Two Vassalboro scouts achieve Eagle status
/0 Comments/in Community, Vassalboro/by Chuck Mahaleris
Eagle Scouts Nathan Polley and Cole Fortin stand before their friends and family and fellow members of Troop #410 and recite the Scout Oath and the Scout Law at their Eagle Scout Court of Honor held at the St. Bridget Center. (photo courtesy of Chuck Mahaleris)
by Chuck Mahaleris

Jennifer Fortin, mother of Eagle Scout Cole Fortin, pins the Eagle Scout medal on his Scout uniform. (photo courtesy of Chuck Mahaleris)
“Only one in four kids in America will become a Scout,” explained former Troop #410 Scoutmaster Kevin Reed. “but it is interesting to know that of the leaders of this nation in business, religion and politics, three out or four were Scouts.” Of those who were Scouts, only one in four on average will challenge themselves enough to earn the Eagle Scout rank. On Sunday, June 2, those averages were changed as two Scouts from Vassalboro. Nathan Benjamin Polley and Cole Gregory Fortin, were presented with the Eagle Scout rank.The two joined Cub Scouts together in first grade and have remained best friends throughout their Scouting experience. It was only fitting that they should be presented the Eagle Scout rank together. In the Fall, Cole will be attending Husson University and Nathan was accepted to the University of Maine’s Environmental Engineering program.
Reed continued, “Just consider a few of those who’ve achieved Scouting’s highest rank over the years. Astronauts Neil Armstrong and James Lovell; President Gerald Ford; New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg; Aviator Steve Fossett, CIA Director Robert Gates, Hotel magnate J.W. Marriott, Film director Stephen Spielberg, and Walmart founder Sam Walton. We know what these men accomplished after becoming Eagle Scouts. Today we honor Nathan and Cole, two Scouts in a hundred. We know the things they have done in the past, imagine what they will do in the future.”

Eagle Scout Nathan Polley hugs his mother Hillary Polley after presenting her with the Eagle Scout Mother’s Pin. (photo courtesy of Chuck Mahaleris)
Nathan is the son of Stephen and Hillary Polley, of Vassalboro. Cole is the son of Gregory and Jennifer Fortin. For his Eagle Scout project, Nathan put up story book signs at the Vassalboro Community School trails and Cole led the construction of a new sign at Eagle Park.
“Becoming an Eagle Scout is a great accomplishment; being an Eagle Scout is a great responsibility. As an Eagle, the Scout Oath and Scout Law should take on new meaning for you; the motto and slogan take on new urgency,” said Greg Fortin who is also an Eagle Scout. He administered the Eagle Charge to his son and Nathan: “As an Eagle, your first obligation is to live with honor. You are a marked man, a leader; for good or ill, people will follow the example you set. Give up anything before you give up your reputation and good name. As Shakespeare said, “Mine honour is my life; both grow in one. Take honour from me, and my life is done.”” He added, “Let the practice of the daily good turn lead to a lifetime of service, for only in giving of yourself do you give anything of value.”
During the ceremony, Cole said, “I am prepared to lead others, to accomplish set tasks, to the best of my ability.” And Nathan said, “I am prepared to stand for the virtues of freedom, strength and pride.”
Issue for July 4, 2024
/by Website EditorIssue for July 4, 2024
Celebrating 36 years of local news
Vassalboro Methodist Church receives community building grant
The Vassalboro United Methodist Church (VUMC) has received a $10,000 grant from the Community Building 2024 fund of the Maine Community Foundation (MaineCF). VUMC welcomes and offers services and support to all people. This grant will help improve accessibility to VUMC programs and services throughout the building and community…
Dirigo Lodge #104 gives away Bikes for Books
Dirigo Lodge #104, of Weeks Mills, recently presented 20 bicycles to students at the Windsor Elementary School in their sponsored Bikes for Books program. Every student is awarded a ticket for each book they read to be entered into a drawing for the bicycle give-away. This marked the 12th year the Dirigo Lodge sponsored the program…
Town News
Former China Dine-ah to become daycare
CHINA – The former China Dine-ah, on Lakeview Drive (Route 202), which was closed by the pandemic in the spring of 2020, is moving toward becoming a daycare called Grace’s Busy Bees, directed by Grace McIntyre…
China Lake alewife restoration initiative receives international award
CHINA – The China Lake Alewife Restoration Initiative, a complex, ambitious and highly collaborative project, has shown remarkable success since its completion. The effort has now received international recognition and was awarded the 2024 “Distinguished Project Award” at the recent 15th International Symposium on Ecohydraulics and Fish Passage held in Quebec City, Canada… Submitted by Landis Hudson
TNT Competitive Edge dance team is heading to national competition
FAIRFIELD – Competitive Edge Dance Team is a group of young dancers based out of TNT Dance Studio, on the Center Road, in Fairfield. The Studio began as Terri’s School of Dance and was founded by Theresa “Terri” Glidden 50 years ago. It is now owned and operated by Terri’s daughter, Tiffany Glidden, and Jesse Klein… by Mark Huard
Support The Town Line: An open letter to our readers
For the past 33 years, The Town Line has pledged a mission statement to “create a vibrant rural community connecting our towns, organizations and individuals through communication, education and public dialogue.” It’s all part of The Town Line’s mission to be a positive force in our community and bring together the rural towns of central Maine by promoting better understanding of our surroundings…
Name that film!
