The China Town Office will be closed Monday, December 24, and Tuesday, December 25, in observance of the Christmas holiday. The office will be closing at noon on Monday, December 31, and will be closed on Tuesday, January 1, 2019.
The transfer station will be closed Christmas day and New Year’s day.
The Killdeer Lodge at it appeared in 2017, minus the roof over the porch which collapsed several years ago. Left, the lodge as it lays following its razing in October 2018. (Photo by Bob Bennett)
With the demise of the old Killdeer Lodge recently, which over the years had fallen into disrepair, the following article represents a history of the lodge, from its inception in 1929, to the razing in 2018.
(Read part 1 here, and part 2 here)
The conclusion is a reprint from The Town Line, October 2, 1999, issue, by the late Faith Ames.
The property had been acquired by the Dillenbeck family in the 1920s when Ben Dillenbeck’s brother-in-law Earle Eli Wagner purchased 250 acres of land for his resort development dream on China Lake is described in a 1949 brochure promoting Killdeer Lodge on China Lake.
I learned that the weekly rates under the “American Plan” was $38 per person, two to a room, $35 per person two to a room in a party of ten or more, and $30 per child (if under ten years of age). Daily rates were $6.50 per person, two to a room and $5 per child (if under ten years of age.)
On the “European Plan,” no weekly rates were charged. Lodging was $2 per day, per person. Housekeeping cottages and cabins were in limited number within a three to ten-minute walk from the Killdeer Lodge and Dining Room. Some caps were located on the water’s edge, some on the hill overlooking the lake. All were completely furnished with modern conveniences.
The lodging was described as: “A rustic, two-story Sleep Lodge, accommodating 36 guests. Very comfortable twin beds. A few single rooms. Four bathrooms, two for men, two for women, with hot and cold running water. Huge, cozy fireplace, open covered porches. Recreation: Bathing on your own, with bathing beach equipped with diving float; boating, fishing; horsehoes, ball games, croquet, shuffleboard, table tennis, checkers, chess, cards, hiking trails; dancing, social get-togethers; golf and ennis nearby. Meals: Served in dining and recreation building, which is situated on ledge overlooking China Lake. Home-cooked, attractive food that “hits the right spot.” Fresh produce raised in our own garden or on nearby farms.”
After Killdeer Lodge’s large 100-foot dining room had been damaged when 60 feet of its roof had collapsed from snow load in the winter of 1963, the remaining 40 feet had been dismantled and salvaged by Hank Dillenbeck, the son of Emilie and Ben Dillenbeck (the author of Killdeer Point’s history published in the September 18 and September 25 issues [of the Town Line, 1999].
From 1963 until 1970, the old Bragg Barn that had been converted into sleeping quarters continued to operate as a Sleep Lodge. The dining and recreation building was never rebuilt. Then, about 1971, the lodge was closed for good.
[In 1999] the lodge was the site of Maine-ly Trains, where James Ferrone had converted it to a train shop. The train store has been attractively set up and has not only trains, but train novelties, which have delighted many a customer. A look inside still bring back memories of the beautiful lodge of yesteryear.Killdeer certainly as a long history in our area – with many cottages still dotting the shore called Killdeer Point. Through the years, as I would ride by the lodge and see guests milling about, I remember thinking, “What a lovely place.”
In March 1980, Hank Dillenbeck restored the old Bragg farmhouse (built circa 1820) on Killdeer Point. The house had belonged to one of the three farms originally purchased for the Killdeer development in the 1920s. As far as Hank knows, it originally belonged to Deacon Nathaniel Bragg, a veteran of the War of 1812, whose grave (across from the Lodge) indicates he died in 1838.
Throughout its heyday when the lodge was in operation the house was used somewhat as sleeping quarters for the hired help, but mostly, if was used just for storage, Hank believes.
