CHINA: Thurston Park committee talks mostly about money

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Hikers on bridge in Thurston Park (Photo courtesy: Town of China)

by Mary Grow

At a Feb. 16 meeting, five members of China’s Thurston Park Committee talked mostly about money to repair and improve the entrance road and trails and add amenities.

Committee chairman Jeanette Smith reported that China’s Tax Increment Financing (TIF) Committee had cut the request for $44,000 in 2023-24 for trail work in the park to $25,000 (see the Feb. 16 issue of The Town Line, p. 3) and had asked for a revised application indicating how the money would be spent. The next TIF Committee meeting is scheduled for March 8.

Thurston Park Committee member Steve Nichols protested that getting estimated costs to fix, maintain and improve trails would be impossible with snow on the ground.

As of Feb. 16, Smith was still waiting to hear whether Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) money would be available to repair the entrance road, washed out in the Dec. 23 storm.

People who want to snowshoe, ski or walk can still get into the park, Smith said; but until the washed-out road is fixed, access for work crews is difficult. The Yorktown Road coming from Albion south into the park goes down a steep hill, with parking areas at the top and bottom; the worst washout is at the bottom of the hill.

Smith said with spring work pending, the committee has available a little over $6,000 in the current year’s budget; a little over $32,000 in TIF money, intended for a storage building; and a little over $9,000 in the park reserve fund.

Nichols would like to see spring maintenance work done by Friday, May 26, the beginning of Memorial Day weekend.

Thurston Park is listed on some Maine trail websites. Committee members discussed more ways to publicize it.

Options for long-term funding they mentioned included creating a Friends of Thurston Park fund-raising organization; working with a land trust; or selling memberships or otherwise charging for use of the 400-acre parcel.

Possible future improvements include buying picnic tables and siting them not only in the picnic area, but at stopping places along trails; and installing a canoe rack at the pond, so repeat users would not have to bring their canoes in and out every time.

Another discussion topic was the role of the committee. Smith thinks the group should be advisory, and that town officials should find someone other than committee members to do trail maintenance work, outhouse cleaning, tree trimming and other physical labor.

Smith said she found one other Maine town with a large forested park: Shapleigh, in York County, has Williams Town Park, 300 acres with three miles of trails. (A 2018 description is on line on the mainebyfoot.com website, which also has a 2020 description of Thurston Park: almost 400 acres, 5.2 miles of trails and footpaths.)

The next Thurston Park Committee meeting is scheduled for 6:30 p.m., Thursday, Match 16, in the portable building behind the China town office. New committee members are welcome; those interested can contact the town office or email thurstonpark@outlook.com.

LIFE ON THE PLAINS: The Plains, circa 1950s

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Legend: 1. Inter­section of Sherwin and Water Sts.; 2. The “island”; 3 – 4, the row of apartment houses overlooking the river; 5. Gray St.; 6. Univer­sal-Unitarian Church, at Elm & Silver Sts.; 7. Old Red­ington Elementary School, now site of VFW; 8. Location of Dav­i­au’s Phar­macy; 9. Autumn St.; 10. The Chez Paree.

REVIEW POTPOURRI: Margaret Dickson

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Peter Catesby Peter Cates

Margaret Dickson

Lewiston-born writer Margaret Dickson published a 1985 novel, Octavia’s Hill, which follows four generations of a family, and from which a chapter was anthologized in the book, Maine Speaks.

The excerpt takes place during the horse and buggy days in the very rural community of Monson, itself north of Dexter and Guilford and quite close to Baxter State Park and the 100 Mile Wilderness Trail. It depicts a mother raising her eight-year-old son, Marl, by herself.

One passage that stood out describes a stone wall in the woods that the son uses for shade during his explorations. The words evoke a timeless universality in the landscape, almost spiritual in its dimensions:

“The wall was lichen-covered, its crevices turned to rich humus and scratchy rock crystals that were almost like beach sand. It was in dark, comfortable shade, because this wall went right through the pine forest. Marl sat and stared off into the soundless, sun-dappled, fly-whirling woods and chewed a piece of sweet grass. He could have used his shirt right now, maybe, to keep the bugs off, but he didn’t care. The whole hill was his to play on, and he guessed he could go down and get that old shirt whenever he wanted to. He was happy. Under the wall, his old fortress, the hill breathed and moved with things to do on other days, but for now he was like a baby settled on its breast, so close to the heartbeat of it that it sounded like his own.

“For a little while he thought about the men who had built this wall. They’d slung those old stones day after day to build these rock piles that meandered along the sides of their fields. Then they’d grown old or moved away and left the grass to turn into woods again. It was as if the hill knew something they didn’t. Somehow Marl knew you had to listen to the hill if you wanted things to last.”

Googling for additional information on both Margaret Dickson and Octavia’s Hill, I came across two intriguing off-the-beaten-path items related to these names.

A. Margaret Dickson was the name of an impoverished Scottish maid who was sentenced to death in 1722 by hanging for murdering her infant shortly after its birth. After she was cut down from the rope, she was placed in a coffin inside a wagon by her friends for burial.

