Carrabec Valedictorian and Salutatorian 2022

Cheyenne Cahill, left. Shyanne Holmes, right.

Timothy Richards, Principal, has announced honor parts for the Class of 2022 at Carrabec High School.

Cheyenne Cahill, Carrabec’s Valedictorian, is a student who is a role model in our school. With a grade point average of 101.32, she has completed two advanced placement classes, eight honors classes and six dual enrollment classes, as well as, five advanced math classes. Cheyenne is not only a great student and math team leader, she also applies her strengths to the sports world as well, excelling in basketball, track and tennis. Cheyenne has been a part of the Willpower team since seventh grade. Cheyenne will be attending the University of New England, in Biddeford, majoring in Applied Exercise Science. Cheyenne is the daughter of Michael and Kimberly Cahill, of Embden.

* * * * * *

Shyanne Holmes, Carrabec’s Salutatorian, is a bright and successful student. Shyanne has a grade point average of 99.73, completing seven honors classes, two advanced placement classes, seven dual enrollment classes, as well as, two advanced math classes. Shyanne has been part of the Willpower team since seventh grade as well, shines in softball, and as a class leader. She will be an asset to any organization of which she chooses to be part. Shyanne will be attending Thomas College, in Waterville, majoring in business. Shyanne is the daughter of William and Jennifer Holmes, of North Anson.

Erskine Academy second trimester honors 2022

(photo credit: Erskine Academy)

Grade 12

High Honors: Isaac Baker, Julia Barber, Alana Beggs, Jacob Bentley, Autumn Boody, Olivia Bourque, Lilian Bray, Kevin Brownell II, Emily Clark, Jesse Cowing, Jasmine Crommett, Isabella DeRose, Luke Desmond, Alexander Drolet, Coralie Favier, Emma Fortin, Wyatt French, Jenna Gallant, Josette Gilman, Samantha Golden, Ciera Hamar, Isaac Hayden, Hayden Hoague, Grace Hodgkin, Balqis Hutami, Emma Jefferson, Grace Kelso, Mallory Landry, Aidan Larrabee, Lili Lefebvre, Isavel Lux Soc, David Martinez-Gosselin, Adam Ochs, Tony Pedersen, Matilde Pettinari, Devon Polley, Sarah Praul, Riley Reitchel, Parker Reynolds, Mackenzie Roderick, Abbey Searles, Andrew Shaw, Hannah Soule, Natalie Spearin, Daniel Tibbetts and Lily Vinci.

Honors: Gabriella Berto-Blagdon, Jack Blais, Daniel Cseak , Colby Cunningham, Kaden Doughty, Abigail Dutton, Kelsie Fielder, Chase Folsom, Rayne George, Trace Harris, Larissa Haskell, Hunter Johnson, Madelyne Koehling, Shawn Libby, Madison Lully, Hunter Marr, Malcolm Martinez, Calvin Mason, Wes McGlew, Kaden McIntyre, Rebecca Morton, Abigail Peaslee, Julian Reight, Ely Rideout, Nathaniel Solorzano, Hannah Strout–Gordon, Lily Thompson, Hannah Torrey, Summer Wasilowski, Samuel Worthley, Emily York and Hayden Young.

Grade 11

High Honors: Carson Appel, Abigail Beyor, Eve Boatright, Katherine Bourdon, Breckon Davidson, Nicole DeMerchant, Lillian Dorval, Lilly Fredette, Cooper Grondin, Nabila Harrington, Grady Hotham, Grace Hutchins, Olivia Hutchinson, Hallie Jackson, Beck Jorgensen, Kaiden Kelley, Dale Lapointe, Brenden Levesque, Malachi Lowery, Lily Matthews, River Meader, Timber Parlin, Kayla Peaslee, Jonathan Peil, Gabriel Pelletier, Jenna Perkins, Sophia Pilotte, Kaden Porter, Alexis Rancourt, Cadence Rau, Samantha Reynolds, Noah Rushing, Jarell Sandoval, Gabriela Sasse, Zuriah Smith, Sophie Steeves, Daniel Stillman, Mackenzie Toner, Emma Tyler, Lauren Tyler, Katherine Williams and Damon Wilson.