Identify the film in which this famous line originated and qualify to win FREE passes to The Maine Film Center, in Waterville: “Badges? We don’t need no stinkin’ badges!” Email us at townline@townline.org with subject “Name that film!” Deadline for submission is July 5, 2024.
TEAM PHOTO: PAL Minors champions
FAIRFIELD – 2024 PAL Minors Championship game winners on June 15, at the Fairfield PAL field. Team Galushas took home the trophy with a 14-10 win over Village Market…
TEAM PHOTO: PAL Majors champions
FAIRFIELD – 2024 PAL Majors Championship game winners on June 15, at the Fairfield PAL field. Team Pillsbury took home the trophy with a 8-2 win over Clinton…
Local students named to president’s list at Plymouth State Univ.
CENTRAL ME – Local students have been named to the Plymouth State University president’s list for the spring 2024 semester, in Plymouth, New Hampshire. Named were…
Griffin Brown named to the College of Charleston president’s list
OAKLAND – Griffin Brown, of Oakland, was named to the College of Charleston Spring 2024 president’s list, in Charleston, South Carolina. Brown is majoring in physics.
Local happenings
EVENTS: Annual 11-Hour continuous soccer game planned for July 13
WATERVILLE – Over 500 players, including 17 high school soccer teams from around the state, will join the 11-hour, continuous soccer game “Kick For Cass” on Saturday, July 13, at Thomas College, in Waterville. The annual event is held in memory of Cassidy Charette, former midfielder for Messalonskee High School Girls Soccer who wore the #11 jersey before her passing in a tragic hayride accident on October 11, 2014…
EVENTS: Chadwick Cemetery Association annual meeting
CHINA – The Chadwick Hill Cemetery Association will hold its annual meeting on Thursday, July 11, 2024, at 4 p.m., at the South China Community Church, 246 Village St., South China. New members are welcome. All interested parties are invited to attend. For additional information contact Jiff Zimmerman at 445-4000…
EVENTS: China Village Fire Dept. annual chicken BBQ July 6
CHINA – The annual chicken barbecue sponsored by the China Village Fire Department will take place on Saturday, July 6, 2024, at 11 a.m.
The cost is $15 and will include a half chicken, baked beans, potato chips, roll and can of soda or bottled water. They plan to offer a drive-thru service again this year. Tables and chairs will be available for seating inside the station, or meals may be packaged to go…
CALENDAR OF EVENTS: Public supper in Freedom
FREEDOM – There will be a public supper on Saturday, July 6, 2024, 4:30 – 6 p.m., at the Freedom Congregational Church Hall. Menu will include roast pork, mashed potato, gravy, baked beans, vegetable, dinner rolls, punch, coffee, and assorted homemade desserts. Adults $10, children 12 and under, $5, children 3 and under eat free… and many other local events!
