by Mary Grow China Planning Board members heard an application for a trailer-based medical marijuana dispensary at their Nov. 10 Zoom meeting, and scheduled a site visit and a public hearing prior to taking action. Giovanni DelVecchio, of Augusta, said he is arranging to park his 18-foot-long converted travel trailer in front of the former […]
by Mary Grow Vassalboro Planning Board members approved one of three applications on their Nov. 10 agenda, in the course of a four-hour meeting under often-frustrating conditions. To accommodate the expected audience, which numbered more than two dozen at one point, board members held the meeting in St. Bridget’s Center, in North Vassalboro. The attractive […]
by Mary Grow Members of China’s Transfer Station Committee, meeting remotely the morning of Nov. 10, discussed a variety of trash-disposal and recycling issues, but made only one decision. They voted to ask that the 2020-21 town budget include $1,000 for committee expenses, so that members could, for example, get mileage reimbursement if they visit […]
by Mary Grow Allen, Vickery, Gannetts In addition to the nationally and internationally famous people profiled earlier in this series (James G. Blaine, Rufus Jones, Elijah Parish Lovejoy, Senator George Mitchell), other central Kennebec Valley residents have made significant contributions beyond the local area. An Augusta website gives Edward Charles Allen, known as E. C. […]
by Mary Grow At their Nov. 9 meeting, China selectmen approved two requests, from the Broadband Committee and the volunteer fire departments, and made several appointments. Since the meeting was the first after voters re-elected members Ronald Breton and Janet Preston and elected Blane Casey (to succeed Donna Mills-Stevens, who did not seek another term), […]
by Mary Grow Many local histories find the arrival and expansion of electricity and telephone service noteworthy, especially in Maine’s smaller communities. As most of us learned in grammar school, Benjamin Franklin is credited with discovering electricity in 1752, by flying a kite into a thunderstorm with a metal key attached to the wet string. […]
by Mary Grow In Nov. 3 local elections, China voters re-elected two incumbent selectmen and chose Blane Casey to fill the seat vacated by Donna Mills-Stevens. Results of the five-person race for three positions, reported by Town Clerk Angela Nelson well after 11 p.m. on Election Day, were as follows: Blane Casey, 1,445 votes; incumbent […]
by Mary Grow Members of China’s Tax Increment Financing (TIF) Committee spent most of their Oct. 27 virtual meeting reviewing a list of past and planned future activities. Pending items include proposed amendments to the town’s TIF document that, if approved by voters, will make the list longer, for example by authorizing funding assistance to […]
by Mary Grow Vassalboro selectmen got rid of one item of continuing business at their Oct. 28 meeting: they learned that the Vassalboro Conservation Commission seems on the way to reviving itself, and decided they did not need to discuss its future again. An issue raised at their Oct. 15 meeting, use of the town […]
by Mary Grow The previous article talked about postal service in the southern part of the central Kennebec Valley. This article completes the story with summary postal histories of Sidney, Fairfield, Benton, and Clinton, plus miscellaneous notes. As mentioned in last week’s article (see The Town Line, Oct. 15), Henry Kingsbury found Sidney had six […]