On the way to the graveyard, the wagon bounced around constantly and, to the horror of her mourners, she suddenly woke up. Considering this an act of God, the authorities pardoned her and Margaret Dickson lived another few decades.

B. Octavia Hill (1838-1912) was an English social reformer who fought for better living spaces for working people and the preservation of woodlands, but detested government handouts because it eroded self-esteem and individual initiative. She was also a gifted fundraiser with the rich in her encouragement of their volunteer charity.

Black History Month

Richard Wright

Black History Month evoked memories of reading the very powerful 1945 memoir, Black Boy, by Richard Wright (1908-1960) in its personalized account of racism during the author’s formative years growing up in Natchez, Mississippi, and Memphis, Tennessee.

Recommended viewing:

The acting of Lee Grant, still living at 97, as a bereaved widow in the 1967 In the Heat of the Night and as a cold-blooded, but very charming murderess in Columbo’s 1971 season opening episode, Ransom for a Dead Man.

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Actor Robert Emhardt (1914-1994) frequently portrayed crooks on such series as Alfred Hitchcock Presents and the Twilight Zone, and had a particularly ominous smile. During the early 1940s, he was one of the co-founders of the Actor’s Studio, in New York City.

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Recommended listening on YouTube and elsewhere – anything by the early 1960s girl vocal group, The Angels – especially The Night Has a Thousand Eyes; and, from a different category, a dreamlike gem of early 20th century music by English composer Frederick Delius (1861-1934), the Prelude to Irmelin, via the recording of this composer’s foremost interpreter, Sir Thomas Beecham (1879-1961).

SNHU announces fall 2022 dean’s list

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It is with great pleasure that Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU), in Manchester, New Hampshore, congratulates the following students on being named to the Fall 2022 dean’s list. The fall terms run from September to December.

Those attaining dean’s list status are Brandon Stinson, of Augusta; Jessica Autieri, of South China; Patric Moore, of Waterville; Crystal Hillman, of Fairfield; and Petra Sullivan, of Vassalboro.

SNHU announces summer ‘22 president’s list

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Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU), in Manchester, New Hampshire, congratulates the following students on being named to the Summer 2022 President’s List. The summer terms run from May to August.

Kate Murphy and Justin Drescher, both of Augusta, Matthew Bandyk, of Jefferson, Merval Porter, of Palermo, Lisa Johnson, of South China, Lacey York, of China, Lilly Reardon, of Benton, Jeffery Wheeler and Brendon Peace, both of Waterville, Talon Mosher, of Winslow, Jacob Colson, of Albion, Carrie Stackpole, of Clinton, Stormy Wentworth, of Fairfield, Glenn Rich and Mariah Rich, both of Madison, and Kassandra Grant, of Vassalboro.

Endicott College announces local dean’s list students

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Endicott College, in Beverly, Massachusetts, the first college in the U.S. to require internships of its students, has announced its Fall 2022 dean’s list students.

The following students have met these requirements: Emily Clark, of China, daughter of Stacy Clark and Christopher Clark, is majoring in nursing; and Hunter Scholz, of Augusta, son of Kimberly Scholz and Stephen Scholz, is majoring in history.

Local students on Cedarville dean’s honor list

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The following students were named to the fall 2022 Dean’s Honor List at Cedarville University, in Cedarville, Ohio. Students receive this achievement for obtaining a 3.75 GPA or higher for the semester and carrying a minimum of 12 credit hours.

Earning honors were Catherine Estes, of Sidney, and Rebecca Riley, of Chelsea.

Western New England University announces fall 2022 president’s list

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Western New England University, in Springfield, Massachusetts, recently named over 500 students to the Fall 2022 President’s List.

Those included Kasen Sirois, of Sidney, working toward a BA in Communication/Media & Journalism., and Andrew Mayo, of Sidney, who is working toward a BSE in Civil Engineering.

York County Community College announces fall 2022 honors

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York County Community College

York County Community College, in Wells, recognizes students each semester for their outstanding academic achievements. They include: Lorenna Ambrose, of Chelsea, part-time dean’s list; Michaela Bisson, of Winslow, dean’s list; and Ella Buck, of Sidney, part-time dean’s list.

LEGAL NOTICES for Thursday, February 23, 2023

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STATE OF MAINE
PROBATE COURT
COURT ST.,
SKOWHEGAN, ME
SOMERSET, ss
NOTICE TO CREDITORS
18-A MRSA sec. 3-801

The following Personal Representatives have been appointed in the estates noted. The first publication date of this notice February 16, 2023. If you are a creditor of an estate listed below, you must present your claim within four months of the first publication date of this Notice to Creditors by filing a written statement of your claim on a proper form with the Register of Probate of this Court or by delivering or mailing to the Personal Representative listed below at the address published by his name, a written statement of the claim indicating the basis therefore, the name and address of the claimant and the amount claimed or in such other manner as the law may provide. See 18-C M.R.S.A. §3-80.