Obituaries
AUGUSTA – Nancy Edith Caron, 78, passed away on Thursday, June 20, 2024, at the Maine Veteran’s Home, in Augusta. Nancy was born on January 15, 1946, a daughter of Edward and Anna-Lee (Cross) Littlefield…
Up and down the Kennebec Valley: China – Palermo (new)
CHINA/PALERMO HISTORY — The next town north of Windsor is China, which, like Windsor, began life as a plantation and did not acquire its present name for some years after the first Europeans settled there… by Mary Grow
Up and down the Kennebec Valley: Windsor
WINDSOR HISTORY — Your writer has chosen next to discuss the eastern towns, starting with the southernmost, Augusta’s eastern neighbor, Windsor. Henry Kingsbury commented in his Kennebec County history, at the beginning of his chapter on Windsor, that the town had “two of its sides parallel with the general course of the Kennebec river,” though it had no frontage… by Mary Grow
Up and down the Kennebec Valley: Clinton
CLINTON HISTORY — The town of Clinton, Benton’s ancestor and northern neighbor, is the northernmost Kennebec County town on the east bank of the Kennebec River. Historian Carleton Edward Fisher wrote that Clinton’s first white settler was probably Ezekiel Chase, Jr., who might have arrived by 1761, before the Kennebec Proprietors claimed the area… by Mary Grow
Up and down the Kennebec Valley: Benton
BENTON HISTORY — Continuing north on the east side of the Kennebec River, the next town after Winslow is Benton. Next north of Benton is Clinton… by Mary Grow
Common Ground: Win a $10 gift certificate!

DEADLINE: Wednesday, July 11, 2024
Identify the people in these three photos, and tell us what they have in common. You could win a $10 gift certificate to Hannaford Supermarket! Email your answer to townline@townline.org or through our Contact page. Include your name and address with your answer. Use “Common Ground” in the subject!
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Town Line Original Columnists
SCORES & OUTDOORS
by Roland D. Hallee | While driving into work one morning last week, I hit a swarm of dragonflies along the Seaward Mills Road, in Vassalboro. It resembled snow coming at you while driving through a storm. They were coming at me too fast for me to even get an educated guess as to how many there were…
MY POINT OF VIEW
by Gary Kennedy | Well, Julie and I just arrived back home from our humanitarian mission in the South Pacific. Our plane trip both going and coming was a literal nightmare which took two days each way. Lay overs were the worst of it, sleeping in airport chairs, etc., is murder on your body…
PLATTER PERSPECTIVE
by Peter Cates | Bradley Cooper’s Maestro gave a somewhat superficial depiction of the marriage of Leonard and Felicia Bernstein while biographies of David Ewen, John Gruen and Joan Peyser filled in some facts and personal, at times biased observations, Gruen providing fascinating interviews as well…
THE BEST VIEW
by Norma Best Boucher | “I have a baby sister!” she yelled riding her bike up and down the street. That was what my parents told me my older sister Marlene did on the day I was born. I wasn’t there, of course, but I always felt pride and love knowing that she was so excited that I was born…
Up and down the Kennebec Valley: China – Palermo
/0 Comments/in China, Local History, Palermo, Up and Down the Kennebec Valley/by Mary Growby Mary Grow
The next town north of Windsor is China, which, like Windsor, began life as a plantation and did not acquire its present name for some years after the first Europeans settled there.
A dominant feature of the town is what is now China Lake, earlier known as Twelve Mile Pond because it was 12 miles from Fort Western and the Cushnoc settlement. China Lake is almost two lakes. A long oval east basin runs north-south, with the main inlet at the north end. A short channel two-thirds of the way down the west shore, called the Narrows, connects to a ragged sort-of-oval west basin, with its western third in Vassalboro.
The outlet is at from the northwest side of the West Basin. Outlet Stream runs north through Vassalboro and Winslow to join the Sebasticook River before it flows into the Kennebec River.
Henry Kingsbury, in his Kennebec County history, wrote that in the fall of 1773, the Kennebec Proprietors had surveyors Abraham Burrell (Burrel, Burrill) and John “Black” Jones “lay out 32,000 acres [50 square miles], including the waters” into approximately 200-acre farms.
Jones spent the winter of 1773-74 in Gardiner and finished the survey in the spring, creating a March 19, 1774, plot plan that Kingsbury reproduced. It is usually called John Jones’ plan, without mention of Burrell; and the Proprietors, Kingsbury said, named the area Jones Plantation.
In Gardiner, Jones met Ephraim Clark (July 15, 1751 – Oct. 20, 1829), from Nantucket, youngest son of Jonathan Clark, Sr., (1704 – 1780) and Miriam (Merriam, to Kingsbury, or Mirriam) (Worth) Clark (1710 – 1776). Ephraim came to Jones’ surveyed area in the summer, took up almost 600 acres toward the south end of the lake’s east shore and built a house.