Honors: Molly Anderson, Parker Bellows, Angel Bonilla, Samuel Boynton, Alexis Buotte, Nicholas Choate, Courtney Cowing, Grace Ellis, Myra Evans, Brianna Gardner, Loralei Gilley, Alivia Gower, Mallary Hanke, Kassidy Hopper, Acadia Kelley, Jakob Kennedy, Matthew Knowles, Lydah Kong, Meadow Laflamme, Zephyr Lani-Caputo, Bryce Lincoln, Gwen Lockhart, Kendal Longtin, Emily Majewski, Gage Moody, Angelina Ochoa, Ethan Ouellette, Ezra Padgett, Karen Potter, Ally Rodrigue, Conner Rowe, Emmalee Sanborn, Sammantha Stafford, Emma Stred, Paige Sutter, Colby Willey, Joseph Wing, Aidan Witham and Keanah Young.

Grade 10

High Honors: Isabella Boudreau, Heather Bourgoin, Robin Boynton, Elizabeth Brown, Nolan Burgess, Makayla Chabot, Elise Choate, Alexia Cole, Brielle Crommett, Noah Crummett, Hailey Estes, Kaylee Fyfe, Caleb Gay, Leah Grant, Nathan Hall, Tara Hanley, Cristina Hart Loran, Natalie Henderson, Stephanie Kumnick, Carol Labbe, Sydney Laird, Kiley Lee, Aidan Maguire, Richard Mahoney III, Holden McKenney, Austin Nicholas, Jazel Nichols, Alejandro Ochoa, Jeremy Parker, Nathan Polley, Jessica Pumphrey, Kinsey Stevens, Lara Stinchfield, Reese Sullivan and Baruch Wilson.

Honors: Austin Armstrong, Duncan Bailey, Leah Bonner, Kellsie Boynton, Wyatt Bray, Kaleb Brown, Nathalia Carrasco, Timothy Christiansen, Simon Clark, Connor Coull, Thomas Crawford, Caleigh Crocker, Gavin Cunningham, Keira Deschamps, Ciara Fickett, Hunter Foard, Jackson Gamblin, Brayden Garland, Abbey Gordon, Jessica Hendsbee, Hannah Kugelmeyer, Mackenzie Kutniewski, Logan Lanphier, Sophie Leclerc, Jack Lyons, Liberty Massie, David McCaig, Carlos Michaud, Gavin Mills, Cami Monroe, Alexis Moon, Hannah Oakes, Remy Pettengill, Keith Radonis, Evelyn Rousseau, Giacomo Smith, Adam St. Onge, Jack Uleau, Haley Webb, Tyonna Williams, Elijah York and Melanie York.

Grade 9

High Honors: Ava Anderson, Emmett Appel, Bryana Barrett, Noah Bechard, Octavia Berto, Jayda Bickford, Brooke Blais, Keenan Clark, Hannah Cohen-Mackin, Lauren Cowing, Lillian Crommett, Gabrielle Daggett, Brady Desmond, John Edwards, Ryan Farnsworth, Chloe French, Jonathan Gutierrez, Serena Hotham, Kailynn Houle, Ava Kelso, Sophia Knapp, Lucy-Anne Knowles, Chase Larrabee, Jack Lucier, Owen Lucier, Eleanor Maranda, Jade McCollett, Abigail McDonough, Shannon McDonough, Madison McNeff, Sadie Pierce, Wallace Pooler IV, Carter Rau, Elsa Redmond, Justin Reed, Lillian Rispoli, Laney Robitaille, Carlee Sanborn, Joslyn Sandoval, Aislynn Savage, Zoey Smith and Parker Studholme.

Honors: Daphney Allen, Haileigh Allen, Geneva Beckim, Kaleb Bishop, Olivia Brann, Carter Brockway, Paige Clark, Madison Cochran, Dylan Cooley, Andra Cowing, Aydan Desjardins, Thomas Drever, Lucas Farrington, Kaylee Fortier, Kenneth Fredette, Wesley Fulton, Ellie Giampetruzzi, Kaylene Glidden, Tristan Goodwin, Brandon Hanscom, Landen Hayden, Emma Henderson, Parker Hunter, Walker Jean, Montana Johnson, Rion Kesel, Kaiden Kronillis, Bodi Laflamme, D’andre Marable, Addison Mort, Owen Northrup, Colin Oliphant, Makayla Oxley, Noah Pelletier, Ava Picard, Alyssa Pullen, Nathan Robinson, Kyle Scott, Achiva Seigars, Jordyn Smith, Katherine Swift, Grace Vashon and Dalorice Vires.