2023-009 – Estate of ALFRED J. MAYO, late of Anson, Maine deceased. Richard A. Mayo, PO Box 117, North Anson, Maine 04958 appointed Personal Representative.

2023-010 – Estate of DONALD M HEIGHT, late of Hartland, Maine deceased. Diane Morrill, PO Box 9007, Framingham, MA 01701 appointed Personal Representative.

2023-011 – Estate of BARBARA L. CARY, late of Madison, Maine deceased. Dorothea Taylor, 6 Maxim St, Madison, Maine 04950 appointed Personal Representative.

2023-012 – Estate of NICHOLAS J. PALUMBO, late of Madison, Me deceased. James R. Maclean, PO Box 337, Solon, Me 04979 appointed Personal Representative.

2023-013 – Estate of JEREMIAH J.D. MEADER, late of Smithfield, Maine deceased. Ramie L. Meader, 64 Hales Lane, Smithfield, Maine 04978 appointed Personal Representative.

2023-015 – Estate of DANIEL S. HARTMAN, late of Parlin Pond Township, Maine deceased. Jonathan D. Hartman, 68 Tenpenny St. Freeport, Maine 04032 appointed Personal Representative.

2023-017 – Estate of JOHN M. CARTER, late of New Portland, Me deceased. Bernadette A. Carter, PO Box 237, Kingfield, Me 04947 appointed Personal Representative.

2023-018 – Estate of JOYCE A. MAILMAN, late of Pittsfield, Me deceased. Stephen D. Mailman, 904 Hole In The Wall Rd., Athens, Me 04912 appointed Personal Representative.

2022-342-1 – Estate of WILLIAM N. BUGBEE, JR., late of Harmony, Me deceased. Donna L. Richardson, PO Box 932 Bridgton, Me 04009 appointed Personal Representative.

2023-019 – Estate of DOROTHY ANNE GREENIER, late of Pittsfield, Me deceased. Alan Goepner, 190 West Street, Pittsfield, ME 04967 appointed Personal Representative.

2023-020 – Estate of ELAINE L. CANNELL, late of Skowhegan, Me deceased. Linda L Bleile, 110 Foye Rd., Wiscasset, ME. 04578 and Cynthia L. Cannell, 336 Church Hill Road, Augusta, ME 04330 appointed Personal Representative.

2022-446 – Estate of MICHAEL L. LEWIS, late of Smithfield, Me deceased. Bradley D. Lewis, 44 Pyramid Lane, Scituate, MA 02066 appointed Personal Representative.

2023-021-Estate of GREGORY L.W. LASSELLE, late of Pittsfield, Me deceased. Elizabeth R. Lasselle, 124 Detroit Rd., Pittsfield, ME 04967 appointed Personal Representative.

2023-023 – Estate of RONALD E. ROCKWELL, Sr., late of Cambridge, ME deceased. Bonnie L. Rockwell, 913 Dexter Rd. Cambridge, Maine 04923 appointed Personal Representative.

2023-025 – Estate of NANCY B. MCLEAN, late of Embden, ME deceased. David E Mclean, 703 New Portland, Embden, ME 04958 appointed Personal Representative.

2023-026 – Estate of MARILYN E. STETKIS, late of Cambridge, Me deceased. Joel Stetkis, PO Box 336, Canaan, Me 04924 appointed Personal Representative.

2023-028 – Estate of RAYMOND MORIN, late of Skowhegan, Me deceased. Michael Moring, 1271 Tenrod Road, Farmington, NH 03835 appointed Personal Representative.

2023-029 – Estate of DAVID A. LAWRENCE, late of St. Albans, ME deceased. Diane Lary, 8133 Carrick Lane, Springfield, VA 22151 appointed Personal Representative.

2023-031 – Estate of NELSON DOODY, late of New Portland, ME deceased. Merrill Doody III, 144 Middle Rd, New Portland, Maine 04961 appointed Personal Representative.

2023-032 – Estate of DEBORAH A. BIZIER, late of Fairfield, Me deceased. Daniel r. gilbert, 246 Ridge Road, Fairfield, Me 04937 appointed Personal Representative.

2023-033 – Estate of RUTH I. TANGUAY, late of Embden, ME deceased. Henry J. Tanguay, 65 Phineas St. Apt. 16, Dracut, MA 01826-4651 appointed Personal Representative.

2023-034 – Estate of MICHAEL M. DAWES, late of Fairfield, ME deceased. Janet P. Dawes, 33 Howe Road, Fairfield, Maine. 04937 appointed Personal Representative.

2023-040 – Estate of PATRICK TREPANIER, late of Norridgewock, Me deceased. Kevin Trepanier, 5 Forest Ave., Norridgewock, Me 04957 appointed Personal Representative.

2023-041 – Estate of ADAM E. SOOSMAN, late of Embden, Me deceased. Terry Ann Soosman, 325 Dunbar Hill Road, Embden, Me 04958 appointed Personal Representative.

To be published on February 16 & 23, 2023.

Dated February 13, 2023
/s/ Victoria Hatch,
Register of Probate
(2/23)