Following Ephraim to China came his older brothers Jonathan, Jr. (1735, 1736 or 1737 – 1816), and his wife, Susanna (Swain, 1751-1821, according to on-line sources, or Gardiner, according to Kingsbury, who gave no dates); Edmund (1743 – 1822); and Andrew (1747 – 1832 or 1842); his sister and brother-in-law, Jerusha (Clark) Fish (Dec. 20, 1732 – Sept. 25, 1807) and George Fish (Aug. 15, 1746 – unknown; he died at sea on his way to England, sources say); and his parents.
Jonathan, Jr., and Edmund settled in 1774 on adjoining farms on the west side of the lake, south of the Narrows. Andrew chose a lot at the south end. The Fishes settled farther north on the east shore, near the present Pond Meeting House on Lakeview Drive. Jonathan, Sr., and Miriam reportedly lived with Ephraim.
In 1774, the southern part of China, about nine-tenths of the present-day town, was incorporated as Jones Plantation, almost certainly named for surveyor John Jones (though the China bicentennial history says “some sources mention an early settler named Jones from whom the name was taken”).
Settlement expanded over the next two decades. On Feb. 8, 1796, the bicentennial history says, the Massachusetts legislature made Jones Plantation a town named Harlem. The history quotes a source saying the origin of the name was the Dutch city of Harlem, but adds there is no evidence to support the statement “and no evidence of a Dutch settlement in China.”
Wikipedia says “Massachusetts legislative member Japheth Wasburn [sic] submitted the name.” This statement is incorrect; Japheth Coombs Washburn provided the name China 22 years later (see below), but he did not move to the area until 1803 or 1804.
The northern end of today’s China was first called Freetown Plantation. Various boundary adjustments in 1804, 1813 and 1816 moved the acreage temporarily to Fairfax (later Albion), then added land from Fairfax and Winslow.
Harlem, like other early towns, was headed by an elected board of three selectmen, assisted by a town clerk, a town treasurer and other officials as needed. At Harlem’s first town meeting, held at 11 a.m., Monday, March 28, 1796, Ephraim Clark was elected one of the three selectmen (with Abraham Burel and James Lancaster), and also the treasurer and the surveyor of lumber.
On Feb. 18, 1818, the Massachusetts legislature approved an act creating a new town that combined northern Harlem, from about the middle of present-day China, with parts of Fairfax and Winslow. The bicentennial history offers only a surmise, not a definitive explanation, of the action: southern Harlem residents were dominant in town government and northerners wanted more say.
Japheth Coombs Washburn, who lived in the pending new town and was Harlem’s legislative representative in Boston, was directed to have the new town named Bloomville. However, a town up the Kennebec had been named Bloomfield since February 1814, and that town’s legislative representative objected to so similar a name, fearing mail delivery problems.
Washburn, on his own to name the new town, chose China because it “was the name of one of his favorite hymns and was not duplicated anywhere else in the United States.”
(Bloomfield was combined with Skowhegan in 1861. An article by William Hennelly, chinadaily.com.cn, reproduced in the June 15, 2017, issue of The Town Line, says China, Michigan, was named in 1834, the name proposed by explorer Captain John Clark’s wife, who was a China, Maine, native; and China, Texas, began as China Grove [of chinaberry trees] in the 1860s.)
After another four years of contention, during which Harlem voters tried first to reclaim and then to join China, in January 1822 the by then Maine legislature combined the two, creating the present Town of China. There were minor boundary adjustments with Vassalboro in 1829 and with Palermo in 1830.
* * * * * *
Two Palermo historians offer three versions of the naming of that town, northwest of China (thus one tier of towns farther from the Kennebec River).
The earlier was Milton E. Dowe, whose 1954 history begins with Great Pond Settlement (sometimes Sheepscot Great Pond Settlement), so called because it was “near the Sheepscot Great Pond.” This large lake in the southern part of present-day Palermo is on the Sheepscot River.
(For the origin of the name “Sheepscot,” see the history article in the Feb. 22, 2024, issue of The Town Line.)
The second historian, Millard Howard, writing in 1975 (second edition finished in September 2014 and copyrighted in 2015 by the Palermo Historical Society), praised Dowe’s history, without always agreeing with it.
