks that drove blacks out.

It wasn’t until the 1960s that they again held significant numbers of public offices. When Barack Obama became our nation’s first black president in 2009, it seemed a huge breakthrough for race relations and a hopeful signal for equality. But as the realization sank in that a person of color could actually get elected, latent prejudices were triggered and a not-so-subtle resistance developed against this black president’s success.

At the same time, people of color took it as inspiration to seek – even demand – their equal opportunities and treatment in our society which provoked more resistance. Many citizens had gut fear that “those people” were not caving in to white supremacy anymore and the fear shows up as anger and hostility.

Early on in the Obama presidency, in a Senate committee meeting, upon hearing a committee member caution that they couldn’t let Obama have a success, Maine Senator Angus King, asked, “Then what the hell are we doing here?” He was asking why the committee even bothered to discuss it if the foregone conclusion was that they wouldn’t push it forward. Many proposals died in committee due to that attitude.

It seems evident that the election of a black president revealed the possibility that blacks – and, by extension, any people of color and other marginalized citizens – might actually have a shot at true equality. So, as in post-Reconstruction times, resistance to that idea signaled a movement to squelch the notion by suppressing their initiative.

It seems likely that we’re all in for another long and rocky lap in the race toward equality. But this time there are greater numbers and more political savvy. And, the American spirit and idealism that led to the Founding Fathers’ dream of a new kind of country is alive and well in a lot of our countrymen and women. We must keep striving.

Community Commentary is a forum The Town Line makes available for citizens to express their opinions on subjects of interest to our readers, and is not necessarily the views of the staff or the board of directors. The Town Line welcomes, and encourages, supportive comments, differing opinions, counterpoints or opposing views. Keep the rebuttals positive, and informative. Submissions containing personal attacks will be rejected.

POETRY CORNER: A Father’s Point of View

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by Gary Haskell

Freshly freed from her mother’s
womb,
her tininess fills the sterile room.
First gulped air, airs her plea;
“Look at Me, Daddy,
Look at Me!”

With inches bought
by selling years
The baby leaves, a young
lady appears.
Dress-up, dolls, parties of tea;
different forms of “Look at Me.”

Another man stands by her side.
A band plays, “Here Comes
the Bride.”
On Father’s face the tears
flow free.
Perhaps the final, “Look at Me.”

Freshly freed from her
mother’s womb,
her tininess fills the
viewing room.
Laying in total serenity:
“Look at Me, Grampy,
Look at Me!”

Like to write poetry and would like to share them with others? Submit your work to The Town Line, by sending an email at townline@townline.org.

REVIEW POTPOURRI: Ten Famous Sopranos

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Peter Catesby Peter Cates

Ten Famous Sopranos

London, OS 26206, LP, 1973 release.

This anthology makes for a wonderful introduction to the appreciation of great opera (I know some consider great and opera an oxymoron) via 10 of the finest sopranos active during the last century, although I notice two of London records finest artists Inge Borkh and Mirella Freni are missing.

Renata Tebaldi

Renata Tebaldi, 1922-2004, delivers a heart-rending Vissi D’Arte from Giacomo Puccini’s opera of tragedy, Tosca, in which she is pleading with God to alleviate her sorrow. During Tebaldi’s first engagement in Italy in 1944, she travelled the many miles to and from it on a horse-driven cart under heavy machine gun fire during wartime. Two years later, the great conductor Arturo Toscanini told her that ‘she had the voice of an angel.’

Joan Sutherland

Joan Sutherland, 1926-2010, sings an aria from Gounod’s Faust. She made her very successful Covent Garden debut in Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor and was visited backstage by Maria Callas, who was a huge fan and one of her best friends. She and her husband, conductor Richard Bonynge, who’s still living, were both from Sydney, Australia.

Leontyne Price

Leontyne Price, still living at 93, had during her prime years a voice that combined sheer power and astounding beauty. She was from Mississippi and received a scholarship to study voice at Juilliard School of Music in NYC. Within a few short years, she had a recording contract with RCA Victor. Here she sings a magnificent aria from Verdi’s Aida.

Birgit Nilsson

Swedish soprano Birgit Nilsson, 1918-2005, had lungs of steel and recorded the dramatic roles in Wagner and Richard Strauss’s crazy operas — the Wagner 16 hour Ring cycle and Strauss’s violent masterworks, Salome and Elektra. She could also give sweet renditions of Swedish lullabies.