Up and down the Kennebec Valley: Blacks in Maine – Part 4

by Mary Grow

Waterville, Winslow, Windsor

The Samuel Osbornes discussed in last week’s article were not the only Black family in 19th-century Waterville. Various sources mention several others, though details are often scanty and/or confusing.

Local historians did not consistently state the race or nationality of people they wrote about. For example, the index to Whittemore’s history of Waterville lists Samuel Osborne on three pages; on only one is he described as “colored.” There is no indication of the race of other Osbornes (and Osborns) mentioned in the history.

At the end of his chapter on early settlers in Whittemore’s history of Waterville, Aaron Plaisted wrote that for many years, Waterville’s population was “entirely American.” Your writer assumes he meant British, because he goes on to differentiate French Canadians (who will be discussed in the next article in this series) and Irish (whom your writer combines with the British, and who were numerous in other towns, sometimes specifically mentioned as Irish [in Lowden’s Windsor history, for example]).

Plaisted wrote that there was a colored Seco family in Waterville in the 1820s (see the April 14 issue of The Town Line for China Secos, and below for a few more). And “the first barber in town, George Boardman, was a colored man, very much of a dandy and more elegant in his dress and manners than many of his white fellow citizens.”

Prince Henry lived with his wife Venus on the small farm he owned on the west side of Waterville, on what Isaac Bangs, in his chapter in Whittemore’s history, called the second rangeway. Bangs wrote that Prince Henry must have died before 1825, because Venus was a widow by 1826.

According to Bangs, Venus Henry’s second husband was a free Black Revolutionary War veteran named Sampson Freeman. On-line information about Sampson Freeman is confusing.

Bangs wrote that Freeman lived in Salem, Massachusetts, when he enlisted in the Continental Army from the first Essex County regiment. He is recorded as a private who served from Feb. 1, 1777, to Feb. 5, 1780, including a stint at Valley Forge in 1778.

This information is challenged by an on-line list of early Waterville families, which says Henry (died about 1841) and Venus Freeman were the parents of Sampson Freeman, born about 1765 in Ipswich, Massachusetts. Ipswich and Salem are about 10 miles apart, north of Boston; a man born about 1765 would have been very young to be a soldier before and during the Revolution.

The soldier Sampson Freeman whom Bangs described came to Peru, Maine, and from there to Waterville in 1835, where he married Venus Henry “after a brief acquaintance.” (The on-line Sampson Freeman would have been close to 70 by 1835, and Bangs’ Sampson Freeman likely even older.)

The Freemans lived on the farm Venus had inherited until her death six years later (about 1842?), Bangs continued. Sampson Freeman died in 1843.

The Sampson Freeman listed in the genealogy on line married Catherine “Cata” Coburn on Oct. 6, 1788, in Dracut, Massachusetts.

Sampson and Catherine Freeman had three daughters, Peggy, Jane and Rhody (b. 1806), and one son, Jefferson (born 1809). A search for Jefferson Freeman gave no additional information; but a source cited on-line for him and his sister Rhody was a history of Peru, Maine.

On June 7, 1835, the Sampson Freeman described on line and Mary Foye filed marriage intentions in Waterville.

Mary Foye was “of Augusta” in 1835 and was the widow of Hosea Foye, identified on line as “a black barber in Augusta.” She died before 1843. (Perhaps the marriage intentions were not carried out, and Sampson Freeman married Venus Henry instead?)

One point of agreement between Bangs and the on-line genealogist is that Sampson Freeman died in 1843 – March 28, according to the on-line source – and was buried in Waterville’s Monument Park – near Venus’s grave, according to Bangs.

Kingsbury wrote in his Kennebec County history that the bodies buried in Monument Park were moved south to Pine Grove Cemetery, on Grove Street, after that graveyard was dedicated in May 1850.

The Find a Grave website inventory of Pine Grove Cemetery gives Sampson Freeman’s birth year as 1765, says he was born in Ipswich, was a Revolutionary War veteran and was 77 or 78 years old when he died March 28, 1843. Find a Grave lists no other person whose last name is Freeman known to buried in Pine Grove Cemetery.

• • • • • •

Linwood Lowden said in his 1993 history of Windsor that that town’s early settlers included one Black family, who apparently did not stay long. William Swain, from Pittston, acquired a lot in the south part of town in 1803, although Lowden wrote that he had settled there before the area was surveyed in 1802.

