by Mary Grow Vassalboro select board members began their Oct. 3 meeting with a public hearing that drew nine residents to learn about three Nov. 5 local referendum questions. The first question asks residents to approve matching funds to be available if the town receives grants to help replace the Dunlap Bridge on Mill Hill […]
by Mary Grow Part 2 Maine Law (Read Part 1 here.) Massachusetts residents who moved to Maine brought with them the Massachusetts enthusiasm for education, as noted last week. Alma Pierce Robbins, in her 1971 Vassalboro history, quoted from a report coming, ironically, from an October 1785 Portland convention called to discuss separating Maine from […]
by Mary Grow Introduction and Massachusetts law One of the many questions your writer has not yet answered – and may never – is why, in the 1700s, people left comparatively comfortable homes in Massachusetts and similar places to come to the Kennebec Valley, on the Massachusetts frontier. They got free or low-cost land, to […]
by Mary Grow Two Vassalboro Public Library trustees, board President Elizabeth McMahon and secretary Valerie Sugden, summarized library progress and plans for town select board members at the Sept. 19 select board meeting. They said recent changes include expanded hours – the library is open six days a week, all but Sundays – and conversion […]
by Mary Grow At a short Sept. 24 meeting, China Planning Board members approved two agenda items, with almost no discussion. As promised, Ironwood Maine representative Wade Bedsaul brought a map showing locations of two new small buildings and a parking lot expansion (from four spaces to seven) at the South China residential facility for […]
by Mary Grow The promise of fresh-baked apple crisp with ice cream drew nine people to the China select board’s Sept. 23 public hearings on Nov. 5 local warrant articles and on amendments to the town’s General Assistance Ordinance. Six stayed for at least part of the select board meeting that followed. The apple crisp […]
by Mary Grow Vassalboro Community School’s new staff for 2024-25 include two people with experience in Alaska, Superintendent Alan Pfeiffer said. One of them spoke with school board members at their Sept. 10 meeting. Seventh- and eighth-grade science teacher Tracy Hodge said his previous jobs included five years teaching in Alaska, three in a Yupik […]
by Mary Grow China Planning Board members approved one request at their Sept. 10 meeting and postponed action on another, probably to Sept. 24. Novel Energy, represented virtually by Ralph Addonizio, received a one-year extension to begin construction of a solar development on the section of Parmenter Hill Road called Moe’s Mountain. Board members approved […]
by Mary Grow Relations between China and Palermo were a major topic discussed, in a friendly way, at the Sept. 10 China Transfer Station Committee meeting. Only one of Palermo’s two committee members, Bob Kurek, was present. He reported that the Palermo select board is “all set” with the draft revised agreement between the two […]
by Mary Grow Vassalboro Planning Board members had two agenda items at their Sept. 3 meeting. They were not asked to act yet on Revision Energy’s revised plan for a solar farm on Webber Pond Road. It will probably be on the board’s Oct. 1 agenda. They approved Central Maine Power Company’s application for shoreland […]