Hand had the house freed from its original granite foundation in 1980 by leveling it on huge metal beams which were drawn by hydraulic winches to a new foundation about 70 years further from the road (which had widened over the years) to achieve a better angle for the winter sun and, especially, to get the best view on the lake. After extensive authentic restoration, the house was occupied by Hank and his family in the fall of 1980. The framework interior, three cooking fireplaces plus a brick oven are all original and workable. Timbers are all hewn and pegged, and the granite foundation is original – taken from the original home site.
Its windows are copies of originals which were built circa 1810. The windows are nine over six, which means nine panes of glass are on the top and six panes are on the bottom – with just the bottom part opening. One wing, a greenhouse, and shed, all connected, were built at the same time. A garage, added in 1982, is also connected.
Landscaping, with the addition of lovely flowers, make for an attractive setting for this lovely old home. Peach, plum, pear, grape and apple trees have been added, along with a vegetable garden which provides many varieties of vegetables for their table. Both Hank Dillenbeck and his wife, Noriko, make pickles from an abundant crop.
On a clear day, from the Dillenbeck’s sitting room, one can see Sugarloaf Mountain, Mt. Blue, Saddleback and Bigelow mountains – just as Earle Eli Wagner had seen the inspiring view back in the 1920s.
Editor’s note: The lodge, located on Lakeview Drive (Rte. 202), in South China, was demolished in November 2018. According to town of China records, the property is currently owned by Maine-ly Lakefront Properties, LLC.
The Killdeer Lodge fireplace as it stands following demolition of the building in October 2018. (Photo by Bob Bennett)
Eagle Scout Nivek Boostedt
Throughout its history, members of the Boy Scouts of America have provided leaders for tomorrow, prepared as good citizens, always ready to serve others. Service often occurs in small, unassuming ways – good turns and acts of kindness by individual Scouts, often unnoticed throughout their daily lives. It happens on a larger scale, too, when an Eagle Scout candidate plans and carries out his major service project. The celebration of this event was recently held at the China Baptist Church for Eagle Scout Nivek Lynn Boostedt, of Troop #479.
Friends, family members, elected officials and other scouts gathered together to honor Nivek for earning his wings – the rank of Eagle Scout in the Boy Scouts of America. The Eagle is the highest rank that Scouting bestows in the advancement program. This was an occasion for pride and joy, as well as a time of reflection. Eagle Scout Nivek Boostedt, his family, his Scout leaders, and other members of the community had labored long and faithfully, and their efforts were recognized in this special presentation.
Nivek and his family selected the Four Winds Eagle Scout Ceremony and asked other members of Troop 479 to assist him.
Scout Michael Boostedt represented the West Wind. The spirit of the West Wind represents the law of equity, your duty to country and to others; friendly, courteous, and kind are the laws that breathe of conscience.
Scoutmaster Scott Adams asked his mother to pin the Eagle medal on Nivek’s uniform. He then asked Nivek to present her with the Eagle mother’s pin. He then asked Nivek’s father to present the Eagle Scout certificate. Nivek was also asked to present to his father the Eagle lapel pin. His parents were asked to place the Eagle neckerchief around the neck of their son. Scott gave remarks about Nivek’s time in Scout Troop 479.
Committee Member Danielle Pettengill asked Eagle Scout Nivek Boostedt to advance his name on the board of Eagle rank. Assistant Scoutmaster Doug Leonard also presented awards from the troop 479 committee.
An integral component of the requirements is a service project. The candidate must develop the project, organize the materials and manpower, and supervise its completion. His project was to select a space in the China School Forest in back of the school to clear an area for an outdoor classroom. He was also asked to replace the shingled roof on the little building at the Bird Watching Station. He met with Anita Smith to coordinate the two projects. He selected the area for the classroom, marked the trees to cut, trees were cut and some of the tree stumps were used to provide the posts for the benches. He also had a seat cut into a log that was left from a previous cutting. A metal roof was placed on the little building and trees and limbs were removed near the roof to prevent damage to the roof.