The lot was on Hunts Meadow Road, which runs southwest from the intersection of Routes 17 and 32. Lowden wrote that a hill on the road “where Dan Wilson built his home (and lived until recently) was once known as Swain Hill.”

On Aug. 7, 1799, Swain and Mehitable “Hitty” Griffin filed marriage intentions in Hallowell; Lowden assumed they followed through. Swain sold his lot on Feb. 27, 1804, and “apparently returned to Pittston,” Lowden wrote.

Kingsbury, in his chapter on Windsor, wrote that “the first negro who came into the town” was named George Brown. He worked for James Wingate, who came from the Bath area and established a farm in South Windsor, where in 1892 his grandson, also James Wingate, lived.

Brown evidently died in Windsor, because Kingsbury wrote, “His body lies under the pines on land owned by Mrs. Townsend.”

Unfortunately (and not untypically), Kingsbury gave no dates, though the context suggests Brown came to Windsor before 1820; nor did he say whether Brown came with Wingate or went into Wingate’s service after each arrived separately.

• • • • • •

The Seco family, some of whose members in China were mentioned in the April 14 issue of The Town Line, scattered into many other Maine towns, reportedly including Vassalboro, Windsor, Winslow and Palmyra, and some moved out of state.

Price and Talbot cite Vassalboro librarian and historian Elizabeth “Betty” Taylor’s story with additional information about William and Almira Seco’s son, Charles L. (March 18, 1830 – about July 12, 1916), when he lived in Winslow.

He was a “respected lumberman and river driver,” who helped build a bridge that he predicted would fall down. It did; and “the engineer who had ignored Seco’s warning asked to have Seco fired. The construction boss refused and said, ‘I don’t see how I can; he is one of my best men.'”

Charles L., according to an on-line genealogy, was born in Fairfield. The 1850 census listed him in Kingfield, Maine. His first wife, Eliza Sewall, was born in China about 1829; the genealogy says they were married in Boston, Massachusetts, on Sept, 19, 1852.

Their only child is listed as John T. Seco, born about 1857 in an unspecified Maine town. He apparently spent his adult life in New Haven, Connecticut.

Eliza died Dec. 13, 1863, and on Jan. 14, 1865, Charles L. married his second wife, Olive Williams (born about 1836), in Winslow. Their children were Eliza May (born in Maine in 1867) who had moved to Massachusetts by 1891, and Charles E. (born in Maine about 1871, died Dec. 20, 1919, in Augusta).

Eliza May was in Chelsea, Massachusetts, when she married for the first time, on Nov. 25, 1891, to John Eatman from New Brunswick. On June 27, 1900, she married again, to Edward William Boston from the British West Indies.

On June 26, 1899, Charles E. married a French-Canadian woman from Nova Scotia or New Brunswick, Harriett “Hattie” Huding Luddlen, in Chelsea, Massachusetts. (Did he meet her through his sister’s first husband?) By the 1900 census, the couple were in Winslow; Charles E. was described as a boilermaker.

Hattie Seco died May 20, 1909, in Winslow; her widower died Dec. 20, 1919, in Augusta.

According to a comment historian Taylor made years ago to this writer, there was a Samuel Seco in Vassalboro, known as Sammy. Residents had a saying, “As black as Sammy Seco.”

In Palmyra, the 1820 census lists a widow named Rachel Seco, and the 1870 census lists Eliza Seco. Palmyra is in Somerset County, north and east of Pittsfield, connected to the Kennebec River Valley by Interstate 95 and the Sheepscot River.

More about Samuel Osborne

Samuel Osborne

Since writing about Osborne for the April 21 issue of The Town Line, your writer has found that he was mentioned several times in the Waterville Mail, Waterville’s weekly newspaper from 1863 to 1906.

Three short articles appeared early in 1896. The first, in the Jan. 10 issue, read: “Sam Osborne of Colby University is wearing a Good Templars’ badge, a very pretty affair made of gold and handsomely engraved. Sam is very proud of it but doesn’t know whom he has to thank for it. All that he knows about it is that it came from a member of the class of ’92 at Colby.”

The second, in the Jan. 31 issue, announced that Osborne was about to get a uniform; he had already been measured for it. The writer commented, “This move, while it is a source of pleasure to all interested in the college, is only in keeping with the example set by other institutions of the kind, in this and in other states. Nearly all have their janitors in uniform.”

