The Skowhegan Woman’s Club (GFWC ME) is celebrating its 136th anniversary. One of the main functions of the club is volunteering in community and lending a hand. Recently members of the GFWC, Skowhegan Woman’s Club, Debra Burnham, left, Skowhegan Woman’s Club treasurer, and Joyce Noonan, right, Skowhegan Woman’s Club fundraising chairman, hand a $500 check to Dale Jandreau, center, Skowhegan Free Public Library director. Contributed photo
Waterville resident, Weldon Black, has opened his heart and home to Alvin, age 13, of Brooklyn, New York, through The Fresh Air Fund’s Friendly Towns Program since 2016. Weldon first learned about The Fund when a local volunteer leader, Lynne Dailey, came to speak in his town. Weldon has been hosting for seven years and is looking forward to spending his second summer with Alvin later this month.
The brightest parts of Weldon’s summers are when his Fresh Air son comes to visit. During last summer’s visit, Alvin joined Weldon in mini golfing, building campfires, and kayaking on Lake Androscoggin. “I hope I’ve been able to show him everything that Maine has to offer,” Weldon said. “It’s a different way of life here.” Weldon loves being able to rediscover his home state by showing Alvin all the fun to be had outdoors.
Weldon says that being a host parent has taught him a lot. “I’ve learned to be more open and accepting of other people’s experiences and ways of life,” Weldon explained. His time with The Fresh Air Fund has been “fulfilling and fun,” and he hopes that Alvin has learned as much as he has from the experience.
Since 1877, The Fresh Air Fund, an independent, not-for-profit agency, has provided free, enriching summer experiences and academic programs for more than 1.8 million New York City children from low-income neighborhoods. Each summer, thousands of Fresh Air children visit suburban, rural, and small town communities across the East Coast and Southern Canada through The Fresh Air Fund’s Friendly Towns Program.
To learn more about how to become a host family in North Central Maine, please call Susan Brooks at 207-453-2762 or visit www.freshair.org.
FRESHMEN ORIENTATION will be held on August 28, at 6:30 p.m., in the Erskine Academy gymnasium. Parents and freshmen students are encouraged to attend.
Freshmen parents are reminded that the school does require a current freshmen entrance physical prior to the first day of school. Any questions please call the school nurse at 445-2962.
Tuesday, August 29, – First day of school – Freshmen only;
Wednesday, August 30, – all students will attend;
Friday, September 1, – Erskine will not hold classes;
Monday, September 4, – Labor Day Holiday – no classes;
Thursday, September 14, – school picture day.
NEW STAFF MEMBERS: Megan Childs – Family & Consumer Economics teacher; Katherine Newcombe – English teacher & Ed Tech III; Rebecca Sellers – art teacher.
Students should be at their pick-up points 5 – 10 minutes before the stated pick-up times for the first few days of school. Bus fare is $10 per week. Parents of freshmen are advised to check the bus schedule at New Student Orientation.
Pat Vigue – Bus 13 (Palermo Area)
6:25 – Palermo School
6:30 – Turner Ridge Road
6:35 – Banton Road
6:40 – Level Hill Road
6:45 – North Palermo Road
7:00 – Weston Ridge
7:15 – Tobey’s
7:20 – Frontier Village
7:25 – Leave Frontier Village
7:30 – Arrive at Erskine Academy
Sheila Wescott – Bus 11 (Chelsea/Windsor Area)
6:12 – Leave Erskine to Tyler Road
6:17 – Weeks Mills Road
6:20 – Legion Park Road/
Lamson Road (turn-a-round)
6:23 – Barton Road
6:25 – 105 to Spring Road
6:50 – Chelsea School
6:53 – Wellman Road
6:55 – Route 17 to Windsor
7:00 – Hunts Meadow Road
7:10 – Route 126
7:15 – Vigue Road
7:20 – Route 17 to Route 32 Windsor
7:25 – Route 32 (Rideout’s Store)
7:35 – Arrive at Erskine Academy
Wayne Lacey – Bus 1 (Whitefield-Jefferson Area)
6:25 – Leave Country Corners Store
6:30 – Travel down Route 215
6:35 – Route 126 to Jefferson
6:40 – Jefferson Post Office
7:00 – Intersection of Route 32 & 17
7:10 – Intersection of Route 17 & 206
7:20 – Intersection of Route 105 & 32
7:23 – Choate Road
7:25 – Windsor Neck Road/South Road
7:30 – Kidder Road
7:30 – Arrive at Erskine Academy
Janice Cook – Bus 16 (Windsor/Whitefield/Coopers Mills Area)
6:18 – Leave Erskine- Rte 32 South
6:26 – Maxcy’s Mills Rd
6:28 – Griffin Road
6:33 – Vigue Road
6:37 – Townhouse Road
6:44 – 218N/194N
6:46 – Heath Road
6:50 – Hilton Road
6:52 – 218N //Mills Road
6:59 – Coopers Mills Main Street
7:00 – Windsor Road/Coopers Mills
7:02 – Erskine Road
7:04 – Wingood Road
7:08 – Erskine Road
7:09 – Windsor Road/Coopers Mills
7:15 – Route 105 to Rte 32
7:18 – Route 32 to Erskine Academy
7:30 – Arrive at Erskine Academy
Routes, drivers and bus numbers subject to change
Vassalboro Planning Board members spent two hours Aug. 1 approving three applications that were on their agenda and one that wasn’t.
