by Mary Grow VASSALBORO, ME — At a brief special meeting May 10, Vassalboro School Board members unanimously hired Ira Michaud as the new principal at Vassalboro Community School (VCS). Michaud will take office July 1, succeeding Megan Allen, who resigned earlier this spring and plans to return to teaching. He is currently ending his […]
by Mary Grow VASSALBORO, ME — Public works issues – 2022 paving plans and the need for a new truck – were the main topics at the May 12 Vassalboro select board meeting. Road Foreman Gene Field said Vassalboro received seven bids for road repaving this summer, all higher than the proposed 2022-23 budget can […]
by Mary Grow Augusta Two distinctly non-British peoples who came to live mainly in Augusta and Waterville, the largest manufacturing centers in the central Kennebec Valley in the 19th and early 20th centuries, were French-Canadians who came south from Canada’s Québec Province, and Middle Easterners, especially Lebanese and Syrians. This article will talk about French-Canadians […]
by Roland D. Hallee There has been a lot of discussion and controversy lately about the plight of whales in the North Atlantic, in particular about the Right Whale, and their interaction with lobstermen. Maine’s lobstermen have fought national conservation groups over federal gear rules and fishery closures intended to protect endangered whales. During a […]
by Mary Grow At their May 4 meeting, China Broadband Committee (CBC) members continued discussion of working with Unitel and Direct Communications to bring expanded broadband service to China residents. CBC Chairman Robert O’Connor planned to present an interim report to China Select Board members at their May 9 meeting. As at their previous joint […]
by Mary Grow Vassalboro Planning Board members unanimously approved all four applications on their May 3 agenda. They also discussed increased town permit fees, an item that will appear on the May 12 select board agenda. Two shoreland permits were approved, for John Northrop to replace a house at 78 Three Mile Pond Road with […]
by Mary Grow The May 9 China Select Board meeting began with a half-hour public hearing on three of the items to be submitted to voters on June 14: the Large Scale Solar Facilities Moratorium Ordinance (Art. 37), the updated town comprehensive plan (Art. 38) and the 2022-23 municipal budget (Arts. 2 through 21, and […]
by Mary Grow Waterville, Winslow, Windsor The Samuel Osbornes discussed in last week’s article were not the only Black family in 19th-century Waterville. Various sources mention several others, though details are often scanty and/or confusing. Local historians did not consistently state the race or nationality of people they wrote about. For example, the index to […]
by Mary Grow Vassalboro select board members had a varied agenda at their April 28 meeting, discussing topics that included the upcoming June 6 and June 14 annual town meeting; town committees; PFAS (per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances) that might have been in sludge that might have been spread in the 1990s; and upcoming celebrations. Board members […]
by Mary Grow China Planning Board members spent a second meeting the evening of April 26 mostly discussing new and revised ordinances they hope to ask voters to approve in November (see The Town Line, April 21, p. 3). They made two unanimous decisions about ordinance revisions. One recommended change, in the Land Use Ordinance, […]