Two weeks later, Feb. 14, 1896, the Mail announced: “Janitor Sam Osborne of Colby University appeared this morning in his new uniform, and never looked more happy and contented. The uniform is of dark blue cloth trimmed with silver buttons The coat is a straight front sack, similar in style to the Pullman car porter’s coat. The head-gear is a square-topped, low cap with a straight visor, over which are the words ‘Janitor Colby Univ.’ in silver letters. Altogether it is a neat uniform and is admired by the faculty and students as much as by Sam himself.”

An article in the May 30, 1900, issue commemorated his 35 years as the janitor at Colby. The headline called him “Genial Sam Osborne,” and the writer said that, “Thirty-five years is a long time for a man to work for one concern and give entire satisfaction to all, but Sam has done that for Colby and has won besides, the esteem and regard of more Colby students probably than any one man living.”

After Osborne’s death, the July 6, 1904, issue of The Mail ran a two-column obituary prominently on the left side of the front page.

Main sources

Kingsbury, Henry D., ed., Illustrated History of Kennebec County Maine 1625-1892 (1892).
Lowden, Linwood H., good Land & fine Contrey but Poor roads a history of Windsor, Maine (1993).
Price, H. H., and Talbot, Gerald E. Maine’s Visible Black History: The First Chronicle of Its People 2006.
Whittemore, Rev. Edwin Carey, Centennial History of Waterville 1802-1902 (1902).

Websites, miscellaneous.

SMALL SPACE GARDENING: Enlist nature’s help for managing garden pests

by Melinda Myers

Put away the harsh chemicals and work in concert with nature to manage pests in the garden. Create an inviting habitat for nature’s pest controllers to enlist their help with your gardening efforts.

Lady beetles, praying mantis and other beneficial insects feed on damaging pests like aphids. Just tolerate a bit of damage and wait for the good guys to move in and clean up the problem.

Grow a few plants to attract these and other beneficial insects to your landscape. Dill and its relatives attract parasitic wasps, coreopsis brings in the aphid-eating lacewings, and milkweed attracts lady beetles as well as monarch and other butterflies. Add some hyssop to attract the pirate bugs that eat thrips, spider mites and leafhoppers. Then plant members of the aster family to attract spiders that eat a variety of insects.

Invite songbirds into your gardens. They add motion and color to the landscape and help manage garden pests. Most songbirds eat a combination of fruits, berries, seeds, and insects. Their diet varies with the season. During spring and summer, they eat lots of insects and spiders when they are plentiful, easy to catch and an important part of their hatchlings’ diet.

A birdbath will help attract them and beneficial insects to the garden. Select one with sloping sides for easy access to the water. Add a few seed producing flowers like black-eyed Susans, coneflowers, salvia, coreopsis and more. If space allows, include a few berry producing shrubs like dogwoods and evergreens for shelter.

Leave some leaf litter under trees and shrubs and in the garden for toads that dine on slugs and other insects. Include a shallow pond or water feature. Even a shallow saucer filled with chlorine-free water is effective. Place rocks in and around the water for added toad appeal. Purchase or make your own toad abode from a ceramic or clay pot. Place it in a shady location near a garden filled with protein-rich insects. Set it directly on the soil and elevate one side with stones or use a cracked or broken pot that provides an entryway for the toad.

If you can’t wait for nature’s help, look for more eco-friendly options. Knock aphids and mites off plants with a strong blast of water. Trap slugs with shallow cans filled with beer. Trap and kill aphids in yellow bowls filled with soapy water.

Use barriers of floating row covers to keep pests like cabbage worms, Japanese beetles and bean beetles off plants that don’t need bees for pollination. These fabrics let air, light and water through so just loosely cover the plants at planting, anchor the edges and allow the plants to support the fabric.

Use these fabrics to help manage squash vine borer and squash bugs. Cover squash plants at planting. Remove the fabric as soon as the plants begin flowering for bees to pollinate the flowers. Only use this method if these pests were not a problem in this area of the garden the previous growing season.

Remove and destroy, smash, or prune out pest-infested stems as they are found. Enlist the help of young gardeners. Teach them the difference between the good and bad bugs in the garden. Then show them how to pluck, drop and stomp the plant-damaging pests. They’ll burn off some excess energy while helping maintain your garden.

If you decide to intervene with a chemical control, look for the most eco-friendly option on the market. Always read and follow label directions as these chemicals are designed to kill insects and if misapplied can harm beneficial insects as well.