Richard Behr’s application to amend the plan of a subdivision off Riverside Drive has been on previous agendas, when Behr did not have a complete plan. It was not on the Aug. 1 agenda because, Codes Officer Richard Dolby said, he did not know Behr was ready.
Behr still needs to fill out an application and provide a final plan, but the plan he presented was enough for board members to approve the change. Behr is dividing one lot in the subdivision into two to provide access to his property outside the subdivision. Part of the former lot five will be offered for sale, he said; the rest will give him a driveway.
Two North Vassalboro projects were also approved, and one on Dunham Road. All were in shoreland areas, requiring board members and Dolby to make sure no construction would be within 100 feet of the high water line.
Peter J. Reny has approval to remove an old mobile home on a Main Street lot and replace it with a larger one. Reny explained that if the Vassalboro Sanitary District sewer line is extended to pass his property, as planned, he intends to replace the newer mobile home with a house. Since Vassalboro Planning Board permits have a one-year life, board members declined to expand the permit to include a hypothetical house several years in the future.
Raymond Breton’s application to tear down an old house on Willow Street and build a pole barn for horses and buy or build two microhouses (which he defined as 600 square feet) was approved, but not to his satisfaction. Board members agreed that each microhouse is a dwelling unit, no matter its size, and a dwelling unit in the shoreland zone requires a 40,000 square foot lot.
Breton did not want to devote 80,000 square feet to the two small houses, because, he said, he might want to redivide the land in the future for other projects. The board unanimously approved the pole barn and two houses provided that each house had at least 40,000 square feet of land and provided that all construction was more than 100 feet from Outlet Stream.
The Dunham Road application was from Barbara Pierce, represented by Whitefield contractor Rusty Peters, to add three bedrooms to the existing parsonage on the property.
Small streams crossing the property mean this project, too, is in the shoreland. Peters said the addition would come close to the 100-foot line. Dolby said he and Peters would measure distances and site the addition legally.
The addition will provide three more bedrooms, Peters said. The septic system is sized to accommodate the adjacent church, so it is more than adequate for the addition.
The next Vassalboro Planning Board meeting is scheduled for Tuesday evening, Sept. 5.
Ron and Sandra Kostron, of China, are awarded the LakeSmart Award for their undeveloped lot on China Lake. They have owned the property for 18 years and have kept it completely natural. The shoreline is composed of rocks along with vegetation covering the entire length of the shore. There are five layers of buffer on the property including duff (leaves and pine needles left on the ground), ground cover, shrubs, understory (young trees) and canopy (mature trees). All the plants are native. Native plants have a better chance to survive especially during times of extreme weather. For more information about the LakeSmart Program go to the China Lake Association website or contact chinalakesmart@gmail.com.
Original letters written by Stacy Blish and others, of Vassalborough, in 1799, submitted to the Massachusetts legislature. The decision of the governing body sealed the fate of the stream for more than 200 years, as numerous mills and factories were located along the banks of Mile Stream and little attention paid to its ecological health or fisheries. Photo of the letters from the State Archives, in Boston.
As was typical for the colonial period, smaller waterways like Outlet Stream were harnessed for power first because their flows were easier to control. Later, as the technology advanced, dams were built on larger rivers, like the former Edwards Dam on the Kennebec River, first built in 1837.
Letters and petitions from residents along the Outlet Stream were submitted in response to fish passage laws enacted in Massachusetts requiring dam owners to provide fish passage, due to local concerns about the declining populations of migratory fish, notably salmon, shad and alewives. In 1797, just one year before the residents along Outlet Stream sent in their letters and petitions, a law was passed requiring fish passage in Cumberland and Lincoln Counties. Maine was then a part of Massachusetts; records from this period can be found in Massachusetts State Archives, in Boston.
One letter written by Stacy Blish in January 1799 states:
“Stacy Blish, of Vassalborough, in the County of Lincoln, of lawfull age testify and say that I have lived near a Stream called Mile brook which empties itself into Sebasticook river for eighteen years last past that before any mills were built on said Stream Alewives used to pass up said Stream into a pond out of which it flows but no Salmon or Shad ever frequented it and for fifteen years last past since mills have been erected on it no alewives have been known to pass up into the pond.”