About 1778, Dowe wrote, Stephen Belden “rode through the wilderness on horseback with his Bible under his arm” and built a log cabin to found the settlement. His son, Stephen, Jr., born on the spring of 1779, and daughter, Sally, born in the fall of 1880, were the first boy and girl, respectively, born in Palermo.

Grave of Stephen Belden, who is buried in Dennis Hill Cemetery, on the Parmenter HIll Road, in Palermo.
Howard said Stephen, Sr., arrived in 1769, accompanied by his wife, Abigail (Godfrey) Belden (1751 – 1820), and an older son named Aaron. He dated Stephen, Jr.’s, birth to 1770, and said the couple had three more daughters after Sally.
“Probably,” Howard said, Stephen, Sr., was a New Hampshire native; and before coming to Great Pond he might have lived in nearby Ballstown (now Jefferson and Whitefield). Find a Grave says Stephen, Sr., was born Feb. 14, 1745, in Hampshire County, Massachusetts. He died June 15, 1822; he and Abigail are buried in Palermo’s Dennis Hill cemetery, on Parmenter Hill Road.
Dowe wrote that the 1790 census listed 26 families in what was by then named Great Pond Plantation. Howard said most later settlers chose land beside the Great Pond; he surmised Belden chose a place farther north because he was settling without title and did not want the Kennebec Proprietors’ agents to find him.
Dowe and Howard agreed that the “township” was first surveyed in 1800, marking (preliminary) boundaries with Harlem (later China), Fairfax (later Albion), Davistown (later Montville) and Liberty. Howard dated the survey to August, 1800, and named the surveyor as William Davis, of Davistown. Apparently incorporation as a plantation followed.
(Dowe said the plantation was resurveyed in 1805; but since the lines were marked on “trees and cedar posts,” they tended to disappear, and boundary disputes, especially with Harlem and then China, persisted. In 1828, Dowe wrote, Palermo’s western boundary was permanently delineated and marked by a stone monument in Branch Mills [a village the two towns now share].)
Dowe found records of plantation meetings between 1801 and 1805, with elections of local officials and passage of local regulations. Howard added that the first, and only, clerk elected and re-elected was Enoch P. Huntoon, aged 25 in 1801, a doctor from Vermont who was one of the settlement’s “most respected citizens.”
Early in 1801, 56 men (including both Stephen Beldens) from “a place commonly called Sheepscot Great Pond Settlement” (no mention of a plantation) petitioned the Massachusetts legislature for incorporation as a town named Lisbon. Similar to the 1808 New Waterford petition mentioned last week, their document cited the “great difficulties and inconvenience from the want of schools and roads and many other public regulations very necessary for happiness and well being” that resulted from being distant from “any incorporated town.”
Dowe offered no explanation for the proposed name Lisbon.
Howard wrote that on Feb. 20, 1802, while the Sheepscot Great Pond petition was pending, the Maine town of Thompsonborough was authorized to change its name to Lisbon. He commented that for residents looking toward future greatness, “One way to get off to a good start was to borrow something of the grandeur of a foreign capital by using the name.”
With Lisbon already taken, Palermo, capital of Sicily, became a candidate; and, coincidentally, the popular plantation clerk’s full name was Enoch Palermo Huntoon, Howard wrote. “One wonders,” he added, “if…anyone…realized that Palermo, Sicily, had been one of the greatest, most cosmopolitan, cities in medieval Europe, and had a more impressive place in history than did their first choice.”
Dowe provided two other “legend only” accounts of the name Palermo.
The first story is of “a group of men…sitting around the stove at one of the local stores about 1804,” debating names. One of them pointed to the words on a box of lemons from Palermo, Sicily.
The second story says Sicilian Italians who had come “up the Sheepscot River to trap” camped near the lake and named their campsite “Palermo.”
The Massachusetts legislature approved incorporation of Palermo on June 23, 1804, Howard said. He and Dowe agreed the first town meeting was not until Jan. 9, 1805; neither explained the delay.
Main sources
Dowe, Milton E., History Town of Palermo Incorporated 1804 (1954).
Grow, Mary M., China Maine Bicentennial History including 1984 revisions (1984).
Howard, Millard, An Introduction to the Early History of Palermo, Maine (second edition, December 2015).
Kingsbury, Henry D., ed., Illustrated History of Kennebec County Maine 1625-1892 (1892).
