by Eric W. Austin The fire at Notre-Dame Cathedral, in France, was still burning on Monday evening, April 15, as a small group gathered at St. Bridget’s Community Center, in Vassalboro, to celebrate the service of the soldiers who had freed that country from Nazi occupation 75 years earlier. The devastation unfolding in Paris was […]
by Eric W. Austin Nearly 40 people gathered at Aunt Gin’s restaurant, in Whitefield, for the Windsor Volunteer Fire Department’s annual meeting on Thursday, April 11. The highlight of the evening was the presentation of distinguished service awards to four individuals who have contributed significantly to the Windsor VFD over the years. Jon Mittelman, who […]
by Eric W. Austin “French is French,” Charles Hicks tells me adamantly over coffee at Pat’s Pizza, on State Street. Hicks is the coordinator and sole teacher for the Maine French Heritage Language Program, in Augusta. He’s lamenting the idea that the French spoken in Maine isn’t perceived as “real” French. Maine has a rich […]
by Eric W. Austin rowing up near China Village in the latter half of the last century, there was one place everyone visited at least once a week. Officially named China General Store, Incorporated, most of us knew it simply as “Jack’s.” It was the center of life in China Village for more than 50 […]
by Eric W. Austin (The views of the author in the following column are not necessarily those of The Town Line newspaper, or its staff and board of directors.) Where is everybody? That’s the question posed by Italian physicist and Nobel Prize winner Enrico Fermi in 1950 over a casual lunch with his fellow physicists […]
by Eric W. Austin A child’s death, even when expected, is never easy. “We’ve always lived with the idea that it could happen,” Sarah Watson, of Vassalboro, tells me. It’s November 6. Outside, the rain is coming down in torrents. It’s been two weeks since the death of Sarah’s daughter, Katie. She was 19. “Even […]
by Eric W. Austin For those towns waiting for the new Fiberight recycling facility in Hampden to come online, the end is nearly in sight. At an October 24 meeting with the Municipal Review Committee (MRC) Board of Directors, Fiberight CEO Craig Stuart-Paul presented a new construction schedule for the Material Recovery Facility that sees […]
by Eric W. Austin The China for a Lifetime Committee held a public meeting on Saturday, November 17, at the China Lake Camp and Conference Center to launch a volunteer initiative as part of their mission to improve the lives of residents through community activism. The committee had identified 18 areas where volunteers can help […]
by Eric W. Austin “I went to college with no intention of joining the military,” retired Army Colonel Steve Ball, a 27-year veteran of the armed forces, tells me at the start of our interview. We’re sitting at the kitchen table of the old farmhouse in Windsor where Ball lives with his wife of 43 […]
by Eric W. Austin The China for a Lifetime Committee will host a public meeting about local volunteering needs and opportunities at 10 a.m. on Saturday, November 17, at the China Lake Camp and Conference Center (255 Neck Road). For the past several months, using feedback received from last year’s community survey, the China for […]