Melinda Myers has written more than 20 gardening books, including The Midwest Gardener’s Handbook, 2nd Edition and Small Space Gardening. She hosts The Great Courses “How to Grow Anything” DVD series and the nationally-syndicated Melinda’s Garden Moment TV & radio program. Myers is a columnist and contributing editor for Birds & Blooms magazine and was commissioned by Summit for her expertise to write this article. Her website is www.MelindaMyers.com.

MY POINT OF VIEW: Mother’s Day manifests itself in different ways to different people

by Gary Kennedy

Do I need to ask what does Mother’s Day mean? It manifests itself in different ways to different people. For some of us every day is Mother’s Day as we love her so very much. However, others need to be reminded that one’s mother is a very special person. You were born on a foundation of love between two people, mother and father. That is why we set a special day aside just for them; to fortify our relationship and to outwardly express our feelings for them. Some­times it’s great to hear it in a ceremonious manner. This carries the magnitude of this relationship to a somewhat formal level and puts that glow into the relationship.

Mother carried you for nine months and even though she did this with love, sometimes it was difficult. Even so, the result was you and the title Mother came to be for her. Along with this comes copious amounts of laundry, thoughtful preparation for school and sports events. She also laid the foundation for your education and morality. She even made church fun by encouraging you to attend the church events for young people. This helped with building morality and character.

Most of us don’t really realize all that goes into acquiring one of the most glorious titles on earth. God created the Earth and also Adam. I guess most of us are aware of that. God saw that Adam was lonely so he decided to create Eve. As most of us know this cost Adam a rib but I’m relatively sure God was gentle in this extraction. God’s plan was not to only quench Adam’s need for the companionship but for allowing a pathway for procreation. And so it began. Eve became the mother of 28 children although the Bible mostly centers around Cain, Abel and Seth. Geneticists, by tracing the DNA patterns, found through lineages decendents from 10 sons with genetic material from Adam and 18 daughters from Eve’s genetics. There certainly was lots of motherhood there.

Mother’s Day is celebrated in 50 countries worldwide. Some or most use a different day than we do but they obviously remain the same. The entire world loves their mothers but just go about it in different ways. Our date for Mother’s Day is synonymous with Julie Ward Howe who wrote the Mother’s Day Proclamation in 1870 which she wrote condemning the senselessness of sons killing the sons of other mothers. Her persistence paid off as President Woodrow Wilson signed into law, Mather’s Day to be held on the second Sunday of May, in 1914. Anna Jarvis is given first credit for their holiday and its reason; war and the killing of our sons.

Women played such a dynamic role in the development of our great nation and nations throughout the world. Women especially, and mothers in particular, have played formidable roles in our history and that of the world. Most women are smart enough to not go near an apple tree, figuratively speaking. The Bible has many examples of Motherhood and in many different situations. Being a mother is the hardest job you will ever love. Times are hard right now but not so hard as to forget about our mothers. April showers brings May Flowers. So without a penny in my pocket I know I can pick some flowers to give to the first lady of our lives, Mother.

So, all I can say from my heart is do your best to make this second Sunday in May an event that will last the mother we love until next year at this time. It’s worth doing forever. Thank you Lord for Mother. God bless and have a happy and thankful Mother’s Day.

Rep. Bradstreet announces local DOT projects

Richard Bradstreet

State Representative Dick Bradstreet (R-Vassalboro) has announced that the Maine Department of Transportation (MDOT) Work Plan for calendar years 2022, 2023 and 2024 is available. The estimated value of work in the plan totals more than 2,316 individual work items with a total value of $3.17 billion. This represents a substantial increase from last year due to anticipated federal funding.

The MDOT Work Plan for House District #80 includes $31.8 million for several area projects, including:

In Augusta: Bridge replacement of the Western Avenue/I-95 Bridge located just south of Old Winthrop Road. Replacing the Rines Hill Bridge over the Old Maine Central Railroad just north of Green Street.

Highway safety and spot and improvements beginning at Route 201 and extending east for 1 mile on Route 202.

Highway construction/rehabilitation beginning just east of the intersection of Granite Hill Road and extending east for 1.67 miles

In Vassalboro: Highway construction/Rehabilitation beginning 1.14 miles north of Gray Road and extending north for almost one mile.

“This year’s Maine DOT Work Plan projects have been enhanced by federal dollars,” said Rep. Bradstreet. “This will help DOT offset the unprecedented increases in labor and material costs that we are all experiencing with our family budgets. I am pleased to see MDOT has more to spend this year and the projects scheduled for the next three years in our area.”