Another petition signed by 40 individuals noted, “the carrying on and Improvements of those Mills Are the principle if not the only means upon which a large number of respectable and industrious citizens depend on for acquiring property… That formerly the fish called Alewives (only) used to pass up said stream but for more than ten years None have been seen to pass up said stream…”
The letters and petitions were successful and resulted in the passage of a law titled, “An Act Exempting Mile Stream in the Towns of Vassalborough, Winslow and Harlem from the Operations of All Laws Regulating the Salmon Shad and Alewife Fisheries in Said Towns.” This act sealed the fate of the stream for more than 200 years, as numerous mills and factories were located along its banks and little attention paid to its ecological health or fisheries.
Oakland’s Oakfest was held on July 21 under sunny skies with live music all day by the Old Liberty String Band, Eric Lunt, E family and the Camp Manitou Band. Above, Trenton Clark, front, with his grandmother Cindy Potter, ride on the Flower Committee float. Below, the Young Americans Dance Center team members Emilee Arbo and Brooke Allen perform during the parade.
9 a.m., harassment complaint, Village Rd.
4:30 p.m., property check, Neck Rd.
4:45 p.m., property check, Old Waterville Rd.
5:10 p.m., business check, Lakeview Dr.
5:30 p.m., business check, Dunton Rd.
6 p.m., property check, Thurston Rd.
6:50 p.m., radar detail, Dirigo Rd.
8:10 p.m., business check, Vassalboro Rd.
9 a.m., traffic complaint, Weeks Mills Rd.
2:20 p.m., assist Rescue, Tyler Rd.
2:45 p.m., property dispute, Village Rd.
3:15 p.m., property check, South China boat landing
3:30 p.m., radar detail, Vassalboro Rd.
5:10 p.m., business check, Vassalboro Rd.
5:20 p.m., business check, Rte. 3.
5:30 p.m., business check, Rte. 3.
6:05 p.m., property check, Branch Mills Rd.
8 a.m., animal complaint, Bog Rd.
2 p.m., civil dispute, Nana’s Way.
3 p.m., hit and run complaint, Windsor Road.
8:30 p.m., neighborhood dispute, Colwell Boulevard.
4 p.m., traffic stop, Aldere Park Road, warning for registration violation.
4:15 p.m., traffic stop, Dirigo Road, speeding warning.
5:10 p.m., traffic stop Dirigo Road, warning for inspection violation.
5:30 p.m., traffic stop, Weeks Mills Road, warning for stop sign violation.
7 p.m., property check, Neck Road
7:20 p.m., property check, Old Waterville Road.
4:40 p.m., traffic stop Rte. 3, warning for inspection violation.
4:58 p.m., traffic stop, Lakeview Drive, speeding warning.
5 p.m., business check, Rte. 3.
5:45 p.m., business check, Lakeview Dr.
5:55 p.m., property check, Causeway Road
6:30 p.m., property check, Nana’s Way
6:45 p.m., intoxicated male, Causeway Road. Warning for disorderly conduct, transported home.
10 a.m., criminal mischief, Main Street.
4:40 p.m., traffic stop, Rte. 3, speeding warning.
4:51 p.m., traffic stop, Rte. 3, speeding warning.
5:04 p.m., traffic stop, Rte. 3, speeding warning.
5:30 p.m., traffic stop, Lakeview Drive, summons for speeding.
5:45 p.m., traffic stop, Lakeview Drive, warning for expired inspection sticker.
6:17 p.m., trespass by motor vehicle complaint, Old Waterville Road.
6:45 p.m., traffic complaint, Cross Road.
6 p.m., civil dispute, Nana’s Way.
12:15 p.m., neighborhood dispute over unsafe gunfire, Fire Road 54.
4 p.m., suspicious vehicle, Main Street.
4:30 p.m., traffic complaint, Causeway Road.
2 p.m., traffic complaint, South Road.
3:55 p.m., traffic complaint, Neck Road.
The China Village Volunteer Fire Department extends a sincere “Thank You” to the folks that participated in their annual Chicken BBQ & Raffle on Saturday July 8.
They were again blessed with a beautiful Saturday and very pleased to see all the people that came out to the BBQ – bringing friends and family, smiles and memories – which made for a another memorable day for us. They also extend a heartfelt appreciation to their spouses, who unselfishly donated their time, again.
They enjoyed seeing many friends again and sincerely appreciated the kind words, shared on Saturday. For all the fire department folks, events like this are a pleasant reminder of the caring and giving people in the community.
They also thank all the business that donated to the raffle: Maine Boat Rental, Wildwood, LaVerdiere’s, Circle K, Lakeview Lumber, Toby’s, The Landing, Cedar Springs golf, MJEK Seafood & Grill, Boivin’s Plumbing, Bob’s Glass, Adams Insurance, New England Imports, China Lake Auto, Raider’s Sugar Shack, Courtney’s Hot Dogs, and KFC Waterville.