She sings a jubilant aria from Wagner’s Tannhauser.

Regine Crespin

French soprano Regine Crespin, 1927-2007, personified a delectable refinement in her low, middle and upper vocal register.

She was also notorious for her rough and tough high standards and bad temper; during the recording of Wagner’s Die Walkure with tenor James King, he missed a cue and she kicked him on the shin.

She sings Santuzza’s heart-breaking lament, Voi Lo Sapete, from Mascagni’s gorgeous Cavalleria Rusticana, an opera that received 14,000 performances in Italy alone during the composer’s lifetime.

The remaining five sopranos are Pilar Lorengar, Zinka Milanov, Elena Souliotis, Marilyn Horne, and Gwyneth Jones who each sing, in order of appearance, arias from Puccini’s Madame Butterfly, Ponchielli’s La Gioconda, Verdi’s La Forza del Destino, Bizet’s Carmen and Wagner’s Flying Dutchman.

In short, a record to cherish.

* * * * * *

W. H. Auden

Some lines from the poem Little Things by the prize-winning 25-year-old Romanian poet Anastasia Gavrilovici in an English translation by Caterina Stanislav and Vlad Pojoga:

“Maybe people really do give their best shot when they’re crushed, just like olives/ Or maybe not, what do I know, my mind is a piece of Swiss cheese through which you can hear the music of lab rats.”

W.H. Auden wrote a poem, The Age of Anxiety, during World War II. Anas­tasia’s poem mirrors the current anxiety going on due to the pandemic and other on-going issues. She is definitely a poet of interest.

 

 

 

2020-’21 Real Estate Tax Due Dates

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Albion

Tax year runs Feb. 1 to January 31
Taxes due September 30, 2020

China

First Half
Sept. 26, 2020

Second Half
March 26, 2021

Fairfield

Four quarters

November 10, 2020
January 6, 2020
March 10, 2020
May 12, 2020

Vassalboro

One fourth
Sept. 28, 2020

One fourth
November 23, 2020

One fourth
Feb. 22, 2021

One fourth
April 26, 2021

Waterville

First quarter
Oct. 9, 2020

Second quarter
Dec. 11, 2020

Third quarter
March 12, 2021

Fourth quarter
June 11, 2021

Windsor

First Half
September 30, 2020

Second Half
March 31, 2021

Winslow

Four quarters

October 9, 2020
December 11, 2020
March 12, 2021
June 11, 2021

To be included in this section, contact The Town Line at townline@townline.org.

FOR YOUR HEALTH: Supporting Children And Teens In Managing Their Diabetes

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Young people with diabetes need support from the adults in their lives.

(NAPSI)—Diabetes is not just an adult disease. It’s one of the most common chronic conditions affecting children and teens in the United States. Today, it affects about 193,000 youth under 20 years of age and rates of newly diagnosed cases in young people are increasing.

When a young person has diabetes, it can be difficult to determine whether the disorder is type 1 or type 2. In either case, managing the diabetes is very important for long-term health.

Children and teens need support from their parents or other adult caregivers to manage their diabetes. Research shows that managing diabetes best works when adults and youth work as a team. The young person can gradually take on more responsibility, with the adult monitoring from a distance and making changes as needed.

Here are the main tasks that need to be covered in a diabetes plan:

• Manage blood glucose levels. An important goal for youth with diabetes is to take medicines as prescribed, at the right time, and in the right dose—even when they feel good or have reached their suggested target for blood glucose goals. Research shows that health complications can be greatly reduced, delayed, or possibly prevented by keeping blood glucose levels near normal. It’s also important to consistently take prescribed blood pressure or cholesterol medicines.

• Adopt healthy habits. Youth with diabetes should follow a healthy eating plan that allows enough calories for growth but avoids added sugar and fat. Getting enough sleep is also important. Some strategies that parents and youth can negotiate are to turn off electronics before bedtime and to keep a regular sleep schedule. A third important healthy habit is regular physical activity. If possible, youth should check blood glucose levels before, during, and after a game or a sport, to help monitor blood glucose levels.