Websites, miscellaneous.
THE BEST VIEW: “My Big Sister”
/0 Comments/in The Best View/by Norma Best Boucher
by Norma Best Boucher
“My Big Sister”
“I have a baby sister!” she yelled riding her bike up and down the street. That was what my parents told me my older sister Marlene did on the day I was born. I wasn’t there, of course, but I always felt pride and love knowing that she was so excited that I was born.
Everything went downhill after that. I spit up on her. I peed on her. I bit her finger with my first tooth. I was an overall pain in the butt from what I could see, but she laughed about these experiences, and I felt even closer to her.
Sis was quite a bit older than I. I was what they called a “surprise” baby. I always liked that…a SURPRISE! Surprise or not, Sis decided that I was going to behave, to be literate and not to be an embarrassment to her.
That was a major undertaking, but she was up to the challenge, and I had better be. She made me pick up my toys, did jigsaw puzzles with me, held my hand when we listened to scary radio shows like “The Shadow,” taught me to recite my ABC’s and to count to 100.
These were all games to me and fun, but she knew what she was doing. Even when I made a mistake in the 90’s when reciting my numbers, Sis let me start over again at number one and listened patiently so that I felt success and not failure.
Then it happened. She grew up. I watched her walk down the aisle to receive her college diploma and told myself, “I am going to do that, too.”
Sis got married, moved out of state, and didn’t come home to visit for two long years. My father kept an account at one of the best dress shops in town for her birthday and Christmas presents. He paid so much a week, and there was quite a sum of money there.
My dad, Sis and I walked into the store together. Dad was so proud of her. “This is Mrs. Clark,” he told the sales lady. “Please show her whatever she wants and put it on my bill.”
What a great time we had. Sis tried on more clothes than I had ever seen, and she bought me a red plaid kilt with the money. She hadn’t forgotten me, after all.
“Have you known Mr. Best long?” the sales lady asked.
“Yes,” Sis answered.
Then, out of nowhere the sales lady added, “What is he to you, anyway—your Sugar Daddy?”
Even at my young age I got the picture. Attitude, intonation, and the words “Sugar Daddy” were all very clear.
I just stood there.
This was 1958. Sis was young, pretty, college educated, married, and successful in a business career in a man’s world. This woman had the patience of Job and the strength of our mother. This was MY BIG SISTER.
Apparently, this sales lady had no idea with whom she was sparring…and I was not going to warn her.
The scene appeared Hollywood scripted and in slow motion. I had noticed a slight tightening of my sister’s shoulders upon hearing the woman’s rude remark.
I was sure the sales lady noticed, also, because at that point the lady put her right hand on her right hip, raised her left eyebrow, and gave the slightest smile of great satisfaction.
My sister was viewing her new outfit and herself in the full-length mirror. I was behind her on her left. The sales lady was behind her on her right.
I watched my sister’s image in the mirror. Sis moved her gaze upward from the mirror image of herself and turned her eyes to the mirror image of the sales lady.
A smile now formed on her mouth.
This was my first and probably the best lesson in timing in my life.
Sis pivoted around slowly to her right and stared directly into the eyes of the sales lady.
“No,” she answered, young pearly whites shining.” He’s my father.”
I loved it.
EVENTS: China Village Fire Dept. annual chicken BBQ July 6
/0 Comments/in China, Events/by Website Editor
PUBLIC NOTICES for Thursday, July 4, 2024
/0 Comments/in Legal Notices/by Website EditorSTATE 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 June 27, 2024 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.
2024-167 – Estate of PERRY A. WALTZ, late of Fairfield, Maine deceased. Mary L. Moroney, 8 Weeks St., Fairfield, Maine 04937 appointed Personal Representative.
2024-170 – Estate of JUDITH L. BOSSIE, late of Skowhegan, Maine deceased. Sharon Noel, 366 Water St. Apt #4, Skowhegan, Maine 04976 appointed Personal Representative.
2024-171 – Estate of ROLAND H. WEST SR., late of Jackman, Maine deceased. Christopher H. West, 155 Dogtown Road, Detroit, Maine 04929 appointed Personal Representative.
2024-174 – Estate of KALEB R. SIMONDS, late of Madison, Maine deceased. Ashley Corson, 14 Oak Street, Madison, Maine 04950 appointed Personal Representative.