He is the son of Kevin and Heather Boostedt, of South China, and he is currently working at Sam’s Club.
by Mary GrowAt their Dec. 6 meeting, Vassalboro selectmen finally approved the police chief’s job description they have been revising for the last couple months, with one final revision.
They also approved Town Manager Mary Sabins’ plan for a town staff pre-Christmas party.
Otherwise, they continued discussion of ongoing items, like emergency services dispatching, the role of the Budget Committee and potential solar power development and added a new – and expensive – topic, the Public Works Department’s aged grader and other needs.
The dispatching issue matters to emergency services in most Kennebec County municipalities because of proposed changes at the county and state level. Sabins expected to have more information for the selectmen’s Dec. 20 meeting, after a Kennebec County Commissioners’ meeting and a county town managers’ meeting at which she hopes the issue will be discussed.
At previous meetings, selectmen have been given preliminary information suggesting that in 2019-20 the cost of dispatching fire, rescue and police services could double, from about $30,000 a year to about $60,000 a year.
Public Works Foreman Eugene Field told selectmen the town’s 1991 grader needs a major repair that will cost around $23,000, plus $1,400 trucking to the repair shop, and should have another $5,000 to $10,000 worth of minor repairs while it’s being worked on.
A new grader would cost around $240,000, he said, a used one from $50,000 up, rental a little over $3,000 a week if a rental grader were available when the town crew needed it. Field and crew members use the grader for unpaved roads spring and fall, and it serves as a back-up for the plow trucks in case one breaks down.
Field also warned selectmen two large culverts need major work, either replacement or repair.
The discussion ended with selectmen commenting that Fields’ problems are even more expensive than the dispatching services they’ve been worrying about.
Budget Committee Chairman Rick Denico asked how that committee’s role is defined, pointing out that last year’s pre-town-meeting discussions strayed into policy issues, like considering whether to abolish the local police department rather than merely how much it should cost.
Vassalboro residents apparently established the committee many years ago without a job description or other rules, Sabins said.
Board member John Melrose has been looking into the possibility of installing solar panels on the roof of the Riverside Fire Station. He said he received one proposal that afternoon.
Melrose suggested selectmen ask town meeting voters for authorization to proceed with exploring the topic. If voters approve, he wants to look into more than one option, as competition appears to be developing.
The next regular Vassalboro selectmen’s meeting is scheduled for Thursday evening, Dec. 20.
by Mary GrowThe four China selectmen at a Dec. 5 special meeting voted unanimously not to appeal a legal decision involving a property on Three Mile Pond.
Town office staff foreclosed on the property because of unpaid 2015 taxes. Owner Stacey O’Connor filed suit claiming she was not properly notified of the impending foreclosure. Kennebec County Superior Court Justice William Stokes upheld her position.
Town Manager Dennis Heath explained to selectmen that initial notices went to an address in Maine. After O’Connor notified the town that she now lives in Arizona, a subsequent notice was sent by certified mail to her Arizona address and was returned unclaimed. Office staff therefore used the Maine address for the final notice; it too was returned to the town.
Town Clerk Rebecca Hapgood testified at an earlier hearing that she also sent two notices to the Arizona address by regular mail. Neither was returned to the town. In her experience, Hapgood said, people are more likely to pick up regular mail for which they do not have to sign.
Justice Stokes, citing Maine Law Court decisions, ruled that the town should have used certified mail sent to the Arizona address, even though it appeared not to have worked, in order to satisfy legal requirements for foreclosure with the strictness required by law.
Town office staff acted in good faith, Stokes wrote. But state statute requires strict compliance, and strict compliance meant sending a notice to the last known address – Arizona – by certified mail. He therefore voided the foreclosure.
Heath said the law does not require proof that a notice was received, but merely evidence that it was sent in proper form. Henceforth, he said, town office staff will follow the form.
The manager said O’Connor will be given 30 days to redeem the property by paying 2015 taxes and charges.