• Stay prepared for emergencies. A “go kit” that young people can assemble with help from adults includes at least a week’s worth of medical supplies and equipment, a three-day supply of food, emergency and health care professional contact lists, a medication list including doses and dosing schedules, and an allergy list. During the COVID-19 pandemic, face coverings, hand sanitizer, and disinfecting wipes can be added to the go kit. Adults can reinforce with young people the value of social distancing, along with use of these go kit supplies, to prevent spread of infection.

• Monitor for diabetes complications. Early diagnosis and treatment can help reduce risk for heart disease, vision loss, nerve damage, and other related health problems.

• Seek mental health support. It can be very helpful for young people with diabetes to connect with others their own age who also have diabetes. This can help reduce stress and anxiety and boost motivation for sticking to a plan to manage their diabetes. The young person’s health care team should have information on youth support groups (online or in-person) and other mental health resources.

The National Institute on ­Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) spearheads research to help improve diabetes management and treatment in children and teens. “Our understanding of how type 2 diabetes affects youth is still maturing,” says NIDDK Director Dr. Griffin P. ­Rodgers. “We must continue to explore treatments to ensure that these young people can live long, healthy lives.”

For more information on managing diabetes, visit the NIDDK website, www.niddk.nih.gov.

THE MONEY MINUTE: Cryptocurrencies are here to stay

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by Jac M. Arbour CFP®, ChFC®
President, J.M. Arbour Wealth Management

Many people have heard of Bitcoin. It is the most popular crypto on the planet. However, it is one of only many. How many may you ask? Around 7,000 as I write this. Alternative coins, also known as altcoins, such as Ripple, Litecoin, and Ethereum, are also highly popular and in strong demand.

Ethereum is one of the altcoins that is having a banner year due mostly to the hype around DeFi, a term used to describe Decentralized Finance, which has resulted in systems that are typically built on Ethereum’s blockchain technology. What is this, and why is it important? Here is my thought on that.

For years, people have been asking me about cryptocurrencies and my thoughts on Bitcoin. My answer has always been the same: do not focus only on the market value of the coins, but also on the technology that supports those coins and gives those coins life and longevity, or the lack thereof.

More specifically, pay attention, and more important, study the underlying blockchain technology that makes any specific cryptocurrency all that it is. Once you understand the power and infinite capacity of the blockchain, you will realize that the value is not only in the fluctuations of the market price of the coins or in the coins themselves, but in how the underlying technology will change the world, in every sector and every industry, within ten years. Maybe less.

Decentralized Finance is blockchain technology in motion, aimed at creating decentralized instruments and platforms that allow for trading options, lending capital, exchanging currencies, and doing it in a way where there is no third-party intermediary, it is completely anonymous and essentially, instantaneous.

Blockchain technology will change how people buy everything and anything. It will change how we buy homes and our need for attorneys, closings, title insurance, etc. It will change how we prove what we own. It will change the need for a registry of deeds, as the blockchain can instantly prove, and transfer when needed, ownership of anything: a home, a business, a vehicle, an heirloom.

It will change how we are prescribed medication, how we order it, pay for it, and how it is delivered. It will compound the effects of artificial intelligence and team up with it to create AI that becomes, and is already known, as super AI. The applications are endless.

Pay attention to some of the altcoins. As DeFi ramps us, and as bitcoin is more universally adopted, these other coins could follow suit. In all cases, do not pay attention to only the coins, but also to the universal applications of the underlying technology: blockchain. It is the lifeblood of these coins and so much more to come.

Here is what I promise: Learn more about blockchain, and you will uncover more opportunities than just cryptocurrencies.

See you all next month.

Jac Arbour CFP®, ChFC®

Jac Arbour is the President of J.M. Arbour Wealth Management. He can be reached at 207-248-6767.

Investment advisory services are offered through Foundations Investment Advisors, LLC, an SEC registered investment adviser.

John Auer joins J. M. Arbour

John Auer

J.M. Arbour welcomes John Auer to the team. John is a current student at Bowdoin College (Class of 2023) and joins the JMA team as a Relationship De­velopment Assistant. John has an in­her­ent in­terest in financial planning and private wealth management, and found alignment with JMA’s unique level of client commitment and our investment in ending childhood hunger in Maine. Welcome to the team, John. We are honored to have you.

See also: TECH TALK: Virtual Money – The next evolution in commerce