Entries by Mary Grow

Select board OKs PSAP agreement with Waterville

by Mary Grow At a very short special meeting June 30, the last day of the 2022-23 fiscal year, China select board members paid about $78,000 in end-of-year bills and approved a PSAP (Public Service Answering Point) agreement with the City of Waterville. As planned, Waterville is picking up the job of answering emergency calls […]

China transfer committee updated on reopening of waste facility

by Mary Grow China transfer station committee members spent their July 11 meeting mostly on updates – the latest news locally and from the former trash-to-energy facility in Hampden to which China used to send waste and may again. The news from Hampden is that the Municipal Review Committee, which represents China and 114 other […]

Up and down the Kennebec Valley: Caring for the poor – Part 2

by Mary Grow How towns cared for their poor This article will continue the theme started June 14, how central Kennebec Valley towns took care of their poor residents, jumping across the Kennebec River from Augusta and Sidney to Vassalboro, Windsor, Palermo and China. The focus will remain – mostly – on the 19th century. […]

China planners hear two applications for self-storage units

by Mary Grow China planning board members began their June 27 meeting with sequential public hearings on two applications for self-storage facilities on Route 3, from Chris Harris and Lucas Adams (see the June 22 issue of The Town Line, p. 3). China codes officer Nicholas French had allowed half an hour per application. He […]

Up and down the Kennebec Valley: The story of Independence Day

by Mary Grow Local historians make some references to Independence Day celebrations According to Wikipedia, celebrating Independence Day on July 4 each year is most likely an error. The writer of the on-line site’s article on this national holiday says that the Second Continental Congress, meeting in a closed session, approved Virginia representative Richard Henry […]

China select board again postpones decision on elected officials

by Mary Grow China select board members again postponed a decision on whether some town officials should be elected from geographic districts, after a discussion with two planning board members who attended the June 20 select board meeting. The select board’s agenda included numerous other topics. Two were related to the transfer station: a suggested […]

Vassalboro appraiser explains property tax scenarios

by Mary Grow If I raise everyone’s property valuation by 20 percent, most Vassalboro taxpayers will see little if any tax increase, assessor Ellery Bane, of RJD Appraisal, told select board members and an interested audience at the June 22 select board meeting. If I do not raise everyone’s property valuation as planned, many, probably […]

Up and down the Kennebec Valley: Society of Friends in Vassalboro

by Mary Grow An address at the Vassalboro Historical Society On Sunday afternoon, June 18, Joann Clark Austin, of South China, a semi-retired lawyer and self-described “fifth-generation China Quaker,” spoke on the local history of Quakerism at the Vassalboro Historical Society. An Englishman named George Fox (July 1624 – Jan. 13, 1691) founded what became […]

China planners set two public hearings on self-storage units

by Mary Grow China Planning Board members have scheduled June 27 public hearings on two applications for self-storage buildings on Route 3. The applications, from Chris Harris and Lucas Adams, were on their June 15 agenda. Harris plans a 40-by-100-foot, 28-unit building at 623 Route 3, beside Central Church (the church’s address is 627 Route […]