Selectman Ronald Breton interrupted discussion of the O’Connor case to ask whether it was proper for board Chairman Robert MacFarland, who was absent, to have appointed Jeffrey LaVerdiere acting chairman. The board responded by electing LaVerdiere chairman for the meeting.
Since then Breton has proposed creating a selectmen’s ordinance that would cover issues like choice of a temporary chairman. Board members voted unanimously after the November election that Robert’s Rules of Order will govern their proceedings.
by Mary GrowChina selectmen made numerous decisions as they went through a long and varied agenda at their Dec. 10 meeting, and still have topics left over for future discussion.
They unanimously adopted the mailbox policy discussed at their Nov. 26 meeting, which sets standards for placing mailboxes along state and town roads and says that if a plow truck damages a mailbox, the owner, not the town, is responsible (see this article from Nov. 29).
They unanimously approved Town Manager Dennis Heath’s wording of a resolution to the Maine legislature asking that municipalities be allowed to opt out of collecting personal property taxes on business equipment, an action authorized by voters in November (see this article from Nov. 8).
Heath’s request emphasized the personal property tax as a disincentive to business in Maine and urged legislators to promote business by amending state law to make collecting it optional.
Selectmen appointed Rebecca Hapgood to two positions that she already fills, human resources director for an indefinite term and registrar of voters for two years beginning Jan. 1, 2019.
They approved hiring Dawn Kilgore, of Sidney, as secretary to the planning board and board of appeals. Heath said Tracy Cunningham, who has been the frequently-commended planning board secretary, is resigning the position.
Selectmen reviewed Heath’s rankings of four candidates for the new position of apprentice to the codes officer and authorized him to offer the position to the highest-ranked.
The apprentice will work 18 hours a week, Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays, at a pay rate of $15 an hour, and will be on probation for the first six months, Heath said. When the idea of an apprentice was proposed, he or she was seen as a potential successor to Codes Officer Paul Mitnik when Mitnik is ready to retire.
Heath wants to replace the current across-the-board annual raises for town employees with merit raises and bonuses. As a step in that direction, he asked for and received selectmen’s approval for $2,400 in holiday bonuses.
The manager is also revising China’s personnel policy, with input from town employees. Selectmen scheduled a special workshop meeting on the policy changes, which need their approval, for 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 27.
Another change Heath recommended was sending his draft of the 2019-2020 budget to the budget committee by mid-January and having the budget committee forward it to selectmen, instead of starting with the selectmen as in past years. After discussion of the reversal and of the pre-March-town-meeting timetable, Selectman Jeffrey LaVerdiere suggested, and his colleagues and Heath agreed, that the two boards should review the proposed budget simultaneously and hope they reach the same recommendations.
The next regular China selectmen’s meeting is currently scheduled for 5:30 p.m., Friday, Dec. 21, because it would normally have fallen on Christmas Eve. By then Heath hopes to have more information on the extended warranty on the public works department’s new Ventrac tractor, which public works head Gary Cummings expects will be delivered before Christmas.
Bar Harbor Bank & Trust is pleased to announce their first annual Holiday Toy Drive starting December 10. You are invited to bring a children’s toy to any branch of Bar Harbor Bank & Trust from December 10-21, 2018. All Bar Harbor Bank & Trust branches in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont are participating.
“When doing your holiday shopping, pick up an extra toy for a child and drop it off at your local Bar Harbor Bank & Trust branch. We are accepting new, unwrapped toys in their original packaging,” said Joe Schmitt, SVP, Chief Marketing Officer at Bar Harbor Bank & Trust.
The toys collected will be donated to local nonprofits who will distribute them to children in the community, bringing smiles to many young faces this holiday season. Want to know which organization will receive your donation? Just ask your local Bar Harbor Bank & Trust branch!
Thank you in advance for your generosity.