The full work plan, searchable by municipality, is available at the Maine Department of Transportation’s website: https://www.maine.gov/mdot/projects/workplan/search/ .

GROWING YOUR BUSINESS: Great customer service on a budget

Growing your businessby Dan Beaulieu
Business consultant

You don’t have to spend a lot of money to deliver great customer service.

Imagine a barber shop on Main street in your town. This shop is in fact the most popular in town. The barber, Fred, seems to know everyone’s name. He knows all about their family, what they do for a living and most importantly, how they like their hair cut, how often they come in and all kinds of other little things about them.

“How does he do it?” I can hear one of you asking. “He must have a very expensive customer service computerized systems?” Another one of you is thinking. Or maybe he just has an incredible memory for minutia? No, it is none of those things. Do you want to know what he has? Do you wonder what kind of customer retention plan he has invested in?

His shop is always busy. No one has ever seen the shop empty. He has never been seen sitting in his own barber chair reading the paper.

His business is successful. He bought that beautiful old Garland house on Birch Street last year, so he has to be doing well.

Fred seems to know everything about his customers. What they want. What they need. He knows when to offer them that special straight razor shave that he gets premium dollars for. He has a deep personal knowledge of all of his customers and what they want.

Okay, here is his big secret. Are you ready for this? He keeps a three by five index card of each of his customers. He has a set of questions that he wants answered on each of them and then he adds to them as he learns more about them.

The whole system cost him about five bucks a year…and the time and effort and passion for his business that it takes to make it a great and successful business.

And do the customers come back? Oh, do they ever. Everybody likes to be known, everybody has a comfort zone for someone who cares enough about them as customers to learn all they can about them and what they want.

This is the very essence of a good CRM (Customer Retention Management) System. That’s all it takes. A little effort and a few index cards and you’ll have the best CRM system money can buy.

In the end all business is people business, and all great businesses care enough about their customers to take the time to learn, not on what they need, but also what they want. These businesses are what is called Customer-centric businesses. And being customer centric is the very best way to grow your business.

Over 3,000 Easter eggs found in Vassalboro

Picture is of Easter Festival volunteers Ray Breton, Alicia Reynolds, Samantha Lessard and special guest, The Easter Bunny. (photo by Goodbrain Photography)

On Saturday, April 16, over 150 children attended and participated in Easter crafts, egg hunt and photos with the Easter Bunny. Children enjoyed finding Golden Eggs and exchanging for a toy. Over 3,000 candy filled Easter Eggs were found.

Maine State Credit Union expands senior leadership

Brie-Anne Mellor, left. Shane Abbott, right.

Maine State Credit Union has announced the promotions of Brie-Anne Mellor and Shane Abbott.

Ms. Mellor is now the Senior Vice President, Chief Lending Officer, and Mr. Abbott is the Senior Vice President, Chief Retail Officer. In their new roles, they will work with the other senior leadership team members to drive the organization’s continued growth. Both will be reporting to Stephen Wallace, incoming President, and Chief Executive Officer.

“Brie and Shane have been key players in the organization’s growth over the past several years,” said Wallace. “They have stepped up to lead without any hesitation and demonstrated the ability to inspire and grow their teams simultaneously.”

Ms. Mellor began her career on the teller line 20 years ago. During her tenure at Maine State Credit Union, she has continued to accept any challenge presented. In 2018, Ms. Mellor led the project team on the introduction of Meridian Link, an online direct-to-the-member lending tool. She created the first online lending team responsible for helping members access the credit union’s products through digital banking. In addition, Ms. Mellor has also been a financial services representative, loan officer, assistant branch manager, and loan servicing supervisor before being promoted to vice president of lending in 2021.

Mr. Abbott started his career as a summer teller in 2007 and joined the finance team as an accounting clerk. He continued to move through the organization and worked as an indirect loan officer and teller supervisor. In 2018, Mr. Abbott built a new internal call center, the eBranch, which takes over 300 calls a day. In 2021, he joined the operations team as vice president, where he led the project team to convert the credit union’s online and mobile banking system.

SCORES & OUTDOORS: Toxic worm has been sighted in Maine

Hammerhead worm

Roland D. Halleeby Roland D. Hallee

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about the Joro spider that is working its way up the east coast of the U.S., and could arrive in Maine within the next 10 years.

Well, hang on to your hats, because here we go again with a native Asian invader to the state of Maine. The hammerhead worm — a toxic, predatory invasive worm capable of unlimited self-cloning — has arrived in Maine.