2024-175 – Estate of JEREMY H. SPEAR, JR., late of Embden, Maine deceased. Betsy Bolvin, 19 Union Street, North Anson, Maine 04958 appointed Personal Representative.
2024-177 – Estate of WINAFRED M. RUSSELL, late of St. Albans, Maine deceased. Philip E. Russell, 232 Hartland Road, St. Albans, Maine 04971 appointed Personal Representative.
2024-182 – Estate of PAUL L. BERUBE, late of Canaan, Maine deceased. Danelle Berube, 93 Kingston Road, Exeter, New Hampshire 03833 appointed Personal Representative.
2024-184 – Estate of KATHLEEN R. BROWN, late of Canaan, Maine, deceased. James O. Brown, 586 Browns Corner Road, Canaan, Me 04924 appointed Personal Representative.
2024-188 – Estate of LORNA WALSH-LORD, late of Madison, Maine deceased. Theresa Brooks, 1566 Fort Hill Drive, Seneca, SC 29678 appointed Personal Representative.
2024-190 – Estate of THOMAS NEWELL, late of Madison, Maine deceased. Gari Lynn Gehrke, 711 Kennebec River Road, Embden, Maine 04958 appointed Personal Representative.
2024-192 – Estate of BEVERLY J. FITZSIMMONS, late of Skowhegan, Maine deceased. Eric Slipp, 131 Chapel Court, Salisbury, NC 28147 and Andrew Slipp, 521 Cottage St., Pawtucket, RI 02861 appointed Co-Personal Representatives.
2024-199 – Estate of HERBERT HENES, late of New Portland, Maine deceased. Hannelore Elliot, 1530 Varnum Ave., Lowell, MA 01854 appointed Personal Representative.
2024-203 – Estate of LYNDA A. WORSTER, late of Jackman, Maine deceased. Douglas P. Worster, Jr., 308 Main St., Jackman, Maine 04945 and Melany M. Gilboe, 187 Keep Road, Jay, Maine 04239 appointed Co-Personal Representatives.
TO BE PUBLISHED June 27, 2024 & July 11, 2024.
Dated June 27, 2024
/s/Victoria M. Hatch,
Register of Probate
(7/4)
STATE OF MAINE
PROBATE COURT
41 COURT ST.
SOMERSET, ss
SKOWHEGAN, ME
PROBATE NOTICES
TO ALL PERSONS INTERESTED IN ANY OF THE ESTATES LISTED BELOW
Notice is hereby given by the respective petitioners that they have filed petitions for appointment of personal representatives in the following estates or change of name. These matters will be heard at 10 a.m. or as soon thereafter as they may be on July 17, 2024. The requested appointments or name changes may be made on or after the hearing date if no sufficient objection be heard. This notice complies with the requirements of 18-C MRSA §3-403 and Probate Rule 4.
2024-168 – RYAN CHRISTOPHER HANSEN. Petition for Chane of Name (Adult) filed by Ryan C. Hansen, 10 Wakefield Pl, Apt. 5, Detroit, Maine 04929 requesting name be changed to Megan Lynn Thibodeau for reasons set forth therein.
2024-179 – ABIGAILE LAURETTE SIONNI. Petition for Change of Name (Adult) filed by Abigaile Laurette Sionni, 8 Winchester Street, Fairfield, Maine 04937 requesting name to be changed to Andrew Laurette Sionni for reasons set forth therein.
2024-180 – JILLIAN GRACE DILL. Petition for Change of Name (Adult) filed by Jillian Grace Dill, 12 Sunrise Drive, Skowhegan, Maine 04976 requesting name to be changed to Samuel Kosher Dill for reasons set forth therein.
2024-183 – CAMARON DEAN MASON. Petition for Change of Name (Adult) filed by Camaron D. Mason, 519 Sandy River Road, Norridgewock, Maine 04957 requesting name to be changed to Karmen Mallory Mason for reasons set forth therein.
2024-189 – KALIE ELIZABETH GOMES. Petition for Change of Name (Adult) filed by Kalie E. Gomes, 82 Park Street, Apt. 4, Madison, Maine 04950 requesting name to be changed to Kalie Elizabeth Daskoski for reasons set forth therein.