Caitlyn Denico, 18, of Vassalboro (Contributed photo)
Caitlyn Denico, 18, of Vassalboro, recently enlisted in the Army National Guard. The senior, honor student, at Erskine Academy, in South China, will be attending basic military training in Missouri, and follow that with advance individual training, in Mississippi, specializing in construction, with a concentration in masonry. Caitlyn is the daughter of Rick and Cindy Denico, of Vassalboro.
Construction on the new recycling facility from earlier this year. (photo from fiberight.com)
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 it opening in early April, nearly a year later than the original estimates.
“We’ve now issued a revised construction schedule that shows completion of construction by March 31,” said Stuart-Paul to the MRC Board in Brewer. “We’ve provided an on-boarding plan to the MRC which shows some amount of waste on a start-stop basis coming in by the end of January, probably single stream,” he explained. “Because our ramp-up plan is parallel to the construction, we’ll start our commissioning plan as certain parts of the site are handed over to us. Our hope, then, is in April to be able to accept waste on a continuous, ongoing basis.”
The $69 million project, first conceived of in July 2016, has faced numerous delays, most notably after last year’s windstorm which set construction back for months.
Irene Belanger, China selectman and member of the MRC Board of Directors, when asked about the likelihood that the new April date would be met, said, “I am very confident in the Fiberight/Coastal plant. The company has its financing all set and approved. There is a new construction company working 24 hours a day to catchup after several delays.”
Although the plant should be operating at full capacity by April 2019, Belanger added, “As with any big project like this, the startup could have some glitches that would need fine-tuning, so the first towns to send their items will be towns nearest the facility.”
by Mary GrowCHINA — Mailbox owners, take heed: China selectmen are likely to approve a mailbox policy at their Dec. 10 meeting that says the town has no responsibility for mailboxes damaged by snowplows, even if the box is installed according to the recommendations in the policy.
Town Manager Dennis Heath emailed a copy of the proposed policy from the state Department of Transportation to board members before their Nov. 26 meeting, but since not everyone had time to read and consider it, a decision was postponed.
The policy includes suggestions for proper mailbox installation, a process that needs to meet postal service and Americans with Disabilities Act requirements. It has two warnings, in addition to the statement that the owner is responsible if the box is damaged:
In addition to the proposed mailbox policy, discussion at the Nov. 26 meeting covered a range of topics, including Regional School Unit (RSU) meetings, transfer station services and local policing.
Neil Farrington, one of China’s two representatives on the RSU #18 board of directors, encouraged selectmen to start attending RSU meetings to find out first-hand what the school department is doing and how its annual budget is determined. The next meeting is at 6 p.m., Thursday, Nov. 29, at Messalonskee Middle School. Heath and at least two selectmen indicated they plan to be there.
Heath said China will not participate in the annual household hazardous waste disposal program in Winslow for the next two years. This fall only eight residents signed up, making the cost per person too high.
Selectboard Chairman Robert MacFarland wants the sand bin at the transfer station from which residents are allowed to take up to two buckets of sand at a time more accessible. Transfer station employee Shawn Reed and others said if the bin is outside the gate, people take pick-up loads rather than bucket-loads.
Selectman Ronald Breton recommended bringing the issue to the Transfer Station Committee, scheduled to meet Nov. 27, before selectmen continue discussion.
Oakland and China police officer Tracey Frost reported November had been a more normal month, after a lot of calls in September and October. He and fellow officers are checking summer camps, if owners left a request and if the camps are accessible, and will check people’s homes on request when homeowners take a winter vacation.
The town manager said he is already working on China’s 2019-2020 municipal budget and hopes to have a draft ready by early January.
He reported that the new causeway bridge is open to traffic. He and Selectman Donna Mills-Stevens emphasized that the entire project is not done; phase two will extend the lakeside walkway.
After the regular meeting, selectmen reviewed Heath’s job performance for the first six months in executive session. The result was satisfactory, and they voted afterward on his compensation package.
The next regular China selectmen’s meeting is currently scheduled for Monday evening, Dec. 10.