The first sightings were reported last fall from southern and central parts of Maine of the hammerhead worm, a flatworm that can range from 8- to 15-inches long and is distinguished by the unique hammer or shovel-shaped head.

“We have a couple of reports of them already,” said Gary Fish, state horticulturist with the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry. “I don’t think anyone in Maine is up to speed on them,” he said in a news article published in the Bangor Daily News by Liz Baker.

The discovery is bad news for Maine’s gardeners since hammerheads prey on earthworms, which contribute to the health of Maine soil by turning organic materials into useful compost. Earthworm activity also helps aerate the soil, which increases soil nutrients and moisture intake.

The hammerhead worm can prove additionally troublesome because it has no known predators.

The hammerhead worm is native to Asia and has been reported as far south as Florida, as far west as California and now as far north as Maine, according to the University of Florida.

The biology of the hammerhead reads like a horror movie. It does not have respiratory or circulatory systems or a skeleton, and it may or may not have eyes. What it does have is a single opening on its head that serves as both its mouth and its anus. (Sounds like something that is tailor made for an episode of Svengoolie.)

Baker spotted one slithering up her foundation in Lewiston last fall.

In the BDN article, Baker said, “I was fascinated. Totally creepy and strange but I love learning about different species [and] I had never seen anything like it.”

The truly amazing trait of hammerhead worms is that they are basically immortal. Like other flatworms, they reproduce asexually by what is known as “fragmentation.” For example, they leave the tip of their tail stuck to something, and it will develop on its own into a new worm.

That also means if you cut a hammerhead into pieces, in 10 days or so you are going to have multiple new hammerheads — all capable of fragmentation.

They are also the first land invertebrates found to produce the same toxin that is found in pufferfish. In the fish, the toxin is lethal to humans with one pufferfish containing enough to kill 30 adult humans. Little is known about the hammerhead toxin’s effects on humans, but it is believed a person would have to eat a large quantity of them to be lethal. Yuck! Are you kidding me? Who’d want to eat a worm? However, it is a good idea to wash your hands after handling hammerhead worms.

So, what do you do if you spot hammerhead worms, and don’t want to see an entire colony form in your yard?

Because hammerhead worms consume beneficial worms, secrete poisonous toxins, and transmit harmful nematode parasites, they should be removed and dispatched whenever found.

If you spot a hammerhead worm, take a photo. Should you kill hammerhead worms? Yes, but first take a photo and send it to your local cooperative extension service, your state’s department of natural resourc­es. These groups study and track invasive species like this worm, gathering numbers and locations of sightings.

Collect hammerhead worms in a sealable container. If you find a hammerhead worm in your garden, capture it in a sealable plastic bag or some other sealable container. Don’t touch it with your hands; use a stick, gloves, or paper towel to place it into the container. If you do touch it, be sure to wash and disinfect your hands. Placing the worms in a container ensures they won’t be able to get away and makes it easier to apply a solution to kill them.

Apply salt and/or grain vinegar concentrate to the hammerhead worms in the bag, seal the bag, and place it in the freezer for 48 hours to ensure the worm has dissolved. Soapy water, neem oil, citrus oil, boric acid, or pesticides may also work.

Do not cut the worm into pieces. Each section can regenerate into a fully developed worm within a few weeks.

Discard the dissolved worms and sanitize the container.

After a hammerhead worm has been sealed in a plastic bag, treated with salt (or a combination of salt and vinegar), and placed in the freezer for 48 hours, the Texas Invasive Species Institute recommends discarding the still-sealed baggie in the trash.

Alternatively, you can use a glass jar with a lid or any kind of plastic sealable container. Most sources advise tossing the sealed container into the trash, but if you prefer to reuse it, it should be cleaned and disinfected with alcohol or another strong disinfectant.

If you have found one hammerhead worm, there are probably more, so remain vigilant. Examine your garden, particularly in the early morning after a rain when they’re likely to be easily found on the surface.

It’s important to keep an eye out for these invasive, toxic worms. The slimy predators threaten earthworms, which are vital to our ecosystem because they help decompose organic matter and incorporate soil amendments. Knowing how to identify and correctly kill and dispose of these nuisance worms will help keep your garden and your pets safe and healthy.

Roland’s trivia question of the week:

Who holds the Boston Red Sox team record for most hits in a single season?

Answer can be found here.