Dated June 27, 2024
/s/Victoria M. Hatch,
Register of Probate
(7/4)
TEAM PHOTO: PAL Majors champions
/0 Comments/in Central ME, Fairfield, Photo, School News, Sports/by Website Editor
2024 PAL Majors Championship game winners on June 15, at the Fairfield PAL field. Team Pillsbury took home the trophy with a 8-2 win over Clinton. Front, from left to right, Hunter Pooler and Brentley Archer. Middle row, Jacob Wegener, Austin Owens, Jace Elliot, Tucker Graves, and Connor Ballew. Back, Coach KJ, Clay Morse, Coach Owens, Hunter Lockhart, Kayden Lachance, Coach Ballew. Absent from the photo is Jackson Hanson. (photo by Ramey Stevens, Central Maine Photography)
TEAM PHOTO: PAL Minors champions
/0 Comments/in Central ME, Fairfield, Photo, Sports/by Website Editor
2024 PAL Minors Championship game winners on June 15, at the Fairfield PAL field. Team Galushas took home the trophy with a 14-10 win over Village Market. Front row, left to right, Jaydon Labrie, Logan Grard, Greyson Martin, Landon Blaisdell, Andrew Michaud, Elliot Littlefield, and Colton Dangler. Back, Dylan Miklos, Mike Kilby, Cohen Harriman, Emmett Wilson, Micah Wiswell, and Austin Harriman. Coach Grard, coach Blaisdell, and Coach Dangler. (photo by Ramey Stevens, Central Maine Photography)
SCORES & OUTDOORS: Dragonflies appear by the dozens
/0 Comments/in Scores & Outdoors/by Roland D. Hallee
by Roland D. Hallee
While driving into work one morning last week, I hit a swarm of dragonflies along the Seaward Mills Road, in Vassalboro. It resembled snow coming at you while driving through a storm. They were coming at me too fast for me to even get an educated guess as to how many there were.
A dragonfly is a flying insect. About 3,000 extant species of dragonflies are known. Most are tropical, with fewer species in temperate regions. Loss of wetland habitat threatens dragonfly populations around the world. Adult dragonflies are characterized by a pair of large, multifaceted, compound eyes, two pairs of strong, transparent wings, sometimes with colored patches, and an elongated body. Many dragonflies have brilliant iridescent or metallic colors produced by structural coloration, making them conspicuous in flight.
Dragonflies can be mistaken for the closely related damselflies, and are similar in body plan, though usually lighter in build; however, the wings of most dragonflies are held flat and away from the body, while damselflies hold their wings folded at rest, along or above the abdomen. Dragonflies are agile fliers, while damselflies have a weaker, fluttery flight. Dragonflies make use of motion camouflage when attacking prey or rivals.
Dragonflies are predatory insects, both in their aquatic nymphal stage and as adults. In some species, the nymphal stage lasts up to five years, and the adult stage may be as long as 10 weeks, but most species have an adult lifespan in the order of five weeks or fewer, and some survive for only a few days.
They are fast, agile fliers capable of highly accurate aerial ambush, sometimes migrating across oceans, and often live near water.
I remember one evening a few yearas ago when my wife and I went out fishing. It was just before dark, and we were fishing the shoreland for bass. We were being pestered by mosquitoes. Then, out of the blue, came a squadron of dragonflies that started to consume the mosquitoes. For the rest of the time we were on the lake that swarm of dragonflies followed us. We were not bothered by mosquitoes, again.
Dragonflies have a uniquely complex mode of reproduction involving indirect insemination, delayed fertilization, and sperm competition. During mating, the male grasps the female at the back of the head, and the female curls her abdomen under her body to pick up sperm from the male’s secondary genitalia at the front of his abdomen, forming the “heart” or “wheel” posture.
Fossils of very large dragonfly-like insects, sometimes called griffinflies, are found from 325 million years ago. They were only distant relatives, not true dragonflies which first appeared during the Early Jurassic.
Dragonflies are represented in human culture on artifacts such as pottery, rock paintings, statues, and Art Nouveau jewelry. They are used in traditional medicine in Japan and China, and caught for food in Indonesia. They are symbols of courage, strength, and happiness in Japan, but seen as sinister in European folklore. Their bright colors and agile flight are admired in the poetry of Lord Tennyson and the prose of H. E. Bates.
Roland’s trivia question of the week:
Name the small town in Indiana where Boston Celtics Hall of Famer Larry Bird was born.
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